No budget multimedia/gaming rig build.

[Viceroy]

This build's ultimate purpose is to be used for mainly for gaming and multimedia downloading/burning/ripping/playback. I have stated that this build has no budget restrictions. This is true, however that is not to say that I am willing to spend excess amounts of money for hugely diminished returns on bleeding-edge merchandise. I am satisfied with the product that is currently at a great value but is not underpowered. For instance, my GPU of choice is the Radeon 5850. It is less powerful than the 5870, but also much less expensive. It is also slightly more expensive than a 4890, or 2x4870 CF'd, but also a much more solid and versatile performer. The perfect balance of power-pricing for me is the Radeon 5850.

---Potential purchases---

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
$97 taxed/shipped
Low latency and low voltage make up for its low speed, which can be easily overclocked. I will consider purchasing a second set if 4gb seems insufficient.

GPU - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD5850
$265 taxed/shipped

ODD - HP Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA 24X Multiformat DVD Writer
$35 taxed/shipped
This one does everything but Blu-ray. If you can find me a better one or a cheaper one, chime in.

$397 total

---Recently completed purchases---

***New*** Case - XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case
$98 taxed/shipped

PSU - ENERMAX ERV1050EWT Revolution85+ 1050W SLI/CrossFire Active PFC Modular 85 Plus Silver Certified Power Supply
$150 taxed/shipped

HDD - Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 32 MB Cache
$75 taxed/shipped

CPU - Intel Core i7 Processor i7-860 2.80GHz 8MB LGA1156 + Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 Socket 1156/ Intel P55/ DDR3/ CrossFireX/ A&GbE
$335 taxed/shipped

VDU - Dell UltraSharp U2410 24 inch 1920x1200 6ms 1000:1 HDMI/DVI/VGA/DisplayPort Widescreen LCD Monitor
$524 taxed/shipped
Really phat screen with badass features and picture. Demands high-power GPU so I can take advantage of its awesomeness.

Audio A - Altec Lansing BXR1121
$20.00 taxed/shipped
If you haven't heard these before then you are missing out. For the quality of sound I can't believe they only retail for about 25 dollars.

Moose - Razer Salmosa
$27.00 taxed/shipped

$1229 total

***New*** ---Optional purchases---

***New*** Mouse - My current mouse, the Razer Salmosa, is somewhat unsatisfactory to me. I bought it on the prerequisite that it would be ideal for fingertip gripping, when in fact the dynamics of the mouse seem more befitting a claw grip or even a palm, and this is just not what I wanted at all. If held with fingertips, the Salmosa buttons are too difficult to depress (due to being nearer to the butt end), the chassis shows marks very easily, and the mouse itself is just much too long to be effectively maneuvered like a fingertip mouse should be.

If you have any suggestions for mice that you think I would like, please let me know.

***New*** Keys - Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard
$50 taxed/shipped
Keyboard needs to have backlighting, or whatever it is called where a light comes on beneath the keys so they can be seen easier in a dark room. The keys must have space between them and must have noticeable depression (so no laptop keys). It absolutely must NOT have all the noobish bling like a dumb little LCD screen or 50 programmable buttons I'll never use. If you have any suggestions for boards you think I would like, or if you think the G11 is perfect for me, let me know.

***New*** HDD - I already have a 1tb drive listed in my completed purchases, but I am considering several options that would involve different/additional HDDs.

One would be purchasing a 10k RPM drive, particularly the Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive. Newegg is running a combo deal right now where they are throwing in a power supply along with the VR, and giving you 2 bucks just to take it off their hands. I have no use for that PSU on my machine, so I figure I could sell it on Ebay for about $70, thus bringing the practical price of a 300 GB WD VR down to $150. Another option would be to take identical drives and run them in RAID, but this would practically necessitate that I sell my current drive and buy faster ones (I am going for speed here, after all). Yet another option would be the one included in the following quote:

Another option is to buy a 32MB cache 1.0 or 1.5 TB drive ( $90 to $140 typically , Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 series in particular here ) and "short-stroke it" to only 300 ( or 700 ) GB, using the fastest part of the platters only ( restrict cylinders to only allow access to outer cylinders/tracks of the platters, so that the drive is forced to only r/w to the fastest parts of the platters ( the middle to outside of the platters, larger circumference of platter = higher data throughput there ), making inner portion of the platters inaccessible. Once you do this, the performance is on par with VelociRaptor ( even slightly better in certain benchmarks ) for about half the price of the VelociRaptor.

All of the options look tempting and viable to me. I thank you for any insight you can offer me in this matter.

********

That's it for the potential purchases for now. Please give me any opinions you have-no change is too small. I've spent a lot of time on this build because I want it to be as perfect as it can be, so please spare no detail. I am all-ears.

Thanks a bunch

~Viceroy Trepanation

[Funkstar]

Although your intentions were honourable, the spamming past the 5 post URL restriction is not looked upon too well.

However, welcome to Hexus, and I hope you stick around

The link at the bottom of my sig might be useful to you.

[ashikamlani]

Instead of going for crossfire 4870s, I would go for 1 5870 or 5850 tbh. This is just becuase there will be less heat/power consumption, even if as you say you do pay more for it.

