Critique this i7-920 Build

[Dasda]

The computer is built with hopes of keeping it for atleast 5 years of good performance.

The main usage will be to download, and winrar for now and the usual stuff everyone else does on computer like surfing, music etc. The bottom line is I dont want to be limited by my computer as I have been with my current P4 1.5ghz.

The other new thing I will be getting into is video editing. I am purchasing a camcorder this summer to record some home videos. I will be using Sony Vegas and Adobe Premier to edit the video and burn it to dvd's and save on HDD.

There wont be much gaming going on as I don't really play games on PC as I like the xbox live service on 360. PLus my favorite sports games like Madden NFL and EA sports NHL are not available on PC. I will probably look to upgrade the GPU if needed in the future.

I would also like the PC to be able to play the latest HD videos I can throw at it.

Ok here are some parts I have chosen. They will be purchased in Canada with the exception of the CPU and anything else you guys may reccommend from Fry's or Microcenter since I have friends visiting the US durin the week of Feb13-20 which is a reading week for us.

CPU - Intel Core i7-920 $229 at Microcenter

Mobo - GigaByte X58A-UD3R $220 at newegg - will pm locally
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813128423

or EVGA X58 SLI LE LGA 1366 X58 ATX Motherboard for $200 at Microcenter
http://microcenter.com/single_produc...uct_id=0312963

Please tell me which mobo is better, the gigabyte is good because it has USB3.0 and SATAIII and 3 years warranty as compared to 1 with EVGA. I put the EVGA option in there because most people have had good experiene with EVGA and recommend them.

RAM - I need the most help with this as I hate the cost of RAM right now. So please help me choose a RAM that would be compatible with the above mobo. I wont be overclocking the RAM.

Geil 6gb RAM - Has low voltage and decent timings. $143.99

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820144357

or

G.Skill F3 6GB - Low voltage and decent timing $175.99

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/196506/F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ/G.SKILL/

Please reccomend any other models of RAM you may know and I'll try to find the prices of it in Canada. These seemed good to me at a decent price. I would like to keep the ram in $160-$180 with $200 at most if WAY more value can be had.

HDD - Samsung F3 500 GB - cutting it from 1TB to fit budget since more can be added later.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...k=samsung%20f3

Case - Cooler Master 690 II Advanced for 85.99 . I thought about going for a cheapo case but woulda cost around $60(antec300) anyways so might as well get good airflow, looks, and size for extra $35.
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/225611/RC-692-KKN2/COOLERMASTER/

PSU - would like to be around $100 mark. Again like RAM, please help me here but I have done some research and want to get a good PSU.

Options are Corsair TX750, Antec TP650, OCZ ModXstream 700w($55-but not really good on reviews), Corsair HX650
, and Corsair TX650. Oh the Antec EA650 is for $69.99 at Microcenter and I can get a friend to grab if it is a good option.

Please reccomend some good power supplies to me and the price should be around $100 and modular is not important at all since I can hide the wires behing the mobo tray.

ODD- Add $30 dollars for good one I find locally. I have a pioneer118 but it is IDE so will use a new one since a adapter costs about the same.

GPU - $25 for a ATI 4850 from a friend who no longer use his since he upgraded. THe goal is to just get a video to the monitor. I will add a good GPU if needed in the future.

Let me know what you guys think and my budget is to be below $1000 for the PC. I do not need keyboard, mouse, monitor and other peripherals.

As you can see, I have tried to get the parts that are not too upgradable in future to be good now like CPU, Mobo, case, and RAM. I will add more HDD space and maybe a SSD in the future once prices settle. A GPU could also happen in the future if I see some good sports games on PC.


Thanks in Advance.


Edit: I wouldn't mind getting 3gb of ram(under$100) for now if I can easly add 6gb later without facing compatibility issues down the road. Then I can have 9GB at end of 2010. I would only do this if my 3GB and $100 wont have to be wasted.

Also, any idea on if microcenter will move 920 back to $200 soon and if it should be better to wait till April after gulftown releases and prices come down on x58?

The main reason I'm getting a 920 is because in Canada a 750 is $220 anways so might as well get HT and 1366 socket for similar price. I also need a cpu for video editing as I mentioned otherwise I woulda gone with a AMD $500build or a 15-750 for $700. If you feel those are better options for my purposes please tell me as I appreciate criticism and the fact that you are trying to help me. I don't need a 920 and 1366socket mobo so I can tell my friends but most people have said to me that for video editing a 920 is a good option. If video editing(amateur-home videos and nothing professional) isn't much of a difference then I'll take the 750 route. but will only be around $100 difference in cost of mobo/cpu/ram. Everything else is still same.

Thanks again

 

[MichaelD]

You're on the right track. I'm not too hip on makes/models of the latest parts, so instead of recommending exact things, I'd like to give some general pointers.

