recomendations for parts to be used in an ultimate desktop.

Hello, I made a post about a week or two ago asking what laptops people would recommend for someone willing to spend up to around 5,000-6,000 dollars. I had said that I was going into the Navy and would be on a ship so a laptop would be necessary. Since then the Navy recruiter has asked me several questions that have made me rethink joining. One was whether or not I cared about what type of job I would get, and that all I care about is being in the Navy, right? Wrong! I want an extremely technical job and something that will be looked at in the civilian sector as impressive on a job resume. He actually asked as to whether or not I would take a job as a cook on a ship if it was the only job. I did not answer, but if I was a cook it would not be me that suffered, but the ship as I am the world's worst cook and absolutely hate cooking anything that requires multiple ingredients. Therefore I am now leaning towards the Air Force and so I would then be able to use a desktop for my main computer and have a weaker secondary laptop for travel and school. I am therefore asking as to what you would recommend that I get. I am willing to build my own computer from different manufacturers parts, but have no experience in these matters. I love learning though and would love to hear what parts are best in what brands. Please if you use any complex terms simplify a little so that I can understand why the part is better than the competitors and so I can learn and possibly help someone else out in the future. I want a desktop with as much hard drive space as possible. I would require at least a couple of terabytes and somehow a way to back all the information up with some type of raid configuration so that if a hard drive were to go I would not lose all of my data and files. The hard drive speed must be relatively high, probably 7,200 rpm (Would not be able to afford terabytes of 15,000 rpm I wish). Secondly I would want a faster type of ram on the market such as 1333mhz or higher if available and the maximum amount for the system's operating system. The operating system will most likely be windows 7 if I like the way it works. If it is like windows vista however I might just be forced to learn how to utilize Linux or purchase a Mac. I want a networking card and wireless networking card that can handle the fastest speeds on the market. The video card must be top of the line and able to handle the playback of certain games in the highest possible quality and be able to handle 25,000 x 1,600p resolution. Basically I want to build the ultimate gaming machine with a dual quad core processor and the best of everything. I would hope to keep this below 8,000 dollars and possibly include the monitor in this figure as well, but it depends on the moment of purchase that I will decide if I will go over or not. I am extremely cheap, but like nice things that are quality, top of the line, and extremely durable. I am cheap on the small things and when in the air force I am willing to eat at the mess hall everyday and spend minimally on everything that I will not be given from the military. If you have any input on top brands and brands that I will be able to trust please give me your input as I would very much appreciate the knowledge of anyone who is experienced in the back round of electronics and computers. Please remind me of anything that I would need to make this work such as the amount of voltage in a power supply I will probably need or other things like that. Also if anyone has the time to please explain to me how to decide on a motherboard and how to figure out if it would be compatible with everything else please do so as this is the are where I am truly lost and have no idea as to how to go about picking out the right mother board and compatible components. If I have made anything unclear please ask questions and once again I thank anyone for their time and help if they give it and if you cannot I still thank you for taking the time to read this as I know it is undoubtedly longer than most other posts.

 

Sorry to much info to read, let alone as one long paragraph, but I did glance over it briefly. From what I gathered you want a super killer gaming desktop and a nice mobile lap top.

Desktop - http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=14811668

Honestly, you could achieve more then sufficient performance for your need for alot less, but you stated an $8K budget, so heres a $6K build thats simply insane imo. Run the video cards in cross fire mode, and run the SSDs in Raid 5 or 10.

Laptop - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147919
Should be nice and portable and still give you some nice bang for the buck. I am really impressed with the HP HDX notebook series, so I think this will live up to my high standards despite not being and HDX.

Grand total before shipping:
$7140.69

 

Here is a list for most everything except the speakers/headphones (as I was not sure what kind of setup you would want there - This sound card will work best with digital speekers). The build as it is would cost $5713+shipping and would be miles ahead of that other build.

Overall Specs: 12GB DDR3 1600 Ram, 10.5TB redundant storage (or 4.5TB redundant with 3TB high-speed redundant) (or 6TB high speed redundant), Intel i7 3.33ghz, twin GTX 295 1792mb, BluRay Burner, High Quality Digital Audio Card, USB WLAN adapter, two 24" 2MS widescreens from LG, Logitech G19/G5 Keyboard/Mouse setup with Razer mousepad & wrist support.

