New Computer Build. Any Suggestions/Advice

[chsye5201]

Friend asked me to build him a desktop to replace his 8 year old P4. Budget is ~1500USD.

It will be used in the home theater system and it will be his gaming box.

Here is what I am looking at.

Antec Performance One P180 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - 130 USD
Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drivex2 - 95USDx2
EVGA GTX260 Core 216 - 170 USD
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W - 100 USD
ASUS Rampage II Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - 270 USD
Intel Core i7 920 - 230 USD
Scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - 37 USD
OCZ Reaper HPC 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1800 (PC3 14400) - 95 USD
LG Black 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA Model - 180 USD

I chose the i7 as it is far ahead of the AM3s in my opinion. Obviously to take advantage of the triple channel memory 3 or 6 GB is the choice. I chose 6 over 3 so more would not need to be added later. Longevity was a key aspect of the build.

I favor Asus or EVGA for Mobos and Newegg has a good deal on the Rampage Extreme at the moment.

The HDDs, case, cooler, and power supply were all selected with noise, heat and power consumption in mind.

The one aspect of the build I am unsure on at the moment is the graphics. The GTX260 is a sweet card and a good price. I hate sticking ATI cards in Nvidia chipsets and I feel the Nvidia chipsets are far superior. I am open to any and all opinions here on the card.

Any Ideas or suggestions?

[Aeneas]

Keep it simple.

You don't need SLI

You don't need 16 GB's of DDR3

You don't need a 1000$ i7 Extreme

You don't need a 500$ motherboard

You don't need a 1200 watt power supply

You don't need a 400$ ridiculous looking computer case with lights that will keep you up all night.

You don't need 37 fans

You don't need Vista Ultimate Six Flags Great Adventure Edition

You don't need 3 Blu-Ray Burners

You don't need a Raid array of VelociRaptors.

In fact, if you're spending more than 1000$ for everything, you're probably going to be kicking yourself in 2 months.

Those are the ideas and suggestions i give to friends who ask me to build them computers, and you seem like somebody who knows a bit about what they're doing judging by the gear you've chosen, so most of that doesn't apply to you - but you may want to wait a couple weeks just looking at the list and making sure the stuff you listed is really what you want. I know there isn't any saw work involved, but "measuring twice and cutting once" is still a good idea.

[Theboz]

Keep it simple.

You don't need SLI

Depends, the OP did say it was for use in his friends home theater system and gaming. If the screen will be bigger then 24 inches, then yes SLI will have a benefit. but, if the screen is smaller then 24 then you are correct, and you dont need SLI.


I have the EVga Gtx260 but dont have the core 216 version. and I have had no problems with it at all. but, that could also becasue im using it with a evga motherboard too.

from what you have posted you dont need any coolers on that system stock cooling will just as good, no need to overclock it, unless you are getting to reduce the noise level.


If this is going to be used also for home theater then getting a another Harddrive, and runing them in a raid 1 will protect movies and whatever else he watches