I've been given a project by a firend in work. His borther wants a new computer. A quick computer. His budget:

£2000

This man has more sense than money and is also autistic. He wants something special and he wants it now. Needless to say I've agreed to undertake this project simply because I will never again see that kind of hardware in the flesh let alone use it.

Here's a quick build I've put together, again, using my favourite online computer components retailer.

CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80Ghz Socket 1366

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Intel X58 (Socket 1366)

RAM: Patriot Viper Extreme Performance 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8

Graphics (x2): XFX ATI Radeon HD 5750 1024MB

SSD: Intel X25-M Gen2 Mainstream 80GB

HDD: Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 1TB

PSU: Corsair TX Series 850W

BDRW Drive: LG BH10LS30 Internal Blu-Ray ReWriter

Case: Antec Nine Hundred

Cooling: Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir V2

Other:
NZXT Sentry 2 Touch Screen LCD Meter
OCZ Solid State Drive 3.5" Adaptor Bracket
Akasa Serial ATA 60cm Blue
x2 Akasa Serial ATA 45cm Blue
AKASA 12" Cold Cathode Light - Blue

As you can see it's unnecessary to say the least but it's what I've been asked to do. It would probably be more efficient to go for a single more powerful GPU as opposed to 2 in SLI but, I've been told to include install 2 cards in SLI. It's a similar story with the sound card. Onboard will suffice but he wants a Creative X-Fi card. Ditto with the side-windowed case.

In addition to the computer itself he's asked for a 23" monitor capable of working with nVidia 3D glasses when he gets them later on. This has yet to be added as Aria don't stock any monitors of this specification.

I've added a keyboard (Logitech G110) and mouse (Razer Naga) as well as speakers. (Creative Inspire T6160)

As you can see it's all a little over the top but it should be fun. Anyone have any suggestions?

All the parts are well chosen. As you said, the SLI is kinda unnecessary, as is the sound card, but meh, who knows. Maybe he'll find a use for it. I ended up getting Western Digital Black Caviar HD instead of SpinPoint, but it was a hard choice for me.  The only thing I am unsure of is the cooling. I hadn't heard much about that model, but if you put as much care into choosing it as you did the other parts, I'm sure it'll do its job just fine :)

One thing I'd be wary of is the mouse. Though many love all the Razer products (I had even decided on it for a while), I recall many reviews having problems with the weird position of the hand on many of the models. It depends a lot on how big the hand is, and how much it can adjust to the feel. I ended up with the Logitech G9, but that was just my choice. Perhaps inquire about your friend's opinion?

Bravo, regardless!

The things that stick out to me:
>3 x 2GB DDR3 RAM - I'd lose one of those sticks, there's not much call for 6GB of RAM yet, and it's just expensive.
>i7 CPU - Not to spoon all over intel and their new stuff, but AMD has hexacores which, apparently, are a fraction of the cost of the i7.

EDIT: Yeah, the Phenom II X6 has six cores, and has a cost comparable to the quad-core i7. Of course, I'm just playing up AMD because more cores = more power to my relatively inexperienced mind.

(30/05/2010 03:40 AM)Silvertie Wrote:  The things that stick out to me:
>3 x 2GB DDR3 RAM - I'd lose one of those sticks, there's not much call for 6GB of RAM yet, and it's just expensive.

Actually, he should be using either 3 x1 or 3x 2 DDR3 to utilize the i7's tri channel capabilities. The cost is going to be big either way, so might as well go 6.

(30/05/2010 03:40 AM)Silvertie Wrote:  >7 CPU - Not to spoon all over intel and their new stuff, but AMD has hexacores which, apparently, are a fraction of the cost of the i7.

EDIT: Yeah, the Phenom II X6 has six cores, and has a cost comparable to the quad-core i7. Of course, I'm just playing up AMD because more cores = more power to my relatively inexperienced mind.

Doesn't the i7's hyperthreading technology allow it to simulate 8 cores, while only having physically 4? Or does the 6 of the AMD still perform better at extremes?

Right. After realising that I should to make a profit from this I've fiddled with the build.

Here's an updated list:

CPU: Same

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5

RAM: OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8

Graphics: VTX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB

SSD: Same

HDD: Same

PSU: Same

BDRW Drive: Same

Case: Same

Cooling: Same

Monitor: Asus GD245HQ

Other:
NZXT Sentry 2 Touch Screen LCD Meter (Same)
Cheap eBay 2.5" to 3.5" drive adapter bracket
Standard SATA cables (He wanted a red theme as opposed to a blue theme. UV reactive cables in Red are expensive on eBay)
eBay Red Cold Cathodes


This leaves me with about £180 profit.

After a quick google it seems that the only difference iun the motherboards is the omission of USB3 and SATA3.

As for graphics I've explained that a single more powerful card is a better than two low spec cards. I've told him that in future he can add another card if he wishes. All is well in the graphics department.

As for everything else I don't see them making much difference. A bracket is a bracket and a cable is a cable. Unless anyone spots a mistake in my spec list it goes to him tomorrow and the parts get ordered.

Lets just hope it all goes well.