Input on i7 build for cowork/friend.

[michal1980]

Not for me, but something very close to what I would build. He is looking for a gaming pc, but also keeping it 'simple' (ie no xfire/sli/overclocking)


MOBO
Updated choice:
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA $129.99
[ORG BIOSTAR TPOWER i55 $174.99]

CPU
Updated choice
Intel Core i7-875K $329.99
(what heat sink would work, or i'll just tell him to use the i5-750 similar performance to 1st choice for ~80 dollars less)
[ORG Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8ghz $289.99]

RAM
Updated choice:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3
[ORG OCZ Gold 8GB DDR3 $234.99]

Boot/Game Drive
OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX120G 2.5" 120GB $249.00

Video Card:
XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) $379.99

PSU
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 $79.99

Storage Hard drive
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA $89.99

Monitor
Dell UltraSharp U2311H 23"W Monitor $299.00

DVD/Burner
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support $25.99

OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM $94.99

Case: (just for referance, will pick with friend)
Antec Six Hundred Black / Silver ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $79.95


Speakers/keyboard to be picked by friend to his liking.

Any glaring errors? The PSU for some here maybe 'low' but @ full load, the pc would draw ~375watts. So there is still plenty of head room

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3732/overclocked-our-custom-radeon-hd-5870-roundup/9

 

[Sp12]

That monitor choice is excellent.

I'm kinda meh on the RAM. It's a bit overpriced, only 1333, and a full 1.65 volts.

I would get 1x G.skill Ripjaws, the currently highest rated DDR3 1600 kit on Newegg, 1.5 volts, 107 before 10% off code. 4GB of ram is all that's required right now, though you could get 8 if you want.

Do you live by microcenter? If so, the P55 CPUs are a lot cheaper there. In addition, the i7-860 doesn't have a lot of offer over the 750 in gaming. The i7-875K, however, does in the form of a 3.6ghz turbo. It all depends on the price you can get it at.

That motherboard price is a bit high for lacking USB/Sata3, and if you're not going to crossfire/sli, you could easily drop to a mobo with only one X16 PCIe slot (especially since the PSU is too small to allow that as an upgrade path).

I also have slight hesitations purchasing an enthusiast GPU this late in its lifecycle, but that's not a big issue.

What resolution is he hoping to game at?

 

[michal1980]

That monitor choice is excellent.

I'm kinda meh on the RAM. It's a bit overpriced, only 1333, and a full 1.65 volts.

I would get 1x G.skill Ripjaws, the currently highest rated DDR3 1600 kit on Newegg, 1.5 volts, 107 before 10% off code. 4GB of ram is all that's required right now, though you could get 8 if you want.

Do you live by microcenter? If so, the P55 CPUs are a lot cheaper there. In addition, the i7-860 doesn't have a lot of offer over the 750 in gaming. The i7-875K, however, does in the form of a 3.6ghz turbo. It all depends on the price you can get it at.

That motherboard price is a bit high for lacking USB/Sata3, and if you're not going to crossfire/sli, you could easily drop to a mobo with only one X16 PCIe slot (especially since the PSU is too small to allow that as an upgrade path).

I also have slight hesitations purchasing an enthusiast GPU this late in its lifecycle, but that's not a big issue.

What resolution is he hoping to game at?

ram he wants more then 4gb.

microcenter is far away enough that its not worth the drive (~1.5 hours one way, 3 hour+ round trip)

The video card, he's looking for gaming. the 5870, appears better then the nvidia cards right now. resolution will be native to the monitor so 1920x1080, with the 5870, I figure years of good use.

Thanks for the mobo tips and the ram, i'll switch it out to ripjaws

 

[mfenn]

Do NOT buy OCZ DDR3. There are just too many problems with it. We've had several threads just on this board in the past few weeks. Take Sp12's advice and get G.Skill. Oh, and don't buy an 8GB kit, there is too much markup. Just get 2 2x2GB kits.

