Build; $1000-$1800CND

[Cheshire4]

I've been running on laptops for the last 3 years and am totally out of touch with tower hardware.

I work for a charity organization, and we're in need of a rather well built system (shared / multi-purpose) which will have some rather high demands put to it.

The budget range available is 1000$ to 1800$.

One thing I will like to try post build is running ESXi & PCIe passthrough to have a windows VM with proper hardware graphics support. I will be benchmarking to compare if the performance hit is worth it. If it is worth it, a small openBSD & a small openFiler VM will be created for generic testing.



On to the build questions!

CPU : i7
Motherboard : something reliable
Heatsink/Fan : thermaltake heatsink + pwm fans (low sound)
Video Card : one for now, expandability via SLI / other in the future
Sound Card : integrated is fine
RAM : DDR3 preferrable, I dont know the performance expectations
Hard Drive : Have 8x 3.5" Barracude 500GB, may need a RAID card
Case : something quiet (Lian Li v1100?)
Power Supply : Modular
CD/DVD burner : yes
Floppy (optional) : no
Operating System : many! (not an issue)
Ethernet card : 1000MB min

Upgradability is important, as though we have a good budget now to get us started, this wont be something we can buy from scratch annually.
As the ESXi notion likely wont work, 2x or even 3x PCIe2.0 x16 slots for SLI would be nice forward thinking as this will be used for a lot of drafting & modeling.

Any help is immensely appreciated!

 

[Sniper_13]

Case >> Corsair (CC700D) Obsidian Series 700D Full Tower ATX PC Case | Canada Computers

GPU >> EVGA GeForce GTX 460 1024MB (01G-P3-1370-TR) nVidia GeForce GTX 460 Chipset (720Mhz) 1024MB (3600Mhz) GDDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card | Canada Computers

CPU >> Intel Core i7 950 Quad-Core Socket LGA1366, 3.06Ghz, 4.8GT/s FSB, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm (Retail Boxed) (BX80601950) | Canada Computers

Mobo >> Asus P6X58D-E Socket 1366 Intel X58 + ICH10R Chipset CrossfireX / 3-Way SLI Triple-Channel DDR3 2000(o.c.)/1600/1333/1066Mhz 3x PCI-Express 2.0 x16 Dual GigaLAN 8-CH HD Audio 2x SATA 6Gb/s + 6x SATA 3.0Gb/s 2x USB 3.0 ATX | Canada Computers

4 Tb of HDD >> Western Digital Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) 1000GB (1TB) SATA3 7200RPM 64MB Cache (OEM) | Canada Computers (i chose WD because i find them more reliable then Seagates, and most people would agree, you also do not need any RAID card because the motherboard has RAID controllers)

Modular PSU >> Corsair HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX EPS12V Power Supply | Canada Computers

Memory 6gb DDR3 1600mhz >> G.SKILL NQ Series DDR3 1600MHz (PC3-12800) 6GB (3x2GB) Triple Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ) | Canada Computers

DVD writer >> Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE SATA Black 22X DVD-Writer OEM | Canada Computers

CPU Cooler >> Zalman CNPS9900A LED Low-noise 120mm Blue LED CPU Cooler 2 Ball Bearing PWM for Intel Socket LGA1156/1366/775 & AMD AM3/AM2+/AM2/940/939 | Canada Computers

Total is > $1,668.88

with tax

$1885.8344

Canada computers has the best deals around in Canada as far as i have seen, ncix and tigerdirect are a bit more pricier. The video card i have chosen for you should be sufficient for moderate drafting and modeling, and you can always pick up another for down the line and sli it.

 

[Cheshire4]

Thank you very much!

I was looking up reviews on the mobo, unfortunately what Canada Computers left out of the description is that though it is 3x pcie x16, it can only run Slots 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x8/x8 or x16/x16/x1 mode). Which is fairly decent in it's own right.

I usually end up buying from NCIX, and possibly memory express now that they have a physical store in BC, but I know NCIX has been very good in price matching, I just keep track of the other retailers, make one order with one company using the compilation of all the other stores prices. NEver been turned down yet.

 

[patonb]

i find ccumpters pricey, especially with ncixs price matching... Infact newegg has the best prices over ncix.

NCIX.com - Buy NCIX Silent Bundle Deal Intel Core i7 930 Quad Core CPU & Noctua NH-U12P 120MM Heatpipe Cooler - 930 & NH-U12P SE2 In Canada. 930 and noctua $309.99


NCIX has the best service, and with their pricematching, you'd be insane to not try their first.

Even newegg has the 950 for less... $309.99 Newegg.ca - Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950
But i didnt like their long shipping

 

[Sniper_13]

oh i didnt know newegg shipped to canada. well there you go, you can save some money for your self.

 

[patonb]

Their shipping sucks.... but it means NCIX drops their prices to match those of newegg.ca Its a great thing if you don't have hst or are in BC.

 

[Sniper_13]

sucks for me my local Canada computers doesn't match prices and even if they did, im in Ontario

 

[patonb]

Ncix is in Markem and Scarborough now.You could always take a drive

 

[Sniper_13]

yeah in today's traffic a min. of 2 hours which is like 20$ gas spent just there and then 20$ back that's 40$ plus the frustration of driving, whereas i could save my self all that trouble and walk down the street lol. im Hamilton btw

 

[jfenwick]

Canada computers has horrid customer care, I try not to buy from them if I can help it. The only place worse is TigerDirect. Newegg.ca is pricey when you factor in their shipping, but their customer care is top notch. I had two OEM cpus in a row show up with bent pins, in both cases they shipped me a new one, no questions asked. I was able to straighten them with a blade and now I have three cpus instead of one, they didn't even want the firs two back.

NCIX has good sales on occasion, the real reason to buy from them is their excellent customer care and their price match option which no one else will provide unless you buy a complete system from them. Just do the following:

1) Figure out your build items.
2) Visit shopbot.ca and find the cheapest supplier for each component, copy down the addy and the price
3) Go to NCIX.com and add all the IDENTICAL items to your cart
4) Select the price match option when in your cart and then enter the addy and price as needed for each item that is cheaper than their price.

Shipping probably won't cost much, if you watch the Wednesday night sales (10pm) there is usually a cheap/free option offered in conjunction with one of the items. I've always found their shipping reasonable and fast.

One downside with NCIX is that they charge HST now in Ontario, a few months ago before they set up their Markham stores they didn't charge HST which made up for the shipping.