$170 - Case - Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan
$80 - Case Fans - 2x SilenX IXP-64-11 92mm Case Fan & 2x SilenX IXP-74-09 120mm Case Fan
$120 - Power: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W

$280 - Mainboard - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

$320 - Ram - 2 (TWO SETS OF) CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C7 G

$1000 - CPU - Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition Bloomfield 3.33GHz Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601975
$65 - CPU Cooler - ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

$360 - RAID Card - 3ware 9690SA-8I-SGL Hardware RAID Controller
$34 - SATA Cables - 2(two) 3ware CBL-SFF8087OCF-06M 0.6m (SFF-8087) Serial ATA breakout cable
$960 - Hard Drives - 8(eight) Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200RPM SATA3.0 Hard Drive
$120 - HDD Coolers - 8 (eight) "Alpha and Omega UHDC-BK UHDC HARD DRIVE COOLERs"
$180 - BluRay - LG Black Super Multi Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA Model GGW-H20L LightScribe

$1000 - Video: Two BFG Tech BFGEGTX2951792BE GeForce GTX 295 1792MB
$200 - Sound - ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express
$22 - WLAN - ENCORE ENUWI-N USB 2.0 802.11n Wireless Adapter

$300 - Screens: Two LG W2453V-PF 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitors
$18 - Monitor Calbes - 2 (two) Nippon Labs Premium 10 ft. with Digital Dual-link Model DVI 10 DD
$196 - Keyboard: Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard
$50 - Mouse - Logitech G5v2 Mouse
$35 - RAZER RZ81-00030101-B2M1 eXactMat and eXactRest Bundle - Mouse Pad and Wrist Rest

$13 - Combo Deal - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound & Nippon Labs Black 6 ft. USB extension cable

$190 - Windows - Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/Free Windows 7 upgrade coupon


[edit] - You also wanted a laptop:
If you goto HP.com and customize a HDX18t series laptop, you can set it up like this for $2108:
Vista Ultimate x64 with free Win7 Upgrade
Intel Core2quad Q9000 (2.00Ghz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
4GB DDR3 memory
two 320GB hard drives in RAID-0 or RAID-1
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M
18.4" screen
Blu-Ray Burner
Webcam
Fingerprint Reader
Wifi with Bluttooth
Backlit keyboard
Long Life Battery

 

wow, after adding a second 2TB hdd and getting rid of the ssds. and getting rid of the speakers and unnecessary equipment i already have its only about 5,000. nice indeed. Thank you very much for the time you spent

 

You did ask for 2560x1600, killerbug's monitors are not 2560x1600.
I would say the following:

Antec Twelve Hundred or Coolermaster HAF932 case (by the way silenx fans are absolute crap, I strongly advise against using them)
Zalman ZM1000-HP Power supply
Gigabyte EX58-UD5 board
2 sets of Corsair XMS3 dominator PC12800C7
Core i7 975 CPU
Thermalright Ultra120 extreme 1366RT or Noctua NHU12P 1366 (don't bother with the crummy Zalman, it's pretty overpriced, very noisy and underperforms)
I don't know as much about RAID, but I would strongly advise against using 7200.11 Seagates, they still suffer reliability issues. Areca seem to make among the best RAID cards, not sure about 3ware. I would use Western Digital drives, WD15EADS or WD20EADS.
For the OS drive, a single Intel X25-M (the new version which is white) will do fine, two in RAID if you must.
The LG optical drive is pretty good.
For absolute gaming performance at 2560x1600, GTX295s are pretty terrible, you would be much better off with two Radeon HD4870X2s - bonus, they're cheaper.

For the monitor - a Dell Ultrasharp 3008WFP is about the best bet. Aftermarket cables are not necessary
A G19 keyboard is absurdly expensive for a tiny little screen. Stick with a G15 at the very most. Just because you have money doesn't mean you should spend it for the sake of spending it.

Ideally, if you want a high performance laptop, try and find one with a mobility radeon hd4870 in it, or similar. nvidia mobile graphics chips are very poor for reliability.




