New Builder Working on mid-high Tier Desktop

[Ben1599]

Hi guys.
I've been reading the boards here for a while and finally decided to actually make an account. Seeing some of the great advice other people have gotten in the past, I thought I might run some of my ideas by you all. My goal is to build a pretty high quality desktop for primarily 3D modelling, sculpting, and rendering with Blender, and other open source "art" production software. I will also be using it for CAD (Solidworks specifically) as well as potentially some programming. Lastly, although the first things probably already require better hardware anyway, I would like it to be somewhat future proofed for gaming for the next 4-6 years hopefully.
So, after following some discussions here and elsewhere on the internet, as well as doing some of my own research, this is what I have come up with:

Motherboard: BIOSTAR TZ77XE3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS (I originally looked at the Biostar TZ77B which is $30 less, but newegg is offering a combo of this MoBo with the CPU below for $20 off)

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000

CPU Cooling: LOGISYS Computer IC231PWM 100mm Hydro Bearing Theta 31 CPU Cooler (I really don't know much about non-included cooling except that its pretty much a given for overclocking, which I think I would like to do.)

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL (Fairly cheap so I was looking at the 16GB options even if it might be somewhat overkill. There are a ton of very similar options at similar prices, so I just picked one with good reviews. There is an "identical" set by Corsair for $5 more)

HDD:
1. Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
2. Western Digital Caviar Blue WD7500AALX 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (Not sure which one I prefer, I don't know if I need so much space (in addition to an SSD), although the 750GB is only $10 more anyway.)

SSD:
1. Mushkin Enhanced Chronos MKNSSDCR120GB 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ($115- Not the most consistent reviews)
2. SanDisk Extreme SDSSDX-120G-G25 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)($139-Better reviews but pretty much same technical details. Based on failure stories it seems like an SSD is a good place to put in a little more money for higher quality. My intent would be to use the SSD for Windows as well as commonly used programs.)

Wireless Card: Rosewill RNX-N180PCe Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Express Revision 1.1 Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64/128-bit WEP (Hex & ASCII), WPA(TKIP with IEEE 802.1x), WPA2(AES with IEEE 802.1x)
I don't really know what my internet future will look like, but I figure with $16.99 for what looks to be a nice, reliable wireless card, I may as well cover my bases.

PSU: I currently have, from an old desktop that has been a footrest for ~4 years, a 530W PSU which I don't know the model or manufacturer of. I'm guessing I should probably just go for a new one, but I'm not exactly sure what to be looking for in terms of compatibility.

Case: I have what I believe is a mid tower ATX case. It seems to fit the current MoBo and components pretty well, but only has one side fan. In terms of a new case I don't want anything flashy or fancy, but how much/what kind of fan set up should I be looking at?

Optical Drive: My current computer has what I believe to be a fairly generic (although ~4 year old) DVD R/W drive a DVD R drive, and a floppy disk drive! I'm assuming that DVD drive technology hasn't changed much and I will be fine to harvest the DVD R/W drive for the new system.

GPU: This is probably my biggest hang-up. To be able to use Blender's Cycles rendering engine, I will need a Nvidia GPU which helps narrow down the search somewhat, but other than looking for lots of memory, high clock speed, and lots of CUDA cores, I'm not really sure about a lot of the specifics.
1. EVGA 015-P3-1480-KR GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ($250)
2. Galaxy 57NKH3HS4GXK GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ($265 w/ rebate)
3. EVGA 012-P3-1571-AR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ($285 w/ rebate)
4. Galaxy 57NKH3DH5PXK MDT X4 GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Multi-Display Video Card ($299.99 w/ rebate, the beast of the pack)
5. EVGA 012-P3-1571-RX GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ($245 refurbished, seemingly a great deal)

Monitor: I have a decent monitor already so I'll save some money for the short term
Mouse/Keyboard: I just got a nice simple keyboard, and I may replace my quite old mouse with a new basic <$10 mouse, but I don't think there can be too much discussion around cheap wired mice .

