Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post

kn · 09-30-2011, 10:58 PM

It's been about 5 years since I looked at computer technology for myself and I've been overwhelmed with what's now available. My home computer is a 24" iMac Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme @ 2.8 GHz. It's a good machine but it's 32-bit and I've only run Windows on it.

I use the home computer for (in decreasing order of priority):

internet
Windows development
games (Football Manager 2011, Civilization V - no MMORG or FPS although I may try a FPS with my new system)
music
movies

I try and get more than I really need now in hopes of future-proofing. After a couple weeks of reading reviews and Tomshardware (among other places), the following is what I was able to build at Memory Express.

Thoughts would be appreciated if someone sees a major flaw in the system or incompatible parts.

Case: Silverstone Fortress FT02 Unibody Chassis, Black ($239.99)
Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 8MB Cache ($304.99)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 w/ Dual DDR3 2133, 7.1 Audio, Gigabyte Lan, 1394, CrossFireX / SLI ($164.99)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit (4 x 4GB) ($129.99)
Graphics Card: Asus ENGTX570 DirectCU II GTX 570 1GB GDDR5 w/ Dual DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort ($369.99)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series Gold AX 850W Power Supply ($199.99)
SSD: OCZ RevoDrive X2 PCI-E Solid State Drive, 240GB ($549.99)
Optical Drive: Samsung 12x Internal Blu-Ray Combo, SATA, Black ($89.99)
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster T27A950 27in Widescreen 3D LED LCD w/ HDTV Tuner, Speakers, 3D Glasses ($749.99)
Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech Desktop MK120, Retail ($19.99)
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (64-bit) SP1 DVD - OEM ($119.99)
Labour: Assemble Hardware + Load my O/S ($70.00)
Warranty: ($195.99)

Total: $3382.13

Questions:

1) I never bought a power supply before. I know the one I chose is a good one but do I even need one with my intended uses? Should I downgrade?

2) The RevoDrive is a special order but the demo I watched online just made it look incredibly cool. Boot time was practically nothing and it started almost 10 apps instantaneously. I know I can get cheaper alternatives though and it's likely I would still be pleased with the performance.

3) The Graphics Card is the 3rd best from Nvidia. It should be good enough for what I play but perhaps I should look at bumping it up for future-proofing? Do I really need to consider dual-cards? (I can't believe people use three cards for some games.)

4) The monitor is also out of stock but it looks really cool. I won't be using any of the 3D features so I guess I'm paying for something I don't need. Unfortunately, I didn't find another aesthetically pleasing monitor. I'm used to boring widescreen at work so I'd like something a bit nicer at home. This is where Apple spoils you. Any suggestions for monitors would be appreciated.

The sub-total without the warranty is $3009.89 which feels better. I obviously wouldn't mind knocking it down further to around $2750-$2850 without sacrificing too much performance.

Thanks to anyone who bothered to read all this.

09-30-2011, 10:58 PM	#1
kn #1 Goaltender Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Calgary Exp:	Comments on yet another custom PC... It's been about 5 years since I looked at computer technology for myself and I've been overwhelmed with what's now available. My home computer is a 24" iMac Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme @ 2.8 GHz. It's a good machine but it's 32-bit and I've only run Windows on it. I use the home computer for (in decreasing order of priority): internet Windows development games (Football Manager 2011, Civilization V - no MMORG or FPS although I may try a FPS with my new system) music movies I try and get more than I really need now in hopes of future-proofing. After a couple weeks of reading reviews and Tomshardware (among other places), the following is what I was able to build at Memory Express. Thoughts would be appreciated if someone sees a major flaw in the system or incompatible parts. Case: Silverstone Fortress FT02 Unibody Chassis, Black ($239.99) Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 8MB Cache ($304.99) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 w/ Dual DDR3 2133, 7.1 Audio, Gigabyte Lan, 1394, CrossFireX / SLI ($164.99) Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit (4 x 4GB) ($129.99) Graphics Card: Asus ENGTX570 DirectCU II GTX 570 1GB GDDR5 w/ Dual DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort ($369.99) Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series Gold AX 850W Power Supply ($199.99) SSD: OCZ RevoDrive X2 PCI-E Solid State Drive, 240GB ($549.99) Optical Drive: Samsung 12x Internal Blu-Ray Combo, SATA, Black ($89.99) Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster T27A950 27in Widescreen 3D LED LCD w/ HDTV Tuner, Speakers, 3D Glasses ($749.99) Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech Desktop MK120, Retail ($19.99) OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (64-bit) SP1 DVD - OEM ($119.99) Labour: Assemble Hardware + Load my O/S ($70.00) Warranty: ($195.99) Total: $3382.13 Questions: 1) I never bought a power supply before. I know the one I chose is a good one but do I even need one with my intended uses? Should I downgrade? 2) The RevoDrive is a special order but the demo I watched online just made it look incredibly cool. Boot time was practically nothing and it started almost 10 apps instantaneously. I know I can get cheaper alternatives though and it's likely I would still be pleased with the performance. 3) The Graphics Card is the 3rd best from Nvidia. It should be good enough for what I play but perhaps I should look at bumping it up for future-proofing? Do I really need to consider dual-cards? (I can't believe people use three cards for some games.) 4) The monitor is also out of stock but it looks really cool. I won't be using any of the 3D features so I guess I'm paying for something I don't need. Unfortunately, I didn't find another aesthetically pleasing monitor. I'm used to boring widescreen at work so I'd like something a bit nicer at home. This is where Apple spoils you. Any suggestions for monitors would be appreciated. The sub-total without the warranty is $3009.89 which feels better. I obviously wouldn't mind knocking it down further to around $2750-$2850 without sacrificing too much performance. Thanks to anyone who bothered to read all this.