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Core i7 build

M

Merad

Platinum Member
Greetings Anandtechers. Long time reader, new poster. I'm giving myself a birthday present of a new PC to replace my nearly 5 year old rig, looking for feedback since I'm not completely up to date on current PC components, other than research over the last few weeks.

Used for:
Mostly gaming and programming/game development.

Budget:
What I have ATM is running right around $1700. That's pretty much my target point (lower = better, of course).

Buying in the US, within the next few weeks. No real brand preferences, not really worried about overclocking, have done tons of research over the last few weeks.

Recycled components:
Mouse - Logitech G9
Keyboard - MS Ergonomic something or other
Sound - Creative X-Fi (maybe?)
Optical - Sony DVD-RW
Monitors - 2 20" LCDs, 1600x1200 [primary/gaming] and 1680x1050
Speakers - Altec Lansing something or other (ancient but work great)

I was originally going to go with a Core i5 system based on the midrange guide article, but after some research it really looked like I could go with an i7 system for only slightly more, so here's where we are now:

CPU
Core i7-930 - $290
I know Microcenter has this for $200, but the closest store is a 500 mile round trip away... /cry
For CPU cooling, I really figure I'd be ok on the retail cooler, but I wouldn't mind having something better. Much as I'd like the Hyper 212 I have a hard time justifying $60 on a cooler, so I'm open to suggestions.

Mobo
Asus P6X58D-E - $210

Memory
6 GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 @ 9-9-9-24 - $160
I guess the main question on this is, how much effect do timings have on performance with DDR3? I just notice that you can jump to 8-8-8-24, 8-8-8-21 or 7-8-7-24 for relatively small price increases. Is it worth considering the lower latency stuff?

Video
Gigabyte GV-R58OC-1GD - $310
I did briefly consider a GF470 for the possibility of keeping my GF8800GT for physics acceleration... then I realized I can't think of a single game I'm interested in that actual makes any real use of physics. So yeah, not worth $50 extra.

Boot Drive
Intel X25-M 80GB - $220

Storage
2x Hitachi 2TB HDD - $100 each (recent Newegg special, already purchased)
Will be set up in RAID1.

PSU
Corsair 650TX - $90

Case
Cooler Master RC-690 - $80
I'm open to suggestions on this. I mainly just want something with decent cooling and without the howling 80mm fans of my current Thermaltake case.

OS
Win7 64 bit - $100

Current Total: $1660

Other than components my questions are:
With the audio changes in Win7, worth keeping my X-Fi or just go with onboard sound? I do like the quality of the X-Fi, but I wouldn't miss dealing with Creative's drivers.

Anybody know of guides or have advice for setting up a SSD as boot drive for Win7?

Thanks in advance. 🙂
 
PCI X-fi user here, no driver issues at all in win7 64. If you have an external receiver, or if your speakers take optical in, then your onboard will be better.

If you can't use digital, then your X-fi will certainly have better sound quality than the onboard. Regardless it'll have more features and options than your integrated.


Just a consideration, Intel's 25nm SSD is going to be out shortly. I might consider waiting a month or two for the G3, as you'd be able to get 160GB for the same price.

But, then you're running off a terabyte drive for a bit and would have to reinstall shortly :/ Google up on Intel's "postville refresh" or "G3 SSD", and see if that seems like a better option.


Also, that 5850 is a non-reference design, and will almost certainly not overclock as well. Get an XFX (double lifetime warranty+best service) REFERENCE 5850.


If you're going to pay 290 for your CPU, you may want to consider getting a 32nm Xeon (5620) for ~50 more.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=47925 It'd get you 50% more cache, and a 32nm chip (better OC and efficiency). However, it's slower out of the box, and not all 1366 motherboards support it.

EDIT: here's someone reporting a 5620 working perfectly and overclocking well on your motherboard. 340 shipped.

http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/753235-xeon-e5620-p6x58d-e.html
 
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I think most of your choices are really good options.

Disregard the comment about the non reference design of the 5850 OC. I have been running Gigabyte non-reference 8800gt OC and HD4850 OC and they overclock like mad (above their initial overclock) with little temp change. The HD4850OC runs above 4870 speeds.

Installing to the SSD, just set as AHCI and run setup.

