New Build, need your opinions please.

You should go to overclock.net if you are not already there. Even though I own a 5870 EF6 it is hard to recomend a 5870 right now with the new choices.

The 980 seems like a waste when a 920 DO can OC to 4GHZ no problem.

tim wrote in post #11331569
I'm going to say what most other people have said, that CPU could be wasted. Go for the 930 or 940 or whatever's current in the midrange. 850W PS is nuts, my PC uses 200W when it's going full speed on all drives and cores.

SSD get something Sandforce based, just use it for US, programs, and cache. 80GB is heaps. Try these. The Onyx 2 is meant to be great, and great value (I think I got that name right). Get a couple of WD black drives for data.

Ram can be easily upgraded. Video cards can be easily upgraded. Doing a Hacintosh isn't meant to be too hard these days, if you buy the right parts.

You can probably spend 30% less and get similar performance (guess). Spend that 30% on upgrades in 2 years and i'll jump another 50% in speed.

Thanks Tim

Maybe your right the hex core 3.33 might be overkill. Now looking into the i7-950 3.02Ghx quad, looks like it overclocks well. Also looking at the Asus P6X58D Premium not much cheaper then the rampage III but may still go with the Rampage III. Still thinking on it. I still think the 120gb SSD will suite me fine, now with the cheaper CPU i can grab a few WD Black 1TB 7200 HDD for storage. Maybe I should go with the 650 as stated from another member earlier, the 5870 calls for a 600w minimum psu.

Thanks the SSD link.

Gabe63 wrote in post #11332467
You should go to overclock.net if you are not already there. Even though I own a 5870 EF6 it is hard to recomend a 5870 right now with the new choices.

The 980 seems like a waste when a 920 DO can OC to 4GHZ no problem.

I am on oveclockers.com (ocnewbee)

S.E.V. wrote in post #11333867
Thanks Tim

Maybe your right the hex core 3.33 might be overkill. Now looking into the i7-950 3.02Ghx quad, looks like it overclocks well. Also looking at the Asus P6X58D Premium not much cheaper then the rampage III but may still go with the Rampage III. Still thinking on it. I still think the 120gb SSD will suite me fine, now with the cheaper CPU i can grab a few WD Black 1TB 7200 HDD for storage. Maybe I should go with the 650 as stated from another member earlier, the 5870 calls for a 600w minimum psu.

Thanks the SSD link.

That sounds much more logical!

I think the 650TX is on sale at Newegg right now for about $65 after rebate.

In2Photos wrote in post #11333894
That sounds much more logical!

I think the 650TX is on sale at Newegg right now for about $65 after rebate.

Yeah since it brought the price from 2,556 down to 2,044 and this price includes 3x 1TB WD Black 7200 HDDs since I already have one now I will have 4 on the new build with a 120gb SSD should be a monster when it is OC'ed. Now I need to fund it. Anyone want to buy some gear? heheheheh NOT!

Bob_A wrote in post #11332261
Agree with all of what you said Tim except 80GB being heaps for the SSD. It might be, but it really depends on the number/size of applications intended to be installed. With what I have installed right now If I had an 80GB drive I'd have something like 71 GB usable and only 10GB spare capacity. Based on that I think 80GB is a bit too small for me ... but the 160GB drive I bought is too big.

My XP install is 20GB, with all the standard apps, office, Photoshop, PhotoJunction, and a few random tools. No games though. I know Windows 7 is larger, but it's not 80GB larger.

tim wrote in post #11334595
My XP install is 20GB, with all the standard apps, office, Photoshop, PhotoJunction, and a few random tools. No games though. I know Windows 7 is larger, but it's not 80GB larger.

What about scratch disk?

Tony-S wrote in post #11334645
What about scratch disk?

What about it? Unless someone does a huge amount of editing in PS with huge or multiple files I don't think it matters. I'd much rather have apps and cache on it. Right now I have four disks:
- OS + programs + swap (since once the programs are loaded the disk is idle so swap is on an idle disk)
- Data + scratch (idle when doing wedding work)
- Commercial data (my wedding images)
- Cache (ACR + Bridge)

When I get an SSD i'll have a small one with OS and programs, maybe 40GB. I'll have another for cache. The reason i'll have two is because I want to easily make a small image file so I can restore in the case of a failure, and having cache on that same disk makes the image file huge.

tim wrote in post #11334595
My XP install is 20GB, with all the standard apps, office, Photoshop, PhotoJunction, and a few random tools. No games though. I know Windows 7 is larger, but it's not 80GB larger.

Win 7 Pro 64 bit alone requires 20GB and Office Pro 2010 has bloated a bit. But you're correct, I do have about 8 GB of stuff I could move, mainly in the standard "My Music" and "Downloads" folders. However, 80GB is still too small IMO, but it looks like it would work for you.

I have office 2010, development tools, etc. I could get away with 20GB if I was careful, 40GB would be easy. Try cleaning up your temp folders, removing old windows update uninstalls, don't let it hog space for the recycle bin, etc.

tim wrote in post #11336508
I have office 2010, development tools, etc. I could get away with 20GB if I was careful, 40GB would be easy. Try cleaning up your temp folders, removing old windows update uninstalls, don't let it hog space for the recycle bin, etc.

All done, I've even deleted a lot of the sample junk that comes with Windows. If I tried really hard and moved all of my Music to my other drive I could probably get it down to 48-49 GB. And then I'd have to waste a bunch of time trying to keep it that low.

There's 10GB of files in C:\Username\AppData , which is a hidden folder.

Bob_A wrote in post #11336837
There's 10GB of files in C:\Username\AppData , which is a hidden folder.

Delete it man! You don't need those stinking filez anyways. hehehe

You guy have helped me out a bunch on fine tuning this rig. Looks like it should last me another 5-7years like my AMD x2 4800+ build is still ticking after 8years

S.E.V. wrote in post #11337038
Delete it man! You don't need those stinking filez anyways. hehehe

You guy have helped me out a bunch on fine tuning this rig. Looks like it should last me another 5-7years like my AMD x2 4800+ build is still ticking after 8years

Ya right Things wouldn't work, but I'd have 10GB more room!

Bob_A wrote in post #11338405
Ya right Things wouldn't work, but I'd have 10GB more room!

Exactly, Thats what it is all about getting more room right? Who cares if things don't at least you have 10GB more room and saves you some cash from having to buy another drive, hehehe.

I think anything over 120GB for me would be a waste, leaves me room to spare just in case. Windows, vista, PS CS5, LR3, Photomatix pro4, Some video editing crap like Premiere CS5 and all the little plugin crap for CS5. I should remove all the documents and data off my main drive now and see how much just the software takes up.

Black Friday at newegg already happening. Antec 1200 $40.00 savings, Corsair 750w PSU $45.00 saving with an additional $25.00 mail in rebate an overall savings of $110.00 Two parts already down 11 more to got.