Overall:
Xplorer system
Mobo: 4/10 (reason: EVGA brand [minus 3], overpriced [minus 3])
Keyboard: 6/10 (reason: very outdated [minus 4])
Speakers: 10/10
Mouse pad: 8/10 (reason: standard fare basic surface [minus 2])
Mouse: 8/10 (reason: overpriced [minus 2])
PSU: 8.5/10 (reason: very noisy [minus 1.5])
Optical drive: 10/10
RAM: 8/10 (reason: CAS9 [minus 2])
OS: 10/10
GPUs: 10/10
Monitor: 6/10 (reason: only 1 video input [minus 4])
CPU: 9/10 (reason: incredible expense [minus 1])
Sound card: 8/10 (reason: Creative's drivers [minus 2])
Case: 6/10 (reason: cooling [minus 2], Coolermaster quality [minus 2])
HDD: 7/10 (reason: RAID edition drives are unnecessary and more expensive [minus 3])
Microphone: 10/10
SSDs: 7/10 (reason: old model [minus 3])
CPU cooler: 2/10 (reason: it's crap [minus 8])
Total system score: 6/10
+es: Graphics performance, awesome mouse, good HDD performance for the OS, 30" screen as asked for
-es: Suspect mobo, outdated component choices, noise, poor CPU cooling

KillerBug system
Case: 5/10 (reason: cooling [minus 3], Thermaltake quality [minus 2])
Fans: 1/10 (reason: They're SilenX [minus 9])
PSU: 0/10 (reason: Not powerful enough [minus 10])
Mobo: 10/10
RAM: 8/10 (reason: insufficient cooling for 6 sticks [minus 2])
CPU: 9/10 (reason: incredible expense [minus 1])
Cooler: 5/10 (reason: overpriced [minus 2], mediocre performance [minus 2], excessive noise [minus 1])
HDDs: 1/10 (reason: appalling reliability [minus 9])
Optical Drive: 10/10
Video: 2/10 (reason: inability to run 2560x1600 [minus 8])
Sound card: 8/10 (reason: Asus' drivers [minus 2])
WLAN: 0/10 (reason: It's a USB wireless adapter [minus 10])
Monitors: 5/10 (reason: They aren't what the OP asked for [minus 3], They are TN panels [minus 2])
Keyboard: 2/10 (reason: ludicrous expense [minus 8])
Mouse: 6/10 (reason: Varying ease of use by user [minus 4])
Mousemat: 10/10
Thermal paste: 9/10 (reason: AS5 no longer the most effective out there [minus 1])
OS: 10/10
Total system score: 0/10 due to insufficient PSU, 4/10 after replaced
+es: Redundant storage array, Decent motherboard, lots of memory
-es: Unreliable drives, questionable fans, expensive keyboard, low-grade monitors, mediocre graphics.

 

Well I pretty much just grabbed the most high end parts as it seems more like the op is burning money for the sake of money imo.

Xplorer system
Mobo: 4/10 (reason: EVGA brand [minus 3], overpriced [minus 3]) - I have heard the EVGA board is the best OC board for the i7 series and much better then there old mobos. I wouldnt suggest an EVGA 775 board.

Keyboard: 6/10 (reason: very outdated [minus 4]) - Meh cant really argue with that, but still a very popular keyboard non the less.

Speakers: 10/10

Mouse pad: 8/10 (reason: standard fare basic surface [minus 2])- This one I went with the most popular.

Mouse: 8/10 (reason: overpriced [minus 2])-Agreed but he seems to be burning money so..

PSU: 8.5/10 (reason: very noisy [minus 1.5]) - Wow you putting down a corsair psu? Whats the world come to?

Optical drive: 10/10

RAM: 8/10 (reason: CAS9 [minus 2]) - When it comes to 12 GB DDR3 kits you dont have much choice. Patriot offers some nice sticks but there not as fast as these. OCZ is the only other company that offers 12 GB DDr3 at that speed. Corsair or OCZ, i would say when you look at the options available 10/10.

OS: 10/10

GPUs: 10/10

Monitor: 6/10 (reason: only 1 video input [minus 4]) - What do you need 2 inputs for?

