About to pull the trigger on a workstation build

[wct097]

This is going to be my home office workstation, primarily for development work, but also a little bit of gaming.

Have an Antec 100 case for this build already.

Dual Asus 23" LED monitors:
Newegg.com - Asus VH238H Black 231

Asus AMD 6850 1gb video card:
Newegg.com - ASUS EAH6850 DCV2 Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9

Asus Sabertooth P67:
Newegg.com - ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7 2600k:
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

OCZ Vertex 3 120gb:
Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5

Zalman CPU cooler:
Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling FanHeatsink

Assist fan for mono:
Newegg.com - EVERCOOL FAN-EC5010M12CA 50mm Case Fan

Still hung up on the power supply.

Like this one, but my case is bottom mount and several reviews say the cables are too short:

OCZ 700w modular PS:
Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

Reviews complain about the SATA power cables not being to spec:

Cooler Master 600w modular PS:
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

 

[BirdOPrey5]

Only a 1 gig video card?

 

[themonk]

Only a 1 gig video card?

We're using 1GB for CADD work. The cards benchmark out pretty well for the money.

 

[wct097]

Only a 1 gig video card?

More than enough for the games I typically play, and not important for dev work. WoW, SC2, etc. Besides, from what I gather the 2gb cards don't even benchmark any better than the 1gb counterparts.

 

[Sean Mallory]

Those hardware specs impress me. I think you've really done your homework.

 

[whatttup_G]

Intel... Guess it doesn't need to be fast...

 

[wct097]

Intel... Guess it doesn't need to be fast...

The Sandy Bridge i7 destroys everything out there today.

AnandTech - The Sandy Bridge Review: Intel Core i7-2600K, i5-2500K and Core i3-2100 Tested

edit: From what I've been reading, it's probably still going to destroy Bulldozer once it comes out. I've been extremely happy with my SB quad i7 laptop.

 

[themonk]

The Sandy Bridge i7 destroys everything out there today.

AnandTech - The Sandy Bridge Review: Intel Core i7-2600K, i5-2500K and Core i3-2100 Tested

edit: From what I've been reading, it's probably still going to destroy Bulldozer once it comes out. I've been extremely happy with my SB quad i7 laptop.

the i7 2600 is pretty hot for the money. But.... I've found it doesn't benchmark all that much better in a built system as we configure them. Granted, we're still on XP. I haven't got a working 7 build with all of our applications. Many just don't work.

 

[wct097]

Those hardware specs impress me. I think you've really done your homework.

The mobo and proc are pretty much top of the line, as is the SSD. I've always had good luck with Corsair RAM, so I think that should do nicely. The video card isn't tops, but for my use it should be more than enough. Will probably add a couple large sized hard drives at some point, but for work purposes, 120gb should do just fine. I'm living with 128gb dual booting OS X and Windows 7 on my laptop.

 

[wct097]

the i7 2600 is pretty hot for the money. But.... I've found it doesn't benchmark all that much better in a built system as we configure them. Granted, we're still on XP. I haven't got a working 7 build with all of our applications. Many just don't work.

Based on a 'seat of the pants' comparison between an current gen AMD and the 2nd gen i7 in a laptop form factor, the Intel really shines. I've been exceptionally happy with the MBP. My friend has been exceptionally happy with his 2500k i5 build that we did a few months back.

This will be my first Intel build ever.... always did AMD for the best bang for the buck.... but I also always bought a generation behind processor-wise.

 

[wct097]

My last PC build was right when I had the house fire March 2005.... ended up rebuilding the same PC. Interestingly enough, that PC is still running, and happens to have the original proc that went through the fire, still in it. When I ordered all the parts, I still had the burnt up computer. Pulled the heat sink and decided to give the proc a shot. It worked and I'm still running it.

That machine will be relegated to garage duty now.

Old machine specs:

Shuttle XPC SN95G5 Athlon 64 (FX ) Barebone System
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor Socket 939
Abit R9600XT-VIO Radeon 9600 XT AGP 8X 256MB DDR Video Card
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3200822AS 200GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer
(2x) Corsair CMX1024-3200PT 1GB DDR400 XMS3200 Memory w/Platinum Heat Spreader Retail
(2x) Samsung 19" LCD

 

[whatttup_G]

LOL@OAC

MY AMD is from 2005, looks like its still trolling strong

I hqve no clue what is kicking what's ass today, CPU speed has been way ahead of RAM andHDD for a while, I'd shop for absetup with a high bus throughput personally, and build a real ass kicking RAID 5 for data protection and disposable hdd ability.

 

[wct097]

LOL@OAC

MY AMD is from 2005, looks like its still trolling strong

I hqve no clue what is kicking what's ass today, CPU speed has been way ahead of RAM andHDD for a while, I'd shop for absetup with a high bus throughput personally, and build a real ass kicking RAID 5 for data protection and disposable hdd ability.

If you're looking for performance these days, HDD isn't even part of the equation. SSD all the way. You could stick a SSD in that 2005 AMD and be faster than most current gen machines running HDDs.

 

[Ralph]

Good lawd, that's alotta computa.

 

[wct097]

Good lawd, that's alotta computa.

Certainly not your $349 Best Buy special, that's for sure.

Gonna sleep on it and figure out what I want to do about the power supply at work tomorrow.

 

[DH350nWo]

But.....



Will it run Crysis?

 

[themonk]

Based on a 'seat of the pants' comparison between an current gen AMD and the 2nd gen i7 in a laptop form factor, the Intel really shines. I've been exceptionally happy with the MBP. My friend has been exceptionally happy with his 2500k i5 build that we did a few months back.

This will be my first Intel build ever.... always did AMD for the best bang for the buck.... but I also always bought a generation behind processor-wise.

I pretty well wrapped up the image build on the HP evaluation machine I have today so I'll be benchmarking tomorrow. It's competing against a nearly identical Dell and a Dell with a current generation Xeon. For comparison I have the HP we just deployed with an i7 870 CPU but otherwise almost identical.

 

[wct097]

But.....



Will it run Crysis?

Don't own it, but it shouldn't have any problem with it. That GPU benchmarked a minimum framerate of 47fps at 1920x1200 on Crysis, which means it should be well over 60fps most of the time.

 

[Justin]

Gonna sleep on it and figure out what I want to do about the power supply at work tomorrow.

I can't speak to the Modxstream power supply, but I just assembled a workstation with an 850W ZX series and I had no complaints about cable length.

 

[skeptic]

.... always did AMD for the best bang for the buck.... but I also always bought a generation behind processor-wise.

Same here. Last build I did I originally planned to finally jump back to Intel, but ended up AMD cpu again. I also went with a new but "low" end GPU - nVidia GTS 250. Unless you are a hardcore gamer or just really want to be on the cutting edge, it really makes more sense to buy parts a notch or two below top end. Save a ton of money and not miss out on much performance. One "splurge" area I'll be going with from now on is an SSD drive.