Buying a new PC - some final advice needed

[TDR]

Heya folks! Well, after a long wait, my time deposit will finally expire in 9 days and I'll be able to get myself a new comp to replace my actual piece of shit. My max budget is $3404 or 10500 RON. Keep in mind that prices are much, MUCH higher here due do the cunty 1$ = 1€ conversion + import taxes + VAT + extra shit the reseller adds so they can make profit.

I want a pc that I'll use for graphics as well as for gaming. I'd like to overclock it in the future after I'll get an aftermarket cooler. So I've narrowed my choices to 4 whishlists which differ slightly:

1. config 1 - 12GB RAM, the one I originally wanted
2. config 2 - just like config 1 but with 6GB RAM, to save some $$ got now maybe and get more RAM in the future
3. config 3 - 6GB RAM but with 160GB SSD instead of 80GB
4. config 4 - 6GB RAM but with 1250W power supply, for future upgrades like SLI

Sucks that the price of the GTX 480 might get higher once it gets in stock, so some of those configs might fail. Speaking of which, I chose the GTX 480 because I can't afford the HD5970 (unless I get 6GB of RAM, but more RAM = better for modeling and rendering, though I could always add more RAM in the future) and because it has CUDA, which is/will be used by Adobe's stuff and I don't suppose I'll be able to get a Quadro FX and an HD5870 to work together in harmony, like to use the FX when working graphics stuff and the HD when gaming (or is it possible?).
I want to have those 2 1TB HDDs in RAID1, I can't stand losing data.
That monitor is there to stay no matter what
So what do you think? What should I get? Of course any suggestions of changes are more than wellcomed, that's why I posted here. You can paste product codes from newegg to that site and vice-versa, so language shouldn't be much of an issue.
If I forgot something now I'll add it later.

 

[s4nji]

Configuration 4, I think?

 

[TDR]

After some discussion on another, specialized forum, I'm more inclined to the following configuriation:
http://www.pcgarage.ro/vizualizare-wishlist/226936/
I'll have the QuadroFX for graphics applications and the GTX for gaming and BOTH for CUDA use.
What say you?

EDIT: I understood the Quadro + GTX thing wrong; turns out that in that case, you must have the Quadro as the main card and the GTX to be used only for its CUDA...which means no gaming on the GTX...which I don't want...so I'll go just for the GTX 480.

 

[Dr Super Good]

With a computer that expensive I am suprised you are not getting W7 ultimate although it probably will not make any difference to how you use it. Just make the version of W7 you get does everything you need it to.

To warn you, your computer will consume a lot of current and thus run up your electricity bill quite a bit when using it to near its limits (you might notice an increase to its cost). Logically this is only a problem if you are using it to its limits as it will throttle consumption back when idelling resources but it will still probably conume quite a bit.

 

[TDR]

Yep, I'm aware of the power consumption, but it's not a problem for me.
Also I really don't see why I'd need the extra features in W7 Ultimate.
I have a probably final configuration, which is this:
http://www.pcgarage.ro/vizualizare-wishlist/227232/
What do you think?

 

[BlargHonk]

Tier 1 PSU's, great SSD's, decent board, good processor.

Too bad the 480 is going to cook it all >.>

I would Crossfire 2 of these: http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/sapphire/radeon-hd5830-1gb-ddr5-256-bit/ or http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-video/his/radeon-hd5850-1gb-ddr5-256-bit/

Should cost the same, use the same amount of power, and produce less heat, while giving more performance.

You can also go for a HD5870 and 750watt PSU, and crossfire later, You would have 500 RON, so you would only have to save 1000 RON for a 2nd, and the 5870 is only 10-15% worse than the 480.


Not to mention the fact that Crossfire has been more efficient than SLI lately

Supergood isn't going to like this >.>

 

[TDR]

Thanks for the suggestion . I know I'd get more performance out of the HDs, but what I want the GTX for is CUDA, which can do this and more:

^stuff like that will aslo be available in mental ray and Vray, for 3ds max

^it's not only for Quadro gpus, it works with GTXs too. As of now the GTX285 or 280, but soon it'll support the Fermi too.

 

[BlargHonk]

DirectCompute works for that too, did you not know that?

 

[TDR]

I'd like to use Octane Render, but i have an ATI video card, or any other non-CUDA capable video card, what should I do?
Currently, Octane Render requires a CUDA enabled video card to be installed. If your motherboard can accept a second video card, it is possible to install a second video card and dedicate the non-CUDA card for gaming and general display in the operatings system. The newly added Nvidia card can be dedicated to Octane Render. The cost of Octane Render is low. The additional cost of integrating an Nvidia GPU into your system is very low compared to purchasing 10 to 15 more computers to get equal performance with a CPU based solution.

the following graphics cards offer significant additional acceleration by the Mercury Playback Engine:

* GeForce GTX 285 (Windows and Mac OS)
* Quadro FX 3800 (Windows)
* Quadro FX 4800 (Windows and Mac OS)
* Quadro FX 5800 (Windows)
* Quadro CX

Adobe is planning to support additional cards in the future, including some of the new NVIDIA solutions based on the upcoming Fermi parallel computing architecture.

DirectCompute may do that (maybe Adobe will use it, as they say they plan for more cards), but as long as the software searches for CUDA, what can you do. Maybe 3rd party drivers or something, but I don't want to get into that.

EDIT: It's too late now anyway, I already placed the order . A Palit GTX 480 arrived in stock today and I don't want to miss it. Overall I'm happy that I went for the GTX, even if it's way too overpriced now. Probably it's a psychological thing, but as long as I'm happy it's all ok . Plus, I really like the looks of the 480.

 

[BlargHonk]

Don't touch the metal part while it's on, thats actually part of the heatsink

 

[TDR]

Oh lawd!

Forgot to take a pic after I assembled it
They arrived on Monday, and I assembled it the same day. Installation was a breeze, it POSTed on the first try with no problems, works like a charm .
I can't believe how freakin fast this beast is compared to my old comp! Booting on that SSD is so fast that I feel like restarting the system just for fun lol.
And rendering...my god...a tear dropped from my eye when I saw those 8 buckets moving around. And Octane Render is so blazing fast on the GTX480 it's not even funny!
May it serve me well!

Oh and I'll get a Dell U2410 monitor next week.