Opinion: My New Rig
 

Originally only budgeted $1100-1200 (after tax.) for my new rig, so that it would last me 3-4 years. I don't do much gaming at all, except for the occasional Sims 3, Civilizations, and other non-intensive graphical games. Unfortunately, after putting this system together, it went over by a few hundred dollars. Is this rig worth the extra cost or should I re-compile new parts?

Yes, I do plan to overclock the system.

http://i38.tinypic.com/14xfb5u.jpg

Looks like a great system to me. Very similar to what I'm running currently. Only thing I would say is I have the TRUE 120 heatsink and I love it, though I don't know a lot about the Noctua you picked so I can't compare the two. I would switch your fan choices to either Yate Loons or Scythe slip stream for less than half the price. You could also save ~$30 by dropping to a 640GB black unless you need the extra space. Also you MAY be able to save some money on a non-modular PSU but you found a really good deal so you wouldn't save much (not a huge fan of OCZ power supplies but the specs are great for the price). I would say if you can afford it, go for it. You not going to be able to drop 300-400 without drastically changing the system.

Damn, it's expensive to build a i7 rig, I might just have to downgrade to an i5, but I'm worried that it might not meet my needs.

first of all, i would get a 5770, providing its the next-gen card supported direct x11
in terms of performance of 5770 and 4870, its not much noticeable
but the price should be fairly the same
over all, i really dont think u need the extra 3 noctua fans

spend the extra 100-200 now, and dont have to worry :)
the i7 is good for the price

Yeah I was thinking of dropping the 3 Noctua fans for the case as well, but I'm worried that the CPU might overheat as my bedroom is very hot during the summer.

Thanks for the suggestion regarding the Video Card.

Couple of years ago, all the techies were raving about Nvidia, but why is ATI the preferred choice now?

price & performance
ati brought their A-game and forced nvidia to step it up (and lower prices). 4890 can be had for sub $200, and 5870 is the single fastest gpu around.

thats a high res your monitors running at, i'd go with either a 4890 for $200 or even better a 5850 which if can be found is $300. (xfx is great, avoid sapphire)
http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/im...275-SOC-80.jpg

Before the 5000 series came along I would have recommended an Nvidia card. Since you are not really interested in gaming and graphics isn't a major concern for you you won't notice much difference in the sub-$200 newer cards from either nvidia or ATI.

just downgrade to a i7-860 and you'll be fine
you'll save at least 100 bux from going to P55 base

Also don't drop the fans, just get cheaper ones (Yate Loon or Scythe slipstream). That case only has 1 fan and you're going to want at least 1 intake fan and possibly another exhaust.

a good case should come with all the fans you need.

Paying way too much for fans. Get Yateloons and undervolt, cheaper alternative.

sweet build man
im going with something similar
im getting the HD 5850 and a 750W PSU
Antec 900, so it fits all my parts comfortably

good luck with your build! let us know how it goes :)

No reason to go i7-920, when you can not only save money by going with i7-860, it'll be faster a lot of the time too.

i7-920 and X55 is a foolish choice, an outdated notion as soon as Lynnfield came out.

When's Lynnfield coming out?

This baller spends $63 for 3 fans...:eek:

I only have two 120mm $6 fans speed controlled by the motherboard.
my case is cool as hell.

also you don't need 24x DVDwriter and those silly mouse/kb

About 2 months ago

If my computer gets wipe out, how am i suppose to troubleshoot without a boot disk via. DVD drive?

I am talking about getting some older/cheaper 18x

Why would you get a new rig to run those games that neither would neither stress your CPU nor the GPU? And you certainly don't need to overclock anything to run those games. If you are going to be playing some nice new games that are graphics-intensive, then by all means! But if not, then it's almost like buying a Ferrari and picking up ugly girls that you could've picked up with a Civic.

Gaming isn't the only thing that benefits from a good CPU. I agree that it would be a waste to spend more than $150 on a video card for playing older games.

Cause I don't want to be building a low budget PC and getting it replaced every year.

Or would that be a better alternative according to my needs?

I don't play any 3D shooting games, which are usually the most graphic intensive.

we using the same video card :thumbsup:

why do you need so many fans? shouldn't your case come with the necessary number of fans?

The antec 300 is an awesome case but unfortunately only comes with 1 exhaust fan. It's a cheap case that, if you put a really budget computer in, would do fine with 1 fan. If you want to put a high performance GPU/CPU in it, it's gonna need better cooling, especially if you are overclocking. Adding a couple $6 fans still makes the case half the price of comparable cases with 3+ fans stock.

just get a coolermaster or something, a GOOD CASE, should come with ALL the fans u need man.

a good case should be designed with more than 1 fan and with overclockers in mind etc.

just spend 100+ on a case, instead of 60 on a case, and then 20 20 20 on fans. and remember the bigger then fan, the more quiet it will be. my case has two i dont even know wha tthey fuck they are. they're like huge ass fans, way bigger than 120mm.

What do you guys recommend for a GOOD CASE?
Antec Nine Hundred?