CPU question

INTRO-
OK, my name is Dan and i am 16 years old. Recently My dad and i decided that we would build a PC together because i want to pursue a career in Game Design and learn more about programing. Because we only have My Powerbook to use, we thought it would be a good idea to build a machine.

now here is where it gets tricky... well at least to me it does... we searched the webb to find all the components we want to include in our project, and we agreed on all of them except for one... The CPU. I wanted to originally use the QX9775, but then the price held me back. Through further research we both found a Processor that we thought would work with our system. I chose the Q9550, and my father chose the Q9450. This is the only thing we are disagreeing on. I think we should use the Q9550 because it has a faster clocking speed but my dad says its a little too pricey and he assures me that going with the Q4950 will suffice for the things I want to do.

Will the higher end CPU make any difference and if so how much?

This is the set up we are planning to go with

EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLi DDR3 Motherboard
EVGA GeForce GTX 280 Graphics Card
Corsair 1000 WATT Power Supply
Western Digital 1TB SATA Drive
NZXT LEXA Blackline ATX Mid Tower
Tuniq Cooling Tower
OCZ 2GB DDR3 SLi Memory
Pioneer 2OX IDE DVD Burner
Q9550 CPU or the Q9450 CPU

also if there is anything wrong with our choices please help me and tell me what i can do to improve

why is the GTX 280 a waste of money? is there something better for cheaper? i eventually wanted to buy another GTX 280 and run both of them. are there any other upgrades i should consider looking ?

yes, i plan to do mostly gaming and programing. I don't really plan to overclock. This is really supposed to last me roughly 3-4 years since that is when i will be in college and doing the majority of my programming/game design work. right now i really just want a powerful machine with great specs that will not limit me in any way in the areas of programming or gaming.

Also with the ATX tower i Picked fit all of these components? I heard that the Tuniq cooling system is rather large. will it be able to fit in the NZXT case?

yeah, your right. are there any Bugs with either of the CPUs? and do i even need a cooling system for them or am i just being cautious?

Even though this is a thread about CPUs, i have another question pertaining to the GPU aspect of a system. Did i pick a good Graphics card as far as the GTX goes? Or is there something Better out there for the same or less price. Price is not my Main concern but i dont want to spend more than $600

well... in a time constraint for the motherboard, GPU, and RAM because the deals on them run out on 7/31/08 so im kind of pressed for time as far as the GPU goes but one of the reasons we had for building our own machine was the possibility of upgrading. I just wanted to know what if the GTX is considered "top of the line" for now and if not, is there anything better out there?

okay...here are my thoughts...

ditch the mobo
ditch the GTX280
ditch the DDR3 ram (can't believe no one said anything about it yet)
ditch the Q9550
ditch the PSU

Mobo: Gigabye GA-X48-DS4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] pk=x48-ds4

Vid Card: ATI/AMD Radeon 4870 (4870x2 in a few weeks if you absolutely want the top of the line)

PowerColor's 4870 254.99$ after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814131113

or Asus's 4870 254.99$ also
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121258

(i would get the asus, just cause i like the decal sticker on it better)

Ram: your discretion. but get either DDR2 800 or DDR2 1066 at most. price and timings are your choice

Processor - Q9450 for sure, save yourself some money in this damn crippling economy we live in right now. plus, if you do some research and read the overclocking guide in the forums here, you can get it to 3.2ghz...which is faster than your Q9550 at stock, and you just spent ZERO extra dollars for free performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115042

PSU - Corsair 750TX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ir%2b750TX

build it, and send me a postcard on how much money i just saved you. or your 4870 if you have two

lol thanks good advice. Its pretty hard making a PC i cant believe the whole process behind it, at first i figured buy some parts and throw stuff together... not the case at all. im still stuck at buying the components. well, i hope everything works out well and i'll send that post card when im finished lol.

I agree with aznguy0028 but i would get the Asus Rampage Formula motherboard. Everything else he said is sound advise.

Could not agree more.
And even with those cuts, it's still way more than necessary.
Thank your lucky stars you have a Dad even willing to shell that out.

A Decent system could be had for $700-$800.
The rest is just gravy, so enjoy it.

You are spending way too much money for very little return in performance.

E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz: $175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115037

Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10000 RPM Hard Drive: $175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136011
(for your OS/Apps)

Western Digital Caviar 640GB Hard Drive: $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218
(for your data - $85 with promo code EMCAHCFAD)


64-bit OS & 4-6Gb of ram.

Can beat an AMD Radeon HD 4850 in price/performance. In Crossfire will smoke the GTX 280 and cost $100 less.

I'm with everything that's been said already about saving cash and actually making a better system because of it. Here's a nice little thing some people failed to mention:

If you get the ATI 4870, you can still get a 4870x2 in the future and crossfire them.

And also something I'm surprised nobody pointed out - ditch the DVD burner, get one that's SATA2, not IDE.

Well SLI and Crossfire are Nvidia's and ATI's idea of using two graphics cards to bump up performance especially at high resolution. So to know which is better you'd have to look at benchmarks in dual configuration, having said that the 4870 is the best value high end consumer card available today. Also what supreme law said holds true with RAM, then again I don't think DDR3 is too expensive for people who their RAM running at the same speed as their cpu. I am an overclocker so I don't mind shelling out for low latency quality stuff.
As for the operating system, upgrade. You don't need Ultimate but home basic is a poor choice in my opinion. Also consider getting a 64 bit version. I have Vista Business 64 and it runs bioshock, crysis etc just fine. Also adobe will be releasing 64 bit versions of Photoshop and Lightroom for PC soon which I think you'll love.
When your brother does some really high end design work on your machine he will be incredibly envious, and you will see for yourself which machine will be the better "design" machine.
Also get an antivirus, like Kasperspsky, it takes a bit of time to know how to use it, but you won't ever have to worry about anything. Don't be afraid to spend a bit on good gear, sometimes good stable overclocking gear is worth 10 times what you paid.

Congratulations Uncola, you've bought a system even I would be proud of. Also make sure you get the best out of that QX9775, I have a QX9650 and they overclock like a mother. Also make sure your first coldstream tube goes to your CPU and don't skimp on waterblocks.

^ +1

A Q6600 + 4850 CF and X-series mobo 7200RPM and a DVD drive with DDR2 would cost alot less, but not notice much difference (and decent cooler)

Vista Basic would be the lesser of two evils =(

Uncola,

The QX9775 uses the LGA 771 socket, and the mobo you ordered uses the LGA 775 socket. They are INCOMPATIBLE. You needed the QX9770 for that mobo (which has the same specs as the qx9775)

YOU NEED TO RETURN THIS DO NOT OPEN.

If I were you and wanted to go high end, I would get the 780i and the QX9650. The 790i will be obsolete in two months, and DDR 3 with that mobo IS NOT WORTH IT.

I can't believe nobody mentioned the incompatibility issue to the OP previously.

^What Grimmy said. The CPU is best paired with a Intel X48 chipset as the X48 and that chip are made for OCing. The only benefit to the 790i is the SLI. Then again you could have gotten 4 4870s for the price of 2 GTX280s and had a quad CFX setup that would easily keep up with that. Oh well.s