May I ask your opinion on this system?

[Ben Freedman]

Howdy...

I'm looking to build a new system for a power-user, but under $3K. Here's where I'm at so far, not including display, keyboard, etc...

May I ask your opinion on these components? Thanks!

Best,

Ben


CoolerMaster HAF X RC Case
ASUS Rampage III Formula MB
Intel i7 960 CPU
Thermaltake ToughPower Grand 850W PS
Corsair CWCH50-1 CPU Cooler
Kingston 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM X6 (24GB)
PNY GTX580 Video Card 1536MB
Intel 510 120GB SSD Main Drive
2 X WD Caviar Black 2TB RAID 0 (software RAID)

Total cost on this so far is around $2500...

Thanks for your suggestions..

Best,

Ben

[Tom Miller]

this is the route i went

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...px?ID=15778145

(Keep in mind my computer is water cooled so ad about $500)

Ive been running this system for a couple months works perfectly i would defiantly recommend this set up

[Ben Freedman]

Howdy...

I can't see your setup. I don't think your 'wishlist' is public...

Still, perhaps you could comment on any deficiencies that you see in mine? I'd appreciate your thoughts... Where does it fall short compared to yours? If you look, you'll see mine is water-cooled too..

Best,

Ben

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I'm not certain what a 'power-user' is, but try to get at least 12GB or RAM, or if possible 24GB. And don't forget 64-bit OS.

[Ben Freedman]

Originally Posted by Sareesh Sudhakaran

I'm not certain what a 'power-user' is, but try to get at least 12GB or RAM, or if possible 24GB. And don't forget 64-bit OS.

You got it! As you can see, I have 24GB listed... 64-bit Win 7 is a good call!

Best,

Ben

[Marty Baggen]

Ben... great looking system. Looks like the only thing you need is my shipping address.. :)

[David Beisner]

Good looking system, Ben. My one recommendation would be to drop the SSD for your main drive as there's not enough cost/benefit for those yet. Instead, I'd use a 7200rpm SATA for the main OS/Programs, and then get a second 7200RPM SATA to separate your PrPro programs and Windows cachefile from your video data. You'll get much better performance from that, than you would by having an SSD for your OS/Programs disk.

[Pete Bauer]

I differ with David on this one. A good 120GB SSD isn't much more cost than two 7200PRM HDDs, higher MTBF, lower power so cooler, silent, and are have massively better IOPS for OS / temp file snappiness (although with 24GB of RAM, your system will probably not be depending too much on the swap file). I don't really see the need to separate OS and Programs onto separate drives these days, although the Creative Suite temp / cache files should live on a high performance drive.

True, SSD don't necessarily change rendering benchmarks, but they're nice. There's nothing wrong with using an HDD for OS and/or Programs, but the advantages of SSD make them worth having. Just my opinion.

[Steve Kalle]

I totally agree 1000% percent with Pete.

Once you go SSD, you will never go back.

For the OS drive, I went from 4 10k rpm Raptors in Raid to ONE Intel X25 80GB and the performance is night and day better.

I would add a 4th drive, 500GB - 1TB to hold the page file and Media Cache. With 24GB of ram, you don't want the page file sitting on your SSD.

I am surprised my 'buddy' hasn't chimed in yet and told you to go with the i7-2600k. FYI, this new i7 is way faster than the 960 and only the 6-core 970/980/990 can keep up with it.

That case is not very quiet. I have found some Antec and Lian-Li cases to be rather quiet. Also, the fans play a big role which is why I use Antec's 3-speed Tri-cool and Noctua. I would also recommend a Noctua CPU cooler - I have their 2nd biggest NH-U12 with two 120mm fans.

My Lian-Li case sitting 2 feet from me has 10 drives and 5 fans (not including the Noctua cpu cooler) and I can barely hear it right now. To make life easier, I would look for cases with removable air filters so you can easily clean them. Remember that a case will last longer than every other piece of equipment you buy so look at it as an investment. This is why I had no problem paying $400 for my Lian-Li case 4 years ago.

I would definitely get faster ram so you can overclock - even if you don't want to overclock now, you will find it very tempting when you realize that you can get an extra 25-30% more speed for free. So, I would look at DDR3-1600 at a minimum and possibly DDR3-1866 or 2000.

One more thing: backups? I use 2 external eSata cases with 2TB Seagate LP drives. I highly recommend to stay away from Hitachi, even if its just a backup drive. I have now had multiple problems with them and now have several full Seagate LP drives. And definitely do not use Macally cases - they are cheap and poorly made - I have 3 of them dead on the shelf in 12 months.

[Steve Kalle]

Originally Posted by Sareesh Sudhakaran

I'm not certain what a 'power-user' is.....

Maybe this:
HP Z800 - dual 6-core Xeons, 24GB ram,
Quadro FX3800 via DisplayPort to an Eizo CG243W
X25 80GB SSD, 6 2TB Constellation ES in R5, 4 1TB in R10, 1 160GB as 2nd OS
Areca 1680ix raid controller + BBU
BM Decklink Extreme 3D
.......

Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

[Randall Leong]

Originally Posted by Steve Kalle

I am surprised my 'buddy' hasn't chimed in yet and told you to go with the i7-2600k. FYI, this new i7 is way faster than the 960 and only the 6-core 970/980/990 can keep up with it.

True - if you don't put in too many PCI-e cards into the i7-2600K system. I had an i7-950, and I now have an i7-2600K. The i7-950 really needs a hardware RAID controller card with more than eight hard drives and a large RAM cache (in addition to 24GB of system RAM) just to outperform an i7-2600K running with only an onboard RAID controller, four hard drives (plus the OS drive) and 16GB of system RAM (the model of hard drive and the GPU being equal in both systems). That would push the i7-960 build to nearly double that of the i7-2600K system in total component cost for only a small performance gain. IMHO that price difference is better off spent on a higher-end GPU for the i7-2600K system.