Proposed New Computer: Q4 2009 Edition

New computer building time. So, this is what I will likely order within the next week or so. I could probably save cash by just cannibalizing one of the media harddrive and PSU (it’s nice and fairly new) out of my current system, but I want it to remain functional for future use. Actually, there’s one thing that I will likely cannibalize out of my old machine: the sound card. Onboard sound is pretty good nowadays, but I like my X-Fi. Well okay, I like the knobs and shit on the front panel…

Component Item Price
CPU Intel Core i7-860 $289.99
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 $169.99
Memory G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 $89.99
Graphics DIAMOND 5870PE51G Radeon HD 5870 $399.99
Storage Primary: WD VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM $229.99
Data: WD Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM $109.99
Optical: SAMSUNG SH-S223B $30.99
PSU CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W $99.99
Case Antec P183 $139.99
Cooling  CPU: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 $29.98
Fans: Scythe SY1225SL12L 120mm x3 $26.97 ($8.99×3)
Sound Onboard $0

Total:

$1617.86

I know that the i5-750 is the current supposed sweet spot in terms of performance vs price. But, for not really that much more, the i7-860 offers a good boost in performance with hyperthreading, a faster turbo boost, etc.

Still a bit torn on whether or not I really want to go SSD for my primary HDD. The speed would be nice for the OS and WoW, but I still don’t think that it justifies the extra cost. so instead, I’ll probably just go with a 300GB Western Digital VeliciRaptor for the primary drive and a 1TB Cavalier for my data.

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