Good luck finding deals on those items.
 
superccs said:
Disregard the comment about the non reference design of the 5850 OC. I have been running Gigabyte non-reference 8800gt OC and HD4850 OC and they overclock like mad (above their initial overclock) with little temp change. The HD4850OC runs above 4870 speeds.
Click to expand...

The OC-ability of non-reference 8800GTs and HD4850s relates to the OC-ability of an HD5850 how? Sp12 was referring to the lack of voltage control on most non-reference 5850s which severely limits that cards OC-ability.

OP, I would save some money on CPU/mobo/RAM and go with an i5 750 or i7 860. The GA-P55A-UD3 is a solid board with a comparable featureset to the X58 board you currently have picked out. You would, of course, be able to go down to 4GB of RAM on the P55 platform.
 
RaistlinZ said:
Won't that Xeon's overclockability be hampered by its low mulitplier?
Click to expand...

Potentially, but that motherboard does bclk OCing well, and the 32nm process means it won't need as much juice/put as much stress on the power-regulation circuitry. It'll also have lower temps.

But yeah, it's unlikely to be limited by thermals or voltage, so bclk is the big factor.

Here's a thread about the board being able to hit 220 bclk without much voltage: http://forum.pcstats.com/showthread.php?t=76062

You only need 211 for 4 Ghz with an x19 multiplier.

Here's a review where it's able to hit 209 without any additional volts:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/asus_p6x58d-e_review/3
 
PCI X-fi user here, no driver issues at all in win7 64. If you have an external receiver, or if your speakers take optical in, then your onboard will be better.

If you can't use digital, then your X-fi will certainly have better sound quality than the onboard. Regardless it'll have more features and options than your integrated.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll try it then. Worst that can happen is a Windows reinstall.

Just a consideration, Intel's 25nm SSD is going to be out shortly. I might consider waiting a month or two for the G3, as you'd be able to get 160GB for the same price.
Click to expand...

Is there any solid info on when it will be out? If it'll be out in the next month or two, sure, it'd be foolish not to wait and I can live with a reinstall in that time frame. But in searching I'm seeing dates ranging from "in a month or two" to "Q4 2010/Q1 2011".

On the SSD topic, thoughts on the WD 128GB offering vs the X25-M? From what I can find review wise Intel seems to have the best overall performance, but 50% more capacity for 20% more price makes the WD somewhat attractive.

Also, that 5850 is a non-reference design, and will almost certainly not overclock as well. Get an XFX (double lifetime warranty+best service) REFERENCE 5850.
----

Disregard the comment about the non reference design of the 5850 OC. I have been running Gigabyte non-reference 8800gt OC and HD4850 OC and they overclock like mad (above their initial overclock) with little temp change. The HD4850OC runs above 4870 speeds.
----
The OC-ability of non-reference 8800GTs and HD4850s relates to the OC-ability of an HD5850 how? Sp12 was referring to the lack of voltage control on most non-reference 5850s which severely limits that cards OC-ability.
Click to expand...

Honestly I'd probably never go beyond the factory OC on that Gigabyte card. My experience with video cards has usually been that since I don't play games at extreme resolutions, but the time I really start needing to thing about OC'ing a card, I'm better off just doing an upgrade. Something worth thinking about though.

OP, I would save some money on CPU/mobo/RAM and go with an i5 750 or i7 860. The GA-P55A-UD3 is a solid board with a comparable featureset to the X58 board you currently have picked out. You would, of course, be able to go down to 4GB of RAM on the P55 platform.
Click to expand...

You know, I'm glad you brought it up. I had decided to go with the X58/i7 over P55/i5 because somewhere I got the impression that LGA1156 was on the way out and LGA1366 was replacing it, so I expected it to give better upgrade options for the future. After researching again now, it looks like I was totally wrong on that. There are still somethings about P55 I don't really like (limiting PCIe bandwidth to use SATA3 and USB3, needing to overclock for DDR3 1600), but they aren't really deal breakers. So I could go with

CPU
Core i5-750 - $200

Mobo
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3 - $140

Memory
2x 4GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $220
(I originally intended 8GB of RAM, just dropped it to 6 for the triple channel setup)

So I'd end up saving $100. And I can put some of that into a cooler to do a nice OC on the i5.