I don't see an Operating System listed. Video editing puts several strenuous requirements on a system. RAM is one of them. The more RAM the better. In order to use more than 4GB of RAM you need a 64-bit operating system. Not saying you can't video edit with XP Pro and 2GB of RAM; but why would you? Windows7 Pro 64-bit is relatively cheap and you can use that 6GB of RAM you mentioned. Do not cheap out on the amount of RAM! 4GB is minimum these days...especially w/video editing.

You said you want to watch HD video. A $25 ATI4850 isn't going to cut it. Not even close. Video EDITING is mainly CPU-horsepower based; number of cores and speed of those cores, in that order. However HD video PLAYBACK requires a GPU that can decode the stream and give you a good, smooth playback. You don't need to spend $300 on a GPU to acheive this. Somewhere around the $100 pricepoint is expected though.

For a dedicated video editing box at least two hard drives is desireable. You want your source and destination drives to be separate, otherwise your encoding time will be stretched out a whole lot. Maybe waiting doesn't bother you...it bothers me. With one HD you: Read source material-->process it--->compress it-->write it back to same HD but different folder/partition. That's a whole lot of HD thrashing around going on. With 2 HDs you make the source "C" and the destination "D" (or whatever). Much faster.

Glad to see you're going for a good PS. Do not cheap out on the PS; it's the most important part of your system. Can't go wrong with Corsair or the higher-tier Antecs.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dasda]

You're on the right track. I'm not too hip on makes/models of the latest parts, so instead of recommending exact things, I'd like to give some general pointers.

I don't see an Operating System listed. Video editing puts several strenuous requirements on a system. RAM is one of them. The more RAM the better. In order to use more than 4GB of RAM you need a 64-bit operating system. Not saying you can't video edit with XP Pro and 2GB of RAM; but why would you? Windows7 Pro 64-bit is relatively cheap and you can use that 6GB of RAM you mentioned. Do not cheap out on the amount of RAM! 4GB is minimum these days...especially w/video editing.

You said you want to watch HD video. A $25 ATI4850 isn't going to cut it. Not even close. Video EDITING is mainly CPU-horsepower based; number of cores and speed of those cores, in that order. However HD video PLAYBACK requires a GPU that can decode the stream and give you a good, smooth playback. You don't need to spend $300 on a GPU to acheive this. Somewhere around the $100 pricepoint is expected though.

For a dedicated video editing box at least two hard drives is desireable. You want your source and destination drives to be separate, otherwise your encoding time will be stretched out a whole lot. Maybe waiting doesn't bother you...it bothers me. With one HD you: Read source material-->process it--->compress it-->write it back to same HD but different folder/partition. That's a whole lot of HD thrashing around going on. With 2 HDs you make the source "C" and the destination "D" (or whatever). Much faster.

Glad to see you're going for a good PS. Do not cheap out on the PS; it's the most important part of your system. Can't go wrong with Corsair or the higher-tier Antecs.

Hope this helps.

Hi, thanks for the awesome reply. I kept checking back but didn't get a reply all night while I was doing my essay the night before it is due . Yea I will be getting Windows 7 64 bit but won't include that in the budget for hardware. I get it at a discounted price anyways from my university library.

The GPU reccomendation for HD playback is new to me though. I had asked around earlier and people had said to get 4350 for my purposes but I found a friend who had a 4850 laying around so I thought it would be a upgrade from 4350. Maybe I'll grab the new directx11 cards then (the new one released at $89 range -- I hate naming scheme of ATI, I hope to find and read a article on how they name their cards soon)

And thanks for letting me know about HDD also. I can easily get 2 500GBs instead of 1TB if that is the case. I was gonna upgrade in future anyways with a HDD and a SSD but can sppend the extra $50 now if it effects performance.

Since you know your stuff, do you mind commenting on my choice of parts? Whether they are best suited for my purpose or If I can get better value with other components or alternatives of same capability .

Thank You.

 

[MichaelD]

You're very welcome. I do know my stuff, but I'm not very familiar with very new hardware. I.E. the stuff that's out right now that you're looking at. I haven't built a new system in...wow, almost 3 years! I don't want to give you bad advice. So I'd be nervous about which MB or CPU to recommend to you.

I can tell you this though. Don't worry about SATA III. Unless you're using Solid State Drives (SSDs)...and you're not...you won't come close to saturating today's SATA II bus. USB 3.0 compatability might be something you might want. AFAIK, there are no USB3.0 peripherals out right now and by the time they start coming out en masse and being affordable, your "new computer" won't be new anymore.

Any i7-family CPU/MB combo you pick will be so much faster than what you currently have (1.5GHz P4), it'll make your head spin.

So, good luck. Hopefully someone chimes in with a MB/CPU recommedation for you. In the meantime, head over to the Motherboards forum and start reading; you're sure to pick up some solid leads there.

