Last one was in Dec 06. evga 680i, E6700, 8800 GTX, X-Fi Platinum, and 2 Gb DDR2. Some minor upgrades over the years (more hard drive space, more Ram, a TV tuner that I stopped using once I got an actual TV). The hardware has served me pretty faithfully with only a few problems for a good two and a half years, but it's definitely going to start showing its age soon.

PSU: Corsair 750w
Motherboard: Asus P6T
CPU: Core i7 920
Ram: OCZ Gold 6 Gb DDR3 1600
GPU: eVGA GTX 295
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX2
SSD: OCZ Vertex 120 Gb
HDDs: 2x 640 Gb
Optical: 2x SATA DVD Burners

I'm using a Cooler Master Cosmos case that I'll swap my current hardware out of. A few notes: I don't care about hardcore OCing, so the retail HSF will do just fine. I have good monitors, speakers, headphones, mice, and keyboards, so that's all in order too. I was mulling over a Blu-ray drive, but with my PS3, what's the point? Is there anything else that I could have benefited from, or anything that you would have changed on a roughly $2000 budget?

I'll be using the Windows 7 RC until the retail version ships.

All I will say is that I can't sanction buying a $500 graphics card unless the money is going to burned if not spent.. the same specs will be half the price just 6 or 8 months later. It's a killer card, but not really worth spending $500 imo.

I defy you to justify the SSDs or GTX295.

You'd do just as well with 10k RPM raptors and if you REALLY needed that much power, a 4870x2 which costs a lot less and runs a lot cooler. The raptors will also last longer than the SSDs since right now SSDs don't have a large amount of write sequences before they're bricked.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322 300GB Raptor (Note: instead of the 2x 640GB drives, you may want to grab 3 of these in total, maybe RAID them or something. Not sure if you have the two 640GBs already or whatever.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150349 4870x2

This would bring your price down I'd say 200$ and you'd have such minimal performance loss it is negligible for the difference in price. The only reason to get the SSD and 295 is bragging rights, which I don't really concern myself with. Spend the extra money on something nice, like a CM HAF 932.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

Post has been edited 4 time(s), last time on Jul 24 2009, 9:18 am by Excalibur.

I'll justify the GTX 295, easily. I have a big monitor with a nice resolution. I like to turn up everything. I also have some experience with buying nice PC components. My old computer is showing its age, but I remember how fast the 8800 GTX was when I bought it (still $650 then). However, there was a Dell I had gotten even before then with a GeForce 6800, which was a solid card when it came out. Unfortunately, that sure as heck showed its age as soon as I picked up Call of Duty 2, Oblivion, and some other "next gen" titles at the time. The 8800 GTX, on the other hand, can still handle new titles with relative ease, although I can no longer crank everything up to maximum. Still, I'd much rather have that kind of experience over what I got with my 6800 (which was a fine card, just ill suited for new games that were coming out). I was mulling over buying a GTX 285 at, what is it - about $300, but I figured I'd just toss in the extra cash (we'll say 15 hours of work). I know it's not a purchase everyone would be happy with, but it's a component I know I'll be happy with.

The SSD on the other hand I can't really attest to with first hand experience (yet), but I imagine I'll notice a difference all the same. Why justify any price premium? I mean, a 7200 rpm drive would suit me all right. It's not as if I need it to get by. But why SSDs are special, especially the good ones, well, there are plenty of articles on that by now.

Urgh, no thanks on that case. The Cosmos looks much cleaner and sharper than that. However, I have yet to find a case as sturdy as my Silverstone TJ07-BW, which I would argue is still classier than any Lian Li case on the market.

It's your call and your money, but the difference between the GTX 285 and GTX 295 is not going to be like the difference between a 6800 and 8800 at all. Heck, I got my current rig with a 7900 GT (at a pricey $300) before the 8-series cards were out, so the profile on the 68 couldn't have been what the 285 is today.

Now I run an 8600 GTS which I picked up at least a year ago for $60-odd.

But like I said, if you don't mind spending money, I won't argue it is a slightly better card. Although you should look at Ex's 4870x2.. GDDR5 is just sexy.

2GB of GDDR5 is nothing to scoff at, I don't care if you're running 2560x1600.