Also went ahead and got the PSU today, another Newegg special. $80, free shipping, and a $10 MIR.
 
Is there any solid info on when it will be out? If it'll be out in the next month or two, sure, it'd be foolish not to wait and I can live with a reinstall in that time frame. But in searching I'm seeing dates ranging from "in a month or two" to "Q4 2010/Q1 2011".
Click to expand...
Well, the actual 25nm flash chips are in mass production right now, but I've seen too many conflicting reports. We know it'll be before 2011, and I saw a video on the IMFT site claiming Q3.

Honestly I'd probably never go beyond the factory OC on that Gigabyte card. My experience with video cards has usually been that since I don't play games at extreme resolutions, but the time I really start needing to thing about OC'ing a card, I'm better off just doing an upgrade. Something worth thinking about though.
Click to expand...
Well, in games the 5850 performs within 4% of the 5870 per clock, and the majority of cards exceed stock 5870 speeds. :/ I'll try to find a graph of the 5850/70 at various clocks. And honestly, that factory overclock is pretty anemic.


You know, I'm glad you brought it up. I had decided to go with the X58/i7 over P55/i5 because somewhere I got the impression that LGA1156 was on the way out and LGA1366 was replacing it, so I expected it to give better upgrade options for the future. After researching again now, it looks like I was totally wrong on that. There are still somethings about P55 I don't really like (limiting PCIe bandwidth to use SATA3 and USB3, needing to overclock for DDR3 1600), but they aren't really deal breakers. So I could go with
Click to expand...
LGA 1156 is on the way out, but so is 1366. 1156 is going to be antiquated Q4 by Sandy bridge on 1155, while 1366 gets until Q3 2011. However, there's one more CPU planned for 1366, so it's kinda a moot point.
 
Merad said:
You know, I'm glad you brought it up. I had decided to go with the X58/i7 over P55/i5 because somewhere I got the impression that LGA1156 was on the way out and LGA1366 was replacing it, so I expected it to give better upgrade options for the future. After researching again now, it looks like I was totally wrong on that. There are still somethings about P55 I don't really like (limiting PCIe bandwidth to use SATA3 and USB3, needing to overclock for DDR3 1600), but they aren't really deal breakers. So I could go with

CPU
Core i5-750 - $200

Mobo
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3 - $140

Memory
2x 4GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $220
(I originally intended 8GB of RAM, just dropped it to 6 for the triple channel setup)

So I'd end up saving $100. And I can put some of that into a cooler to do a nice OC on the i5.

Also went ahead and got the PSU today, another Newegg special. $80, free shipping, and a $10 MIR.
Click to expand...

That looks good to me. Small point, you don't have to overclock the i5 750 to run at DDR3 1600. You just have to manually dial in the memory setting. Actually, now that I think about it, that mobo and memory both support XMP; setting the memory clocks, timings, and voltages to spec should be as simple as setting the BIOS to use XMP Profile 1 instead of SPD.

Sp12 said:
LGA 1156 is on the way out, but so is 1366. 1156 is going to be antiquated Q4 by Sandy bridge on 1155, while 1366 gets until Q3 2011. However, there's one more CPU planned for 1366, so it's kinda a moot point.
Click to expand...

Actually, there are a few more CPUs for both sockets. Nothing too interesting though, just clock speed bumps all around.

intelpricecut.jpg
 
mfenn said:
Actually, there are a few more CPUs for both sockets. Nothing too interesting though, just clock speed bumps all around.

intelpricecut.jpg
Click to expand...

😛 3 quad core chips and price cuts. The big news for 1366 is that a non-extreme hexacore is due out sometime.
 
Sp12 said:
😛 3 quad core chips and price cuts. The big news for 1366 is that a non-extreme hexacore is due out sometime.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know, but it's not a really a new CPU, just a lower-clocked Gulftown, same as there are just higher-clocked Clarkdales and Lynnfields planned.
 
I can't find a release date mentioned anywhere for the Intel G3 SSDs, so I gotta figure it's going to be in the later part of the year. Much as I'd like to have one, I don't think I want to wait that long. But after reading some more reviews, I am going to stick with Intel over WD on the SSD front.

For the video card, trying to find a XFX reference model. None of the ones I'm seeing match at least appearance wise with the reference cards shown in the earlier reviews. Eg Newegg has three models, the HD-585X-ZNFC, -ZAFC and -ZNFV. Which if any is it?

