What do you guys think of this system and can I get this for cheaper?

[nubian]

This is my opinion and my opinion only:

CPU: You can get an I7-920 and OC it fairly easy on air that will give the same performance of a 950 if not more. Though I have a i7 975, I would've purchased a 920 had I paid for it, but of course I got greedy when I didn't have to come out of pocket. ;)

MOBO: No comment really but however, be careful on you choice of PSU. I'm currently using a DFI UT X58-T3eH8 for my I7-975 and my OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017) just was not enough to power my CPU.

According to DFI tech support, my processor (I7 975) requires a significant amount of power especially since I was running 12 gigs of DDR3. I went through about 5 PSU's that ranged between 700W ~ 850W+ and I still was running into issues where the 8-pin CPU Molex connector was not up to "standards" with the demands of my CPU, so my motherboard would just shut down when ever it was under the slightest load.
So after a long day, my motherboard decided that it wanted to dance with the ThermalTake Black Widow 850W.

Memory: No comment really on the brand. But keep in mind that the Seasonic SS-650HT 650W that I see in your listing may not be sufficient if you do plan on expanding your memory, say to 12 gigs, because they (they extra 6 gigs of ram) will demand more from your PSU.

Video Card: I noticed you have it in plural. If you are getting two of these for that price, I hope you wouldn't mind sharing your source.
But as far as that card goes, I have the same video card by BFG and I love it.

Computer Case: I have this exact case but those damn blue lights were pissing me off. :banghead:
So I ended up snipping the wires that sent current to those bulbs.
Besides the annoying blue light it's a fairly quiet case surprisingly.
You can also set the speeds of all the fans in that case.

Power Supplies: See my comments above

No comments on the other components, sorry.
But I'll add a component for you.

Heatsink: With great reviews, the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme would be the ideal choice for whatever I7 family of processors your choose.
This heat sink is especially great for those who plan on over-clocking.
Only thing to be aware of this heat sink is that it's monstrous.
So make sure that this will fit your application.
Though many places no longer sell them, I was able to find mine at Micro Center.

As far as pricing goes...:shrug:
Sorry, I can't help you there.

[ThE_JacO]

Processors (CPUs) Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S 1 $706.65
the 920 is still waaaay better bang for buck, and with a decent cooler it can be clocked more than safely at 3Ghz

Power Supplies Seasonic SS-650HT 650W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 80PLUS 6PIN PCI-E 120MM Fan OEM 1 $102.30
Not a huge fan of seasonic's assembly and Q/A, returned two in the last year and half, and 650W might be a little bit of a stretch.
I'd consider a decent multirail 750W instead. Antec Earth Power (which are rebrands of mostly the same components of seasonic) are okish price and very good Q/A with decent fan sizing and quality that tend to be silent and remain silent and operational for several years.

Rest all looks good. I'd consider a dual drive in your place (system and data) because it's a lot more convenient, but if you have a NAS of any sorts than scrap that.

You can also save a few pennies going for the cheapo version of the p6t, it won't do sli videocards, only xfire, but unless you plan on expanding this as a gaming rig with a second card that's irrelevant, and it would save you the difference in price for the psu.

[SheepFactory]

Thanks a lot for the input.

Yea I have no interest in a SLI setup, I don't game on the computer anyway.

Ended up replacing the power supply with a modular 1000w Corsair HX1000W.


What do you guys think of solid state drives? Would I realize a huge difference if I keep the OS and apps on a SSD or is it still best to wait on those? The 64gb ones go for about 225$ (cad) so I might put one of those in there if its worth it.

[Srek]

SSD is nice for real fast load and save times as well as quick random access. It won't have any impact on 3D rendering though. If you want to use it to speed up the OS, don't waste money on it, the difference is not worth it imo. Just using a different normal HD for the OS is enough.
Cheers
Björn

[mattmos]

Just gonna echo what's been said already really -

i920 with a TRUE 120 can be overclocked safely to well over 3 ghz. Much better bang for buck. I'd consider 12 Gb ram and 64-bit windows 7 to run on it. PSU looks much better, especially for the power hunger gpu.

SSDs are still, for me, at the early adopter phase. They are new tech and as such will drop in price much faster than other compenents, the probem with all tech is that it depreciates so fast after buying and at some point you have to just pull the trigger, but with these I think you should hold off just a while longer, as better controllers are just round the corner.

Good luck with the build!

[ThE_JacO]

SSDs are still, for me, at the early adopter phase. They are new tech and as such will drop in price much faster than other compenents, the probem with all tech is that it depreciates so fast after buying and at some point you have to just pull the trigger, but with these I think you should hold off just a while longer, as better controllers are just round the corner.
SSD aren't new tech at all, they've been around and easily available for at least 15 years :) and around and not so easily available for 20 and spare change.
Only recently they become more available because the storage industry, since old school scsi VS ide became a redundant argument with the relatively recent progress on serial interfaces, needs some new funky toy for enthusiasts to sink money into unnecessarily.
They end up being largely useless though for joe average, even in our field, since the things they excel and would be useful for require much more capacity than SSDs currently come in.

For OS/App quick starting time they are okish, but the bottlenecks in performance for people doing CG are elsewhere, so unless you come up with your own little online/offline system for data (scenes and all) they are completely useless.

In general I wouldn't bother with one, not with what they cost, that money would make a much bigger difference elsewhere.