New Computer Build

I'm looking to build a new computer and was wondering if you could advise me on this ordeal. I'm willing to spend around 2000€ on it. I'll probably spend around 900€ on 2 GTX 280's, unless someone can suggest a better option. What I'm looking for is what kind of CPU should I get (I don't think I'll wait for Nephalem or whatever it's called) and what kind of motherboardboard I should get to accompany it, which also support 2/3 SLI options for my GTX 280's and what memory to get. Also I don't like to overclock at all. I'll canabalize the rest from my current system.

Some additional questions:

- What is Digital PWM (in reference to the EVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW Digital PWM motherboard) and how relevant is it actually? Compared to the normal EVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW what would the difference be?

- Is the difference between a 7200RPM and 10000RPM HD actually relevant? And again what would the difference be?

- SLI do I need to know anything specific about it? Are all GTX 280's SLI ready?

- What brands are good GPU brands? Mainly in comparison between MSI and XFX.

- What kind of PSU/wattage should I look for to run 2/3 GTX 280's in SLI?

Suggestions/ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Your pal, Kal

The Nehalem is here, and worth it. And versions of it cost up to $1000.

Ok so maybe not worth it.

Quad-core Phenom Black Editions are down to like $150-$170 now, which is a very nice price-per performance point IMO, even if it's not in the Nehalem's league.

Enjoy as you slaughter Crysis at MAx settings lol

Get the following:
-Core i7 920
-Gigabyte X58 UD5 / ASUS P6T Deluxe / EVGA X58 motherboard
-6GB of DDR3 1333Mhz (1600 not needed given no overclocking)

If it comes down to two GTX 260s in SLI and the Core i7 stuff and two GTX 280s in SLI and the Core 2 stuff go for the GTX 260s with Core i7.

Which is? Please post.

The difference is digital PWM motherboards do not suffer voltage droop, i.e the voltage shown and selected in the bios is the voltage when you boot into Windows. Since your not overclocking it really does not matter.

I don't really think the Velociraptor is worth it. Get a Western Digital Black 1TB drive: not quite as fast, but better cost per GB (in Australia the Black is 13 times cheaper per GB than its dinosaur cousin.) The Blacks contain some of the same technology as the Velociraptors and are basically the fastest 7200RMP drives around. If you want a really fast drive wait till SSDs become even cheaper.

Not really. Yes.

I would tend towards the XFX. GPU brands are largely a matter of the warranty and other service features since the (reference) cards tend to be identical.

I would be looking at the Corsair HX1000.

I must disagree on the HDD recommendation. The fastest 7200RPM drives are Seagate's new 333 model 7200.11 drives (the 1TB version is sick...)

As for GPU brands? eVGA is the best company on the market. They have the Step Up program, which makes them superior to any other company in every possible sense.

Yes, the Corsair HX1000 is a great PSU, one of the best on the market, at a reasonable price. ABS's Tagan BZ series are a monster and high end piece of PS goodness, but they are expensive (you pay for what you get...), and come in 1100 watt and 1300 watt versions. Enermax's new 85+ Revolution PSU is probably one of the best on the market as well, if you can find them.

The GTX260 and 280 are both SLi and Triple SLi ready. They feature dual SLi connectors that are covered for safety and decor reasons. Just remove the cap(s), and attach the SLi bridge, and activate SLi via our drivers. Poof, power to the max.

I would highly recommend saving a few dollars and buying the GTX260 revB cards for an SLi setup (eVGA markets them as GTX 260 Core216) They are the newest and most powerful version of the card, and approach the performance levels of the GTX280 in a few tests. The GTX280 is the best performing solution on the market as far as multi-GPU setups are concerned, but they are also extremely expensive. The GTX260 is better performance for the money, in reality.

What site do you plan to purchase from? If you link me to the website, I will post a parts list here.

