Just looking for an opinion or two

[tswarthog]

Hey everyone this summer I am going to be building a new rig for myself and just wanted to post what I plan to put in the thing.

I am looking for your opinions if anything in the set up does not make sense, would not match well with the other components, or is too weak for the job.

Here is what I am planning:

Case - Coolmaster HAF 932
Motherboard - EVGA X58 SLI LE
Ram - OCZ Tri Channel 6GB PC16000 DDR3 Memory
Processor - Intel I7 930
CPU cooler - Thermaltake SpinQ CPU Cooler
Graphics card - (still debating but thinking):
EVGA 012-P3-1472-AR GeForce GTX 470
Hard drives - already covered
OS - Windows 7 ultimate (already purchased)
Sound Card - Will put some crazy ass hi-def card in but not when I first build (loves music)
Power supply - some form of a 800 watt'er

 

[foothead]

The GTX 470 is not really worth what it costs. You will do much better with a HD 5850.

 

[Cabbs]

Unless looks are more important to you than performance, go with something other than he SpinQ.

 

[tswarthog]

Unless looks are more important to you than performance, go with something other than he SpinQ.

What would you suggest in the price range.

And for the graphics what other options would be good aside the one mentioned

 

[foothead]

Prolimatech megahalems are awesome. So is tuniq tower 120 extreme. If you want value, zigmatec dark night or cooler master v8.

 

[Cabbs]

Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, Prolimatech Megahalems, Noctua NH-U12P, NH-D14, etc. The SpinQ is a neat design, but tower-style coolers hold the top-spot for air cooling.

 

[VINMAN46]

go with a 5850 and bios flash it to a 5870 follow footheads guide to it too.
but if not a 5850 is still a really good card

 

[tswarthog]

go with a 5850 and bios flash it to a 5870 follow footheads guide to it too.
but if not a 5850 is still a really good card

To be honest I am most likely to get a 470, even though the ATI performs better currently, with a few driver updates the 470 will be a better option. Also I respect ATI but I am an nvidia person

 

[Grantofhell]

470 for life xD.

The 470 is a much better multi-purpose card; Gaming, GPGPU computing (folding), etc, etc. But for gaming in the "now", the 5850 has the lead. Once OpenCL and tessellation really pick up, the 470 will take its position at the top of its range again.

Oh, and you really should mention what "job" that this build might run the risk of not being able to handle. I'd be more on the i7 920 front with PC3-12800 than the i7 930 which has the same base specs with more cost and PC3-16000 RAM which will normally cost a hell of a lot more. Most quality RAM can OC to exceptionally high numbers on an Evga board. OCZ has always done it for me.

As for PSU's? You really can't go wrong with Corsair, except the price. I paid top dollar (200) to get my HX850. The TX850 goes for a lot less, but you will need a lot more space to store the extra wires. There are a lot!
Other brands? OCZ isn't bad at all.

But if you think a single 470 and i7 build is about what you're going to do...I'd stick with a 600-700. Unless you think there will be upgrades, which you never know! But if you are anticipating them...Stay in the 750+ range. (by "them" I mean serious upgrades like more GPU's or...tons of small upgrades. Lighting, fans, HDD's, RAM, an i7 980x, perhaps?)

 

[tswarthog]

Wow that post was epic

Well the job of this computer is pretty well rounded, I use my main computer to do computer coding, gaming (online and single player), photoshop'ing, a lot of video watching, I use my computer as my home stereo, sometimes I enjoy making a fractal render or two but that is kinda rare.

So to sum up the computers job is to do moderate level tasks with great speed, and then be able to spool up for some awesome high end gaming.

The reason I was looking at the 930 and higher end ram was because I though I read somewhere that the 930 is the same chip as the 960 so you could overclock the 930 to the stats of a 960 with no problem at all. Although I have never attempted overclocking before so I would have to be very careful and prepare for something like that. I am not sure of the difficulty involved with overclocking ram so that is my reason for spending the extra cash for the PC16000

For the power supply I wanted to keep it a bit bigger in case I did feel the need to expand, right now I know my major in college will be revolving around computers and electrical engineering so who knows if i will need more fire power later on. Thank you for the brand suggestions on the PSU