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Need help choosing a new build

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eddietandy

Member
I think I may be suffering paralysis of analysis, trying to decide the last few pieces for my new build. Time to ask the audience I suppose. I'm down to CPU/MOBO/RAM and a cooler.

I've spec'd out AMD and Intel, which is more or less $500 either way:

Option 1: Intel i7-870, Asus P55D-E LX, G.skills 8 GB (2 x 4GB)
Option 2: AMD PhII X6 1090T, GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5, G.skills 8 GB

I go round and round swapping out mobo options, but generally that's where I sit. Also considering the i5-760.

And then there was option 3, which surprisingly is around $600:
Intel i7-950, Asus Sabertooth X58, G.skills 12 GB (3 x 4GB).


This will be a home PC for development/lab/programming, some VM, some gaming at 1920x1080. I just want it to be a bad mutha for the money and be a happy camper at the end of the day. (Also, I've looked at Sandy Bridge, but I just don't know any real prices. If I knew I could get into a 2500k/2600k for the same money I'd probably wait a few days). I'd really appreciate some help pushing this build over the finish line. 🙂

Here's what I already have purchased:

Case: Lian Li PC-K62
GPU: Asus EAH5850 Directcu 1GB
PSU: XFX 750 Black edition
Display: Asus VH242H
HDD : 1 WD Caviar Black 1TB, 2 Samsung F3 1TB
DVD : Asus 24B1ST DVD burner
 
Skip the i7-870 and get the Sandy Bridge i5-2500K.

If you have a Micro Center near you, that one should be about $179 on opening day.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2132766

If you have a 64 bit OS, get at least 4 Gb of RAM, DDR3-1333, and you should be ready to rock & roll.
Personally, with your list of applications, I'd go with 8 GB of RAM, but that's me...I got 8 for my home rig...and my uses aren't nearly as demanding as yours.

If your applications take advantage of hyperthreading...go with the i7-2600K

http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?id=7947

http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?id=7944&pageid=7672
 
Hey, thanks for the quick reply!

Unfortunately, no Micro Center anywhere nearby. The i7-870 had some appeal for the hyperthreading, but as I understand it the SB equivalent (if there is such a thing 😉) is the 2600k. That is probably going to be more than I want to spend. Generally trying to stay around $1500 or below, total (including monitor).

Maybe the hyperthreading isn't that big a deal. I'm honestly more interested in real world performance than a paper tiger anyway. Hopefully the 2500k will be in line with the price of my current options.
 
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...el-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested

It looks like the 2600K should be priced at $317...the 2500K at $216. Both are pretty good prices, and are about the same as the current "equivalents," the i5-760 and the i7-875.
Both bring a nice bit of performance increase over the current models.

Whether you NEED hyper-threading or not all depends on the applications you run...very few games take advantage of HT...while many graphics applications and such use the extra boost of the multiple threads.
 
I agree with Boomer. You want option 4: Sandy Bridge.

Even if it turns out that the 2600K is too expensive for you, you still want to get Sandy. The 870 does beat the 2500K in a few tests, but not by a large margin. Where the 2500K wins, it usually wins by quite a bit.
 
I'm going to wait (like nearly everyone else) on Sandy Bridge, after reading some of the reviews, and of course, wise counsel here. :thumbsup:

The 2600k sounds like what I'll want, so if it truly hits the Egg at around ~$300+, I'm in for it. Now to spend some time reading up on the P67 motherboards.

I did pull the trigger on the latest RAM special at NewEgg today. $95 for G.Skill 8GB @1333, CAS 7, 1.5V. Based on what I understand, that will be just fine for SB. Does that sound right?

Thanks for the help guys.
 
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