New Gaming Rig

[masteroc]

Thinking about building a new gaming rig and wanted to run my build by you guys. Of course id like to shave off some money if I can but this is about my budget.

Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card x2

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply

Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998805

Newegg.com - ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601930

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

ASUS P6X58D!!! Why do people insist on that overpriced board!?! There are plenty of cheaper options out there that are just as good (if not better).

At $209, I personally think the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R cannot be beat. It wins against the P6X58D in terms of port options (2 more rear USB with two of them being USB/eSATA ports, an additional mini-Firewire, no unnecessary 2nd Ethernet port). It also has 4 more internal SATA ports, the same amount of internal USB and Firewire, an IDE and floppy port, and an extra PCIe X1. It is based on the same chipset (X58) and includes the same audio (Realtek ALC889) as well. Both boards have 2 USB3.0 and 2 SATAIII ports as well.

As far as overclocking goes, the board seems to work fine. I have my 930 running almost 4.1GHz (4.08 at 215x19 multiplier). I could go higher but I don't want to increase core voltage any more (1.3V) and I think my RAM is also limiting me. The board seems to handle it fine. It has LED indicators for over-voltage, over-temperature, and overclocking levels as well as power phase indicators that can be enabled with the Dynamic Energy Saver 2 application.

(It's on sale for $199.99!)
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

With the money you save on the motherboard, buy a nicer GPU. The GTX460 is kinda low when you could get a GTX470 or HD5870. I'd rather go with a single HD5870 or GTX480 over dual GTX460's, dual GPU configurations usually do not perform at 2X the single card's speed and they use up more power. I recommend ATi this time around and would say a 5870 is the way to go, but seeing your nVidia avatar means I'm probably talking to a wall, so consider a GTX480.

You can shave 10 bucks by going with the i7 920 if it's still around. Overall you probably will end up lowering the multiplier if you plan on high overclocks (if you keep the high multiplier you'll be limited by your RAM most likely).

 

[masteroc]

Thanks for the response! I most likely will consider that motherboard you linked me. The only reason that I chose the Asus was because I hear it has very good overclocking potential.

Also, I looked up some benchmarks of the sli 460 gtx (1gb) vs the 480 gtx and the s 460's came out on top. Also, I only chose this avatar to have something there, I am an Nvidia fan but by no means a fanboy ( I recommended the ATi 5770 to a friend for a more budgeted gaming comp build).

Also, the 930 is $5 cheaper than the 920, only reason I chose it (free shipping also I think)