New System - Advice on spec?

[Kata]

Hi all,

I've been looking towards getting a new system for some time now, and after a lot of reading around have come up with the following. It'll primarily be used for triple-monitor Eve-Online gaming, with some FSX, Supreme Commander, and eventually Diablo 3. Also fairly heavy HD video editing at times. I also want to be able to handle new titles for a while, but will probably not be going for any First Person Shooter stuff.

System Spec Rev2:

Q9550
Water Cooling for CPU from my Armor LCS
Asus Rampage Formula (DDR2 Version)
8GB DDR2 1066
2 x Radeon 4870 (Same as above)
Monitors: Prob 1 x 24 1920*1200, and 2 x 22" 1650*1080 But maybe 3 x 24".

System drive will probably be Raid1 or 0 320 GB drives, as I have them to hand. Then a pair of 1.5TB seagates in Raid 1 for data. (All my audiovisual files are worth a lot to me, and after a previous HDD failure I like the added security this gives)

PSU probably a high end 900W Tagan (I like the look of them )

I don't want to go stupid with money (honest...) but don't mind spending to get good nearly-high-end gear.

As I am currently running 2 x 1280x1024 monitors on an X1950 Pro, I have no first hand experience of the grunt my monitors will need. My real question is - what graphics cards??

[rufeo]

whoa thats some mean setup you've specced! i think 2 4870x2 is way overkill! 2 4870 seems a better choice, 2 gtx260 would be even better imo. they're cheaper, quicker and cooler but would mean a different mobo. have you considered a dedicated fast hdd for all your hd files?

[Powderhound]

You are, quite frankly, being stupid with money. If you have that kind of cash to spend, wait for Core i7 to arrive.

[staffsMike]

For a big budget PC you might as well stick around for i7. But.. if you don't want to,

How much overclocking are you intending to do?

The first thing I would change is the Q9650, the 9550 is around £150 less and only 170Mhz slower, a nothing overclock especially on water cooling.

8GB? For gaming this is a bit extreme. Obviously you need a 64bit OS to address 4GB or more but 4GB should be plenty for a gamign system, even if you want to run apps in the background.

24" screen's are nothing for an X2 you might as well stick with the HD4870 on that or less.

I prefer Western digital to seage but the samsung 1TB F1's are very good drive's.

With the HD4870's there is no need to get such a high output PSU. 750W would be too much but would get you a Corsair 750W TX which isn't a bad PSU.

[Kata]

Ok, I've made some changes for sense - I'm keen to upgrade in the next couple of months, so will try and take advantage of price decreases from the release of I7 and X58. I'll do some 'amateur' level OCing, but I am not an expert, and wouldnt want to spend more than a day or so doing it. A fast HDD for the HD files is interesting - what would you recommend that would beat the two 1.5TBs?

[staffsMike]

A fast HDD for the HD files is interesting - what would you recommend that would beat the two 1.5TBs?

Well the fastest big drives I know of are those based on 320GB or a touch more, platters. The one's I know of are

The Western Digital and Samsung

320GB AAKS and Spinpoint (respecfully) make sure you get the right manafacturer code as it's difficult to get the WD at the moment
640GB AAKS and Spinpoint (respecfully)
1TB Spinpoint

I think the expensive WD's are also 320GB platters. No idea about seagate as I don't like them.

[Powderhound]

3x24"... are you serious?

[rufeo]

depending on how much video editing you do i'd suggest the 640gb or 1tb of either the WD or the samsung. as you probably already know video editing takes alot of space. I've done a few short movies and they took between 20-30gb of space, that wasn't even HD! if you are really into editing then the 8gb ram will probably be great. loads of sources open and then other apps on the other monitor or two.... if only i could justify a 3 24" monitor setup

[Kata]

I have yet to decide for sure (need to visit the shop again and check them in the flesh), but it's definitely going to be 3 of something. Maybe a 24 and a couple of 22s. Or even a 24 and 2 standard size 19s if the other options end up being unuseable, but we shall see!

For the video editing, yes, 3 should be good - Main program in the centre, folders open on one, and generally Adobe Photoshop or Flash Maker on the third

[staffsMike]

Ahhh didn't see the HD video editting, so as long as you have the 64bit OS then I guess 8GB and speedy hard drives will be the way to go

[Kata]

64 Bit OS for sure!

[moogle]

3x24"... are you serious?

Also fairly heavy HD video editing at times.

Why are you getting so jealous (it seems) of him
Even though for video editing I'd think 2 would be enough but let him it's his money

[staffsMike]

I would think the 3 monitors is for the flight sim? Not really my thing but I've seen some crazy setups for FSX lol

[moogle]

I would think the 3 monitors is for the flight sim? Not really my thing but I've seen some crazy setups for FSX lol

LOL can they actually do that? Quite neat

[Powderhound]

I didn't read that he needed it for video editing. Fair enough. I thought he wanted the triple monitors solely for gaming, which is a bit OTT (although absolutely awesome if you can get something approaching a decent framerate in FSX).

[staffsMike]