Newbie looking to build an i7

[AxeSlash]

First time poster here, so be gentle with me...

OK so I've been farting around with machines for years, but never built one from scratch. Need a new machine as the old ones are now a running joke.

The machine will mainly be used for audio recording & mixing (I'm a sound engineer), plus occasional gaming, although I tend to prefer games that are 3 or 4 years out of date (e.g. currently playing Dawn Of War a lot). I DO, however, occasionally venture into some serious 3D design work (Cinema 4D). So I'm not after ultra-power, but certainly enough that I can get on with my audio work without getting ****ed off with it running out of plugin juice.

So I have a few questions:

1. I have an old P4 and a Sempron machine floating about - will the cases from these be any use or will I need a new one?

2. I think I installed a fairly meaty PSU in the Sempron back in the day, but obviously it's old now. Assuming it's got enough juice to do the job without cooking itself, would there be anything else potentially preventing me from reusing it? Has PSU technology changed that much since then? Someone told me something about SATA and IDE power connections or something (I thought everything was still on molexes?)?

3. I have a few PCI cards I could do with keeping...I presume PCI cards won't fit/work in a PCIe slot?

4. My proposed spec atm is:

1 x Intel Core i7-2600K
1 x MSI PH61A-P35 Intel H61 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard
1 x 1TB Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 SATA-II 3.5" Hard Drive
2 x 2GB Mushkin Silverline #991768 (1x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz 9-9-9-24
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5670 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card
1 x Windows 7 Home Premium OEM
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM)
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan CPU Cooler

...assuming I can reuse the case & PSU.

Do you guys see any problems with all that?


Also I hear conflicting opinions on whether that gfx card is crossfire-able...can anyone clarify that?

Thanks in advance


Cheers

 

[Orcvader]

Have you got the model number of the case, you may be able to reuse it.

You may need a new PSU if it's pretty old.

For your work no way 2x2gb will help, you need this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-290-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Yes, the card can be crossfired, but since you're not gaming much there's not really any point to it. I think an Nvidia card will be more helpful for you as your software can seem to take advantage of CUDA. This will do nicely: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-160-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830

The motherboard you have chosen can't overclock the CPU, I would go for this board if you can: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

And how many PCI cards do you have? Sadly, they won't work in PCI-E. Might need to consider PCI-E replacements for them?

Also, do you really need a BD drive?

Also, I think my suggestions may have pushed the budget up quite a lot, so what's your overall budget? Might be able to spec a more reasonable one for your needs.

 

[Tommyzz]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-132-CR&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Better ram.

Don't know how much a 5670 is but theres a 460 on sale for £86

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-165-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2077

Noctua is slightly overkill unless you are going for 5Ghz overclocks.
Gelid tranquillo is cheaper and will get you 4.6 Ghz
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

Not really good with motherboards maybe someone else can give you input on that, hope this helps a bit .

 

[AxeSlash]

Will look at those links in more detail tomorrow, cheers guys.

Also forgot to mention I'm on dual monitors, if that makes any difference.


The PCI cards are just a firewire card and a wireless card (too lazy to run the CAT5 from the router and staple it all in properly to appease the Mrs )

Guess I don't REALLY need BD, it was just future proofing for the day when I get a client with a huge channel count who wants to take the whole audio project home. EDIT: I do have a perfectly good DVDRW drive here, but it's IDE...

Budget atm is sub-£600.

 

[Reaper 392]

just want to check a few things before i recommend anything:

will you be interested in running more than two screens?
are both of your PCI cards single slot, or do they cover up the adjacent expansion slot?
what is the make and model of the PSU?
you say your doing a lot of audio work, do you have a sound card already, or will you want one included with the build?
(onboard sound is pretty good and just fine for 99% of users, but for audio work you will want a dedicated soundcard)
also, as the above have said, do you know the make/model of the case?

i'm going to assume that SLI or crossfire (using more than one graphics card for more gaming performance) isnt of much interest to you

a couple of recommendations i can make are:
- getting 8GB RAM if you can, for your 3D design work it will help a lot
- as said before, getting a dedicated soundcard will be a big help

 

[AxeSlash]

Yes, definitely interested in running two screens (that's my current setup). They both have DVI and VGA in, but no HDMI. I'll be upgrading them at some point in the distant future though.

Both cards are one slot.

Can't remember make and model of PSU off top of my head, will have to take the old machine apart and have a look.

I already have a variety of external professional audio interfaces (firewire).

One of the cases is an Acer Aspire T-somethingorother. Can't remember off top of my head. Will check.