another help a newbie rid build, be nice to the noob

myosin

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My 3.5 year old gaming rig died a hard miserable death. I had just upgraded the video card and switched to 64 bit Win 7 about 6 months ago. So already have an excellent Video card and Win 7 64 bit.

The video card I have is XFX HD-585A-ZNBC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB Black Edition 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card.

I am going to keep my hard drives and optical drives. I was hoping to get a year or two out of the older rig by updating. BUT, since it died gives me a reason to do a little upgrading sooner. I am going to do the build in less than two weeks. Next year I'll probably throw in another Radeon 5850 just because I've never had two video cards. And Next year I am going to get a 3 monitor set up.

I am using new egg for parts. This is what I am thinking about getting.

CASE:

Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811139001

CPU COOLER:

CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler
Item #: N82E16835181010

POWER SUPPLY:

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
Item#:N82E16817139007

CPU:

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80601930
Item #: N82E16819115225

RAM:

Kingston HyperX 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3K6/12GX
Item #: N82E16820104168

RAM FAN:

Kingston HyperX KHX-FAN Fans
Item #: N82E16835116021

MEDIA READER:

Koutech IO-RCM621 All-in-one USB 2.0 3.5" USB 2.0 Front Panel Multi-format Card Reader with USB 2.0 Port
Item #: N82E16820162024

CASE FAN CONTROLLER:

Sunbeam RHK-EX-BA Rheobus-Extreme Fan Controller Panel
Item #: N82E16811995016

I have no idea on the MB.

So some questions to you guys are:

1. What MB would you recommend for my build?

I went with the Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80601930 over Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860 because of this new egg review comment. “Many people don't realize that for people interested in gaming (crossfire X and SLI) there is no option other than Bloomfield processors and above. Lynnwoods only let you use 16 PCIe lanes, so any more than one GPU bottlenecks. REAL i7's don't have this, as their separate northbridge supports 32 lanes.”
Next year I want to put in another Radeon HD 5850 and actually see a difference, So….

2.Is the Bloomfield the choice for dual video cards?

3. The 1366 socket is the newest intel cpu socket so I should be able to upgrade CPU in 2 years and still have a good choice of cpus right?

4. On RAM, just buy a big name brand? Is 12 gigs of 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 to much? I'll be using rig for gaming and video editing. The ram I selected does not have heat sink fins on top. Should I get Ram that has those heat sink fins?

5. I plan on getting three 120mm fans for the top of the case. Any recommendations for fans? Just make sure they are rubber mounted to reduce vibration?

6.Do case fan controllers like the one I selected actually work?

7. Will my power supply handle two video cards?
 
Sorry but that review is partially FUD. For one, the reviewer says the ONLY OPTION is an intel Bloomfield processor for x16/x16 crossfire, whereas I'm near certain some AMD-based motherboards support the same.

If you're primarily gaming, you could investigate the option of getting an AMD phenom ii x4 (as they perform as well or higher than intel processors in gaming benchmarks) such as the 955 or 965.

Will you really upgrade your cpu? In all my years, I've never heard of anyone going through the trouble to upgrade just a cpu without getting a new motherboard/system. I have my doubts you'll want to do so either.

12GB of ram is obscene. I wager you will not need more than 4 or 6GB, especially for gaming.

Look at reviews for fans and try to get ones that reviewers say are quiet. Never heard of a rubber mounted case fan, if you screw them in properly you will not hear case fans vibrate much.

1000W is alot of power for even crossfire video cards (unless you're using the 5890 or comparable). You can save some money by getting a quality brand-name Corsair or similar.
 
Will you really upgrade your cpu? In all my years, I've never heard of anyone going through the trouble to upgrade just a cpu without getting a new motherboard/system. I have my doubts you'll want to do so either.



LOL, you right. Doubt I will upgrade my CPU. :D


Got the extra fans for the case by reading reviews on NewEgg.

Any thoughts on MB.

I would want one that has usb 2.0 and 3.0
 
1. GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58

2. Running 2 cards in Crossfire only requires a motherboard that supports it. You can run dual video cards with any CPU, AMD or Intel.

3. You shouldn't need to upgrade the CPU in a couple of years.

4. You can't go wrong with Kingston. G.Skill is another good brand at reasonable prices. 12GB is a bit overkill. You could probably get by with 6GB though.

5. Antec, Scythe, Thermaltake all make nice fans.

6. From what I hear they work really well.

7. 1000W is overkill. As Marshillboy suggested, you could get something in the 600 to 750W range.
 
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