Help Buying a New Rig

I am beyond excited to be purchasing a new computer in the next few days!!!  Wife, Kids, Life in general have put my upgrade dreams on hold for the last few years.  I just received a bonus at work and I am “giddy” at the prospects of getting a new rig.

While I know enough about computers to be somewhat dangerous; I have certainly not kept up with all of the advancements on computer tech.  I’m looking for a little help over the next few days (ideally I want to hit “purchase” tomorrow as my bonus will hit my account by then).  I was wondering if someone could take a peek and offer some suggestions as I want to get the ball rolling and I would certainly appreciate any help.

I don’t want to duplicate any efforts from the support staff – I sent in some questions last night via ticket# 375776.  So, I apologize up front for causing any additional work for anyone at digitalstorm.

I have roughly $1700-$1900 dollars to spend (I want to stay around $1800.00, as I also plan on purchasing a laptop for the wife as well).  I have copied my first go at a system below.

Things to note:   Love FPS games … Looking for as much performance as I can at the $1800.00 range.  I already have all of the peripherals (Monitor, Keyboard, Speakers, Mouse, etc.).  I typically like to play at 1920 x1080, and would love to have all the goodies on and still get a good frame rate.  
I am not sure what to do with the video cards.  I have typically always used Nvidia cards, but ATI seems to be leading the pack.  I don’t know if I should go single or crossfire (I know little about the benchmarks for the ATI cards as there are so many different models (I hate that they do that).  So, I’m looking for suggestions from anyone more knowledgeable about it than me.
Also, I wasn’t sure if I should pick water or air cooled with the OC processor?  I’m not sure if it is more of a personal choice or not.   If anyone could chime in and help me;  or make any suggestions for things I may have missed, I would be extremely grateful as I am “foaming” at the mouth to get this computer home to load up some COD MW2 and Dragon Age to see how they look.  Thanks again everyone!!!


Ticket# 375776
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - HAF 922
Exterior Finish: - Not Available
Trim Accents: - Not Available
Processor: Intel Core i7 860 2.80GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA P55MV SLI Edition (Intel P55 Chipset)
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - Not Available
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Set 1 Raid Options: - Not Available
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 22x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 2x CrossFire Dual (ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Asetek Liquid CPU Cooler (240mm Radiator) (High-Performance Edition)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Available
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
Enhancements: - Not Available
Chassis Mods: - Not Available
Noise Reduction: - Not Available
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Requires Air Cooling Upgrade)
Boost Video Card: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Memory: - Not Available
Boost OS: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-Bit Edition)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - Not Available
Office: - Not Available
Benchmarking: - Not Available
Install/Test Game: - Not Available
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-10 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

Thanks for the quick reply ... I was just thinking about "room to grow" issues.  Thanks for bringing that up as it was a concern of mine.

A couple of questions if I may though

1. Benchmark wise (I guess I could look) Is the 5850 better than x2 5770 in crossfire?  It's not a big deal and it does allow me to put another in at a later date if I wanted.

2. I see the option to OC (Video Boost) wasn't selected for the video card.  Just curious if there was a reason to not OC the card or if it was missed initially?

3. As far as the ram goes, I might as well get it done now, so I'll add the additional 3 gigs for $122.00 to the final build.  The real question I have is; is there really going to be a noticeable difference going from 3 to 6 gig?

Thanks again for all the help.  Once I get the questions above answered, I will be placing my order sometime tomorrow morning. 

I made the mistake last time of ordering my computer from Cyber Power ... What a joke?  Customer service was terrible, they were not a big help on the technical questions, and my computer came missing case fans, hard drive was not mounted correctly and it had a bad ram stick on start up (blue screen).  I just wanted to add that so far it has been a pleasurable experience and I look forward to giving you my business in the future.  Thanks again.

I just want to extend my thanks to you for your quick reply ... This means I have everything ready to go for purchase tomorrow.  Again, thanks for the help !!!  The hardest part is going to be waiting 

Originally posted by Jon Boy The hardest part is going to be waiting