CPU: 9/10 (reason: incredible expense [minus 1])- Indeed but its the fastest chip on the market.

Sound card: 8/10 (reason: Creative's drivers [minus 2]) - Havent heard that myself.

Case: 6/10 (reason: cooling [minus 2], Coolermaster quality [minus 2])- This was just for fun

HDD: 7/10 (reason: RAID edition drives are unnecessary and more expensive [minus 3]) - Since when do you have to pay for RAID drivers?

Microphone: 10/10

SSDs: 7/10 (reason: old model [minus 3])- true

CPU cooler: 2/10 (reason: it's crap [minus 8]) - I figuered but havent heard any i7 cooler reviews and it seemed to be the favorite on newegg so i threw it in there.
Total system score: 6/10

+es: Graphics performance, awesome mouse, good HDD performance for the OS, 30" screen as asked for
-es: Suspect mobo, outdated component choices, noise, poor CPU cooling

 

lol, my reasoning for posting was me hoping to learn something new. I appreciate all the digging, but all I would like to know is what brands of certain parts are good for this type of computer and how I can make sure that everything is compatible. Basically, I want to build this on my own, but do not know what brands to trust and how to make sure everything will work efficiently togther.

 

Considering Gigabyte have got the basic i7 920 to 4Ghz on most of their boards, EVGA aren't the only company to produce half-decent overclocking boards. Besides, I think it's Biostar setting most of those records these days anyway. The problem with EVGA's 775 boards was not just the nvidia reference design, but also the lack of pretty much anything else equipped with it. They were very bare, basic and poorly supported.
I don't think you can even still buy the original Eclipse in this country, there's a third revision now. The newer ones are imo much nicer than the original.
Why is he burning money just because he wants a high-end system you can't afford? Just because he has a high budget doesn't mean you have to waste it...
As for the RAM, using two sets of 3x2GB should get you the same results:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145253
When other 30" monitors on the market have 8 inputs and don't really cost any more, that should hint at things. That monitor is the original spec 30" design when they didn't have a 2560x1600 scaler. The 3008WFP for example not only has two DVI-Ds, but VGA for laptops, HDMI and component for consoles, S-Video and Composite for older video products, and even Displayport for next generation graphics.
If you've not heard of creative's driver issues, you've presumably never looked at buying one of their products - the internet is rife with complaints and lawsuits.
I said RAID drives, not drivers, silly. You chose WD's RAID edition Drive which is basically paying more for better reliability. WD's standard drives are fine enough anyway.
The new X25-M SSDs are actually cheaper than the old ones, so it's highly recommended he go with the new ones.
That cooler's the favourite on newegg but that's because it's by far the cheapest (and the worst). The stock cooler is no worse than it. With a $5000 system not using a proper cooler like a 1366RT or NH-U12P is inexcusable really.

DC: My edits are with that in mind, to try and highlight what are the good and bad things to buy.

 

Thank you very much everybody for all of your help. I do have one more question though. How would I go about setting up liquid cooling, is it worth it, and does it just come integrated with the case? Lastly is my main question, How do I know if the motherboard will be powerful enough to handle ddr3 ram, high end video card, several hard drives, and everything else. How can I check for compatibility or what words should I look for in each?

 

Unless you want to use liquid cooling for the laughs, I wouldn't bother. It's only necessary for absolute top-end overclocks, it's very expensive, very fiddly, and can cause catastrophic problems if it goes wrong (which it often does). It is something you have to install yourself, kits do exist, but they're usually low quality and prone to leaks.
All Core i7 motherboards are sufficient to handle any components you throw at them. There are no cheapo offerings available for it.

 

thanks. Also if liquid cooling is a bust, what would you reccommend as the best way to cool it as I plan to have this ultimate computer (once bought and assembled) running all hours. Also my college computer lab leaves their computers running all day and night and do not want them shut down. Is it better for a high end computer to run non-stop? or is it good to reboot them every once in a while or on a schedule?

 

Good air cooling will run for years without maintanance (although it is a good idea to use some compressed air to clean out the dust once in a while). Your only other two options are water cooling and phase change cooling, both of these are designed for overclocking, and will not help a non-overclocked computer at all. They will also require more maintanance, space, and power than air cooling.