Let me put it this way:
You can pick up any title you want, I don't care if you want Crysis at 2560x1600 with max AA, and I swear to you you will notice no more than 5-10FPS difference for a 130$ price difference. 130$ could buy me another 4870 1GB (On sale.) just to put things into perspective for you. You are not being economical. But this is America, it is your money, and so if you want to spend it in an unwise fashion, it is indeed your right. But don't try to justify it as anything other than being flashy, because it is not.

Also I hope you have every single fan slot in your Cosmos case running an 80CFM or greater fan, because the 295 is a space heater.

Which the 4850x2 2GB would have rolled up in its pocket and smoked after dinner for much less money.

If you do not require an above average performance drive, then you are again being flashy and is not economical. I assumed by your selection of an SSD that you needed a speedy drive, in which case the Raptors, and for cheaper, WD Caviar Blacks are very very very fast.

The HAF 932 goes in for cooling performance before looks, and that's more important to me than anything. I'm sick of people, especially Antec 300/600/900/1200 owners who think a case is a fucking fashion statement, putting looks first. Yes, it is a factor, no it is not the primary factor. However I respect that the 932 is not for everyone, and the Cosmos is an all right case to begin with.

1. The gpu is the one part I don't mind spending money on. I looked at raw performance for single PCI-e slot solutions, and the GTX 295 was king, and I didn't want two or more cards because of the additional power consumption. Especially while idling, the 4850 x2 has high power consumption (and is noisy), while the GTX 295 scales power consumption much better. Also, the GTX 295 outperforms the 4870 x2 by anywhere from 5-25% depending on the game, and you really hit diminishing returns with more than 2 graphics chips, so I couldn't envision doing dual 4850 x2s for the price of a GTX 295.

2. I really don't need to defend my personal choice of an SSD to you. You go read the articles and figure out for yourself why I might want them. I don't have to feel like I'm on a trial for each and every single component that I picked out.

3. If I thought I needed more cooling, I'd be the first to completely water cool my entire PC. The Cosmos has great cooling (the 2 bottom fans suck in cold air, and that makes such a huge difference). It's also quiet (it's packed with sound dampening material, even), and it looks great, and yes, I do actually think that a case doesn't have to look like crap.

The GTX 295 is excessive, so is the SSD. Please, don't waste your money.
The HD 4850x2 is a better card but the GTX series do have built-in CUDA and Aegia physX acceleration. For just straight up power-to-price I'd go with a 4850x2 though.

That's where I stopped listening.

And why, good sir?

LotRO, Dawn of War II... oh wow, those look like entirely new games now. That SSD is perfect for raiding; I have absolutely no lag anymore when there are 50+ players fighting in PvP, where before it would take sooo long to load on my HDD, all the different armor sets and weapons and stats.

@ Dr. Shotgun: Those 2 things weren't selling points for me. Raw horsepower was, baby! This sexy machine just purrs right along, and I am so very giddy right now. Of course, tomorrow it will be outdated and worth a tenth of what I paid for it. : (

Make sure you use user profiles to overclock/underclock that behemoth while using/not using it. That is if you can do that on nVidia, IDK.

It's possible to do, but probably not needed.

You know, you might want to try watercooling next Sael.

But I transport it a good deal between home and college. I'm not sure if watercooling is the... safest thing to add onto my machine.

In that case you're right, but I think the next step for someone buying such expensive parts would be to give liquid cooling a try. Even if you do it on some cheap 500$ rigg that you throw in a fish tank with some mineral oil. It's an adventure and experience, and if I had such money to throw around as you appear to, I'd definitely give it a shot. Then again, I just really enjoy building PCs in general.

He's getting the card for a lower idle power consumption. Underclocking the card uses less power, simple.

Oh, and I just found this.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2362-5.html

Granted you've made your choice, and it's justified, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jul 29 2009, 2:03 am by rockz.

I actually meant he should try it just for the experience. He probably doesn't need liquid cooling, but since he seems to like things that are just nice to have rather than what's cost effective/needed, I figured it'd be right up his alley.

That's interesting, but one of my PCI-e 16x slots were blocked by my PCI-e 1x audio card. Also, the GTX 275s I would have gone with are $230, so I would've saved ~$30 going with them. I have NO idea how TH thinks you can save "~$210" over a single GTX 295. Also, 2x 275s use ~25% more power under load (about 10% more idle). Still, the main thing is the other PCI-e 16x slot being blocked.