Building my first system

[sauceface]

I'm thinking of building a PC for the first time. I've made a list of parts(copied my list from newegg), and would like some input on what more I need for this to function, or what parts I might need to replace. I'm a complete noob so bear with me.

Yes I know this system is pretty OTT, but I want something totally future proof, so I don't have to upgrade for a while, and I simply want the ultimate system right now. I tried to build this system using the ultimate parts, for the cheapest price.

I plan on using this system for gaming, and watching HD content(This only applies to the monitor though, since I'll be connecting my HD receiver straight to it). Of course internet browsing and all that little stuff too. So basically the ultimate all around system.

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Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price
1 LITE-ON 2X Blu-ray Disc Triple DVD Burner Black SATA Model LH-2B1S
Item #:N82E16827106037
$459.99

1 Rosewill R218-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #:N82E16811147073
$18.99

2 Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
Item #:N82E16822136012
$329.98
($164.99 each)

1 BenQ FP241W Black 24
Item #:N82E16824014124
$639.99

1 ASUS 90-C1CHFA-HUAY1 PhysX Processing Unit 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI PhysX P1 Ghost Recon Edition Physics Card
Item #:N82E16814121015
$132.99

2 MSI NX8800Ultra-T2D768E-HD-OC GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Item #:N82E16814127288
$1,179.98
($589.99 each)

1 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card (Black/Silver) (Eng)
Item #:N82E16829102015
$259.99

1 COOLMAX CUQ-1200B ATX12V / EPS12V 1200W Power Supply
Item #:N82E16817159067
$299.99

1 Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Speaker
Item #:N82E16836121120
$292.99

1 SUPER TALENT INT-AIN1-C All-in-one USB 2.0 Card Reader
Item #:N82E16820609198
$7.99

4 Transcend 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model JM800QLU-2G
Item #:N82E16820208344
$259.96
($64.99 each)

1 EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #:N82E16813188015
$159.99

1 Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD
Item #:N82E16832116215
$179.99

1 ACTIVISION Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - OEM Intel PC Game GiftIntel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 Kentsfield 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562QX6850
Item #: N82E16800992031
Item #: N82E16819115026
$1,029.99

1 Logitech G15 2-Tone USB Wired Standard Gaming Keyboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16823126034
$89.99

1 Logitech G9 Black 5 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse - Retail
Item #: N82E16826104079
$79.99

Grand Total: $5422.79

[kram 2.0]

A few things that caught my eye:

Power Supply: I would steer clear of Coolmax. Refer to the PSU guide for clarification. Because of the amount of components that you have in your machine and the amount of power that each component will draw, I highly recommend investing on a high-quality PSU, such as an 1100W Tagan Unit. Refer also to the nVidia SLI PSU guide under "8800 Ultra" setups.

Memory: I have no personal experience with Trascend as a memory manufacturer - usually, most folks tend to go with Corsair, Kingston, Crucial, etc. I don't see a problem going with them, though.

kram

[glc]

I would get something better than a 19 buck Rosewill case. You need a large case with proper cooling to throw all those high end components in. I also don't see a CPU listed.

[ArtBest]

I'm very curious what capabilities or performance you are buying that you don't believe you could achieve for half that price?

For one thing, if the audio is important to you, you could knock $2000 off of that pc and use it to get a reasonable true audio system in addition and the combination will sound infinitely better than any self-powered computer speakers you can buy, even those Logitech flagship model. The reality is that you are going to lose most of the audio quality on those blu-ray movies listening to them on those computer speakers.

You could easily build a great pc for $3000, and then piece together a nice set of audio components like this for under $2000:
2 x http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=31332
1 x http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=31615
1 x http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=31322
1 x http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=24506
1 x http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=32991

And then you'd have a really nice audio system and a really nice pc for what you're willing to spend.

[Gen.Ben]

Unless you are going to rip and burn Blu-Ray's no need for that drive.

The raptors have hardly better performance than a 7200rpm 16mb cache drive. I'd recommend getting a couple 500GB hard drives and throwing them in raid. Much cheaper. Similar performance.

The PhysX card is not worth it really. Unless you are playing alot of PhysX enabled games, I'd advise against it.

Two 512mb 8800GT Overclocked editions in SLI will have a little less performance than 8800 Ultra's in SLI, if the $800 to you is worth 10 or 15 frames per second Or you could wait for a new card from nVidia...

For the CPU, I'd recommend a Q6600 and overclock it, save several hundred dollars :P Or again... play the waiting game for Intels new CPU's.

