Hi guys, I haven't really been involved with PCs for a while, so I'm out of the loop somewhat. Anyway, I have to build a PC that is good at processing, hence the mental processor, but the rest of the parts are on a budget, so what would you recommend? Thanks,
What exactly is it you think you need so much processing power for - i.e. what applications? Is it essential for your work where your profit is directly related to how much data you are able to process in a given timeframe, and overclocking is not an option due to the requirement for stability? If the answer to this question is yes, then you should probably be looking at a dual Xeon workstation. If the answer is no, then I have a feeling that any of the current i7 processors will be more than adequate for your needs, as they will be much faster than whatever you are probably running now. This isn't to mention the fact that pairing an i7 975 with a cheap motherboard, cheap RAM, cheap PSU, cheap HSF, cheap case etc. is unthinkable. A well built system always has a healthy balance of components (both in terms of performance and price), although they are obviously tailored depending on your needs (i.e. faster CPU for encoding, faster GPU for gaming etc.).
The system is to be used not by me, but someone else, and they want to use it for the next five years or so, and solely for processing large audio files effectively. So lol, although I personally agree with you, it isn't up to me, I'm simply wondering which motherboard is a good cheap un' at the moment, and which will be compatible with an i7 975
Theres no such thing as a cheap i7 yet. Just go on your favourite etailers website and search by price.
The cheapest X58 motherboards are the Gigabyte EX58-UD3R, Asus P6T SE and MSI X58 Pro (at least in the UK), but by no means will you be getting the most from the 975 with them.
Put it this way: if you're considering spending £800 on a CPU, then you should almost certainly be willing to spend an extra £100 on the motherboard, which will more than likely last longer than the CPU before you want to upgrade it. If I were you, I'd tell your friend to read the review of the 975 to make sure that's really what he wants, then advise him his money is better spent on other components like the PSU, and that he would be much better to upgrade his CPU 3 or 4 times over the next several years. He'll thank you later, trust me. The best X58 board for under/around £200 would probably be the Gibabyte EX58-UD5, though I must admit that I haven't been keeping up with them lately.
Whoops, missed out a word, meant to say "no such thing as a cheap i7 mobo yet".... not in the same way you can get cheap 775 or AM2+ boards anyways.
Pick up an i7 920 d0 (which will pretty well 100% certainly run at 3.33GHz @ stock everything), and spend the extra money you saved (all £550 or $700 depending on what side of the pond) on a better motherboard, RAM, GPU, etc. There's simply no need to shell out that much for the processor, especially when you're going to skimp out of the rest of the system if you do.
+1000 what Jared says, an overclocked i7 920 will be just as good, if not better than an i7 975. If your friend insists, get the 920, then mail him back about $850 as a gift.
+1 million to the guys above, grab a 920 D0 which should easily beat the 975 with a bit of tweaking and spend the extra on 12GB RAM etc
+1 to smc, Jared, etc. As a little clarification: the primary benefit to an Extreme Edition processor as opposed to a stock processor is the unlocked multipliers. The idea is that, for example, an i7 920 is limited to a maximum base clock multiplier of x20 - so if you want to overclock it, you basically have to do it by pushing the base clock higher and higher. But if you have a 975, you can do it not only by pushing the base clock, but by pushing the multiplier. And since its maximum multiplier is much, much higher than x20, you can (theoretically) get better clock speeds, RAM speeds, etc. out of it. Unfortunately for Intel, just about every non-EE processor in both the Core 2 line and the Core i* line (thus far) has been quite compliant to base clock raising that borders on the obscene. You can buy a ~$75 US processor (the E5200) with a stock clock of 2.5GHz and raise it to 3.6GHz on its base clock alone - that kind of obscene. And the new i7s have been no different. The most recent (D0) stepping of the i7 920 will, in many cases, allow you to push it to 4.4-4.6GHz - almost a full 2GHz increase over the stock clock speed. The only reason you should consider a 975 for professional applications is if you're using an application that's extremely dependent on memory bandwidth, and here is why: Just as the base clock multipliers on a stock CPU are limited, so are the memory multipliers. In the case of stock i7s, you have a choice of memory multipliers between x6 and x8 - i.e. your memory will run at a speed of 6x or 8x whatever your base clock is. Even if you manage to push your 920 all the way to 4.6GHz (230MHz base clock * 20x multiplier), your RAM is then functionally limited at 1840MHz (230MHz base clock * 8x multiplier). That's certainly not sluggish, but it's not the best you can get, either, and that's a 920's best-case scenario. A 975, however, opens up much higher memory multipliers, which will allow you to take full advantage of the bandwidth offered by DDR3-2000 or even DDR3-2133 kits. Again, only if the application(s) in question are extremely dependent on memory bandwidth is this kind of investment a sound one. In every production application I have ever seen tested in real life, the gains posted by such a speed increase are minimal at best and do not at all justify the extra money spent for the performance. As things probably stand, however, you would probably be better off putting the money into components that would make a difference that could not be called "minimal." Off the top of my head, I would say the following: - A decent motherboard (can't take advantage of all that overclocking capability if your motherboard can't handle it, after all), - 12GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, - A professional sound card (probably a given), - A high-quality and quiet power supply, - A high-quality and quiet case and some silent fans, - An SSD for the system drive, - Either a very good air cooler or a basic water cooling system. - Diosjenin -
If you're interested in a sub $200 motherboard, and would consider microATX, definitely check out this MSI board for $169.99 on newegg. Despite being uATX, it also supports SLI/Crossfire, though that doesn't seem like a necessary feature based on what you've told us. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130227
Its true that a 920 will be able to match the 975 on Air Cooling. If you however use extreme cooling (like liquid nitrogen), thats when the real difference comes and extreme overclocks can be achieved, so unless your friend is willing to fork out heap loads of cash for an awsome motherboad, ram and cooling, then this cpu is just overkill or just plain foolishness.