I believe I got everything, at least I hope I did. I have links available, but didn't want to add them right away as this will be my first post, all the prices are from Newegg anyway. I would really love some advice in terms of system compatibility as that is one thing I'm worried about. I listed a number of components that I think would be appropriate, but I would be grateful if there are better and/or cheaper alternatives that I missed. In general I would just love any tips, advice, or insight from those who are much more experienced than I am. As a last note, I intend to use Windows 7 as my OS (I can get a license somewhat cheaply), but I am open to the idea of trying out a Linux distro. Would it be possible to dual boot W7 and Linux from an SSD/HDD?

Thanks so much for your help, and let me know if I need to clarify anything. (So much for not making a massive wall of text out of my first post )

[PhoenixEnigma]

Thoughts:

Motherboard: looks good enough. Biostar is not my first pick, but it should work just fine.

CPU: For your workload, I'd actually suggest springing for the i7-3770 if you can. It's of no help when gaming, but it sounds like a lot of your workload can actually make use of the extra threads.

CPU heatsink: Honestly, that's probably not much better than the stock heatsink. At the reasonable-overclock level, I'd suggest one of the Cooler Master Hyper 212 series. If you must squeeze out another couple hundred MHz, you'll need something pretty beefy, as IVB hasn't really shown itself to be terribly overclockable.

Memory: 16GB makes sense, between your workload and the fact that it's cheap these days. That said, you're overpaying by buying in a 4x4GB kit. A pair of these kits will be a bit cheaper and do exactly the same thing (and they're lower profile, which comes in handy if you want a large heatsink). About the only other thing to watch out for is voltage - anything over 1.5V is not recommended for SB/IVB.

HDD: I'd probably go for the 750GB, myself, given how close the prices are, but you're in a better position to decide.

SSD: Personally, I'm not yet sold on Sandforce's reliability (both drives you listed have Sandforce SF-2281 controllers, which have picked up a reputation as very fast but more prone to bugs). My picks would be Samsung 830, Crucial M4, or Intel 320 drives, in about that order. The Crucial, in particular, is about the same price as the drives you're looking at.

Wireless card: Ought to work fine, but you can pry my Cat6 cables from my cold dead hands when it comes to networking.

PSU: Particularly with the video cards you listed and the age of the one you have, I'd suggest a new power supply. Taking a quick look over Newegg, something like this would be suitable - a 550W+ model from a reputable manufacturer. Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, Silverstone, OCZ, Thermaltake, PC Power and Cooling, XFX, and probably a couple I am forgetting are generally pretty solid.

Case: There's a bit of a three way tradeoff between price, cooling and noise with most of the cases out there. In terms of cooling, I'd look for something with a front, rear, and top 120mm fan, and possibly a side one as well. Obviously there are a lot of options, but the NZXT Source or Antex Three Hundred might be starting points.

Optical drive: I'd check to make sure your current drive is SATA and not PATA. As long as it is, there's really no reason to replace it. If it's not, you'll need a new drive (as the motheboard doesn't have any IDE connectors), but whatever is cheapest at the moment ought to work just fine.

GPU: The 480's have a reputation for running hot (though apparently newer ones are a little better). At the same time, EVGA is one of the best in the business, so their refurb 570 might not be a bad way to go. If your applications scale with multi-GPU setups, a pair of 560s might also be worth considering. It would provide more raw computational power, but takes more space and power, throws more heat, and is more of a pain for gaming.

Mouse/KB: To each their own, but if you're building an expensive machine, it makes sense to me to spend some care and attention to the parts you actually interact with.

I would like it to be somewhat future proofed for gaming for the next 4-6 years hopefully

Not going to happen, not at any price. If that's the goal, spend half as much now, toss the other half in a savings account for 2 or 3 years, and spend it on upgrades or a new machine then. You'll come out much further ahead.

[Carnildo]

CPU Cooling: LOGISYS Computer IC231PWM 100mm Hydro Bearing Theta 31 CPU Cooler (I really don't know much about non-included cooling except that its pretty much a given for overclocking, which I think I would like to do.)

Not all third-party coolers are created equal. Just from looking at it, I'd say that this cooler has, at best, performance similar to that of the stock Intel cooler. You'll want to do some serious research here: picking the wrong cooler will greatly limit your overclocking capability, but be careful, as overclocking discussion boards are likely to advise you to pick an extreme high-end cooler such as the Noctua NH-D14 (a $100 monster of a heatsink).

