hi all I've decided to take the leap to i7 for a coupla reasons, the main one being that im going into my final year of uni and will be doing a lot of 3D rendering. Obviously the extra gaming performance will be nice but tbh if thats all it was for i'd stick with the Q6600. The only components i'll be updating will be CPU, RAM and Mobo and i'd like to keep the budget as close to £400 as possible although i can stretch to £450 or so. Mobo: basically either Asus P6T or Giga UD3R i have looked at the cheaper gigabyte board, my only problem being that buying it would mean needing a sata optical drive and would therefore make no savings and missing out on 6GB/s sata which i may use in the future (btw is the onboard sata3 support any good?). i have a natural lean towards the Gigabyte as my present board has stood me well and a previous asus died on me but obivously if the asus is a better deal i'd be happy to swap. CPU: This one is easy, 930 as i will be OCing. Even the £25 extra for the 950 seems steep as i'll be OCing. RAM: This one im not so sure on, i need to save money here if possible but i definately want 6GB. Is the difference between 10666 and 1333 very big? i notice that overclockers.co.uk have some of that geil black dragon stuff at £88.99 which seems tempting. I also plan on getting a Gelid Tranquillo to keep it cool and the noise down, although i may run stock and buy this later when i have some more cash. cheers
For the motherboard choose between the Gigabyte X58-UD3R (Rev 2) and the Asus P6X58D-E as they're both very very similar and cost £149.42 on scan. I suggest you check out bit-tech's reviews here and here as they point out their slight differences. Really it's just about company preference so you'd be fine just going with the Giagbyte based on that. Oh and both of these boards support SATA 6GB/s. As for RAM, higher frequencies make very little difference to general PC performance, but I'd still suggest that you go for 1600MHz over 1333MHz as they're the same price and you'll get extra headroom for overclocking. These sticks should be fine.
thanks for the advice telltale, just had a look at those reviews and i'll definatley go with the UD3R. but that memory is dual channel, i7 uses triple.
Oh ****, my bad. Wasn't thinking. I'd say that the Geil Black Dragon set seems a bit too cheap for me, and as i've said I think 1600MHz would be better. If it was my money i'd spend a bit more & get something more reliable such as this.
Gelid Tranquillo is a great cooler. You can't even hear that it's on, and it keeps my P2X6 between 14 and 18 C above ambient during just general use. I had a Coolermaster Hyper 101, and the Gelid is way quieter and dropped my temps by 5C.
RAM will depend on what you do with your computer. If you just do basic work, web surfing and watching video, you won't notice a thing. But in games, it should provide you with a few more extra FPS. With memory intensive application or games, then the memory speed will shine. Memory price is very close between specs, so it's not worth saving the few dollars going with slower memory. What ever you pick at the end of the day, be SURE it's 1.65V or lower, if it's more, your CPU and motherboard will fry. The voltage specification are mentioned on Intel web site. If you plan to overclock your memory, even just a bit, or be on the safe side, then get 1.5V. G.Skill has a wide variety of 1.5-1.6V memory. They are a very good brand, you won't be disappointed. I would go (well I already have, see signature) with 1600MHz memory with low latency 1.5V memory, especially as you mention that you do a lot of 3D work. It will help during rendering. I would even go higher, but it's getting expensive.
ok thats handy advice on the voltage front thanks, i've never messed with X58 so have no experience with voltages. the main use will be 3D rendering but at the end of the day my budget will only stretch so far, so the memory may have to be slightly slower and i'll have to run a different strapping, which im comfortable with.
