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My (Somewhat Realistic) Dream PC - Is it necessary?

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Deozaan:
I got an e-mail from TigerDirect advertising this powerful system for $1700 + about $50 shipping.



Well, my eyes got wide and I felt that yearning desire like a child who had just seen the coolest bicycle in the window of a store but knew he (his family) couldn't afford it.

So I wondered if I could take a look at the specs and build something approximately as powerful for less money. Oddly enough, neither the processor nor the motherboard were in stock at TigerDirect so I turned to NewEgg. At first I was going to try to build the exact same machine, but when I found out that the motherboard is also out of stock at NewEgg, I started looking for substitutes (which also help cut down on costs). This is the machine I came up with:

Case: Antec Performance One P180 Silver cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower: $140.
Motherboard: MSI X58 Platinum SLI LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard: $220.
GPUs: 2x EVGA GeForce 9800 GT Superclocked Edition 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-E 2.0 x16 SLI: $130x2 = $260 - $40 Mail in Rebates (MiRs).
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC: $120 -$20 MiR.
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920: $280.
RAM: 12GB (2x CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Model TR3X6G1600C9): 2x$100 = $200.
HDD: WD Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5": $100.

Extras:
CPU Fan: Thermaltake CL-P0508 110mm CPU Cooler : $60
Thermal Gel: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound: $9.
WiFi Adapter: LINKSYS WMP300N 32-bit PCI Interface High-speed Wireless-N: $65.

Total: $1454 (before Mail in Rebates) + about $10 shipping since most of these items have free shipping. There are $60 of Mail-in-Rebates so at the end of it all it will be just over $1400.

The only thing that I can tell that is missing from the original PC advertised at TigerDirect is a DVD-RW Dual Layer, but I have one in an older computer I could salvage. Also a keyboard and mouse, but once again I could salvage both of those from my old computer. Oh yeah, and the TigerDirect PC comes with Vista Premium 64-bit. I have Vista Ultimate 64-bit from an MSDN subscription as a benefit for being in college for Computer Science, so I don't need to buy the OS.

I could probably also salvage my wifi card from my old PC and I probably don't really need the Thermaltake CPU cooler since the Core i7 comes with a fan and heatsink.

My question(s) though are:

1. Can anything really make use of 12GB of RAM these days? Naturally I'd have 64-bit Vista on it until I got Windows 7 (RTM?). I am a gamer and I like to have tons of applications open at the same time, but isn't 12GB overkill?

2. Is there anything in this list that has a substitute that is just as good but costs less? Or maybe something that is better but costs the same? For example, are the GPUs sufficient? I'm looking for a good trade-off between cost and power (not electricity). I pretty much picked these two GPUs because they were the ones (or similar to the ones) in the $1700 PC. Or maybe something on this list that just isn't good quality and I really ought to spend more money for high quality hardware? For example, is the PSU sufficient or should I go for a 1000w PSU?

3. Is there anything NOT in this list that should be? Am I forgetting something important like cables or connectors or something that should be obvious and is necessary like a CPU? Is anything glaringly incompatible with something else in this list? I didn't consider, for instance, making sure there are 64-bit drivers for Vista for the WiFi Adapter. I almost didn't think of getting a Thermal Compound, either.

Just remember that the more expensive this thing gets, the less likely it is that I'll be able to buy it. The cheaper it gets, the more likely it is I'll be able to buy it. However, the less powerful it gets, the more likely I'd rather wait until prices come down or until I have more money so I can still consider it a (realistic) dream PC.

And just for reference, here's my current machine's specs:

Case: Not sure what brand, just some mid-tower ATX case.
Motherboard: Abit uGuru AX8 K8T890.
GPU: EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 2xDVI.
PSU: Antec EA-380 (380w) 80 Plus.
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.25 Ghz).
RAM: 2GB (2x 1GB) (not sure what speed or anything else about them).
HDDs: 880 GBs (80GB Maxtor SATA, 300GB Maxtor SATA, 500GB Western Digital SATA).

Other:
WiFi: U.S. Robotics Wireless MAXg PCI.
Optical: NEC DVD-RW Dual Layer (ND-3550A)
CPU Fan: Thermaltake A1
Keyboard: EluminX Sapphire.
Mouse: Logitech Trackman Wheel (which is going bad... :( ).
Monitors: ViewSonic VX992 (19" LCD) and DCLCD (19" LCD).
Speakers: CodeGen S3-001 45W 2.1 speakers.

EDIT: I are good at teh English.

housetier:
So you received an offer, but "they" don't even have the hardware in stock?

That doesn't surprise me at all, I think it's the usual way for "them" to make more money: They'll accept your order and money now, only to deliver the goods much later when you can get them everywhere for a better deal. So unless they really deliver the next day, I wouldn't accept such an offer.

You are asking good questions though, here is another one: Do you really need such big gear now?

f0dder:
12GB is overkill, you'd probably be fine with 6GB. I'd personally go for 12GB though, as I've gotten used to 8GB in my workstation, and 12GB would allow for even larger permanent ramdisks :)

I wouldn't go for SLI, I don't need the juice (a GF8800GT/512meg does just fine) - costs too much, draws too much power, generates too much heat.

Dunno about PSU - I got a 700W, but even when maxxed out, my system draws ~250W or so... and that's with a 2.4GHz Q6600 overclocked to 3GHz. I'd probably have been better off with a decent 400W PSU, from what i understand a PSU runs most effectively near the power consumption it was designed for.

So you received an offer, but "they" don't even have the hardware in stock?-housetier (May 10, 2009, 07:36 AM)
--- End quote ---
They might have pre-built PCs ready but not the individual parts...

fenixproductions:
Little OT:

Am I the only person thinking that buying 1TB HDD is not wise?

I see that a little bit risky, not because the brand (or capacity) but from reliability point of view. Personally I'd rather go for two smaller disks for completely new PC. Shit happens and I would never store my data on one HDD only.

f0dder:
fenix: I wouldn't go with a single drive either, no matter what the capacity. For my storage needs, 2x500GB disks in a raid mirror would be quite adequate - and since I use a fileserver for bulk storage, I don't even need that much for my workstation.

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