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL (Fairly cheap so I was looking at the 16GB options even if it might be somewhat overkill. There are a ton of very similar options at similar prices, so I just picked one with good reviews. There is an "identical" set by Corsair for $5 more)

There's no such thing as too much memory. There's only "more memory than I can afford right now". Except in extreme outlier cases, the speed of your memory doesn't have a significant impact on your overall system speed.

Wireless Card: Rosewill RNX-N180PCe Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Express Revision 1.1 Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64/128-bit WEP (Hex & ASCII), WPA(TKIP with IEEE 802.1x), WPA2(AES with IEEE 802.1x)
I don't really know what my internet future will look like, but I figure with $16.99 for what looks to be a nice, reliable wireless card, I may as well cover my bases.

You say you're thinking of dual-booting Linux. Wireless cards are the one area of hardware where Linux still has compatibility problems. The card you've picked does have native Linux drivers, but I don't know how good they are.

PSU: I currently have, from an old desktop that has been a footrest for ~4 years, a 530W PSU which I don't know the model or manufacturer of. I'm guessing I should probably just go for a new one, but I'm not exactly sure what to be looking for in terms of compatibility.

The current standard is ATX12V v2.3. If what you've got is ATX12V 2.0 or newer it should have the power balance needed to power a modern system (ie. most of the power on the 12-volt lines), but you'll want to check to make sure it's got the six-pin or eight-pin plug your GPU needs. Unless you're going with multiple GPUs, 530 watts should be enough. That said, brand is at least as important as wattage in determining power supply capabilities: the good brands will provide power at least to the rated capacity and will do so under extreme conditions (say, a tent in the Iraqi desert), while cheap brands will fail (sometimes dramatically) well before they reach the rated capacity.

Case: I have what I believe is a mid tower ATX case. It seems to fit the current MoBo and components pretty well, but only has one side fan. In terms of a new case I don't want anything flashy or fancy, but how much/what kind of fan set up should I be looking at?

As long as you've got at least one rear exhaust fan in addition to the power supply's exhaust fan, this is mostly a matter of taste and tolerance for noise. Some general rules of thumb: big slow quiet fans move as much air as small fast noisy fans, positive pressure (more intake fan power than exhaust fan power) makes for a less dusty case while negative pressure makes for better cooling, and side intake fans only make sense if you've got a top-blown heatsink (most high-performance heatsinks these days have fans blowing across rather than blowing down at the CPU).

Optical Drive: My current computer has what I believe to be a fairly generic (although ~4 year old) DVD R/W drive a DVD R drive, and a floppy disk drive! I'm assuming that DVD drive technology hasn't changed much and I will be fine to harvest the DVD R/W drive for the new system.

DVDs haven't changed. Drive attachment technology has, so make sure it's a serial ATA (small connector with skinny cable) rather than a parallel ATA (large connector with broad ribbon cable) drive.

but I don't think there can be too much discussion around cheap wired mice

Ball, laser, or conventional optical?

As a last note, I intend to use Windows 7 as my OS (I can get a license somewhat cheaply), but I am open to the idea of trying out a Linux distro. Would it be possible to dual boot W7 and Linux from an SSD/HDD?

Yes. Make sure you partition the drive to leave room for Linux, install Windows, then install Linux (the Windows installer doesn't play nice with other operating systems). The Linux distro's installer should either set up the bootloader to support this for you, or give you instructions on how to do so. Linux can access the Windows portion of the drive if you install the NTFS-3G package (details depend on which Linux distro you go with); if you want Windows to access the Linux portion, you're pretty much out of luck.

[EvanED]

Mouse/Keyboard: I just got a nice simple keyboard, and I may replace my quite old mouse with a new basic <$10 mouse, but I don't think there can be too much discussion around cheap wired mice .

I would just encourage you to think about this. If you're happy with a cheap mouse, that's great.

But personally, I am always amazed by people who go and spend a grand building a computer and then cheap out on the couple parts of the computer that you actually use. Maybe it's just me, or the fact that I've had wrist problems in the past and so am particular about ergonomics, but I'd personally spend $50 on a nice keyboard or mouse before almost anything else.

