Help with new PC build

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C_4

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Hey guys,

So I've been looking at buying a new computer since my current P4 is starting to show its age at 7 years old
I need it to be decent at gaming and to run engineering programs like MATLAB and hopefully last around 3-4 years

Here are the specs:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58-UD3R (R 2999)
CPU: Core i7 920 (R 2962)
RAM: OCZ DDR3 1600MHZ PLATINUM XTC 6GB CL7 (R 1325)
Hard Drive: WD Caviar Black 640GB (R 1072)
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI 4870 1GB Toxic (R2 337)
DVD Writer: LG GH22LS30 22x DVD Writer (R 289)
Case: CoolerMaster Gladiator 600 (R 591)
PSU: OCZ ModXstream Pro 600W (R 1328)

Already have the Samsung 2494HS monitor

What do you think?

Total comes to about R13k which it a bit too much, looking at around maybe 1k to 2k less than that. Is there any component I could change for similar performace but cheaper?

Not sure about PSU, or how much of a difference a cheaper one like the Gigabyte ODIN 585W would make?

Also, which is better between the UD3R motherboard and the ASUS P6T?

Is there any major difference between the coolermaster gladiator 600 or coolermaster cm 690?

Thanks for the help
 
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That psu seems expensive to me, damn 1.4k for a 600w? You could look into pricing for 1333 memory because there is not much difference in performance.
 
1. For around R1100 you can get a 1TB drive (Samsung 1TBs are excellent - http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2008/12/09/samsung-spinpoint-f1-1tb/1)

2. For a few hundred Rs more you can get the 4890, which is about 20% faster than the 4870.

3. You could save at least R500 - R700 on PSU. Have a look at the Cooler Master Extreme series. They're great, the 500watt version will be perfect.
 
Thanks, i'll look into a different PSU

The other thing is my current pc is quite noisy and wanted a PSU and graphics card that was fairly quiet

I heard the 4870 toxic is quiter than other cards and assumed it would be quieter than the 4890 so that's why i chose it instead, but i may be able to sacrifice some quietness for performance
 
General consensus on lots of review sites is that there is very little to choose between the Asus and Gigabyte motherboards, so you are safe with either. The Gigabyte is good value for money. Go read the reviews.
 
The asus gives you far more over clocking options but yea gigabyte boards are solid and i have only ever used gigabyte mobo's. Most gpu's are silent until you game then the fan speeds up but surely you have speakers on or headphones so you won't hear it.
 
From various online stores: 3 from PCInt and 2 from Take2, WantItAll and motherboard is from IkonicIt
 
MSI Intel X58 Pro is more than enough and it goes for round R2,336..(Take 2)

HIS 4890 can be had for R3071,5 from Landmark..
 
C_4 said:
Thanks, i'll look into a different PSU

The other thing is my current pc is quite noisy and wanted a PSU and graphics card that was fairly quiet

I heard the 4870 toxic is quiter than other cards and assumed it would be quieter than the 4890 so that's why i chose it instead, but i may be able to sacrifice some quietness for performance
Click to expand...

You can use ATI Tray Tools to change the card's automatic fan table, or set different speeds for idle and load.

Also you can change the idle clock to something like 500/250 to save power, at 28% fan my 4870 512mb is around 40-45 deg. depending on the weather..
Load I don't let the Fan go above 40-42% (depending on the OC), 70-80 deg. depending on how intensive the game is.
I have profiles of:
2D: 500/250
3D: 750/900
4D: 750/1000
5D: 800/1100
..you can then assign to each game, as it requires, through the profile system and it loads it automatically with the game..
Awesome program, in fact I don't even have CCC installed..
 
Nehalem runs with triple channel RAM, so 3x2gb is a good setup. That's why 6gb
 
It seems as if the 1333MHz RAM is only a few hundred less than the 1600MHz so i think I'll stick with it

Although the perfomance difference might be slight, the 1600MHz will give more overclocking headroom
 
nice setup :)
PSU WAY to expensive... rather go for 4890! Much more future proof(that is what you want)... 6GB of DDR3? Why? why not 3X1 , 1X2?
 
Ok, here are the new specs:

Motherboard: ASUS P6T (R 2876)
CPU: Core i7 920 (R 2962)
RAM: OCZ DDR3 1333MHZ PLATINUM 3GB CL7 (R 688.56)
Hard Drive: WD Caviar Black 640GB (R 1072)
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI 4890 1GB (R2 734)
DVD Writer: LG GH22LS30 22x DVD Writer (R 289)
Case: CoolerMaster Gladiator 600 (R 591)
PSU: Antec EarthWatts 500W (R 974.70)

TOTAL: R R 12,187.26

Didn't want to go for coolermaster extreme power PSU cause read complaints that it was noisy

Anything else I need to consider?
 
C_4 said:
Didn't want to go for coolermaster extreme power PSU cause read complaints that it was noisy
Click to expand...

Been through many and never had a noisy one. I heard that some of the 550watt versions had fans that became noisy over time, but I'm sure that's been fixed.

Anyway, nice build.
 
C_4, I've currently got a Coolermaster Extreme PSU.. and its silent as hell...

The one 120mm fan I have in the machine makes more noise than my PSU.
 
C_4 said:
Ok, here are the new specs:

Motherboard: ASUS P6T (R 2876)
CPU: Core i7 920 (R 2962)
RAM: OCZ DDR3 1333MHZ PLATINUM 3GB CL7 (R 688.56)
Hard Drive: WD Caviar Black 640GB (R 1072)
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI 4890 1GB (R2 734)
DVD Writer: LG GH22LS30 22x DVD Writer (R 289)
Case: CoolerMaster Gladiator 600 (R 591)
PSU: Antec EarthWatts 500W (R 974.70)

TOTAL: R R 12,187.26

Didn't want to go for coolermaster extreme power PSU cause read complaints that it was noisy

Anything else I need to consider?
Click to expand...

PCsToGo said:
nice setup :)
PSU WAY to expensive... rather go for 4890! Much more future proof(that is what you want)... 6GB of DDR3? Why? why not 3X1 , 1X2?
Click to expand...

If you're going antec only take their neo he series. The 550watt is awesome value for money. Another quality power supply that isn't too expensive is the corsair 550watt. Other solid brands include enermax, seasonic, pc power and cooling and zalman.

killadoob said:
That psu seems expensive to me, damn 1.4k for a 600w? You could look into pricing for 1333 memory because there is not much difference in performance.
Click to expand...

The pricing on the power supply is fine. I can show way more expensive power supplies that are just 600watts. Why don't you go price the 625watt enermax? Or maybe a 600watt zalman?
 
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