Howdy. I'm new to HF and while it may not be the most polite thing in the world to start with a request on my first post, it's why I made an account here, to get a second opinion from more experienced hardware people about the system that I want to build. I have a budget of around 2200$ and want to buy this in April, assuming there isn't any major breakthrough in any of the technologies in the next months I guess the prices shouldn't change a lot. So here's what I have so far (I'll be using this system for gaming and heavy multitasking, I work with several resource-hogging programs at a time, such as running Flash + Photoshop + Dweaver at a time): Processor: I7-920, 2660 MHZ ($390) Motherboard: Gigabyte X58A-UD3R ($256) HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM ($120) RAM: Corsair 12GB (6 x 2GB), DDR3, 1333/1600MHz ($620) Video: Gigabyte nVidia GeForce GTX285, 1GB GDDR3 512bit ($460) DVDRW: LG 52x ($25) Case: Antec Tower Three Hundred ($80) PSU: Antec EarthWatts 750W ($160) Total: 2111$ I already have a 27" LG TV/Monitor I'm going to use with this system, as well as a wireless KB/mouse kit and another 500GB external HDD. Here are my questions, if you could kindly help me out: 1. I noticed this question gets asked a lot, but is 12GB still an overkill? From what I understand Windows 7 64bit uses as much RAM as it can find to cache up applications and restore them faster. Will the 12gb keep me warm in the next 2-3 years or so, or is it pointless to splash another 300$ on the extra 6GB? 2. Can the Antec EW 750W handle this system, given the addition of the monitor, USB HDD and peripherals? What about if I want to add another 285 GTX card in SLI later on as they get cheaper? 3. Are any of the components a really bad buy at this point in time? New generation of procs/GFX cards around the corner that will heavily reduce the pricing on these in the next 2 months or so? I'm not that keen on waiting, but if it saves me a couple hundred bucks... 4. Does the Antec Tower Three Hundred case offer enough ventilation (without extra coolers) to keep this system going smoothly and not overheating like a Mass Effect sniper rifle with High Explosive Rounds? Thanks in advance for your help and sorry if I was a bit long. P.S. I should also note I'm not looking to overclock anything (yet) nor will I be looking for better prices on the same components. Also, I'm based in Romania and would prefer to buy from a local shop so newegg prices don't really help.
1. 12gb is mega overkill. I've ran with 8gb for 4 years, and its still plenty overkill...I'm talking like I have 10-15 applications open at the same time with no problems. Try to get 6-8gb, unless you have no money problems. 2. 750W is plenty for your system, I upgraded from my 600W to 750W so if I wanted I could run SLI and my components would have better power than with my OEM chinese-made junk PSU. But yes, 750W should be plenty. You only want more if you plan on having 3x or 4x SLI mode, or water cooling system (I think). 3. I'm not looking into every component, but at a glance, 2.6GHz processor seems lame for $390, it "can" bottleneck your system. Try to invest in something with more speed, especcially since you arn't overclocking. I'm pretty sure you can find faster ones for less or equal money. And #1 about memory. 4. If you don't overclock stuff like you said, you should have no problems with cooling. (You should read the reviews on your case, on newegg.com and decide if thats what you really want.) If you have a high-performance rig, expect it to run hot, but thats how they were meant to run. Still noobish at components, but an answer is an answer.
The CPU is fine. Speed is 2.6 GHz, but it's an Intel i7 so that's okay. The RAM is indeed overkill. 6-8 GB is more than enough. So I'd suggest using less RAM, and using the money you save there to add another Hard Disk (if required).
