Core i7 build

[Druid]

Get this set. It's mega on sale:

Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Isn't 7-7-7-18 better than 7-7-7-24 though?

And also can people answer the questions I put next to the other parts in my first post?

 

[Pinscher]

GPU - I would go for the 285 if you can fit it in your budget, its not too much more expensive, and its definitely worth it over the 260 imo

Mobo - I would get the Gigabyte or I also recommend the EVGA (I have it and I love it) plus they have awesome tech support.

Ram - I would get this G.skill kit if you can afford it Newegg.com - G.SKILL PI Black 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory or for a little cheaper, you can get this Newegg.com - G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory or if you want a little cheaper than that, I would still recommend G.skill, just get the next step down. I have always had really good experiences with G.skill.

PSU - I would recommend this Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies because it is an AMAZING deal and it is a rock solid PSU.

HDD - I would go for these if you can afford them Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AACS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive) - Internal Hard Drives Raid 0 isn't too hard to setup but honestly, you probably won't notice too much of a difference so you might be better off just getting one of these Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives (I have one and it works great)

Sound card - I guess this Newegg.com - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Sound Cards. It really depends on what sort of quality you're looking for. What kind of speakers do you have?

Case - I don't really know what you're asking but I don't know of any color changing in any bios.

Mouse - I would get a G7 or G9

Keyboard - The G11 is a great keyboard, the screen on the G15 is useless most of the time.

Monitor - Newegg.com - SAMSUNG TOC T240 Rose Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 20000:1(1000:1) - LCD Monitors

Speakers - For you, I would probably just get whatever logitech set you can afford. You don't sound too concerned about speakers.

Cpu cooler - Here is one suggestion Thermalright "Limited Edition" TRUE Black Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Heatsink (Socket LGA 775 / LGA 1366* / AM2 / Xeon*) - FrozenCPU.com w/ the 1366 adabter but there is also the xigmatek w/ an adapter and a few other good ones

I think I answered all of your questions and I hope I was helpful

 

[Druid]

GPU:Ok, I'll consider the 285 because it seems to run cooler and quieter according to the reviews on newegg. But you would think even the 280 is worth it if I can't afford it?

Mobo: Which EVGA?

Ram: I tried looking for the step down you are talking about on newegg, but I didn't find any 1600 ram that was 6 gigs in that price range, so would you object to the ocz stuff the last guy recommended?

PSU: So that psu is better than the 650W psu I found in the recommended components thread and will totally power my system?

HDD: If it can fit my budget I will get your recommendation, but would the ones I listed perform well if it didn't?

Soundcard: yeah, haven't decided on speakers yet

Case: That's ok, but is that a decent enough case? Will everything fit in it with decent airflow?

Mouse: I think I going to stay with a g5 to keep cost down.

Keyboard: ok, thanks

Monitor: Thanks for the recommendation, but if I had to make some cuts, what makes that one better than something cheaper like this: Newegg.com - Acer P243WAid Black-Silver 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP Support 400 cd/m2 3000:1 ACM - LCD Monitors

Speakers: Ok, I'll look around for some stuff

Cpu cooler: Ok, if I can afford it, I'll get that. If not I'll get it later. I only need that for ocing the cpu right? The i7 probably doesn't need to be oced for anything just yet, does it?

Yeah, thanks man. You're a great help.

 

[Ventriac]

Motherboard: EVGA x58
PSU: i would get the corsair 750
Ram: Ocz produces good ram
HDD: both those hdds are good... ive had 3 of the 16mb cache and no problems at all
Monitor: Acer is fine
CPU cooler: You're all set with the stock cooler, but i'd recommend getting an aftermarket, stock usually don't perform too good.

 

[Pinscher]

GPU: The 280 is still a great card if you can't afford the 285.

Mobo: Ya the evga x58, they only have one x58 board right now.

Ram: You probably wouldn't notice the difference between 1333 and 1600 mhz ram, plus it can easily be overclocked to 1600. I think you're probably good with the OCZ though. From what I know, they are hit or miss with their models. Some are excellent and some are just average.

PSU: the one I suggested will power your system flawlessly. The 750 that ventriac suggested is unnecessary imo. Pc power & cooling makes some of the best PSUs. You can't go wrong with them.