If you do go with Nehalem, Nehalem uses triple channel memory. That means you need to install the DIMMs in pairs of 3; the motherboards feature 6 DIMM slots. RAM is now being sold in triple channel kits, featuring 3 DIMMs per pack in amounts of 3 and 6GBs. For your purposes, a 6GB kit is the best option (DDR3-1333 since you are not overclocking).

Speaking of which... Why in the name of all things good are you NOT OVERCLOCKING? Nehalem is made to overclock; it even features a Turbo mode that increases the processor's performance during high demand (gaming, etc). Nehalem is a beautiful overclocker, and it would be a waste not to overclock it... You might as well just take a few 100 euro bills and burn them, because you are wasting that much money by not overclocking Nehalem.

Update 1:

I suppose I'll go with the Core i7 920, 300€ is reasonable I suppose or is it worth to get the 940 version? A Gigabyte X58 or EVGA X58 motherboard to go with it. Probably 2 GTX 280s. And apparently 6GB of DDR3 1333Mhz -> -> This was really valuable information, I did not know that. Who comes up with stuff like that though, like DDR3 memory isn't expansive enough, sigh...

Main problem now is finding a site that sells the XFX GTX's 280s either in my country (Belgium) or that ships to my country which is a slight problem. Why amazon won't ship hardware is beyond me. If anyone know good international shipping sites or any good Belgian sites let me know. EVGA is probably good but they're expansive, they charge 500€ for the GTX 280 while almost everyone else charges 400€ for the same card. If I can't find an XFX store I'll have to settle with the MSI version.

.
Some minor stuff: PATA DVD Reader, PATA DVD Writer, Floppy (well maybe, I hardly even use it anymore, but it's old school to have one), the case Antec P180 and for the rest external devices i.e. mouse, keyboard, screen, etc...

Also I'm pretty sure an 850W maybe even a 750W should be able to push this system but it's kinda hard to find PSUs above 650W. I don't like to use too much wattage because the higher your wattage the higher your electric bill which is relevant if you have to pay it.

Sites I'll probably order from:
http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/home.html (prefered site)
http://www.codima.be/
https://shop.evga-europe.com/ (motherboard only probably)

I don't like overclocking first of all because I've never done it and am afraid I'd ruin something. Second of all I don't like hardware running hot since cooling isn't optimal, apparently, in my Antec P180 not with my fans running on their lowest settings anyway. I'm not completely against overclocking I'm just completly clueless about it and afraid to overheat or overvolt components. Thanks for all the advice so far though it's been a great help.

P.S. If I could find a trustable person to ship my GTX280s to in England does anyone know if it is possible for that person to ship them to me in Belgium or is it illegal or something? And how much would this cost? I'm asking because I don't understand why Amazon.uk won't ship them outside the U.K.

NVidia recommends a 550watt power supply for a system with a single GTX280. They also rate the 280 as 236watts max power, so you are looking at a recommended power of 786watts for SLI. I would agree that a good quality 750watt would probably be enough, but 850 or so would be better.
NOTE: the power supply rating is the amount of power the unit can supply, not the amount of power it does supply. If your computer needs, for example, 786watts, that's all the PS will supply regardless of whether it is rated at 1000watts, 1300watts, whatever. (Although there may be a few extra watts of power wasted by a larger capacity supply.)
So, your concerns about the power bill are only relative to the power consumption of the computer, not the rating of the power supply.

The "enthusiast" types are always blathering about overclocking, but for the average computer user, it is something to avoid, for all the reasons you stated, plus some others like long-term stability. The gains from overclocking are either minimal, if you don't spend extra on cooling, or not cost effective, if you do. It's more of a hobbyist/enthusiast thing.

I hope that monitor has a resolution of 1920 by 1200 or you wouldn't really need GTX 280s in SLI.

The GTX 295 (a 55nm dual PCB GTX 260/280 card - memory bandwidth of 260, number of SPs same as 280) is coming in January and some preliminary benchmarks are on the web.
http://www.techpowerup.com/79027/Pre...D_4870_X2.html