hdd: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
psu: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (i'm open to suggestions here, just trying to keep it cheap)
total before rebates: $1,497.91
i want to be able to play current games at the highest settings possible for that price, but i also want expandability in the future, which is why i went with the new intel chipset. do you think i'd be better putting together a e8600 build, or keep it as is with some minor changes?
I would get another HD for raid / storage if you got the cash
Ive got the e8600 and its amazing, but I read on newegg that some people are loving the i7.
I dont think you could go wrong either way man, get the i7 OR grab a cheap intel dual core and wait for the new updated i7 35nm? (is it 35nm?) coming out in the spring/summer this coming year, which is what im doing since i already got my sweet rig set up.
#6 i'd rather get the cheapest i7 now so i don't have to swap out the motherboard too if i upgrade. it really was so close between an 8500/8600 and this i7 chip.
#7 i'm all for going ati if you can show me some benchmarks... not an nvidia fanboy by any means, i'm just used to buying their stuff.
Some games perform better on an Nvidia and others perform better on a 4870 x2. The x2 is slightly more than Nvidia by usually $20-$40. Between the two, I would go with the x2 for future expansion (see MB description). Also the x2 has 2 GB of RAM over the 1 GB on the 280. This gives plenty of room for handling AA/ASF/Textures/etc.
Motherboard I'd recommend is the P6T Deluxe OC by Asus. Great board layout, no cramped spots, X58 chipset, 12 GB triple-channel primary memory support (1600 OC), 14 USB ports (omg), etc. Supports quad SLI/Crossfire on two 16x channels so if you go with the x2 card, you can get a full-bandwidth quad GPU going later. Has SAS RAID 0, 1 support and Matrix SATA RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support. Also has dual gigabit. Also keep in mind that the current LGA 1366 sockets may not support the 32 nm tech when it actually comes out -- much like what happened with the 775 with 45 nm tech -- so you may need to upgrade anyway when the time comes. Also consider that you're not getting any more performance in gaming by going with the i7 over current dual cores. Your bottleneck in gaming will still be your video cards at higher resolutions (over 1280 x 1024). I would personally go with an x48 chipset and core 2 duo. Yes, you will give up the triple-channel 12 GB capacity, but, again, that's not your bottleneck.
Keep in mind that if you don't have a 64-bit OS, you won't be able to use the 6 GB of RAM. You may need to consider that in your purchase price. You'll be limited to 4 GB recognizable with a 32-bit OS and, for Windows, only 2 GB of that is usable by applications as 2 GB is reserved for the kernel. If you have a 32-bit OS and don't want a 64-bit OS, go with 3 x 1 GB modules so you get the triple-channel benefits and can use all the ram.
I agree with the comment about RAID, but as a gamer, I'm more interested in opening up bandwidth and not so much data redundancy so I recommend a striped solution on your RAID. This means if you get two 500 GB drives you get the full 1 TB and the data is written partially between both drives meaning it's reading from both drives simultaneously and for all intents and purposes you get 6.0 GB/s instead of 3.0 GB/s. In the end, this means you'll load into a level, map, zone, etc faster. Nothing else. if load times aren't important to you, save your money.
With all that's given so far, my opinion is to get two 4870 x2's with the saved money and go with x48/core 2 duo instead. You'll be happier you did. And also, keep in mind, that when you upgrade, the 4870's will be going into the new system. But honestly, until the 32 nm architecture comes out there won't be any reason to get an i7. Also, even when the 32 nm comes out your bottleneck will still be your video (in gaming anyway).
#11 yeah thats what i meant, striped, but I also think he might need some storage too. 500gb believe it or not fills fast when you got a super computer :D
I make a backup-xp32 partition, storage partition on my 500 gig
On my raptor I have a xp32 partition and a vista32 partition
Thinking of getting a 1 TB drive since there getting cheaper
#11 good suggestions, thanks a lot for writing all that up. however with the config you advised it doesn't look like i'd be saving any money for 2 hd 4870 x2's. and they're pushing 900$... can't afford that.
might buy a decent p45 board and an e8400 and upgrade when the i7 gets updated? what do you think?