That Biostar is way too much to not have USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s. The GA-P55A-UD4P is cheaper, has more features (USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s), and isn't a Biostar. If you don't need a bunch of fanciness, the GA-P55A-UD3 is a better choice because it saves some cash.

There is also no point in getting a Black for a storage drive. That same $90 can buy you a 1.5TB drive.

 

[michal1980]

updated the OP.

the system centers around performance. His storage needs aren't huge right now, so I'd rather have a faster 'storage' drive then slow it down to add even more space.

 

[Sp12]

updated the OP.

the system centers around performance. His storage needs aren't huge right now, so I'd rather have a faster 'storage' drive then slow it down to add even more space.

That's the point of the SSD : P. Honestly, the difference between individual hard drives in terms of performance is basically nothing in comparison to SSDs. As long as his Windows/games are on the SSD who cares what speed your music files read at?

As for a good cooler, the overclocking and cooling forum has an extensive list of top-notch coolers.

I don't think it's possible to get 'years' of good use out of a videocard. I do think a 5870 will hold value for quite a while, but I imagine sometime in the future you're going to have to drop AA/AF on cutting-edge games. The technology just moves too fast. It takes two of last year's top end card (4870) to equal one of this year's (5870).

 

[mfenn]

Don't buy the 8GB kit of Ripjaws. Buy 2 2x2GB kits (i.e. you will end up with 4 total 2GB DIMMs) because you can get those for ~$220 total whereas Newegg wants $300 for the 8GB. There is no point in paying the premium for 4GB DIMMs when you have 4 DIMM slots.

 

[michal1980]

Don't buy the 8GB kit of Ripjaws. Buy 2 2x2GB kits (i.e. you will end up with 4 total 2GB DIMMs) because you can get those for ~$220 total whereas Newegg wants $300 for the 8GB. There is no point in paying the premium for 4GB DIMMs when you have 4 DIMM slots.

umm the 8gb kit I list was ~220.

 

[mfenn]

umm the 8gb kit I list was ~220.

For DDR3 1333. I suppose if memory upgradeability is more important that raw speed, then it is fine.

 

[michal1980]

^got it, switched to the pc1666 2x2gb kits (qty 2)

 

[beginner99]

Short comment about usb3 and sata3. the cheap p55 mobos use pci-lanes directly from the cpu, eg. the lanes meant for the GPU. Meaning if you actually use the features, your gpu will only run in x8 mode. (which is not really a big issue even with the 5870, maybe 5% slower than 16x mode). The thing is you will never be able to xFire (or SLI) and have Sata3 and usb3.

The more expensive ones combine 4 pcie lanes from the p55 chipset and use those. Of course this limits the usage of pcie add-on cards. the main problem here is that the p55 pcie lanes are pci 1.0 lanes (= half the bandwith than pcie 2.0).
(there is a whole article about this somwhere here on anandtech).

 

[mfenn]

Short comment about usb3 and sata3. the cheap p55 mobos use pci-lanes directly from the cpu, eg. the lanes meant for the GPU. Meaning if you actually use the features, your gpu will only run in x8 mode. (which is not really a big issue even with the 5870, maybe 5% slower than 16x mode). The thing is you will never be able to xFire (or SLI) and have Sata3 and usb3.

The more expensive ones combine 4 pcie lanes from the p55 chipset and use those. Of course this limits the usage of pcie add-on cards. the main problem here is that the p55 pcie lanes are pci 1.0 lanes (= half the bandwith than pcie 2.0).
(there is a whole article about this somwhere here on anandtech).

More like 1-2% for a 5870. Of course, a PCIe bridge chip is nice, but in the end there is a limited amount of PCIe bandwidth, whether you hide it behind a bridge chip or not.

 

[michal1980]

thanks for the help. Settled on the i5-750 after re-reading anand's review on it. and the 4 sticks of rip jaw ram.

 

[mfenn]

thanks for the help. Settled on the i5-750 after re-reading anand's review on it. and the 4 sticks of rip jaw ram.

No problem, I'm sure your friend will love it!