Pillowfight

I am looking to build an i7 system partly with components I already have...

The new items would be:
LITE-ON 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS422-08 ($30)
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard ($290)
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail ($280)
Rosewill R5730-P BK 120mm Fan Pre-Installed on the Top and 80mm Slim Fan Cooling HDD,ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail ($50)

All prices are from NewEgg. I need suggestions on RAM and videocards (mostly photoshop work).

What I already have:

3 SATA HDs
Seasonic 550W PSU
Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme soundcard
Sony Trinton CRT monitor (old school!)

Would love to keep this under $1k if at all possible, and Windows 7 would be the preferred OS. Also, I'm wondering if that PSU is going to cut it--the system will probably not be gaming or overclocked or otherwise under insane load. 'Twas expensive, would rather not get another if I don't have to.

Thanks!

Tyree

My best advice on an i7 build is don't do it. The cost to performance ratio is not enough to warrant the high price and DDR3 RAM still has problems.
Take a look at this thread for ideas. Asus and Gigabyte are quality Mobo's.
Want to Build A New Intel or AMD Computer? Here are 6 suggested models with Spec

greenbrucelee

I would never buy anything that had the name rosewill in it. Why I hear you ask because they make dodgy power supplies and inferior products.

But as its only a fan I suppose that couldn't kill your pc.

Dacads

Go with an Antec or Coolermaster case

Pillowfight

Yeah I am not set on anything, least of all the case. Do you think that PSU would be enough for a quad core system, though?

Also I am curious what problems DDR3 has?

Phædrus2401

http://www.newstin.com/rel/us/en-010-016006355
Many manufacturers are selling off this possibly defective RAM for cheap, trying to get it out of their stock and figuring that if it gets RMAd they can replace it with the good stuff, eating a percentage loss.

Also, due to the higher latencies on DDR3 RAM it is actually slower per clock than quality DDR2 RAM. DDR3 doesn't actually get faster until you hit about 1600MHz.

DDR2 1066 CL5 = 106.6 million operations per second
DDR3 1200 CL6 = 100 million operations per second

DDR2 1200 CL6 = 100 million operations per second*
DDR3 1333 CL7 = 95.2 million operations per second

DDR3 1600 CL7 = 114.3 million operations per second

*The DDR2 1200 was slower than the 1066 because of higher latency. The only reason to use that fast of RAM is if you want to push your bus up to 400MHz and still want a 1:3 bus:memory ratio.

Since the memory controller for i7 boards is on the CPU itself you have to be very careful with your RAM voltage. You can't go much over 1.65V without frying your (very expensive) CPU. This makes overclocking, and sometimes even reaching the rated stock memory clock, very difficult.

Many motherboards using DDR3 chipsets are putting out BIOS revisions at an alarming rate, many claiming to "fix memory instability issues". I don't remember off hand where that page was, I'll have to dig it up.

Tyree

Your Seasonic 550W would suffice for a Quad Core CPU if you use moderate graphics card.