Building a 1k USD graphics machine - how does it look so far?

[Noppina]

Hi there this is my first time building and I'm looking for some feedback on my planned setup. I'm hoping to spend around 1000 USD but I have a little bit of wiggle room.

CPU: Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W
Heatsink: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212
MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58
GPU: GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB
PSU: ??? Need advice !!
HDD: Not sure... looking for 1TB
Memory: CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (I think this is compatible, right?)
Case: COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690

Monitors: ViewSonic VP2365WB 23-Inch IPS LCD x2 (note: I already have these - they are not included in the total target price)

Keyboards/Speakers/Mouse: Already have 'em

I'm a student looking to use this machine mainly for photography, painting, and design in Adobe CS5 with some video editing here and there which is why I went with the Nvidia to make the most of the CUDA acceleration. I don't do gaming and don't want to OC this machine.

Am I missing anything?

 

[PP Mguire]

Everything looks good cept the ram. You have a dual channel kit listed and you need a triple channel kit. Itll be in 3, 6, or 12gb flavor.

For a HDD anything Seagate or Western Digital flavor will be fine. Something thats 7200RPM at least.

 

[redfish]

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more! go with this GPU/PSU combo. GTX 460 1GB and a 850W 80+ Gold PSU.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more! Case+ RAM and yes you need triple channel, like this, and not double channel.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more! i7 and mobo. A little expensive. If I were you I'd go with i5 750 ( Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750 ) or AMD, and I'd overclock. Just sayin'.

Newegg.com - Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV125-S2BD/30GB 2.5" Desktop Bundle 30GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) I'd go with SSD if you can afford it. Massive performance increase.

if you go SSD, get this: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

if you don't, get this: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

All that leaves is ODD. This is a little (or maybe a lot, I didn't check xD) over budget. You'd be hard-pressed to find an i7 950 system with decent other components for your price range. You should be fine with i5 750. In fact, I'd suggest AMD for anything under (undefined) dollars. You can get much better components without spending all of your money on CPU and mobo. As far as I know, there isn't too much of a performance difference WITHIN THE COMPETITION (that means that of course an i7 extreme edition beats a 1055T).

Anything I can do to sway your opinion on OC'ing?

 

[PP Mguire]

If he isnt OCing the 950 would be his best bet for video editing and Photoshop. Since he doesnt need anything else he can easily fit an i7 system into his budget which is why i said his stuff was good besides the ram.

 

[Noppina]

Thank you both so much for the help! (Not that it makes a difference, but I am a "she," btw, not a "he" )!

I looked at the memory again. D'oh! Thanks for catching that. I'll make sure to get a 3 channel like the one suggested.

I'm really a total newb so I wouldn't be confident in my ability to OC anything without doing something wrong. It would add what to me feels like too many extra considerations at the moment since building this myself is already quite a project, haha. I heard good things about i7 + cs5 too so...

Thanks for the suggestion about SSD. It forced me too look into it a bit more. While it looks fun and really tempting, I think the price is too much for me for the amount of storage right now. I'm not really the type of person who goes around upgrading computers often (ok, never... hoping to change that though) so maybe I should just stick with regular hdd for now. Thanks for the link! It's in my cart .

Not sure about the PSU though. I dumped my junk into the PSU calculator and newegg and it said I need <600W. Hoping that's accurate so I can get by with 650w? I feel embarrassed to ask a stupid question, but two monitors wouldn't make a diff would it? I know it makes the gpu work harder though, right?

ETA: Ok, played around a bit more and discovered the appeal of combos-

Yeah, it's a little over budget but it's got the cpu/gpu/mobo I want, the right memory, and some better options than I had before I think... and it's cheaper than when I added my main items + cheaper items in the cart.

 

[redfish]

Not bad. You won't be getting 5-second boot times without an SSD, but that's a nifty build if you aren't too impatient.
You're wasting the V8 if you don't OC
Oh, and don't forget the DVD drive.
That PSU should work fine. The biggest difference with two monitors is that your GPU will run hotter, but in a HAF 932, you don't need to worry.

 

[Noppina]

Thanks !

I actually changed things around again a little more... went with a smaller case and different corsair PSU and saved some $$. The V8 is a little overkill I think so I tried something smaller too...

I wouldn't still wouldn't suffer too much heat, right ?

 

[vortex2450]

Corsair PSU, Corsair RAM, i7 950, your good to go