If you only do 1680 x 1050 (most 22" monitors and below max) then there is clearly no need for sli cards or best card out there. if you have 24" plus monitor up to hooking up to your big screen (sometimes not even then) perhaps you need a better card, if lower size, then many other cards like 4850 or 9800 will be plenty. I would stay away from msi, other than that, I am jealous, and it looks good!
This comment was edited at 12/01/2008 11:36 AM
gotfrag makes my trigger finger itchy! e8400@3.6, ep45ds3l, 4 gigs, raptor x, 9600 gtoc, xonar
Just built that exact system but with 3x1 gb corsair ram instead, same board and same cpu... amazing!! :D runs Far cry 2 perfectly, crysis and left 4 dead amazing!
Oh and the i7 cpu's are getting up too 25% better or more performance increase than the q9770 extreme!
I'd rather grab a Asus P5Q or maybe a DFI T2R and an E8400 over the i7, I don't think the ability to upgrade really means much at this point. I'd imagine you aren't planning on upgrading very soon and by the time you do better/cheaper boards or new chipsets will be around and right now having an i7 doesn't really gain you much as far as gaming goes. Also AMDs next cpu might not suck like Phenom so I'd want to keep my options open for the next gen. I might go for one of the cheaper Lian Li cases over the C5 ($15-20 more I think), but besides that looks good. I second what Shaq said as well, if you're playing in a res below 1900x1200 I don't see the point for such a nice card. I'd rather get a 4870 1GB for $150 cheaper over the GTX280 ( or a 260, it depends on what games you play I guess, but neither card really crushes the other) and add in a 2nd one later.
Worst graphics card pick ever. Too bad I didn't read this earlier. The 4870 x2 has more "horsepower" then some NVidia cards, but almost every single game is optimized for NVidia rather then ATI. ATI has been abolusteley blown out by NVidia until very recently, I would gone with SLi'd GTX 260s, or a TRI-SLi 9800GTX+, but you've ordered now, good luck.
dont worry too much about the gfx card #21. at the end of the day, nvidia vs. ati doesnt really even matter. the performance difference in different games isnt worth splitting hairs.
Before you buy that system OP, please consider the fact that you could get a much better intel core 2 set up for less money, and to be frank the i7's aren't really worth the money right now. I'd rather spend the money on a much cheaper intel core 2 dual or quad set up.
I was also thinking about upgrading to the i7, but after doing a some research, the i7's aren't a break through in performance like the core 2 was to the Pentium D's. Sure, the i7 is amazing in the fact that all 4 cores are on a single chip and die now, and it runs much cooler, but you won't get a crazy performance boost compared to the core 2 platform..
I mean if you plan on using 3 video cards simultaneously, where the i7 truly shines, then I'd get it, but for $1500 I don't think it's worth the buy right now.. Maybe 1-2 years later.
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new i7 build
ram: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7T-6GBPK - Retail
cpu: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
mobo: MSI X58 Platinum LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
gpu: EVGA 01G-P3-1284-AR GeForce GTX 280 SSC Edition 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
hdd: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
psu: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (i'm open to suggestions here, just trying to keep it cheap)
total before rebates: $1,497.91
i want to be able to play current games at the highest settings possible for that price, but i also want expandability in the future, which is why i went with the new intel chipset. do you think i'd be better putting together a e8600 build, or keep it as is with some minor changes?
Ive got the e8600 and its amazing, but I read on newegg that some people are loving the i7.
I dont think you could go wrong either way man, get the i7 OR grab a cheap intel dual core and wait for the new updated i7 35nm? (is it 35nm?) coming out in the spring/summer this coming year, which is what im doing since i already got my sweet rig set up.
#6 i'd rather get the cheapest i7 now so i don't have to swap out the motherboard too if i upgrade. it really was so close between an 8500/8600 and this i7 chip.
