After several days of searching I am sorry to say that frustration is starting to set in. I am building a new pc primarily for bd / dvd backup and would like the opinions and suggestions from people much more qualified than I am on the subject. I am looking at spending around $1500 if needed. I realize anything built will most likely be outdated after I buy it, but would like to have compatibility for the next year or two. Gaming is not high on my list at this point, but would like to accomodate for it just in case. ( I have a card that will work for now) Here is the list I have so far for potential hardware. OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit CPU: Intel I7-920 MB: Asus P6T SE LGA 1366 Intel X58 or EVGA X58 SLI LE RAM: Corsair Dominator 6GB DDR3 1600 PSU: Rosewill Xtreme Series RX850-D-B HD: Western Digital Caviar WD1001FALS 1TB 7200rpm SATA 3.0Gb/s BD Burner: Plextor PX-B940SA-SW Any questions, opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
CPU: 8/10 - the i5 750 is a better value CPU for most instances unless you will see a benefit from hyperthreading. You should check out some benchmarks of the particular program you use to see how the 750 and 920 compare. The 750, apart from being quite a lot cheaper in itself, is much cheaper to build with as P55 boards and dual channel memory are far cheaper than X58s and triple channel RAM. Mobo: 5/10 or 7/10 - Asus boards are pretty poor quality these days and not recommended. EVGA boards are far better, but I recommend choosing from MSI, Biostar or Gigabyte as they offer the best products. The P55A series from Gigabyte is about as good as it currently gets. RAM: 10/10 if you're using the i7 of course, if you switch to i5 you will want the dual core version (and be sure you get the correct voltage memory if this is the case) PSU: 0/10 - Rosewill PSUs are diabolical and dangerous. You don't need anywhere near 850W, more like 350 at the most if you have a powerful graphics card. A Corsair VX 550W is a recommended replacement unit. HDD: 10/10 ODD: 5/10 - Plextor stuff is overpriced and relatively mediocre compared to what it once was. A cheaper LG or Optiarc drive will achieve the same results. Remember you will need a case, and also be aware that the graphics card is the most important factor in games performance.
