wreckless

So my brother wants an i7 rig..

He does not plan to games or overclock. What he does want is lightning fast "windows processing", ie opening files/pictures, having a bunch of internet pages up, music playing, and multiple programs opened.

the budget is roughly $1200-1500, here's what I'm thinking.



Processor: i7 920 ($309)


Motherboard: not sure here, regular P6T? P6T Delux? evga x58? what is the major diff between the P6T V2 Deluxe and the regular P6T? any others options? ($300-$340)


Memory: 6GB (3x2GB), not sure at all what to get here. ocz? corsair? ($150-$200)


Hard Drive: since he wants lightning fast speed, should he get a WD velociraptor 300gb for the 10k rpm? or would a WD caviar black 7200rpm be fine? ($100-$269)


Power Supply: enermax or corsair 500W, unless a 750W is needed? ($120)


Vid Card: anything around $100 i guess ($100)



Total: $1100-1350 (if you know of cheaper prices, let me know as i am sure the store i'm buying from will price match)


Any advice would be appreciated, -especially regarding the motherboard and ram-!!

Thanks guys!!

EMP7Y

Yeah looks good, but I would recommenced the WD blacks or the new Samsungs either solo or in a raid config, much more cost effective.... unless you really want to shell out the cash and go for SSD's

Also I think the CAD is almost the same as the USD... I have no idea if computer components follow that anyways... with that said, I think you could be pleasantly surprised with the cost, cheaper than you allowed.

EDIT: More thoughts:

Yeah 750 Watt should be plenty
As far as memory, you might want to consider upping that to 6Gigs, and I would go with whatever brand you can find with the best price that is a) at the best speeds/timing for the motherboard b) a reputable brand

__________________

spixel

You dont need a 750w.

550w is plenty even with a single high end card. A pc with stock i7 920 with a gtx275 uses 350w on full load.

Jplaz

Go for an SSD, and the 920's run $200 if you live near one. As earlier stated 550W is enough for even a high end single card.

__________________
Please read the TOS Folding for OCN, at a lousy 400-800 points a day...
Multiplying the number of cores by clock speed DOES NOT equal "final speed" or "computational power"

jspeedracer

If he wants pure speed I would recommend:

2x300gb raptors in raid 0

the lowest latency 2000mhz ram you can find (corsair has a set of dominators i believe at 2000 @8-8-8 or even tighter timings maybe)

and if graphics isn't as important i would spend the extra $ on possibly a server motherboard with dual processors for some extreme power

__________________
10,834 - 3dmark06

CPU-Z

RAND0M1ZER

Raptors are outdated, low capacity, garbage. Either shell out for an SSD or buy newer 500gb/platter hard drives from a reputable manufacturer.

__________________

FearlessLdr88

I suggest WD Black drives. The bigger the better, but I have been using 3x 640's and theyre flawless. I have heard that bigger drives aren't quite as fast, but nobody can probably tell.

I think the main thing to get would be a nice cooler so that you can overclock it. D0's are magical and OC like the dickens.

The system will only go so fast so I wouldn't worry about it a ton.

__________________

willis888

This SSD would be an excellent choice to boot from and load applications.

What OS will you be using? If it is 32 bit, consider this RAM. Otherwise, this is a good kit.

An Antec 902 case will provide great airflow over a GPU like this one with an open heat sink.

kz26

If that is really the case, you should seriously reconsider the need to go with an i7. These tasks are not at all CPU-intensive so there is absolutely no need for the power an i7 provides. Heck, I multitask like crazy on my Phenom 9850BE sig rig (and game on it too) and IMO it could be called "lightning fast".

Instead of the i7, go with a Core i5 or an AMD Phenom II X4. The money would be better spent elsewhere...one option is to set up a RAID 0 array for fast storage.

If you still go with i7, then the tri-channel 6GB kits will do. Everything else will be running a dual-channel kit, either 4GB or 8GB.
A PSU rated for 500W will be sufficient.

Finally, since he won't be gaming a midrange to low-high end is suitable, like the Radeon 4670 or 4770. Nvidia's budget line is kind of sucking right now, but if you want to go green the GTS 250 is an option.

__________________

wreckless

my big question is which mobo should i get with the i7?

for myself i bought the p6t deluxe for future OC'ing, but my bro will never oc.. so which mobo should he get? the regular p6t? an evga x58?

also which ram?

thanks!!