I'm a mac! (not for much longer)

[Karucifer]

So after a couple of years of using apple kit I find myself wanting to build a proper PC games machine again... But I'm seriously out of touch.

Last time I tinkered with hardware the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition was just being released, which is getting on for 6 years ago?

I've put together an outline of a shopping list, listed below, thought before I invested I should consult with the anandtech hive-mind to make sure I wasn't making any serious mistakes on compatibility/bang-for-buck.

If there are any glaringly obvious omissions/cheaper alternatives/lemons in the list, just say, you won't hurt my feelings

Conscious that even after reading recent articles on lynnfield/bloomfield that I'm not 100% that 1366-pin is the way to go, thinking was CrossfireX in the future maybe.

• Intel Core i7 930 2.8Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
• Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Socket 1366 PCI-Express DDR3 ATX Motherboard
• Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Triple Channel Kit
• Western Digital Caviar Green Power 1.5TB 64MB Cache Hard Disk Drive
• Asus ATI Radeon 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Retail
• Samsung S223L Lightscribe 22x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Black SATA - OEM
• Corsair VX 550W ATX2.2 Power Supply
• Samsung BX2240 22" Widescreen
• Coolermaster Sileo 500 Black Mid Tower Case

Other stuff:

Currently this comes in at around £1300, I'd ideally spend less but can't see any obvious sacrifices. In terms of what it would be used for a mixture of gaming and streaming to Win-MCE endpoints such as the xbox 360. Sometimes at the same time. For now presume the games I'll likely play won't benefit from Crossfire.

I'm based in the UK but hopefully that won't dissuade others from elsewhere chipping in on the componentry. Most kit is available all over.

I'm more likely to go for Intel/ATI as a combo after my trouble with Nvidia kit of late. Overclocking isn't a must, noise is more a factor if it means 6000rpm fans and earplugs it's a non starter.

Once I'm sure of what I'm doing I'll likely press the button to order, unless there's some new revision of something due imminently which will lead to a price/spec change. Again I'm out of touch here.

 

[MisterDonut]

The performance difference from 1156 and 1366 bandwidth is minimal. If you want to cut down the price, I'd suggest going with 1156 or AM3. I'd only get 1366 if you could get it cheap (like Microcenter, but you're probably in Europe, duh ). You don't want to boot off a Green drive, so I'd go for the Samsung F3 1TB or WD Caviar Black 1TB, whichever is available for you. Also, consider the GTX460 which has a thumbs-up (as far as I've read) for $/performance. Pick up a Hyper 212+ and you can do some medium OC'ing. Anything higher, you'll need a Mugen 2 or better (TRUE, ProMeg, VenX, NH-D14, CNPS10X series, etc.)

What resolution do you game at? That would help a lot more with your GPU choice.

 

[Karucifer]

well I'd like to use the native res of the panel, not sure if that's realistic.

So 1156 with an i5? the i7 870 is almost double the price of the i7 930 over here (england)

 

[MisterDonut]

I think that's a 1080p monitor, so a 5870 would be safe, but you can save money by going to a 5850/GTX460 and still game pretty well. What kind of games do you play or plan to play on your rig? How much is the i5-750 compared to the i7-930? Gotta factor in the cost of 6GB vs. 4GB of RAM and motherboards, which can come out to a big difference.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

If you really want a great gaming experience, go with a true 120Hz LCD. 1680x1050 & 1920x1080 are your options.

I love my 120Hz Viewsonic!

 

[Sp12]

If you really want a great gaming experience, go with a true 120Hz LCD. 1680x1050 & 1920x1080 are your options.

I love my 120Hz Viewsonic!

Note that that means a TN monitor.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

The 120Hz experience is well worth the premium. Both Nvidia & ATI support 120Hz

 

[mfenn]

The obvious way to save money is to switch to 1156 or AMD, as MisterDonut pointed out. I'm not sure why you're looking at the the 870, you should be looking at the 750, 860, or 875K.

 

[StinkyPinky]

The 120Hz experience is well worth the premium. Both Nvidia & ATI support 120Hz

What benefits does such a monitor have?

 

[Sp12]

The 120Hz experience is well worth the premium. Both Nvidia & ATI support 120Hz

In my opinion TN is not worth a premium, though I admit 120hz can be impressive for gaming.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Smoother game play. Less strain on your eyes.

TN panels are not the best in color reproduction but it's the 120Hz that is the advantage.

 

[Bman123]

You can cut alot of costs by making a few changes

 

[beginner99]

Just thought £1300 is very expensive but I first didn't see the screen was in this price. To save some money you could go the 1156 route but IMHO the price difference isn't that big.
Main difference is you can reduce ram to 4 gb (dual channel and save some money there).
Maybe also save some money on the gpu?

What you do need is a better HDD. At least get a good 7200 rpm drive but I still suggest an ssd as boot drive if you can extend your budget a bit.