HDD: The one I suggested is about the same price as the two you were considering. Or you could get the 750gb Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives. I just don't think Raid is really necessary. I used to have it and it was nice but after I got rid of it, I didn't really notice much of a difference. Windows loaded up a little faster with Raid 0 but all in all I think you should just go for space instead of speed. Raid is better for people who have the money to shell out on extra hard drives for a little extra speed.

Mouse: The G5 is still a great mouse. It will serve you well.

Monitor: Acer makes pretty decent monitors but I have a 19" right now that I got only because my old one died and I needed one in a pinch. It has some pretty bad backlight bleed that really annoys me. Samsung makes really nice monitors so you are more likely to get less backlight bleed and it will most likely last longer.

CPU cooler: You will be fine with the stock and you can even get 3.2 GHz with the stock cooler. I do strongly recommend an aftermarket cooler though. But if you need to cut costs, you can always get it later.

Case: I don't know anything about that case but I personally think its ugly. Thats just me though, cases are a total preference thing. It will probably do a decent cooling job. I found this one that I thought looked better and it looks like it will have better cooling. Newegg.com - NZXT ZERO 2 Crafted Series CS-NT-ZERO-2 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases its like $20 more expensive though.

 

[Druid]

Ram: Are you sure? I heard to see the performance increase of ddr3 over ddr2 you have to go to 1600, but that person didn't seem very certain.

HDD: Ok, would it be hard to do raid if I started out with on hdd and added another later? I really don't think I need a ton of space, so if I just go with one $55 hdd instead of one $75 or whatever hdd, this would be fine? Is it worse or samsung just prices their drives cheaper?

Case: I think it is a cool case. It is only $40 after mir, so I don't know if I want to move up. If it is good for airflow, I think I'm going to stick with it.

Fans: The case comes with all the fans I need, right?

 

[Pinscher]

Ram: I think that applied when people were using DDR3 with the core 2 architecture but I think it is different with the i7 which has a different memory controller.

HDD: If you buy one HDD and want to do RAID later, you will need to backup everything on your drive and wipe the drive clean to setup raid. You have to start from scratch with raid. I don't know much about Samsung hard drives. I would just get a WD, they are great drives and you can get what you want for only a little bit more.

Case: If that's what you like, then you should be fine. It will come with all of the fans you need.

 

[Druid]

Alright, so final build is going to be:

CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
GPU: Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1285-AR GeForce GTX 285 SC Edition 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards (SC is only $5 more so yeah) or Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1280-AR GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Mobo: Newegg.com - EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Ram: Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
PSU: Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies
HDD: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AACS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive) - Internal Hard Drives x2 or x1
Optical Drive: Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners
Sound card: Newegg.com - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Sound Cards
Case: Newegg.com - RAIDMAX AZTEC ATX-619WB Black/ Silver 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case - Computer Cases
Thermal Paste: Newegg.com - Tuniq TX-2 Cooling Thermal Compound - Thermal Compound / Grease
mouse: Newegg.com - Logitech G5 2-Tone 7 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Laser 2000 dpi Mouse - Mouse
keyboard: Newegg.com - Logitech G11 Silver & Black 104 Normal Keys 29 Function Keys USB Standard Gaming Keyboard - Keyboards
Monitor: Newegg.com - Acer P243WAid Black-Silver 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP Support 400 cd/m2 3000:1 ACM - LCD Monitors
Speakers: Newegg.com - Logitech LS21 7 watts RMS 2.1 Stereo Speaker System - Speakers
CPU cooler: Thermalright "Limited Edition" TRUE Black Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Heatsink (Socket LGA 775 / LGA 1366* / AM2 / Xeon*) - FrozenCPU.com


Just a few final questions.

Is it even worth it to go raid0 at 640 GB? Doesn't the performance increase decrease with larger drives? 640 a bit on the big side for raid?

That cpu cooler will fit in my case with everything, right?

Is there any reason not to get cheap speakers like the ones I picked? Will those things choke on the power of that soundcard? If there are better speakers in the same price range, tell me.

Oh yeah, that samsung monitor isn't there anymore, so I went with the acer since it got a customers' choice award.

 

[AP4LIFETN]

I dunno if the TRUE will fit in that case or not...its a pretty big cooler...also it doesn't seem to be the 1366 Edition, which means you have to buy the bolt thru kit for LGA1366

why such a low end case for a high end setup?

get this PSU for $10 more...
Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

room for SLI in the future

 

[Evolv]

Everything looks good except for the Lite-On optical drive. It's an IDE, big no no, get a SATA.