1st Build - Intel i7 975 Extreme

M

Mr Illustrator

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Hello people,



I spent 4 days researching what my new build will consist of. Please look at the spec and let me know your thoughts. This system will be used for graphic design, web design, 3D animation, video editing. It will not be used for games. I’m not too bothered about the cost, I’d rather spend the extra money on the 975 and get the best results. I know I could overclock a 920 but I’d rather not. Anyway, take a peak, I’m sure lots of people are building similar systems.



Intel i7 975

ASUS P6T6 WS Revoultion MOBO

X3 WD Velociraptor 150GB (RAID 0 + 1 used as scratch)

Corsair 6GB 1600MHz Dominator DDR3 Triple Channel

XFX GeForce GTX 295 (maybe 2)

CoolerMaster Stacker 830 Evolution

Corsair HX1000W PSU

LG Blu-Ray/HD DVD-ROM Writer

Sony 1.44MB Floppy (don’t laugh)

ProlimaTech Meghalems CPU Cooler

X2 Noctua NF-P12 120mm Fan (for heatsink)

X6 Scythe 120mm Slip Stream Fans (the case can take up to 9 fans)

AeroCool LCD Fan Controller

Windows Vista Ultimate 64 Bit + Windows 7 Upgrade



I’ve never built a PC before but I know what everything is and have a good idea what goes where. I’ve replaced graphics cards and hard drives but never actually built one from scratch, it’s quite exciting! The only thing that worries me is altering jumper setting and voltage settings, hopefully I won’t have to change any. I’m ok with BIOS settings too.



Do you think it’s worth purchasing any extra cables? I was wondering what the quality was like on the ones supplied.



Let me know what you think people.



Many thanks!
 
You'll need a fourth 150Gb Velicoraptor to construct a true RAID 0 + 1.

If money's no object go for 4 SSD hard drives although putting them in a RAID config won't necessarily gain you any extra speed, they read very fast as single drives.

4 x 256Gb SSD's will currently cost you around £850.00 from Crucial, amongst others.

If you're not gaming and money's no object consider a Quadro card, ideal for CAD work Link

Prices

Two or more graphics cards will not gain you any significant performance increase other than in games and even then it's negligible.

All the rest looks good. You may want to consider a Noctua CPU cooler, they're very good. Having said that, the Intel i7 stock cooler is very good indeed, best stock cooler I've ever seen.

You may also find this thread of interest.
 
That wiki link has some seriuosly out of date information in it you will get more up to date information by reading some of the links in this thread,

https://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-3650583.php

happywave.gif
 
yes looks powerful enough

if you do get SSD drives
get two of them and put them into a RAID 0 setup
that will be fast as fook!
 
I haven’t gone with the SSD’s, I think they need to mature a bit first. I got 3 WD 150GB Velociraptors and 1 WD 1TB Caviar Black. 2 of the Velociraptors will be RAID 0, this will be the main drive for applications and such like. The other Vraptor will be a scratch disk in Photoshop and Illustrator and the 1TB is for storage.



The Quadro cards are not worth the money. I’ve even tested the Quadro CX against the GTX295 with heavy Photoshop and Illustrator benchmarking and I actually thought the GTX was a little more responsive. If Adobe decide to better include the CUDA options into the software I’ll then transfer over to the Quadro’s, that’s why I got the P6T6 WS Revolution Motherboard, it should future proof me... 6 PCI-e slots and 3 can be used as 16x (16x, 16x, 16x).



Has anyone had any experience with fan controllers? I was going to purchase an AeroCool but I haven’t really researched the matter yet.



Thanks for your comments people, much appreciated.
 
I have some vantech tornado's, they are very loud at full tilt (55dB) so i got an Akasa fan controller (Model: AK-FC-03) It lets you control the voltage between 12 and ~5V, it worked like a charm and when needed i could wack it up to full power.

Now days i use silent 120mm fans that are around 20dB and still shift a decent amount of air
 
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