@BTRY B 529th FA BN

Stupid question but if you have a 120 hz monitor don't you only benefit if you actually have such a high framerate? Else you onl yget to see the same frame multiple times. or is this a wrong assumption?
Also you probably need a pretty beefy gpu?

 

[Bman123]

Get a amd quad, save cash on CPU, mobo will be cheaper and you can run 4gb of ddr2 instead of 6gb ddr3. That should save you a good chunk, swap the 1.5tb drive for a 1tb black drive, get a ssd drive with the money you save from the CPU, mobo and ram.

 

[Karucifer]

As I said, I'm sticking with Intel.

So, are there better i7 choices price/performance wise on that socket?

 

[mfenn]

As I said, I'm sticking with Intel.

So, are there better i7 choices price/performance wise on that socket?

Allow me to quote myself:

The obvious way to save money is to switch to 1156 or AMD, as MisterDonut pointed out. I'm not sure why you're looking at the the 870, you should be looking at the 750, 860, or 875K.

EDIT: Oh, and don't use a Green drive as your boot drive. They are meant for media storage, and are not high-performance enough to use a system drive.

 

[Karucifer]

My post suggested the 930 in my spec, and I was asking in my last post about other chips for that socket? (1366)

 

[mfenn]

My post suggested the 930 in my spec, and I was asking in my last post about other chips for that socket? (1366)

And pretty much everyone in this thread is telling you not to go with 1366.

EDIT: Let me quote your OP and point out why people are suggesting that you go with something other than 1366

So after a couple of years of using apple kit I find myself wanting to build a proper PC games machine again... But I'm seriously out of touch.

Last time I tinkered with hardware the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition was just being released, which is getting on for 6 years ago?

I've put together an outline of a shopping list, listed below, thought before I invested I should consult with the anandtech hive-mind to make sure I wasn't making any serious mistakes on compatibility/bang-for-buck.

If there are any glaringly obvious omissions/cheaper alternatives/lemons in the list, just say, you won't hurt my feelings

Conscious that even after reading recent articles on lynnfield/bloomfield that I'm not 100% that 1366-pin is the way to go, thinking was CrossfireX in the future maybe.

• Intel Core i7 930 2.8Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
• Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Socket 1366 PCI-Express DDR3 ATX Motherboard
• Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Triple Channel Kit
• Western Digital Caviar Green Power 1.5TB 64MB Cache Hard Disk Drive
• Asus ATI Radeon 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Retail
• Samsung S223L Lightscribe 22x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Black SATA - OEM
• Corsair VX 550W ATX2.2 Power Supply
• Samsung BX2240 22" Widescreen
• Coolermaster Sileo 500 Black Mid Tower Case

Other stuff:

Currently this comes in at around £1300, I'd ideally spend less but can't see any obvious sacrifices. In terms of what it would be used for a mixture of gaming and streaming to Win-MCE endpoints such as the xbox 360. Sometimes at the same time. For now presume the games I'll likely play won't benefit from Crossfire.

I'm based in the UK but hopefully that won't dissuade others from elsewhere chipping in on the componentry. Most kit is available all over.

I'm more likely to go for Intel/ATI as a combo after my trouble with Nvidia kit of late. Overclocking isn't a must, noise is more a factor if it means 6000rpm fans and earplugs it's a non starter.

Once I'm sure of what I'm doing I'll likely press the button to order, unless there's some new revision of something due imminently which will lead to a price/spec change. Again I'm out of touch here.

 

[Karucifer]

And pretty much everyone in this thread is telling you not to go with 1366.

Sigh, thanks for not answering my questions.

I want the PCI express bandwidth for SLI in the future, which means x58, no?

And that means 1366 pin.

But keep posting please, drag the thread further off track, I'll just get advice on my question elsewhere!

 

[mfenn]

Sigh, thanks for not answering my questions.

I want the PCI express bandwidth for SLI in the future, which means x58, no?

And that means 1366 pin.

But keep posting please, drag the thread further off track, I'll just get advice on my question elsewhere!

See my edit. You didn't mention SLI at any point in the thread before now. Also, you're not going to be SLIing a Radeon.

If you meant CFX, you should still go AMD in light of the bolded parts of your OP.

EDIT: Nice attitude, you asked for advice and so you got it. If you just wanted people to agree with you, you probably should have posted elsewhere.

 

[TheStu]

Alright... yes, 1366 has more lanes on PCIe than 1156. You can actually run 2 x16 cards at full x16 speeds. HOWEVER, you have a 22" monitor that has, at best, 1920*1200 resolution. A pair of 5870s in CF will not saturate 2 x16 lane slots to drive that display.

If you start to talk 30" display, or multiple spanned displays, then you are talking something else the need for more bandwidth. But as it stands right now, 1366 doesn't offer you anything that you need, or could potentially need that 1156 cannot. What 1156 offers you is cheaper CPUs, cheaper boards, boards with more features (though they are reaching parity again), a wider selection of boards, and a wider selection of CPUs. Oh, and since you don't need to run triple channel RAM, you can save a little money there as well.

And yes, ditch the green drive.