I need your opinion on this configuration...

MihaiS

Hello!

I plan to make a PC with the following configuration:

Asus P6T6 WS Revolution Core i7 Motherboard
Intel Core i7 2.66 GHz Processor
2x ATI Radeon HD 3870 Graphics Cards
4x Kingston ValueRAM 4GB DDR3 SDRAM Memory Modules
2x Seagate 500GB SATA 7200RPM 32MB Cache

Do you recommend me this configuration?

Thank you!

Chef

Its not bad.

but heres some things I reckon you will benefit more from

Instead of 2 3870 graphics cards, change to one GTX260 or a 4870 1GB Edition. The 2 3870 will cost more and performance won't match to those of a single GTX260 or a 4870.

Instead of getting 2 Seagate 500GB hard drives, why not get a single 1TB Samsung hard drive? It will save connection space and cost, or you can RAID 2 1TB Samsung Hard drives for more performance since your going to be using it as a workstation.

As for the processor 2.66GHZ is alright, but if you have the money, I'd prefer you to step one model up for something that is 2.66GHZ +

Otherwise your system is all good!

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MihaiS

Thanks for the input, Chef!

Yes, sir! You are right. I've read some reviews and recalculated my budget and I'll go for an ATI Radeon HD 4870x2 PCIe 2GB GDDR5 and for a RAID 2 1TB Samsung Hard Drives configuration. As for the CPU, I'll stick with the Core i7-920 @ 2.66 GHz. I can't afford a Core i7-940 @ 2.93 GHz (the price is almost double) taking in consideration the fact that I'll have to invest a lot in pheriperals.

The 1000W power supply is going to kill me. I also want at least one external 2TB Hard Drive (eSATA) and I intend using this as a 64bit system to work with Lightwave 3D, so I also want two 24" screens @ 1920x1200.

Thank you for helping me making a better decision!

X-Caliber

The first thing which stroke me after reading your configuration was

4870 and 1 TB

its really not recommended to go for 3870 and two 500 GB will be consuming more power than 1 TB

I recommend Seagate Hard disk !!!

Also for Rams I recommend Corsair Dominator GT
Get a 3GB x 'n' (your choice) of 2000 MHZ

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MihaiS

Thanks, X-Caliber!

Extracted from the link you provided, wouldn't 1333MHz / 9-9-9-24, 1.50V / XMS3 Classic / 12GB (6x2GB) suit me better?

X-Caliber

Yeah.. actually its the better deal out there..

12Gb - $300

Dominator GT really burns down a hole in pocket

Chef

And 2000MHZ is probably overkill for a workstation config, as the 2000MHZ would be suitable for a enthusiast/overclocking config along with the i7 965 and 975

And also, I wouldn't recommend a 4870x2 for workstation use esp with graphics processing on Lightwave 3d, or other apps you may use such Maya or 3ds Max 9 or later. I'd rather you to get a single GTX285 to power up the resources and work your going to be doing, as these don't differ much from its Quadro series counterparts, and really not many people are in favour of using "ATi" cards for workstation uses unless you are using FireGL, which is probably overkill, but a good example.

MihaiS

I must admit I am a bit confused at this point in time...

Having a single video board with two video processors and 2GB DDR5-256bit isn't better than a video board with a single video processor and 1GB DDR3-512bit?

I don't want to rush into buying the components for this system as I want to know first the best possible configuration for my needs, which are video editing and 3D rendering (mainly using AfterFX and LightWave 3D).

I don't have money for buying the best processor, but I'm not going to refrain from buying the best motherboard and video board to use with an Intel Core i7 2.66 GHz Processor.

So, is Asus P6T6 WS Revolution Core i7 better than Asus P6T-DELUXE? Are there better motherboards than these?

Is EVGA GeForce GTX 280 SSC 1024MB DDR3 512bit better than Asus Ati Radeon HD 4870X2, 2GB DDR5-256bit?

I want the best configuration for working with 3D applications (mainly Lightwave 3D) and video editing software (like AfterFX and Premiere PRO).

Hope I'm not getting annoying about this... Thanks a lot guys!

EDIT: I also plan to upgrade in time to 2 or more video cards for use with CrossFireX or SLI.

Edit2: This may not be the best thread to ask questions of this type... I have never used Vista and I have never owned a 64bit system, but I have 2 dektops and a laptop (single core 2,53GHz|3GB RAM / single core 2GHz/ 1GB RAM / dual core 1,86GHz / 3GB RAM) running on windows xp and I wonder if I can use these computers and the 64bit system I am going to buy to perform network rendering with LightWave. Will there be LAN issues between the computers because of the 64bit system running on Vista?

Chef

Ok, I will answer this one at a time, about the graphics card, the GTX280 SSC is better then the 4870x2 2GB, in terms of raw processing power, yes the GTX280 will have more advantage, and don't be gobsmacked around because the 4870x2 has bigger memory bandwidth and higher memory bus. If you want the best GPU and motherboard, I'd choose these

nvidia GTX290
Asus P6T6 WS Revolution Core i7

Thats final, when you get more money, you can either get more RAM or a second GTX290 card or a better processor, either way, WS in your motherboard model stands for workstation which you can get support for max 24GB 1800MHZ+ RAM and other server features.

Heres a review

MihaiS

Heh, that's the same review I read when decided to chose that motherboard. Later on I found a review about Asus P6T-DELUXE, socket 1366 and wasn't sure which is better.

So, Asus P6T6 WS Revolution Core i7 Motherboard and an nVidia GeForce GTX for the win, but now that I made some research on nVidia video cards I've found one called nVidia GeForce GTX 295, 1792MB, DDR3, 896bit.

Sorry to be such a pest, but wouldn't this be better or does the same principle apply to this one as well (that is, not being gobsmacked around because the bigger memory bandwidth and higher memory bus)?