Computer Build Advice

[HisLeast]

Would it be bad taste for me to ask for people's opinion on a computer I'm buying?
(people here, not people in general)

[Firefighter]

Go for it. I do all of the computer purchasing for my company...

[HisLeast]

BUILD PURPOSE
- Developing
- BI work (lots of database querying)
- Some gaming

First Option: CyberPowerPC's Megabundle 4 - $1500
(link to CyperPowerPC build page)
- Case: Apevia X-Dreamer
- Extra 120mm case fan
- CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-930 2.80 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
- Memory: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel
- Cooling: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan
- Motherboard: GigaByte GA-EX58-UD3R Intel X58 Chipset CrossFireX/SLI Support LGA1366 DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB2.0, SATA-II, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI
- Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5830 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe
- Power Supply: 1000 Watts Power Supplies (Xion PowerReal ATX Power Supply)
- Hard Drive: Single Hard Drive (1TB (1TBx1) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)

Second Option - Craigslist Post - $1200
(link to Craigslist post)
- Case: Cooler Master CM690 case
- CPU: Intel Core i7 920 (overclocked on air to 3.2GHz)
- Memory: OCZ Reaper HPC DDR3 memory, 6GB on 3 sticks for the best tri-channel DDR3 performance
- Cooling: 4 Noctua case fans (3 120mm and 1 80mm on the opposite side to cool the motherboard)
- Motherboard: EVGA X58 Motherboard (supports DDR3 memory and SLI video for Nvidia or ATI graphics cards)
- Video Card: ATI Radeon 5850 graphics with EyeFinity support
- Power Supply: Corsair 1000 Watt Modular Power supply
- Hard Drive: 4 Samsung SATAII Single-Level Cell Solid State Disks (SSD), configured as a RAID 0 drive for 400MB/s random reads and writes
- Hard Drive 2: 1 Seagate 1.5TB backup drive, mounted in a sound-dampening heat sink case

EDIT: motherboard info on option 2 was incorrect

[Firefighter]

If not for the overclocking, I would have recommended the second option. Remember, there is usually a good reason why someone is getting rid of a computer...

I wish the first one had an Intel board in it... Have you considered building your own???

[HisLeast]

If not for the overclocking, I would have recommended the second option. Remember, there is usually a good reason why someone is getting rid of a computer...

I wish the first one had an Intel board in it... Have you considered building your own???

So wait, the overclocking is a bad thing? I thought the overclocking put it about par with Option 1 in terms of processing power.
I've spoken to the craigslist poster offline and its a money situation. He's getting rid of a bunch of stuff.

I have considered building my own, but the last time I had my hands in the guts of a machine was years ago, and I never was very good with the wiring. Since then my journey the IT realm has taken me farther and farther away from dealing with hardware, so about the best I could do is tell you what each component is if you point to it.

[Athanasius]

Why is the second option only being sold for $1200? That computer is at least $5,000--makes me think something fishy is going on there. If you only had those two to choose from, I'd go with the first, on the assumption that something is fishy with the second, because that's a really good deal (solid state drives cost a small country) Otherwise, I'd recommend you build your own. Worth checking into AMD again, especially if you can put together your own. Overclocking, especially on air, tends to... fry cpu's, especially going from 2.6 to 3.2 ghz. The overclock makes the i7 920 on par with the i7 930 extreme. Mind you, not really worth having an i7 (at its present cost) if you aren't going to overclock it.

[HisLeast]

Why is the second option only being sold for $1200? That computer is at least $5,000--makes me think something fishy is going on there. If you only had those two to choose from, I'd go with the first. Otherwise, I'd recommend you build your own. Worth checking into AMD again, especially if you can put together your own.

I would consider building my own, but I've been out of the hardware game for so long I barely know what to look for. I'm also clueless as to manufacturer reputations these days.

[HisLeast]

Would you say your hesitation on option 2 is based on the fact its from Craigslist, or for the hardware selection?

[-SEEKING-]

This thread just inspired me to contact Dell for a possible new computer. I need something that can handle REVIT.

[Athanasius]

Would you say your hesitation on option 2 is based on the fact its from Craigslist, or for the hardware selection?

The fact that it's a $5,000+ machine going for $1,200. Who knows, maybe it really is just an awesome deal that you've run into, but why sell a machine you paid over $5,000 for, for only $1,200? I know how much money went into it, ignore the solid state drive... and I have pretty much the same computer.

In other news, I have to RMA my video card... So no me for a week

[Beckrl]

You may consider this review Top Ten Review

I prefer to build mine but If you aren't then these are some good ones to chose from.

[HisLeast]

Why is the second option only being sold for $1200? That computer is at least $5,000--makes me think something fishy is going on there. If you only had those two to choose from, I'd go with the first, on the assumption that something is fishy with the second, because that's a really good deal (solid state drives cost a small country) Otherwise, I'd recommend you build your own. Worth checking into AMD again, especially if you can put together your own. Overclocking, especially on air, tends to... fry cpu's, especially going from 2.6 to 3.2 ghz. The overclock makes the i7 920 on par with the i7 930 extreme. Mind you, not really worth having an i7 (at its present cost) if you aren't going to overclock it.

I thought about using the price differential between the two systems to fund an upgrade on the processor, then sell the i7-920 for cheap on CL.

[tango]

Would it be bad taste for me to ask for people's opinion on a computer I'm buying?
(people here, not people in general)

Tedrribly bad taste, although if it's any consolation I hear AMD chips taste a lot better than Intel. You need to be careful, those pins get stuck between your teeth something terrible.

[tango]

On a more serious note I agree that solid state drives are either very small (capacity wise), very expensive, or sometimes both. I noticed you didn't list the capacity of them.

Regular disk space is cheap as anything, 1.5TB drives are now below £100 in English money so probably below $120 in US money.

[Clavicula_Nox]

For HDD, 1 TB is now the new GB.

Remember when there would never be any use for more than 15 GB? When there was no way you could ever use 800 Mb? That 512kb was more than enough data storage for anyone?