Personaly, I leave my computers on all the time and rarely have problems. It may be coincidence, but most of the system failures I hear about happen when a computer is first turned on after being off all night. This may be because the metal connections of the mainboard expand with head and retract when they cool. If temperature is kept steady (like always warm), this is not so much of an issue. I only reboot when there is a big glitch or there is something that requires a restart (like a windows update). I only shut down for hardware upgrades and hurricanes.

BTW...that RAID card will add about 7 seconds to the time it takes to boot or reboot the computer. It uses this time to spin-up the drives and do a quick check. This is very good for a RAID card, some can add 30 seconds or more to the boot time even without individual drive spinup.

 

Awesome. Last question on this thread, I promise. What supplies will I need for assembling my own computer? I remember hearing something about a metal anti-static bracelet? Should I use one of these or can't I just hold the casing and it should act as a ground if I remember all of this correctly.

 

Nah, anti-static bracelets are usually a bit of waste, as long as you ground yourself on an exposed radiator pipe beforehand and don't do anything silly like rip off a cotton jumper or play with the cat, static is usually no issue.

 

I never said Gigabyte made bad boards. As a matter of fact chances are I will get a gigabyte bored when I go to an i7.

Not hardly. Sure i wish I had the budget, but the only advantage I see to spending that much is future proofing. However, while I agree with future proofing,the technology market advances so rapidly I see it as a waste to future proof to cover the next 10 years, for example, while i do feel a 5 year build would be much safer in terms of sticking with the times. Future proofing aside, I dont see him utilizing more then 50%, if that of his resources. I am not saying get a pc that your going to max out in a year, much less right away for that matter.

I agree. I dont see a need for more then 6 GB in any system.

The only advantage I still see here is a display port. Other then that, my thoughts, espicalay if your going all out like this, use the left over money and pick up a big screen TV. I might make an exception in this case depending on how much space he will have available to him.

Nope, never had a need for a fancy aftermarket sound card. Maybe one day, but in the past 15+ years, no. Although i did have a PC that came with one of there cards if memory serves me right, and it was never a problem.

Well in the 2 TB Line up it comes down to a Caviar Green series drive, or the RE4-GP. I havent looked at the 2 TB drives much yet, but from what I have seen in general is a lack in performance from the Caviar Green series. So I choose what looked to be the better performer, and with his price tag, "Money ain't a thing"

As I said, havent looked into i7 coolers yet, so your probably right.

 

Thank you all once again. Also, I am not going to be spending money just for the sake of spending it, I simply want a computer that can handle any task that I give it and without any problems. I want a computer that I can rip a dvd disc, have a music player open, and play an video intensive video game at the same time. Currently I have a very crappy laptop which can barely handle one of those operations. If I go to rip a disc, it takes about ten hours. If I go to play a game, it crashes within two minutes. (if it even opens). I currently have a gateway mx8715 which was called a media powerhouse by tigerdirect. Its too bad that even after I maxed out the ram it still can barely and sometimes cannot handle the playback of a dvd movie. I have no doubt that with XP I would have no problems or complaints, but with vista or their next series I want the best of the best so even if their software is crap, my hardware will be almost unaffected.

 

if you did any research you'd realise the RAID edition drives don't offer extra performance over the green drives.

 

what are green drives? I am guessing they use less energy or something, but I could really care less about that. If my computer uses more power than the average computer I will sleep perfectly well at night knowing that I am putting more money to the people supplying our power so they do not do lay-offs and putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to feed the starving plants that these "green" people want to kill by lowering carbon in the air.

 

I couldn't even begin to point out the flaws in that statement, but suffice to say the main reason I use green drives is that they're quieter. It is worth pointing out though, that the RAID edition drives at this moment in time are the same drive as the green one. They are identical apart from having a higher MTTF rate, and since WD's drives are already excellent in that regard, they're essentially a con.

 

yeah I know it was poorly said, but in the end what I meant to say was that I do not believe in global warming. Therefore if origination of the drive was to help curb global warming I would want nothing to do with it.