Building a new rig, need input- Woog

woogity · Apr 2010

Hey everyone, I'm working with a friend to build a new computer for home. right now I'm working on an outdated POS that cost an arm and a leg 3 years ago, so I'm hoping to do this fairly cheap, as every $ saved will eventually go towards a Centiq.

O and this is for character art in case anyone was wondering.

anyways here is what we came up with so far off of NewEgg:

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80601930 -$289.99

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D Green 430W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $59.99

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard -$209.99

LG DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model GH24NS50 -$24.99

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive -$89.99

2x Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998805 -$499.98

EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card -$134.99

the total for this is $1379

which I think is pretty reasonable..amirite?

anyways I don't know tons about computers, and my buddy isn't an artist and thus doesn't know much about our requirements, so please let me know if this can be improved on without jacking the price up much above $1500< that's my ceiling for this project.

East · Apr 2010

$500 for 6 gigs of RAM? That's a bit ridiculous considering you wanted to save money for a Cintiq. You should be able to get 12 gigs for that price

woogity · Apr 2010

it is 12 gigs srry musta missed copying in the 2x

piippo · Apr 2010

I'd change that PSU to something else, something from Corsair example (TX or HX series). Otherwise it looks pretty good.

PolyHertz · Apr 2010

Get a Geforce 250 gts 1gb instead:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2731

Artifice · Apr 2010

if you're looking to save a bit of money, I'd go with a LGA 1156 setup instead. The i7/LGA1366's are just out the door and way overpriced. It's always tempting to get the new and fastest, but it's rarely worth the cost. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't see a big difference.

MSI P55M-GD45 LGA 1156 Intel P55 $110

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz $200

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) x2 $300

That drops you about .2Ghz and from 12 to 8 gigs of ram, but 8 is likely fine for most anything besides hugely complex scenes. It'd save you about $300. Nothing wrong with what you've got up there, just a less expensive option.

Tom Ellis · Apr 2010

I'd definitely drop the RAM to 6GB, and maybe an i7 920 instead. Motherboard looks fine, although I just went for an ASUS P6T which seems to have better reviews.

I agree you should probably go for a different PSU also, possibly with more power too which should cover you if you upgrade in the future. I've got a Corsair TX650 which is awesome.

A different approach might be to go with the CPU/MOBO combination Artifice mentioned above and then get a better GPU, something like a GTX260. The i5's are basically i7's without 'Hyperthreading' which means you get a straight quad-core rather than a quad-core that kinda works like an 8-core.

Having never compared an i5 and i7 in a real world situation, I couldn't say how noticeable the difference would be, but I'm pretty sure the i5 is no slouch.

ZacD · Apr 2010

I've heard the hyperthreading works really well with baking and mental ray rendering.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i5,2410-12.html

PfhorRunner · Apr 2010

Artifice: Technically the 1366 socket was out before the 1156... but I agree with the price point.

the extra money for the i7-930 doesn't make sense, if you're going to go i7, go with the 920 and save some money.

The Mushkin REDLINE is USELESS unless you're going to overclock, and I didn't see a non-stock cpu cooler on there (which would be required). So don't waste your money here either, go with their blackline instead.

If you do end up going with the 1156 socket and a core-i5, make SURE to get the Lynnfield, stay clear of clarkdale unless you're building a media center or something with less cpu requirements.

piippo · Apr 2010

i7-860 with appropriate mobo( ASUS P7P55D-E ) and GTX260. That would be a money saving option too, but it would be better than the i5.

Building a new rig, need input- Woog

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