Hey all, After a long list of problems, I have decided to bite the bullet and start building again from scratch. Can people describe their dream build for me, and I will work down from there in terms of budget? I want an all round high end PC, but will need something that can run games on a Dell 30" 2560 x 1600. So please, name some mobos, cpus, ram sets, whatever you think I should be looking into, or describe a whole build. Thanks for your time. EDIT: I have a 1000W Enermax PSU and HDDs already. Also a Tunqi Tower cooler and I have decided on a COoler Master ATCS 840 case.
Asus P6T Deluxe Intel Core i7 920 12GB Corsair 1600MHz RAM 2 x Ati Radeon HD 5870 850W Be Quiet! Dark Power PRO Modular Coolermaster ATCS 840 Classic/Corsair Obsidian Corsair Hydro H50 Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB Any Indilinx SSD Sorted!
Thanks for the advice. I've boiled that down to: Asus P6T Deluxe - £200 Intel Core i7 920 - £220 4GB Corsair 1600MHz RAM - £80 1x ASUS GTX 275 - £160 1000W Enermax - Go that already Coolermaster ATCS 840 Classic - £150 Corsair Hydro H50 - £50 M-audio Fast Track Pro (I need external sound) - £135 Existing HDDs - Got that too That totals - £995 I could do with shaving off another £100 or more, any ideas where it would be wise to save? Does anything seem underpowered in comparison (i.e. gfx)? Does the upgrade path look wise (I beleive I am investing where it counts, case, psu, mobo, cpu)? Thanks
Whoa whoa whoa - 4GB RAM on an LGA-1366 board? No no no no no. You'll want to get a 3x2GB kit. Step down to DDR3-1333 if you have to do that to make it fit within budget, as it doesn't really impact performance more than a couple percent anyway, but don't get a dual-channel kit of RAM for a triple-channel board. Period. I would definitely get a different case if I were you. The ATCS 840 is a great case, but it's huge, just really enormous. You don't need anything other than a standard-sized ATX case; get an Antec 902 or a Cooler Master HAF 922 if you're really that concerned about airflow or an Antec P183 if you'd rather have a little peace and quiet, but the 840 is overkill. Wait a couple weeks before you get the graphics card, too. It's not a bad recommendation - you could switch it out for a Radeon 4890 if you wanted, but that's more personal preference than anything - but since ATI just released their 5850, which bests the GTX 285 at a far lower price point, nVidia will be forced to slash their prices all the way down the line to compete at price/performance. That move will have to come about at some point within the next two weeks or so, so you could probably save 10-20% on the GPU that way, if not a little more. - Diosjenin -
Thanks for the tips, I have taken note! Many people are recommenting I go for an i7 860 instead, saying it will over more future proofing, and better performance than a 9xx series chip. What do you think about that, and what mobos would be good for that chip? Also, with that board I *would* be using dual channel wouldn't I? Cheers EDIT: P7P55D perhaps?
Wow, who told you that? If you can afford it, you may as well go for the 1366/920 combo as it's faster than the 860/1156 - it uses triple channel DDR3 and has 32 PCI-E lanes rather than 16, which is really going to help if you want to game at 2560*1600 (as you'll likely need a multi-GPU setup to get decent framerates at that resolution; one GTX 275 won't be enough).
Okay, that P7P55D Deluxe has good reviews, and since it has on board sound, I haven't included it, I can get external at a later date. I decided to keep the case as it is an investment I can use for builds to come which could go in a bigger case but not a smaller one. So now it looks like this: Asus P7P55D Deluxe - £170 Intel Core i7 860 - £220 4GB Corsair 1600MHz RAM - £80 1x ASUS GTX 275 - £160 1000W Enermax - Go that already Coolermaster ATCS 840 Classic - £150 Corsair Hydro H50 - £50 On board sound £0 Existing HDDs - Got that too Optical drive - £15 That totals - £845 Looking better already Any comments on this set up? Any suggestions?
How's that looking better? As far as I can see the difference in cost is purely down to you removing the dedicated sound card (which you said you needed). The rest of that setup is almost exactly the same price as the 920 system, but is slower. It's a no-brainer, really.
I understant that 8xx series has a better upgrade path, and therefore offers better value for money. Yes, the savings are all due to leaving the extrnal sound out for now. I just understood that 8xx is better right now in terms of upgrade value.
The 8xx series is a waste of money, honestly. If you are going to spend $300 on a CPU and another $250 on a motherboard, you might as well go for the i7 920 and 1366 motherboard. Take a look at the Bit-Tech review, they say the same exact thing. The only reason you would go 1156 is to get an i5 750 and over-clock the heck out of it. However, since you plan on using SLI/Xfire, go for a 1366 because of the extra PCIe lanes. The Evga X58 LE is a great buy at $220 (it is basically a slightly stripped down Classified, but 40% less!)
That's unproven ATM, though - we don't know what the upgrade path will be like for either platform as Intel are being very cagey about the whole thing. What I do know is that the 920/1366 is currently the better buy, and in the tech world it's always advisable to buy what is the best value right now than base your purchasing decisions on unknown factors. It's a dodgy road to go down, honestly. Also, when will you be looking to upgrade next? If you want this system to last you around 3 years then there will be a completely new socket around which you'll have to buy into if you want the latest tech. There's a hell of a lot of people that bought into the Core 2 era with Q6600s or similar which have seen them through till now (myself being one of them), making upgrade paths completely irrelevant.
Thanks for the advice.... I'll consider it very carefully. Any other advice about this build... and saving money on it?
Just get this http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2009/09/15/what-hardware-should-i-buy-september-2009/3
Hmmm, so many conflicting opintions on the i7 situation going around! Maybe I'll wait for it to settle a bit. If i'm building a machine with 6GB ram, what kind of OS should I be using?
You only really have one choice if you want to be playing games on it - Windows 7 (64-bit, of course).
Well, if you're that conflicted about the CPU situation, hold off until maybe late November/early December (if you can). By that time, pricing on the P55 boards will (hopefully) have dropped and stabilized quite a bit, which would make LGA1156 a more attractive option than it is currently. Really, there's only two big issues with them - platform price and lack of PCI-E lanes. The second isn't an issue as long as you'll only ever have one graphics card, and the first will become less of an issue with a little time. Oh, and absolutely, go with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
Thanks for the advice everyone, it's been invaluable. I don't have all the money right now anyway, so I'll buy the case, cooling, optial drive first, the i should have an obvious chjoice for GFX, and by that time I should be able to make a decision on the i7 chip, mobo and ram. Thanks folks.
The three parts you request is not important,graphic card and monitor is important,choose Geforce 9 Series or above and 24 inch LCD or above , consider it is proper
I am with you on the the platform price but do not believe that the 16 PCI-E lanes on the P55 presents a significant disadvantage even with dual graphics cards using 8 lanes each. AnandTech has done some testing on the X58 and P55 graphics scaling performance. Whist the resolution used is a bit lower than, I believe, is ideal to draw a true conclusion it does indicate that 16 PCI-E lanes does not offer a significant advantage over 8. Unless you are using a lot of multi-threaded applications then giving the Core i5 750 is worth a look particularly for applications such as games that are not, as a rule, highly multi-threaded.
i5 750 is basically the new E8400 - it has HUGE overclocking potential. If you are tight on cash, and are not worried about upgrading to the next-gen Extreme chips (Core i9), then a 1156 and i5 750 will be great. A P55 Classified paired with a i5 750 would be one of the best overclocking combinations out there. With watercooling, you should have no problem with 4GHz+ http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=160-LF-E659-KR