Other than that I think I'm pretty much finalized with the i5 setup. Now it's deciding whether to go ahead and order or hold out and see if there are any July 4th deals.
 
Newegg is actually missing the reference model, the HD-585A. ZZF has them out of stock for 300, but I doubt they'll be getting more.

Unfortunately, XFX recently discontinued it, so it's going to be somewhat hard to find. If you can get one for 310 or less, then go for it. If not, I would grab any name-brand reference model, the only difference is the warranty and support.
 
I found one at Directron.com, also picked up a Hyper 212 from them for $28.

So all the parts are ordered as of tonight. I decided patience wasn't a virtue I felt like exercising this week. :whiste: Final tally is

Core i5-750 - $200
Hyper 212 - $28
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 - $130
2x 4GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $214
XFX 5850 - $309
Intel X25-M 80GB - $225
2x Hitachi 2TB - $200
Corsair 650TX - $70
CM RC-690 - $70
Win7 x64 - $100

Components: $1546
Shipping: $32
Total: $1578
 
Merad said:
I found one at Directron.com, also picked up a Hyper 212 from them for $28.

So all the parts are ordered as of tonight. I decided patience wasn't a virtue I felt like exercising this week. :whiste: Final tally is

Core i5-750 - $200
Hyper 212 - $28
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 - $130
2x 4GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $214
XFX 5850 - $309
Intel X25-M 80GB - $225
2x Hitachi 2TB - $200
Corsair 650TX - $70
CM RC-690 - $70
Win7 x64 - $100

Components: $1546
Shipping: $32
Total: $1578
Click to expand...

Looks good to me! :thumbsup:
 
Looks like an excellent performance build! And the SSD is going to make things fly.

Let us know how the build goes.

Also, make sure you put that system behind a UPS!
 
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I've built many systems and i have to say that the CM690 was the cheapest feeling case out of all the ones I've used (Antec, TT, CM, Lancool).

It was roomy for sure, but the metal was cardboard thin and the plastic was flimsy.
the CM HAF series is much higher quality.
 
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Well Directron called today, they're actually out of stock on the 5850's. Not much luck finding a reference model anywhere else for a reasonable price, so I just fell back on the Gigabyte factory OC model. I found a few reports of people getting decent OC's out of it, so fingers crossed.

Also, make sure you put that system behind a UPS!
Click to expand...

APC 1500VA unit! Bout time for a new battery on it though...

I've built many systems and i have to say that the CM690 was the cheapest feeling case out of all the ones I've used (Antec, TT, CM, Lancool).
Click to expand...

Guess we'll see what it looks like when it gets here. I don't really need it to be a tank, just to hold everything together reasonably well.
 
Well,we're on the way. Win7 installing as I type. Main thoughts so far...

Intel retail cooler SUCKS BALLS. 60C idle temps just while configuring the BIOS. That Hyper212 can't get here fast enough.

Another P55 disappointment. Apparently it doesn't support RAID and AHCI at the same time, so I had tear everything apart to move my storage drives to the Marvell controller (naturally they're right under the video card).
 
Merad said:
Another P55 disappointment. Apparently it doesn't support RAID and AHCI at the same time, so I had tear everything apart to move my storage drives to the Marvell controller (naturally they're right under the video card).
Click to expand...

Huh?

RAID is already using AHCI. The latest Intel RST drivers pass TRIM to attached non-RAID members...
 
That looks excellent and most important well balanced build. But I guess you should have I7 980. If you are already spending $1500+,then adding more bugs would be worth.

Also, I did not get why you are spending extra $100 for OS. In most of the shops they will give you free but thats bad luck if you don't have such shops nearby.
 
itsmevader said:
That looks excellent and most important well balanced build. But I guess you should have I7 980. If you are already spending $1500+,then adding more bugs would be worth.

Also, I did not get why you are spending extra $100 for OS. In most of the shops they will give you free but thats bad luck if you don't have such shops nearby.
Click to expand...

Recommending a CPU that would nearly double the total cost? :thumbsdown:
Recommending piracy? :thumbsdown::thumbsdown:

EDIT: I think people were willing to put up with your general trolling, but advocating piracy is stepping over the line.
 
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