My main point is just to make this a conscious decision.

[Ben1599]

Thanks for the great advice! I'll have some time tomorrow to do some more detailed examination of some of your recommendations and re-work my list.
In regards to the video card, I have never really understood the concept of two cards (SLI, right?). How does having two card affect performance? I assume its not just double speed and double memory. Also, how do the connections work for your monitor, or do you have to have dual monitors, one card to each? I think I may just stay with one of the 570s, as I agree, the refurbished EVGA one seems like a great bargain for a pretty capable card, but I'm just kind of curious as to the reasoning behind the double cards.

From what you guys are mentioning, I definitely think I'll need a new PSU and DVD drive, and I'm leaning towards being on the safe side with noise and cooling potential and getting a new case too.

Regarding Linux, I imagine I would want to partition the SSD for both operating systems, and I've heard roughly 20-30gb for Windows and some key programs. What could I expect for a linux install, I'm guessing much less than windows?

Regarding the mouse: I've never really cared too much about them, to be completely honest. The biggest thing I notice is that wireless mice always seem to either fall off my desk or be out of batteries in the most inopportune times, leading to my desire for a wired mouse. I found a Zalman 5 button 1000dpi optical mouse (wired) on Newegg for 11.99, which seems great to me. Other than going from the old ball mice, I've never known the difference between optical and laser mice, or whatever the two newer types are. I did just recently buy a Wacom tablet as another input device so I'm not completely neglecting that part of the process .

Again, Thanks for all your help.

[ElWanderer]

In regards to the video card, I have never really understood the concept of two cards (SLI, right?). How does having two card affect performance? I assume its not just double speed and double memory. Also, how do the connections work for your monitor, or do you have to have dual monitors, one card to each?

SLI (Scalable Link Interface) is NVIDIA's term for running multiple cards together (AMD/ATI call their implementation CrossFireX/Crossfire). It lets the 3D graphics calaculations be split up and run across multiple cards. Theoretically having two cards does double the processing power and memory available, but in reality the cards have to talk to eachother quite a lot and share data. A lot depends on the application being run as to how much of a performance increase you'll get.

When connected together and running in SLI mode, one card acts as master, the other as slave. It's the master that you plug your monitor into, the other card won't output anything. From memory, when I set-up my old system, I had no idea what to expect, as between the two cards I had four output sockets to choose from... so I tried each one until I got output on my screen! Should be possible to work it out from the manuals, though.

If you turn off SLI mode, you go back to a standard two card set-up where each card is independent, so you run additional monitors off the second card.

Disclaimer: It's been five or six years since I ran my PC in SLI mode, so things may have changed since (hopefully it's more user-friendly, having to restart WinXP to switch SLI mode on and off wasn't fun). I deliberately bought two identical cards to have SLI an option, but then stopped buying games with heavy graphics requirements! It didn't help that the one game I did play a lot (Civ 4) crashed repeatedly with SLI mode enabled, so I left it disabled.

[mosc]

I own a Mushkin 240 GB and a Crucial M4 128 GB. Both have seen constantly improving firmware that has reduced the blue screens. The Mushkin has not crashed since it's most recent update if you care to say one is better than the other (make sure you get the "delux"). If I was buying another one, I would buy the Crucial mostly because their new update software is less of a ROYAL PAIN IN THE ASS! Stop over thinking this choice, they're all good. Let the fanboys rant and ignore it.

[starslayer]

SLI these days is easy-peasy and relatively trouble-free - install the cards, connect them with the bridge, and away you go. I wish I could say the same about Crossfire, but NVidia multi-GPU setups seem to have fewer problems than AMD ones these days. You don't have to restart the PC to switch modes or anything like that. You don't gain any memory capacity, though, since each card has the entire framebuffer stored. The speed increase is variable, and depends on how well the drivers have been optimized for the specific application, but a range of ~150-175% improvement is typical in my experience (which is entirely with games, so...). If you want to do multi-monitor gaming at high settings, SLI or Crossfire is just about the only way to go, but even gaming on a 30" nowadays is doable with a single high-end card.

