i7 Build

[Hamsterstyle]

1. Blender 2.5 rendering computer (Possibly some Maya also), Photoshop, After Effects/Premier and Video Editing/Effects. Moderate Gaming (Witcher 2, Diablo III potentially, Minecraft),

2. Budget $1200-$1400ish

3. USA

4. No Brand preference

5. 64gb SSD, Hardrives, Monitor/KBD/Mouse/Etc are being swapped over.

6. I've read everything I can.

7. Overlclocking...I would love too, but I probably wont... but I may try... bad answer.

8. 1920x1080

9. Building it in the next wek.

10. I'm thick skinned.

Upgrading from a Core 2 Duo E8400, 4gb Ram, Geforce 8800 GTX 512 (I think)




My Build So Far:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129066
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161368
HIS H695FN2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371026
Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231426
2x G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL (16gb total)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118050
SONY Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BD-5300S-0B - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.654375
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.654375
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

(MB and Chip for $505 as part of a combo deal)
I know I don't NEED 16gb of ram, but it's so cheap.

I may end up getting two graphics cards for SLI.


What are your thoughts? It's been 3.5 years since my last upgrade, It's like I'm coming back into this market new. I'm pretty sure I have it right.

RAID. I'm considering adding two new hardrrives in addition to the SSD for a Raid configuration. I'm more interested in security than speed. Any advice on two 2tb drives?

 

[mfenn]

The mobo and PSU are overkill, so you can save some there. Otherwise it looks fine.

- Mobo: Save $100 and get the i7 2600K + GA-Z68A-D3H combo
- PSU: 650W is all you need for CFX 6950s and this XFX 650W is higher quality.
- HDD: These 2TB WD Greens are fine.

As for drives, remember that RAID is not a backup. If you don't already have a backup, you're better off using the two drives independently (one backs up the other)

 

[Hamsterstyle]

The mobo and PSU are overkill, so you can save some there. Otherwise it looks fine.

- Mobo: Save $100 and get the i7 2600K + GA-Z68A-D3H combo
- PSU: 650W is all you need for CFX 6950s and this XFX 650W is higher quality.
- HDD: These 2TB WD Greens are fine.

As for drives, remember that RAID is not a backup. If you don't already have a backup, you're better off using the two drives independently (one backs up the other)

Swapped in that combo. Only 4 SATA ports though (Unless I'm reading that wrong). Burner, SSD, 2 Harddrives and I'm full. Although I am assembling my old system as a backup server with some harddrives in it.

I have two WD Greens already, older models though, have served me well. Perhaps I'll grab another one.

Whole build is at $1073. I may just do SLI now then as it is more in line with my budget. (I barely play video games on my computer anymore, but spending money on myself makes me happy)

 

[mfenn]

Swapped in that combo. Only 4 SATA ports though (Unless I'm reading that wrong). Burner, SSD, 2 Harddrives and I'm full. Although I am assembling my old system as a backup server with some harddrives in it.

I have two WD Greens already, older models though, have served me well. Perhaps I'll grab another one.

Whole build is at $1073. I may just do SLI now then as it is more in line with my budget. (I barely play video games on my computer anymore, but spending money on myself makes me happy)

The D3H has a total of 6 SATA ports, 2 6Gb/s and 4 3Gb/s (SATA is backwards and forwards compatible).

As for Crossfire (that's what it's called with AMD cards), I'd don't think that I could in good conscience recommend getting two cards if you barely play games.

 

[fffblackmage]

Get a nicer case or something instead of the second [useless] gfx card. Maybe upgrade the SSD as well, if it's relatively old.

You may also want an nVidia gfx card, if your rendering/editing programs makes use of CUDA.

 

[Hamsterstyle]

Get a nicer case or something instead of the second [useless] gfx card. Maybe upgrade the SSD as well, if it's relatively old.

You may also want an nVidia gfx card, if your rendering/editing programs makes use of CUDA.

CUDA? I'm out of it for a little while, everybody gets delusions of grandeur.... I don't know that this is going to affect me much. I'm not doing a ton in Premiere, other than basic editing, most of my work load will be in AE and Blender, neither support CUDA natively apparently. But it's something to consider on my part.

My SSD is a Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV425-S2BD/64GB that I bought 10 months ago. So probably wildly out of date. I'm waiting for at least one more year on my SSD for 128gb drives to hit a more reasonable price, or hopefully a 256. 64gb is just too small for OS and applications.


I may end up using my Antec Solo case. This new Antec case might end up holding my old parts. But it really depends on how I feel when I get the case on my table and see how I like the layout. I like Antec's because they are simple, solid, and arn't too flashy. But if you have a suggestion on cases, I'm open to it.

Also, thanks on the SATA port correction, I didn't see the other 2 ports. 6 should be sufficient.

 

[Morg.]

Antec 100 = Antec 300 basically,

Also, What's cooling that i7 ?

 

[mfenn]

You may also want an nVidia gfx card, if your rendering/editing programs makes use of CUDA.

Good point! Many apps are moving towards CUDA, even if the current version doesn't support it.