New PC advice

[jammez]

Hi all,

I've been out of the PC building side of things for some time and to be honest I don't know all the ins and outs of it anymore.

I'd really appreciate a bit of help and advice on the bits I've selected below and suggestions for the gfx. Basically this is more of a Windows applications machine (e.g. Lightroom/Photoshop) than anything else. I do enjoy a bit of gaming but don't mind having 'average' graphics settings (no SLI).

So far I've gone for:

• Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + World In Conflict PC Game
• Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
• Corsair HX 620W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-620HXUK)
• OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (OCZ3G1600LV6GK)
• Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366)
• Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black (No PSU)
• Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)

I will likely go for another 6GB when I watch LR/PS eat the first 6!, and
I'm reusing HDDs from my current machine so don't need anything there.

Now here's where I get fuzzy:

1. I think that's the best mobo for me, I don't see the point of the UD4P or UD5 for my needs, I'm not planning to overclock initially (but may later) and definately not by a lot if I do.
2. I don't know which graphics card to go for. I just want something that's blazing for 2D and does reasonable 3D. An ATI 4870 perhaps? I have no idea!
3. Would the power supply be enough? (Dependant on the gfx card somewhat I guess).

Thanks for your time and any advice you can give,

J

 

[Audigex]

1) You won't necessarily get as good (insane) an overclock as with a more expensive board, but it'll certainly give you lots of headroom.
2) 4870 should be plenty for moderate gaming, a 260 maxcore may be better if your apps can take advantage of CUDA?
3) More than enough, this is an interesting read

 

[jammez]

Thanks Audigex.

I decided to plump for a 260 as you suggested, as it looks like Adobe are starting to incorporate CUDA support into some of their apps. Not LR yet but it's only a matter of time, so thanks for pointing that out.

I also downgraded the power supply to the 520W version after reading the article, I can't see I'll need that much power otherwise.

Thanks again for the help!

J