View Single Post
      05-25-2009, 06:20 PM   #26
vgame64
Colonel
vgame64's Avatar
United_States
141
Rep
2,479
Posts

Drives: BMW 335i
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: USA

iTrader: (9)

The OP is lucky, some very good advice has been dispensed in this thread.

Some notes:
First, to the person that said "SCSI raptors" are overkill...first of all, raptors are SATA, not SCSI. And I think they are useful even in any scenario where your hard drive is thrashing. I like how quick load times are and how applications pop open real quick. Obviously SSDs are faster and the new 7200.12 series Seagate drives are in some cases faster.

Second: To the folk asking if you do any multifunctional programming...that must have been a typo? I am a developer and the closest thing to that I have heard of is functional programming...and that can be run a P1 133MHz...(Haskell, F#)

Third: As for the person claiming ATI cards having more value right now...this is very true; ATI is a great value proposition but nVidia is doing a good job countering them. I personally prefer nVidia cards thanks to all the CUDA applications being developed for it. OP: CUDA allows the video card to be used for non video related tasks...and does them VERY fast. For example, using Badaboom, I am able to convert DVDs onto my iPhone in 1/20th of the time it takes my CPUs.

Now I suggest the OP sticks with Core i7 because of the aforementioned point of CPU socket. If you are going to be building a PC and want it to last 2-4 years, try to future-proof as much as you can. It is true Core 2's are pretty close in performance (HardOCP and Anandtech have good comparisions) but the i7 will have more headroom and lifespan in the form of overclocking, Hyperthreading, SSE instructions, and socket.

As for overclocking, I feel it's a no-brainer to overclock it. Get a nerdy friend to help you out if you are inexperienced. As long as you buy the correct stepping processor, a good motherboard, a stable power supply, a good CPU cooler, and quality RAM (And make sure to buy a good mobo and CPU cooler, 3.6GHz should be easily attainable; the additional speed will be noticeable in video encoding and other CPU intensive tasks. Also, it will slow the rate of performance decay on your PC, delaying when you will want to upgrade.

As for buying the parts...I personally would wait for deals over a month's span, and then assemble the computer once you get all the parts. I lurked on Slickdeals and got a Core i7 for $200 at Microcenter. (Be sure to stick with reputable sellers such as FrozenCPU, Newegg, TigerDirect, Fry's, ZipZoomFly, Fry's, etc)

One point I would like to make about SLi...stay away from it; irregardless of it being single card (GTX 295) or multi-cards. Micro-stuttering still exists and it is very annoying in my opinion. If your resolution is not too high, the GTX 275 is a great deal now and a good overclocker.

Keep in mind, Intel should be responding soon with their shot back at the latest Phenom's, and these should bring some nice improvements (along with increased cost) and nVidia has the GT300 cards around the corner which are rumored to be a more than 200%+ performance increase.

Regarding your PSU, when you buy it, don't just look at total output power, take a look at how much power is distributed on each rail and how efficient the unit is. Then, look at reviews on [H]ardOCP. They do comprehensive tests that show any issues that occur at full load (such as voltage ripple, etc).

The last step I suggest you take is to make an account on [H]ardForum or Anandtech forums. They have sections in which you lay out your complete build and people will critique it for you.

Anyways, good luck with your build and post any more questions you have!

Last edited by vgame64; 05-25-2009 at 07:07 PM.. Reason: Merge + Clean
Appreciate 0