Having second thoughts

[awalke23]

Was about to buy the parts for my FSX rig, but was advised not to by a friend. He said I should downgrade my mobo to an ASUS 750i, and that the DDR3 RAM was not worth the price. He said that I should take that money and instead get a bigger PSU and some GeForce GTX 260 GPU's instead. Also thinking of switching cases.

I'd like a few second opinions before I commit to either system. Here are the specs for both:

Option 1 -
PSU: Antec TPQ-850 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009)

Motherboard: EVGA 132-YW-E180-A1 nVidia nForce 790i Core 2 Duo Socket 775 1600 MHz DDR3 1333MHz ATX Motherboard (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009486)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e8500 3.16GHz (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10007605)

RAM: 8GB (4x 2GB) Crucial DDR3 PC3-10600 1333 1.5V (http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=nForce+790i+SLI+FTW+DIGITAL+P WM+(132-YW-E180-A1))

Graphics card: 2x SLI EVGA 01G-P3-N880-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130429)

Case: Antec 900 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021)

Monitor: Samsung 2253BW 22" 2ms LCD (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008054)

Operating System: Windows Vista 64-bit Premium (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488)


Option - 2
PSU: Antec TruePower Quattro TPQ-1000 1000W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified 80 PLUS Active PFC Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371012&Tpk=antec%201000w)

Motherboard: ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131232)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e8500 3.16GHz (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10007605)

RAM: 8GB (4x2GB) Crucial DDR2 PC2-6400 (http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=P5N-D)

Graphics Card: 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130400)

Case: Cooler Master Stacker 830 Full Tower (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119155)

Monitor: Samsung 2253BW 22" 2ms LCD (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008054)

Operating System: Windows Vista 64-bit Premium (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488)

[awalke23]

2x GeForce 260's, or 1x GeForce 295?

What would be better?

[IceHot]

1 295 has better ratings and than 2 280gtx's. So I'd say 1 295 is better than the 2 260gtx's. He's right that DDR3 ram is a little expensive because its kind of new. I just got my new system running today and its running perfectly! I am typing from it right now. Running without a glitch.

intel i7 920
Geforce 280 GTX
3x2gb DDR3 corsair Dominator Ram
640GB western Digital Hard Drive
Gigabyte x58-UD5 Mobo
OCZ Power and Cooling 750watt Supply

I think that running the DDR3 ram is worth the price because in the next year or so DDR2 will begin to phase out. Also, DDR3 ram with the x58 chipset gets rid of front side bus and reads right from the memory. Its amazingly fast. I clicked Download steam....less than a second after clicking it was done downloading. The progress bar never even showed. I also think the reason the new x58 chipset is worth it is because in about a year or 2 everything will probably be running from it and you'll run into more than just upgrading a video card when you wanna upgrade your computer to be able to run the games/programs you want. I think 750watts is perfectly fine to run 1GTX 295 or if you wanna save about 150 dollars and still beat 95% of the market look at the 280 GTX. Go with the EVGA edition as it has step possibility. Read more into that, dont wanna type it all out. The other build you were looking at is A very good build and if you feel more comfortable with that then go for it. I am not trying to persaude you as I really have no motives other than to share my opinions. I personally think its worth the little bit of extra cash. Hope this helped. Post again if you need too.
Either way...GOOD LUCK!!!!

[The Wise Monkey]

I must say that the i7 processors are the way forward. While the system that your friend suggested is very good, the PSU is massive overkill and there isn't as much future proofing as your previous system.

If you want a beefier PSU, look at the Corsair 750TX - this is an amazing PSU, built by Seasonic but with a Corsair touch.

Icehot is right - i7 920, X58 motherboard, GTX295, 6GB DDR3 RAM is the best way to go in the current market.

[awalke23]

Coincidentally that is pretty much exactly what my system system has evolved into (after doing some parallel research). Damn you guys are good :p

Been glaring at RAM for the last few hours and I came upon this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226030

Has anybody ever heard of, or used this brand of memory before? It's the only RAM I can find that meets what I'm looking for: 1.65V, 1600MHz, CL=7, doesn't cost a kidney..


crap, I'm drooling on my keyboard again..

[The Wise Monkey]

Mushkin is a very good brand of high performance RAM, so that is a very good price.

You might also want to consider this OCZ, which has slightly tighter timings:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381

[awalke23]

Thanks WM, that article was helpful. And I don't know how I missed that RAM. It's even better! Waiting for them to restock it and I'll snatch it up.

As for my system.. I've had second, third, fourth, and fifth thoughts now and I think I'm finally settling into this:

Case: Thermaltake Armor+ Full Tower VH6000BWS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133056)
PSU: Zalman 850W SLI cert. Modular PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817379007)
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe Intel X58 ATX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131346)
CPU: Intel i7 Nehalem 940 2.93GHz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115201)
Heat Sink: CoolerMaster V8 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103055)
RAM: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1600 [1.64V 7-7-7-24] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381)
-or- Mushkin 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1600 [1.65V 7-8-7-20] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226030).
(Whichever Newegg restocks first).
Graphics card: nVidia GeForce 280 GTX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143144)
[B]Sound card: Onboard
Hard Drive(s): 2x Western Digital 7200 250GB 16mb cache (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161) in RAID 0. Will wait about 6 months and buy a 500GB Drive to add in RAID 1 as a backup.
Optical Drive(s): Samsung 22x DVD burner
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151171)
Monitor: Samsung 22" 2253BW LCD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001268)
Speakers: Will buy later, probably go with Altec Lansing again as my last pair of speakers worked phenomenally.

Operating System: Windows Vista 64 Prem (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488)


Has anybody else ever used the CoolerMasterV8? I hear it's ridiculously heavy and can warp your MOBO.

[awalke23]

Just ordered everything!

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=7861654

[RickyTick]

Just ordered everything!

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=7861654

Very very nice. Great system.

[The Wise Monkey]

Secure list... xD

[awalke23]

If you login it should let you see it, but it doesn't matter cause it's the same as above ^.^

Hoping the ram becomes available soon, would like to put this together on Friday

[The Wise Monkey]

No point me getting a newegg account - I live in the UK. :D

Looks a nice system btw. I'm a fellow Thermaltake case user, and they are great.

[awalke23]

Finished the new build yesterday (my first) and it went super-smoothly. Thanks all for the help, this thing is a BEAST! :eek:

FSX has been running just fine with sliders turned almost all the way up, and I'm pretty sure it can handle alot more. Will try tweaking the settings higher tommorrow.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild005.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild011.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild012.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild013.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild014.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild016.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild018.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild027.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild032.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild028.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Psychonuke19/FSX%20Build/ComputerBuild030.jpg

[The Wise Monkey]

Looks awesome, congrats!

That is a huuuuuge CPU cooler. :o

[RickyTick]

Great job. That's one to be proud of for sure.