And lol at the 20 dollar case with a $4000 computer in it :P, treat yourself, get a nice Lian-Li or Silverstone

[RazR]

raptor drives have been known to have a shorter lifespan that regular hard drives
for the price of 2 raptor drives, you get get a seagate 1TB hard drive

go for the thermaltake armor FULL ATX case, good cooling and has lots of space to work in
especially since your fitting in 2 ultras in

no need for a physics card, does not improve gameplay in anyway..
and more and more games that are coming out don't support physics cards (if that made sense)
most of all the stuff is done by the processor and video card

i would use corsair ram, it's higher quality ram and you would have any problems with it

look for quality power supplys from enermax, ocz, corsair, muskin, PC & Cooling
for this particular build i would go with the enermax galaxy 1000 W or so

[sauceface]

Thanks for the recommendations & advice guys!

Alright, I've finalized my list. I've taken everyone's advice and this is what I have:

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion...y+ultimate+rig

Is there anything missing that I should add to this build, or anything I should replace? If not, I will go on and order these parts as soon as some of the parts come back in stock.

[glc]

Lose the eVGA board and get an Asus Striker Extreme. Verify that the PSU is certified for those cards at slizone.com. You don't need that CPU cooler unless you will be overclocking heavily.

[Cricket]

I get really concerned when a first time builder is going to build a $4,000+ computer as his very first build. One careless mistake and you could end up with a $4,000+ paper weight.

Please take the time to do as much research into building computers as you possibly can just so you don't end up with a $4,000+ paper weight. Read all the literature that comes with your parts, especially the motherboard manual. Many first time builders don't read the motherboard manual and they end up totally messed up because they connected things in the wrong places or didn't connect necessary things in others.

You're a very brave adventurous soul if you're willing to spend that much on your very first computer build...good luck. I really hope nothing goes wrong.

Cricket

[andper10]

My thoughts:

This Xclio PSU actually has better specs than the Seasonic. It is SLI Certified, but I doesn't say what the maximum supported card is. Granted, the Xclio is made by Channel Well, which is not quite as high quality as Seasonic.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817189007

Sice you want a really high end computer, I would get 2 2GB sticks so that you can upgrade to 8GB in the future if you need it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227248

The new Seagate 7200.11 Series just came out recently, a 500GB model is $125. I think that the 32MB buffer and less risk of drive failure over Raid 1 make a second gen perpendicular recording technology single drive seem like a better choice than 2 .10 Series first gen PRT drives in Raid 1.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148288

Personally I would save some money on your monitor and get this 24" Samsung instead:
$470 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001234
Or if you want BenQ they have a cheaper 24":
$450 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824014158

I have heard amazing things about the Turniq Tower. It comes with a fan that fits right in the middle of the heatsink for better heat dissipation:
$45 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835154001

Those speakers seem pretty expensive, but I guess if you want to play games and watch BlueRay movies, then their cost might be justified.

Also, do you really need that IR thing? It seems awfully expensive.

That is going to be a very nice computer! Like Cricked said, be sure that you read up on it and ask questions here if you aren't sure about anything. You don't want to fry any PC, let alone a $4000 one.

[sauceface]

Originally Posted by andper10 My thoughts: This Xclio PSU actually has better specs than the Seasonic. It is SLI Certified, but I doesn't say what the maximum supported card is. Granted, the Xclio is made by Channel Well, which is not quite as high quality as Seasonic. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817189007 Sice you want a really high end computer, I would get 2 2GB sticks so that you can upgrade to 8GB in the future if you need it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227248 The new Seagate 7200.11 Series just came out recently, a 500GB model is $125. I think that the 32MB buffer and less risk of drive failure over Raid 1 make a second gen perpendicular recording technology single drive seem like a better choice than 2 .10 Series first gen PRT drives in Raid 1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148288 Personally I would save some money on your monitor and get this 24" Samsung instead: $470 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001234 Or if you want BenQ they have a cheaper 24": $450 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824014158 I have heard amazing things about the Turniq Tower. It comes with a fan that fits right in the middle of the heatsink for better heat dissipation: $45 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835154001 Those speakers seem pretty expensive, but I guess if you want to play games and watch BlueRay movies, then their cost might be justified. Also, do you really need that IR thing? It seems awfully expensive. That is going to be a very nice computer! Like Cricked said, be sure that you read up on it and ask questions here if you aren't sure about anything. You don't want to fry any PC, let alone a $4000 one.

I checked out that Xclio PSU, but according to slizone.com, it wasn't certified so I sticked to my original choice.

Also, I took your advice and changed to two 2gb sticks. Same with the Hard drive.

As for the monitor, I chose the expensive Benq one because it was the only one I could find that would support full HD 1080p and has component, HDMI inputs, etc. So I stuck to my original choice. I will be connecting my HDTV receiver straight to this monitor.

TrackIR is pretty expensive, by since I am a serious flight simmer, this is a necessity for me.

Changed my CPU Cooler to the one you've recommended.

Thanks for great recommendations! It helped me a lot!