#7 i'm all for going ati if you can show me some benchmarks... not an nvidia fanboy by any means, i'm just used to buying their stuff.
Motherboard I'd recommend is the P6T Deluxe OC by Asus. Great board layout, no cramped spots, X58 chipset, 12 GB triple-channel primary memory support (1600 OC), 14 USB ports (omg), etc. Supports quad SLI/Crossfire on two 16x channels so if you go with the x2 card, you can get a full-bandwidth quad GPU going later. Has SAS RAID 0, 1 support and Matrix SATA RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support. Also has dual gigabit. Also keep in mind that the current LGA 1366 sockets may not support the 32 nm tech when it actually comes out -- much like what happened with the 775 with 45 nm tech -- so you may need to upgrade anyway when the time comes. Also consider that you're not getting any more performance in gaming by going with the i7 over current dual cores. Your bottleneck in gaming will still be your video cards at higher resolutions (over 1280 x 1024). I would personally go with an x48 chipset and core 2 duo. Yes, you will give up the triple-channel 12 GB capacity, but, again, that's not your bottleneck.
Keep in mind that if you don't have a 64-bit OS, you won't be able to use the 6 GB of RAM. You may need to consider that in your purchase price. You'll be limited to 4 GB recognizable with a 32-bit OS and, for Windows, only 2 GB of that is usable by applications as 2 GB is reserved for the kernel. If you have a 32-bit OS and don't want a 64-bit OS, go with 3 x 1 GB modules so you get the triple-channel benefits and can use all the ram.
I agree with the comment about RAID, but as a gamer, I'm more interested in opening up bandwidth and not so much data redundancy so I recommend a striped solution on your RAID. This means if you get two 500 GB drives you get the full 1 TB and the data is written partially between both drives meaning it's reading from both drives simultaneously and for all intents and purposes you get 6.0 GB/s instead of 3.0 GB/s. In the end, this means you'll load into a level, map, zone, etc faster. Nothing else. if load times aren't important to you, save your money.
With all that's given so far, my opinion is to get two 4870 x2's with the saved money and go with x48/core 2 duo instead. You'll be happier you did. And also, keep in mind, that when you upgrade, the 4870's will be going into the new system. But honestly, until the 32 nm architecture comes out there won't be any reason to get an i7. Also, even when the 32 nm comes out your bottleneck will still be your video (in gaming anyway).
I make a backup-xp32 partition, storage partition on my 500 gig
On my raptor I have a xp32 partition and a vista32 partition
Thinking of getting a 1 TB drive since there getting cheaper
might buy a decent p45 board and an e8400 and upgrade when the i7 gets updated? what do you think?
they will probably release better motherboards for i7 too, which is why im waiting
if you have 24" plus monitor up to hooking up to your big screen (sometimes not even then) perhaps you need a better card, if lower size, then many other cards like 4850 or 9800 will be plenty.
I would stay away from msi, other than that, I am jealous, and it looks good!
Oh and the i7 cpu's are getting up too 25% better or more performance increase than the q9770 extreme!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp..
will upgrade to i7 sometime when it's updated. thanks guys.
at the end of the day, nvidia vs. ati doesnt really even matter. the performance difference in different games isnt worth splitting hairs.
to go with core i7, you will need a new mobo as well, compatible with i7s, which can also do some DDR3 on triple channels.
I was also thinking about upgrading to the i7, but after doing a some research, the i7's aren't a break through in performance like the core 2 was to the Pentium D's. Sure, the i7 is amazing in the fact that all 4 cores are on a single chip and die now, and it runs much cooler, but you won't get a crazy performance boost compared to the core 2 platform..
I mean if you plan on using 3 video cards simultaneously, where the i7 truly shines, then I'd get it, but for $1500 I don't think it's worth the buy right now.. Maybe 1-2 years later.
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In order to post comments, you must be a registered member. If you have not registered, it's free and easy!