First Post on Toms!

I have spent a long time debating on components to select, and I have my final list.

I am looking for feedback on component selection. This build includes everything including peripherals as it has been ~5 years since my last build.

Parts are ordered, some changes can be made, but im primarily looking for any reasoning (other than budget) to choose different components. Many hours spent reading reviews and benchmark results.

Here is the build:

XFX 790i Ultra Motherboard
Geforce 9800GTX x2 - SLI
4x1 GB OCZ Platinum PC3-10666 - 1333 RAM
E8400 @ 3.0 GHz 6MB Cache
Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro Series
Creative Inspire T6100 5.1 Speakers
Samsung 22" Widescreen 1680x1050 2253BW
4x Seagate 7200.11 500GB 32MB Cache (Raid 0+1)
Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W Power Supply (For future upgrades)
Antec 900 Gaming Case
Thermalright IFX-14 Fire eXtinquisher (without the backplate installed, no real gain with it, apparently wont fit the antec 900).
ARCTIC SILVER - Arctic Silver 5 High Density Silver Thermal Compound
2x Scythe Slip-Stream (Kazi-Jyuni) Medium Flow
2x Asus - DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD+/-RW Drive w/ LightScribe (I have lots of dead drives, 2=less trips to the store.)

This will be for high-end gaming (Lots of Supreme Commander, Sins of a Solar Empire, SPORE eventually, Crysis, etc.) as well as for video/photo editing, data storage, and pretty much every day use.

I wanted to include enough up-to-date components so that I can upgrade in the future if need be and not have to completely overhaul the system (new motherboard etc). I don't plan on doing any overclocking for some time...basically just as needed to meet performance requirements going forward.

What other components would you have chosen instead of these, and why?

Thank you!

Old System:

AOpen AX4SPE-UN Motherboard
Socket 478 P4 2.8 HT
1GB -> 2 GB Kingston DDR ValueRam (400 MHz)
Geforce 2 440MX -> Geforce 4 Ti4600 -> ATI X850XT
300W -> 450W Power Supply
~500 GB Total Space, Western Digital Drives
2x Coolermaster CoolDrive 4
Lots of Fans and Noise.
(-> Upgrades)

Now I just need to read some reviews on computer desks!

So you have money to burn, heh?

So why a pathetic E8400? Those are for poor people with measily $2k budget. Your majesty shall have hardware befitting of your largeness.

Consider dual Harpertown 45nm quads on Skulltrail motherboard for octo core solution.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] pk=d5400xs
Boasts 2 45nm quads, 4 pcie slots, support both SLI and Crossfire (including quad sli/crossfire), best fsb overclocking performance in existance to oc your cpus as far as they would take.

Harpertown quad 45nm cpus, the high performance server counterpart to Yorkfield quad 45nm.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] Harpertown

You might also consider 2 1TB drives instead of 4 500gb hdds. Singlarily, the 1TB versions perform better. Due to the larger size,
they'll remain useful longer too, as hdd cap increase. You can always
add more drives later.

Thanks for the feedback!

I got laid off from *unamed* computer maker here. So I am spending my severance on a new system. I was kind of aiming at ~$4000 Cap...but I think I will take your 1TB drive suggestion into the mix. Thanks!

I spent a long time debating the processor for a QX9750, but for the complete lack of performance gains at the moment, considering the $1200 price tag, I decided that when this computer starts feeling the pressures of new games and graphics I will pick one up, hopefully for under $400.

I didn't even take the dual processor into consideration! I will have to put that on the back-burner for the next time I get laid off

Wow dude you got some cash to burn.... i envy you lol

Ok any way....
PSU, GPU,,etc are all fine. You probably don't want to spend money on DDR3 and Quad SLI at this point imo. You could build a really good PC for $2.5k. I recommend you build a PC for $2.5k and spend the rest on updated next year when Nehalm comes out.

QX9750 makes absolutely no sense. You can get the skulltrail motherboard plus 2 Harpertown 45nm quads to go with it at the same price as that QX9750 alone.

^True.