My Dream PC

Hello everyone,

I have been in search of my ultimate PC since 2005. The first game I've ever played is Max Payne; I loved that game, but my HP laptop could barely run it. So I've started saving money since the second year of college (1K-2K per year) and now reached the amount that I think could afford me that ultimate PC. This would be my second PC. I have the PC knowledge of a common average layperson, so your comments and advices would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

1. My budget:
$6,500. And yes, that is including everything.

2. Expectation:
I would use this PC to run Photoshop, grid computing, and gaming in Nvidia 3D with a single monitor (and triple monitor 3D in the future). I would like it to be "extreme" as much as possible. This is, for me, comparable to a car investment.

3. Usage:
Play all current and past games with the highest settings.
Grid computing in general; BOINC projects in particular.
Photoshop (photography is one of my hobbies)

4. Configuration (you have no idea the amount of drool every time I do this
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=526817

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Black OPS HailStorm Edition
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: !PROMOTION CLEARANCE: Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 980X 3.33GHz (Six-Core) (Extreme Performance)
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage III Extreme (Intel X58 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 12GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 1200W Digital Storm Certified (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Highly Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (120GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 510 Series SSDSC2MH120A2K5)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray Player/DVD Player (Play Blu-Ray and Play DVDs)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 3x SLI Triple (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB (PhysX) (Overclocked Edition)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 6: Sub-Zero LCS Dual Loop: CPU & Triple SLI/CrossFire Video Cards & Chipset
H20 Tube Color:Red Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive)
Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Blue) (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (UV) (Creates Glowing Effect for H20 Tubes)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Boost Video Card: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: - No Thanks
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 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty



Edited by duynguyenm - 21 Apr 2011 at 10:45pm

There are a variety of BOINC projects that uses CUDA nicely. That's the reason why I choose 980x and triple SLI 580. Also, 120GB SSD is good enough for me. I would use it only for loading Windows 7, and one or two applications that I use the most. I don't mind the extra time with normal hard drive. Beside, WD Caviar is pretty fast for me.
Thank you, Zate. I appreciate your comment

Originally posted by DST4ME in about 6 month the new SB platform is gonna put both your pc and mine to shame.