I'll add to the previous advice to get a new PSU; my personal preference in brand would be Corsair or Seasonic. 650 W is probably a good level if you overclock and/or choose to go with 560 SLI. For the video card, I would not get a 480. They run very hot and loud, and the 570 beats it in performance while consuming less power and being quieter.

I would not buy a Biostar motherboard if I could avoid it, but that could just be the ASUS fanboy in me.

[mosc]

I only buy antec and enermax power supplies anymore. Been burned too many times.

[Ben1599]

Alright, I think I have gone through all of your suggestions.
Not Much Contention:

• CPU: i5-3570k Based on price/speed, this seems to be pretty clearly the best option. The i7-3770k (out of stock for one thing) increases speed by 0.1Ghz has a 2mb larger cache, and enables hyperthreading, but is also at least $100 more which kind of pushes out side of my desired price range.
• Cooling: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099]COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct
  Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler[/url] Suggested by PhoenixEnigma: looks to be well rated, compatible, and a very fair price of $34.99.
• HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 750GB No one seemed to dislike it and it looks like exactly what I need size and price wise.
• SSD: Crucial M4 128 GB Suggested by mosc: seems like great quality and good reviews. A bit expensive, but with SSD prices in general pretty high, its not too bad.
• Wireless Card: Rosewill RNX-N180PCe Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Express Revision 1.1 Seems like exactly what I need for a great price.
• Optical Drive: Generic DVD R/W Best rating on Newegg and only $17.99, seems like a fairly simple choice.
• Mouse: Zalman 5 button optical mouse 1000dpi Simple, just what I want, good reviews, cheap, not much more to say.

More Contention:

• Mother Board: Here I found four different brands that all look to have pretty much what I need, all within a reasonable price range.
  Biostar TZ88XE3 ($119.99, -$20 off when paired with CPU above)
  Intel BOXDH67CLB3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ($89.99)
  MSI Z77A-G43 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS ($114.99)
  GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ($114.99)
  Any brand preferences?
• GPU: I am intrigued by the idea of SLI, but it seems like the EVGA GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 732 MHz 480 cores will give me good speed--at least as much as I'm hoping for--especially for the price of $249.99. Please persuade me otherwise if you disagree.
• Memory: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Were suggested as a way to save money (and space) over G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800). The Mushkin set (x2) is only $7 less than the G.Skill, and that is before shipping (Mushin is $10.00 each, G.Skill free) The G.Skill set also seems to have more consistent reviews. Am I missing something? The 2x(2x 4GB) sets don't seem to actually be cheaper or more effective, except potentially in being lower profile.)
• PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom I don't believe OCZ was a brand mentioned above, but based on the many reviews on Newegg it seems to be a very stable model and has a pretty great price.
• Case: Here there was a lot of variety, but I found a few models that seemed to balance good reviews, fan use, and USB 3.0 ports:
  Antec Gaming Series One Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 2 fans, 2 USB 3.0, $49.99)
  NZXT Source 220 CA-SO220-01 Black Steel / Aluminum-like finish ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 2 fans, 1 USB 3.0, $59.99)
  [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146077]NZXT Source 210 Elite White Steel with painted interior ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ Black Front Trim] 2 fans, 1 USB 3.0, $49.99)
  Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 4 fans, 4xUSB 2.0, $49.99 after rebate. No USB 3, but lots of fans, reviews say it is quite roomy and suggested just running a USB 3 cord from motherboard out of an extra drive slot .

Alright, that took longer than I anticipated. Well this my current list based on the previous suggestions. Any other recommendations would be great. I'm excited to start to see some xkcd approved parts on my list . Thanks for all your continued assistance, I really appreciate all the expertise and kindness you all have.

Edit: Any ideas on the two broken insert url things?

[starslayer]

I would usually advise against getting an OCZ PSU; they may have improved in the past couple of years, but they have a history of high failure rates. Also don't trust any PSU reviews on newegg. Instead, look at sites like HardOCP, Hardware Secrets, or Johnny Guru, which properly loadtest and evaluate PSUs. Hardware Secrets does like that particular model, though, so that's something.

[Ben1599]

Thanks for the heads up, actually checking load tests sounds like great idea.

