Hardware PC Hardware Buyer's Guide October 2010

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2010/10/07/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-october-2010/1

 

Still no i7 950?

 

"The argument as to whether you should choose a Core i7-920 or an i7-930 continues. We've listed the i7-930 because there's no telling when the cheaper and only slightly less overclockable i7-920 will disappear from the shelves."

I agree with Baggpuss, the argument now should be whether you should choose a Core i7-930 or an i7-950. The price is within £4 now and should be a valid reason for choosing it.

 

Small error on the 'affordable all rounder':

It should be the 450.

Personally I don't see the point in spending £40 extra for the 1GB 460 over the 768mb model in this build. Everything else is super budget so it seems odd to spend the extra money on a GPU which won't show a noticable benefit in the games / settings this system is designed for.

Dropping down to a 768mb model would allow a switch to the intel G9650 and H55 MB (thus making the entire system faster).

Surely there is not an argument here, you would have to be slightly daft to buy the 930 over the 950.

 

It's just to point out the editors copy and paste content is out of date.

Can we have an overclocking a Core i7-950 guide anytime soon?

 

Well, the name "Colossus" could have been a hint

You still have the VapourX HD5870.... the Rev.2 now sold is said to be not as good as the Rev.1 you tested, especially overclocked. Will there be a update on this card, or is it well, too old?

German pricing
i7 920 270 euro
i7 930 240 euro
i7 950 250 euro

Meh...I'd go for the i7 950, but hey

 

As othershave said, the i7 950 should really be up there or at least considered as an option.

I also agree with Xaser's comment on the GTX 460, it seems a bit odd to go for the 1GB version when the rest of the build is all about value, the price difference isn't worth it with the recent 768MB version priced drop IMHO.

 

worth mentioning RV02 has now got Air Penetrator fans?

or the old model is still circulating?

 

Wow really disappointed with your CPU choice for the premium rig.
The i7 950 should be there as it's only £13 more.
Don't think that's a huge difference if you're spending £1600+ on a pc

 

Yes, sorry you are right. Re-reading my post it does look like I am 'attacking' yours directly which was not my intention.

 

Didn't you guys at Bit-tech hear, the price of the i7 950 dropped to 299.99 in the US practically making the 930 obsolete.

 

Dammit! throwing more possibilites into the mix for my new build!!

 

I think everyone's picked up on the core i7 930/950, so as you don't have a vote button, here's my post to register that point....

 

+1 on the 950 v 930 debate.

I'm also surprised there's no mention of Amd's new HD6xxx release mid to end of this month. Obviously you can't make any recommendation as of yet but you could/should offer a note of caution that a new range of gpu is about to be released that people may want to wait for.

I suppose it can be argued that anyone into building pc's would know this already but there'll always be one sod who'll cry foul.

 

Quick Question:- I'm looking to upgrade my PC slightly, I am looking at the affordable all-rounder, but I have an old-ish 1GB XFX HD 4870 that I want to put in for the time being, til I can stump up the cash for a new graphics card, but it requires two power cables. Will the power supply in the affordable all-rounder (Corsair CX400W) be able to cope with this, or will i need a workaround, such as adapters, or a different PSU altogether?

Cheers

 

Get a better psu. That corsair is a good psu but the 4870 requires a fair bit of juice. Only has 1 six pin pci-e connector too.

 

That's exactly what I was going to say and was beaten to it by about 6 other people!

I wonder why bit-tech seem to miss stuff like that when making these monthly guides and never even mention the 460 SLI performance too. Even if they said they didn't recommend that setup then we'd know they'd at least acknowledged it!

Also I agree that people need to be made aware that there's an imminent release of new GPUs very soon so wait for the new reviews and possible price cuts before building a new PC.

Hopefully anyone building a new PC will have done more research than just reading these (still very helpful) guides tho.

Also have a look into liquid cooling too.

 

Regarding your premium player

1) Intel Core i7 950

2) Asus Sabertooth X58 motherboard is a top of the line military-grade motherboard and 30$ cheaper

3) 470 SLI, 5850 Crossfire, 460 SLI are all viable options for less money. I still wouldn't buy any of them now as AMD's 6770 and 6750 are coming out in two weeks' time.

4) One more GPU point: The display market have downgraded resolutions to tv standards. That puts less stress on GPUs and your 5970 recommendation seems overkill unless you specify the need for a multi-monitor setup that drives the cost up in order to actually put the 5970 to practical use.

 

Continued:

5) XFX have released a more budget "pro series" line that is worthy of replacing the black edition. 750 W is 20 British pounds cheaper. It does not compromise your build and reduces the price as the Sabertooth does.

6) 128 GBs of SSDs is blasphemous to say the least. 64 GBs is enough for an OS, a few applications and games, provided you won't install all your games at once.

 

IMHO For folding only case where motherboard is mounted horizontally (e.g. Mountain Mods/Sunbeam) or open test bench also with horizontal motherboard tray. 4 VGAs + MB + some big cooler mounted vertically are bad idea. Plenty of stress and heat where it shouldn't be.