• Review of upcoming computer
    54 replies, posted
Hello. I made a thread about reviewing my upcoming computer a while ago, but I never bought it because I heard about the ATi DirectX 11 chips. Since some time has passed, I've gathered more money; so I'm asking you, can you please review this machine for me and tell me if there is anything wrong with it: [quote] [B]CPU:[/B] Intel i7 920 4x2.66 GHz 4,8GT/sec [B]Motherboard:[/B] Gigabyte X58-UD5 [B]RAM:[/B] 12 GB Kingston DDR3 TriChannel (1333MHz) [B]GPU:[/B] ATi Radeon HD 5870 (I will buy another one of these later for Crossfire) [B]PSU:[/B] Corsair 750W (80+ certified) [B]HDD:[/B] 2x Seagate 1,5 TB 7200 RPM [B]Case:[/B] Sigma Unicorn Silent [B]OS:[/B] Vista Home Premium x64 (with a Win7 coupon) [B]Accessories:[/B] Scythe Kama Cross CPU cooler [B]Disc Drive:[/B] Blu-ray drive [/quote] [B]Price:[/B] Rougly 2655 USD (converted from 13440 DKK) Yes, it's a pre-built machine. I'm certainly open and respectful for your arguments regarding why I should build my own instead of buying, but I'm going to stick with this one if everything is fine and dandy. Please tell me if I ought to mention/explain something but didn't. Thanks in advance. [B]Update - question:[/B] If I pick the i7 920 instead of 950, would the Kama Cross be good enough for me to overclock the 920 to an equivalent speed of the 950? [B]Update 2[/B] I got a Corsair PSU as suggested. I got an i7 920 instead of 950 due to cost. I added a blu-ray drive. I got 2x 1,5 TB [B]Seagate[/B] HDD instead of the 1 TB Hitcahi one.
No need for 12GB of DDR3, 6GB is plenty unless you are going to do very high res 3DS Max Rendering As for the Processor I'd get the i7 920 simply because it's a fuckton cheaper and the performance gap is very small. I would use the money you save with that to buy a PSU from a proper brand (Antec/Seasonic/Corsair/OCZ/Cooler Master) and a good quality case. I recommend you buy a good case and not some crappy brand one. A good case is more sturdy, has more space, is easier to install in and more importantly, it has a lot better air flow. I recommend you get an Antec, Cooler Master or Lian-Li case. Please for the love of god, don't get a cheap case.
Thanks for the response. Yes, I thought about the i7 920 as well since it's a lot cheaper and the bus speed is the same.
i5. it's an i7 920 performance with huge price drop.
[QUOTE=TheMadness;17774118]i5. it's an i7 920 performance with huge price drop.[/QUOTE] But how can the i5 750 perform so closely to the i7 920?
advances in tech, cheaper MoBos/RAM, magic [editline]03:07PM[/editline] the only time you'd choose an i7 over an i5 is if you're going to be using hyperthreading for the extra "cores", which gaming won't
[QUOTE=TheMadness;17774202]advances in tech, cheaper MoBos/RAM, magic[/QUOTE] Also magic? Holy shit. Are you able to answer the question I updated in the OP?
Yes it will be. I'd still go for the i7 though because triple channel > dual channel and ofcourse the threads are very nice in some applications.
Why not get another HDD since the one you have is cheap and do a RAID 0. Read/Write speeds will be better
I've been reading around the internet and it came to my attention multiple times that the i7 920 is easily overclocked to 4 GHz with air cooling because of D0 stepping (huh?). If someone care to confirm/explain if this is possible, please do so. And if it is possible, will Kama Cross cope?
[QUOTE=Denzo;17774244]Yes it will be. I'd still go for the i7 though because triple channel > dual channel and ofcourse the threads are very nice in some applications.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=TheMadness;17774202]the only time you'd choose an i7 over an i5 is if you're going to be using hyperthreading for the extra "cores", which gaming won't[/QUOTE] triple channel isn't worth a couple hundred extra for the exact same performance. if anything, the i5 gets a few FPS more than the i7.
[QUOTE=TheMadness;17774308]triple channel isn't worth a couple hundred extra for the exact same performance. if anything, the i5 gets a few FPS more than the i7.[/QUOTE] Uhm, the price difference isn't a couple hundred extra. The i7 920 is almost the same price as the i5 750
[url]http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-299-IN[/url] [url]http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-280-IN[/url] orly?
[quote=themadness;17775321][url]http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=cp-299-in[/url] [url]http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=cp-280-in[/url] orly?[/quote] £47 =/= £200.
that's just the CPU [editline]05:34PM[/editline] okay maybe not 200+ but easily enough for a much better graphics card or case or whatever and the point still stands that it's the same gaming performance
Personally I'm going to go with the i7 for my build because of the threads.
well yeah but which you get depends if you're doing gaming/general use or something that will actually [I]use[/I] 8 threads
[QUOTE=TheMadness;17776576]well yeah but which you get depends if you're doing gaming/general use or something that will actually [I]use[/I] 8 threads[/QUOTE] You never know what you might need to do in the future - best to be sure I think.
[QUOTE=Within;17774143]But how can the i5 750 perform so closely to the i7 920?[/QUOTE] because they found out people wouldn't drop 300bucks more for a name, AMD gave the 955/965 which equaled the 920 and intel started losing sales
[QUOTE=Bengley;17776621]You never know what you might need to do in the future - best to be sure I think.[/QUOTE] I agree to this statement. Now that you have fulfilled the discussion about price ranges, can you answer the question update in the OP if you're in possession of the knowledge. :smile:
Actually the i5 750 performs better than the i7 920 and is cheaper.
[QUOTE=McSanchezV2;17779021]Actually the i5 750 performs better than the i7 920 and is cheaper.[/QUOTE] We've already realised this and chosen to ignore it.
Honestly I'd get two of those hard drives and place them in Raid 0 With a build like yours, the hard drive will be the bottleneck if you only have one at 7200RPM
Don't get an i5. The P55 boards only support 16 lanes for your PCIe, so your crossfire 5870s will be bottlenecked.
[QUOTE=Within;17774143]But how can the i5 750 perform so closely to the i7 920?[/QUOTE] i5's performed better than expected. Because of that the i7 920 is going to be discontinued later on along with the 940 with the 950 getting the axe later after.
[QUOTE=Umi-hebi;17779483]Honestly I'd get two of those hard drives and place them in Raid 0 With a build like yours, the hard drive will be the bottleneck if you only have one at 7200RPM[/QUOTE] Are you sure about that?
At that budget a 64GB SSD for the OS is not out of the question.
Yes, unfortunately it is. I'm quite curious about an answer to my question in the OP.
Also, get a SSD and install your OS on that. [editline]05:27PM[/editline] aw fuck didn't read lemongrapes post
I just updated the OP with new parts. I will think about getting an 128 GB SSD and removing the blu-ray and 2 TB HDD. If anyone can throw in some bulletproof arguments it would be cool. I'm still needing an overclocking expert. :smile:
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