[Carnildo]

[*]Memory: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Were suggested as a way to save money (and space) over G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800). The Mushkin set (x2) is only $7 less than the G.Skill, and that is before shipping (Mushin is $10.00 each, G.Skill free) The G.Skill set also seems to have more consistent reviews. Am I missing something? The 2x(2x 4GB) sets don't seem to actually be cheaper or more effective, except potentially in being lower profile.)

Reviews on memory are mostly confirmation bias or unrelated events being interpreted as being due to the memory. Memory either works or it doesn't, and "doesn't" is easy to spot (let MemTest86+ run for a while and see if it finds errors). The only real reason to pick one brand over another is to change your odds of getting a good part on the first try.

Regarding Linux, I imagine I would want to partition the SSD for both operating systems, and I've heard roughly 20-30gb for Windows and some key programs. What could I expect for a linux install, I'm guessing much less than windows?

Depends on the distro and what applications you install in addition to the base OS. I've got Linux installations running anywhere from 3 MB to 4 GB for the OS and applications, with my smallest full-featured desktop weighing in at about 400 MB.

[ajd007]

I just wanted to point out that you can get a Core i7-3820 for $20 cheaper than the i5-3570 at microcenter.
They also regularly have deals where in addition to an insanely low price on a processor, you get $50 off any Z77 motherboard.
These deals are in-store only, though, so if you don't live near one, you're out of luck.

[PhoenixEnigma]

Your broken URLs are missing the closing [/url] tags.

As to the shipping, it can be a little misleading. The listed shipping cost is what you would pay to have just that item shipped, but newegg will (quite logically) combine shipping for items where it's possible. The extra shipping cost for a pair of RAM sticks in a box with a video card and motherboard is on the order of a buck or two.

Regarding the SLI'd video cards - I'd only recommend it if whatever compute task you are doing scales near-perfectly with more cards (some things scale perfectly, like many distributed computing projects, while some simply won't see or use the second card at all). For gaming, I am a strong proponent of getting the single fastest card you can, as multi-GPU setups tend to have a lot of little gotcha's.

20-30GB for Windows sounds like a number pulled from XP, perhaps. For OS+common programs, I'd probably suggest closer to 40 or 50GB depending on what all you plan to have installed there, as Windows trends to grow over time.

[Ben1599]

Unfortunately I don't live near any microcenters, but after reading around, it does seem like Blender (and other 3D software) benefit very well from hyperthreading (up to ~40% faster). I'm hoping maybe I can find some local in store deal on an i7-3770k because even with what seems like a great speed boost, I'm already pushing the top end of my budget and the extra cost from an i5 to i7 isn't cheap.

I'm having trouble find information about Blender scaling with SLI'd cards. Without certainty that it will help, I think the simpler and cheaper route of a faster but single card is the right way for me to go, especially with the cpu debate still a question.

Your right about the OS size also, I was thinking about XP and forgot that W7 is probably pretty different requirement wise. With the low demand for Linux (if I do end up dual-booting) I'll probably end up with at least 80, if not 90-100GB for W7 anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem.

[Endless Mike]

NewEgg's Ivy Bridge prices are a bit high at the moment and there's not really a major performance increase over Sandy Bridge. They do run a bit lower power, though. It might be worth you money to look into an i7-2600k or 2700k since the Hyperthreading will help you a whole lot. Also, it's a hair cheaper to get 4x4 GB RAM than 2x8 GB, and Windows Home Premium has a 16 GB limit, so your expansion options are no existent without upgrading to Pro.

[Ben1599]

Putting the CPU decision aside for now, in terms of motherboard, I keep hearing suggestions for Asus, which makes sense to me as they are a very respectable company, but what about chipset. Other than making sure the socket type is right, and the right connections for SATA 3, PCI-e and ram, what are the major differences between Z68, Z77, H67, or any other models that might work for me?

[Endless Mike]

Wikipedia has a handy chart detailing the differences: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1155

Looks like if you want to overclock, you should avoid H67. Looks like Z68 doesn't have USB3, which might be useful in the future.

[Ben1599]

Wikipedia has a handy chart detailing the differences: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1155

Perfect, thanks for the link. It looks like I should focus my search on Z75/Z77 chipsets. Now I just need to find a good brand that's not too expensive .