Also, I have heard good things about the Asus P7P55 series of boards. I have not read any reviews about the Gigabyte UD6. You could go for this cheaper motherboard instead:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...tCode=10011067


By the way, why aren't you buying from Newegg?? Much more choice there.

[Viceroy]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I just gave the OP an update. I'll be back to respond tomorrow evening.

[Viceroy]

By the way, why aren't you buying from Newegg??

My purchases are planned to be made wherever the best price can be found. Sometimes the Egg has good prices, sometimes they don't. They charge me tax ;_;

[Iota]

If it's no budget, i'd seriously consider adding a 80GB Intel G2 SSD into that mix for games (your game load time would be great!)

[Phage]

The 4870 is a good card and cheap. I would consider 4890's CF if you can get them. Given the heat and noise I would also consider the Vapor X version of either card.

+1 for an Intel SSD if you can afford it.

For someone who doesn't like bling, why go for the G11 ? Why not something a little more sober ? I appreciate that many people like their programmability, I have always thought that they looked as if they were made by trekkies.

[Viceroy]

G11 has backlighting, media controls, and is only 50 dollars. If you have suggestions for something different, point me to a specific model so I can consider it.

I will hold off on purchasing an SSD until the compatibility issues have been remedied.

[Viceroy]

I thank you for all of your input. I just gave the OP an update, so check up on it my ninjas.

[Phage]

I'm not aware of any compatibility issues with an SSD...?
If you're considering the 5870, the the new 5870 Vapor X would be my pick.
On keyboards, it's whatever feels good for you. Nearly all keyboards have media controls now, and personally I've never liked back lighting, but YMMV.
The link to the Antec 300 Illusion is broken, but I used the Antec 300 myself. So I can recommend it for the price, but if I had the cash, I probaly would go for the Coolermaster ATCS 840 or one of the plain Lian-Li range.

+1 for the i7 860, the UD4P, the Ripjaw RAM, and the Samsung F3.

[Vimeous]

If you're seriously considering the i7 860 why not go all the way to 1366?
You get the hyperthreading, triple-channel and better upgrade potential.

[Random_guy]

I'm pretty certain that the 860 has hyperthreading as well (IIRC its only the i5 750 that doesn't have hyperthreading) so its really a choice between triple and dual channel, plus the possibility on 1366 of upgrading to Gulftown in the future, all be it at a likely high price. Plus the 1156 i7 chips have lower power consumption, if that is a factor for you.

[Vimeous]

I'm pretty certain that the 860 has hyperthreading as well (IIRC its only the i5 750 that doesn't have hyperthreading) so its really a choice between triple and dual channel, plus the possibility on 1366 of upgrading to Gulftown in the future, all be it at a likely high price. Plus the 1156 i7 chips have lower power consumption, if that is a factor for you.

Yup i7's have HT, i5's don't

[Pob255]

I'm pretty certain that the 860 has hyperthreading as well (IIRC its only the i5 750 that doesn't have hyperthreading) so its really a choice between triple and dual channel, plus the possibility on 1366 of upgrading to Gulftown in the future, all be it at a likely high price. Plus the 1156 i7 chips have lower power consumption, if that is a factor for you.

the 1156 i7 cpu's have the pci-e control on them, the 1366 i7 it's still on the motherboard chipset, but with a fast lane between cpu and chipset
p55 is restricted to x8+x8 when crossfire or sli, where as x58 is not
of course that's only an issue if you go down the sli/crossfire route.

one other thing I would say about the motherboards is keep an eye on the PWM system & phases of the different models, some of the lower end models don't have as many power phases as the higher end boards, this will limit/effect your overclocking.
It does depend on how far you want to push the overclock of course.

[Zhaoman]

If you really like the way the NZXT m59 looks then I would get that. Functionality isn't as huge a concern as people make it out to be. As long as it has decent airflow (which it looks like it does) and isn't particularly cramped (it looks like a standard, relatively spacious case) then I don't see why functionality should hold you back from getting it. Tool-less entry and other 'features' doesn't make much of a difference when you're building your PC imho. The most imprtant things in the long term are airflow and looks

The other components looks solid enough; will upgrading to the i7 860 make any difference? Yes of course it will. Is the difference worth an extra $63? That's for you to pass judgement on since you know what you'll be using it for primarily. Looking at gaming benchmarks I would personally say no but that's the most taxing thing I use my computer for so that's the yardstick I measure my potential purchases with.

The other decision is between the 5870 and 5850: value-wise the 5850 wins hands-down but the idea of having a 5870 is just so much cooler . If I had the money this is one area where I'd splash it: +1 for the 5870.

Have fun with your build!

[Viceroy]

one other thing I would say about the motherboards is keep an eye on the PWM system & phases of the different models, some of the lower end models don't have as many power phases as the higher end boards, this will limit/effect your overclocking.

Okay, about how many phases should I aim for?

I don't see why functionality should hold you back from getting it

Well, if the case is too small, then it can't fit certain components, and apparently this case might be too small to hold a 5870 card, which will obviously be a problem should I choose to get that card.