 

[MarcVenice]

The HD 4850 is MORE then powerfull enough for HD video playback. It has a UVD, just like any other card in the 4000-series, and thus will playback 1080p content with ease.

How much is the Core i7 860? If you're not ocing, you could grab a cheaper motherboard and grab a Core i7 860, which has a high clockspeed and a better turbo-mode. That way, you could also simply buy 2x2GB, and perhaps buy 2x2GB later on for a total of 8GB.

The PSU's you're looking at are overkill, BIG time. You could do with a 350W psu. A CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX would be good, or the SeaSonic S12II 330. The SeaSonic S12II 430B 430W might be nice too, because it has TWO pci-e 6pin-connectors, so you could upgrade your videocard in the future to something beefier, in case you wanted to.

 

[MichaelD]

I stand corrected on the HD4850. I don't follow hardware like I used to; I was thinking that ATI/NVidia would still be "neutering" their lower-spec hardware to meet pricepoint limitations like in the old days. Thanks for correcting me and saving the OP some $$$.

I semi-disagree with the "PSU's you're looking at are overkill" statment. While it is true he could get away with a 350-watter and it would run OK with that system, 350W limits him for the future, IMO. OC the CPU, add a big videocard, etc and that 350-watter will run out of headroom quickly. I wouldn't go any lower than the Seasonic 430w. That's a quality 430w and has quite a bit of headroom with any similar system the OP would run. An additional $20-$30 (over the cost of say a 350-watt PS) would give headroom for future expansion/new system without the OP having to buy a bigger PS.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I recommend looking at Jonnyguru.com for helping you make a decision on your power supply. In his reviews, he gives an efficiency chart on a power-wattage-use curve. This is going to sound obscene to others but between 148-269w the 159$ seasonic X650 gold is above 92% efficient while at low-wattage draws, it's ~ 88% efficient. Now for the good part The voltage ripple suppression might just be the best in the business. Read here for further information on the Seasonic X 650 Gold.

For reference, rig3 in my sig draws 138w at idle so when you do your video encoding, you'll probably fall between those numbers in the 92 percentile range. When I would game on that rig, I would draw somewhere around 250w. I am basing these numbers off a Load Wattage tester I bought from Lowes for 29$ - made by the company Reliance...

Hope this helps

 

[MarcVenice]

The x650 is way overpowered though. He doesn't need 650W, he needs 250W.

Your psu's are way overpowered as well.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Not overpower - you have to look at the power efficiency curve. The two 950's I have will be used in rigs with potential X-fire and minor overclocking. The Anandtech article stated a 3.3Ghz I7 and a 5970 will draw ~ 650w Even though my PSU is recommended at 950, it's the efficiency curve you want to look at.

250w would be maxing out the PSU if it were in my rig 3. Do you have a load wattage reader? I did a p95 test while running Furmark stability test when I was checking my 5870 and I was drawing close to 500w so just doing encoding on his machine would probably come close to general gaming on my rig3 that drew around 250w. Personally I wouldn't want to max and strain my PSU.

 

[Athadeus]

I don't know what state your friends are visiting from, but the i7-920 is $200 now at the Minneapolis, MN one, which seems to be the closest to the border. I live near the twin cities so I've been keeping an eye on it as it has been going back and forth a lot over the past couple months.

 

[MarcVenice]

Not overpower - you have to look at the power efficiency curve. The two 950's I have will be used in rigs with potential X-fire and minor overclocking. The Anandtech article stated a 3.3Ghz I7 and a 5970 will draw ~ 650w Even though my PSU is recommended at 950, it's the efficiency curve you want to look at.

250w would be maxing out the PSU if it were in my rig 3. Do you have a load wattage reader? I did a p95 test while running Furmark stability test when I was checking my 5870 and I was drawing close to 500w so just doing encoding on his machine would probably come close to general gaming on my rig3 that drew around 250w. Personally I wouldn't want to max and strain my PSU.

I review videocards, among other things. When gaming a Core i7 920 @ 3,8GHz (1,35v) and a HD 5870 won't draw more then 350W from the wall = 280W for the psu, if we use 80% efficiency. Considering he will be using a HD 4850, and doesn't game, it will be less. Heck, he's not even oc-ing. So I'd estimate his powerdraw from the wall at 250W = 200W for the psu when encoding.

Sure, a 650W psu could provide good efficiency when encoding, but so could a 400W psu? And, what if his rig is idling at 100W? Can the 650W psu still provide good efficiency, at 15% load. Well, good ones can, but the 400W psu can too. So why spend extra?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

True

The testing I was doing was p95 with Furmark GPU stability test and when I looked over at my watt meter, the draw was the most I've ever seen it, closing in on 500w but right of course the draw is much less than what he'll be doing.

The added bonus you get with a PSU like the Seasonic X 650w continues with the voltage ripple suppression as graphed here.