New build...

[Aadden]

Greetings Everyone!

I am in the process of putting together a good mid to higher end gaming system. I have built several systems but my most recent build has left me with a bit of a nervous feeling due to some issues that are still present with the system. I appreciate any feedback and advice anyone might be willing to lend!

1. What YOUR PC will be used for.
This system will be used for gaming.

2. What YOUR budget is.
$1500.00ish

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
United States

4. IF YOU have a brand preference.
Preferences: Whichever will give me the best performance for a fair price. Reliability and reputation are important to me.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
All of my parts will be new.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I do lots of research and have read through ton of threads here but have not found exactly what I wanted.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Money does not come easy enough nor does my skill set give me the security I'd need to enter the world of OCing.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
I plan to build this system within the next 2 weeks.


The list below are all parts I found on Newegg that seem to be fairly decent. Compatibility is my biggest concern. I'm a bit concerned about the RAM and motherboard. I decided to go with the i7 in hopes of being more future proof. Cutting edge concerns me and I don't often jump on the latest and greatest bandwagons.

CPU
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115202

Motherboard
ASUS P6T Deluxe LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131346

Ram
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ - Retail
Item #: N82E16820231225

Power Supply
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817139005

Video Card
EVGA 01G-P3-1280-AR GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130365

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136319

DVDR
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827136152

OS
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116493

Case selection is up in the air. I'd like good air flow and decent durability. Thanks again!

Aadden

PS: Sorry for the edit, my two left thumbs hit post before I was done.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Are you going to be using SLI in the future? If not, I wouldn't suggest going for an i7 system, no real performance benefits (aside from multi-gpu) for the cost, any decent Core2Quad or Phenom II quad system will be the same in terms of game performance. Good choices on the rest however, done your homework as far as I can see. As for case selection, I'd go for an Antec 900, one of the better cases around, and by far the cheapest considering how well it cools and it has plenty of space should you decide to put more into this build later on.

 

[Aadden]

I'm not counting SLI out at this point but do not have it in my budget nor see the performance gain as it being worth the cost increase. I considered this:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9550 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115041

but thought for the slim price differences that it made more sense to stick with the i7?

Thanks for the response!

 

[krnmastersgt]

While the cpu itself is just a slim price difference, you'll save $50 at least on the ram and probably somewhere over $100 on the motherboard, an entire i7 system costs more than a Core2, while what you say is true that the chips are roughly the same price.

 

[Aadden]

Ecluding the $150.00ish savings, does it make sense to go with the i7? I don't expect a noticeable performance gain but I'd hope the trade off might be a bit of future proofing if that is even something I should even worry about due to the speed things become obsolete? My main goal is a rock solid system that will perform well for my budget range. I don't mind stepping down to a Q9550 if that makes the most sense and maybe putting more money into another aspect of the system.

 

[EndGame]

IMHO, stick with the i7......you won't be sorry! Just built mine and I can say with all confidence, it is definately worth it! I bought basicly the same items you have listed except I went with the Mushkin ram and an ATI 4870. The system is amazingly fast and went together with no quirks or problems whatsoever.

Have fun!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'd get a case that is a good potential H20 candidate.

 

[Aadden]

Ahhh...cooling. The one very important thing I was thinking about but forgot to include. I don't want to H2O cool at this point unless completely necessary. Are there some good air coolers that are recommended for the i7?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

T.R.U.E. seems to be among the top contenders

 

[EndGame]

I used the Xigmatek Thor's Hammer........still early on but seems to work well!

 

[heyheybooboo]

Phenom II 940 / Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H combo deal: $318

Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB GDDR5: $415

Anand Game Benchies

When it came to actual game play experiences, we thought the Phenom II 940 was clearly the better choice in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and Crysis Warhead due to minimum frame rate advantages and fluidity of game play. In the five other titles, we could not tell any real differences in the quality of game play between the Phenom II 940 and Core 2 Quad Q9550. Except for Far Cry 2 where we could raise the graphic quality settings without affecting game play, the i7 platform was no different than our two other solutions.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Like the article heyheybooboo linked, there's no benefit for gaming on an i7, while they advertise it as a gaming cpu, it's anything but. It's more targeted towards editors and developers that need lots of threads to do lots of work at once, average gamer wouldn't notice the difference between an i7 and a Core2Duo if the game only supports 2 cores. $150 saved from cpu+mobo+ram = $150 more towards the video card which makes far more of an impact.

 

[Denithor]

Ditch the GTX 280 and either go SLI (two GTX 260) or CF (two 1GB 4870). Should run around $400 for either of these setups versus the $330 for the single GTX 280 (and either will kick the crap out of the single 280).

Read this page and review the rest of the article. It's worth it before spending that kind of money...

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
Anand Game Benchies

When it came to actual game play experiences, we thought the Phenom II 940 was clearly the better choice in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and Crysis Warhead due to minimum frame rate advantages and fluidity of game play. In the five other titles, we could not tell any real differences in the quality of game play between the Phenom II 940 and Core 2 Quad Q9550. Except for Far Cry 2 where we could raise the graphic quality settings without affecting game play, the i7 platform was no different than our two other solutions.

C'mon, heyheybooboo, if you're going to give advice - at least try to be impartial about it. That article definitely showed i7 leading the pack from a performance standpoint, especially once overclocked & paired with a crossfire setup. (Actually it's more like opening a can of whoopass on the other chips in question.)

EDIT: The i7 scales much, much better for CF and/or SLI than the C2Q & PhII chips can manage. If you're running a single GPU and don't plan to go multi later, get whatever, it'll work fine - but if you want CF/SLI now or later, i7 is the best choice.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
Anand Game Benchies

When it came to actual game play experiences, we thought the Phenom II 940 was clearly the better choice in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and Crysis Warhead due to minimum frame rate advantages and fluidity of game play. In the five other titles, we could not tell any real differences in the quality of game play between the Phenom II 940 and Core 2 Quad Q9550. Except for Far Cry 2 where we could raise the graphic quality settings without affecting game play, the i7 platform was no different than our two other solutions.

C'mon, heyheybooboo, if you're going to give advice - at least try to be impartial about it. That article definitely showed i7 leading the pack from a performance standpoint, especially once overclocked & paired with a crossfire setup. (Actually it's more like opening a can of whoopass on the other chips in question.)

EDIT: The i7 scales much, much better for CF and/or SLI than the C2Q & PhII chips can manage. If you're running a single GPU and don't plan to go multi later, get whatever, it'll work fine - but if you want CF/SLI now or later, i7 is the best choice.

 

[Denithor]

Yeah, yeah - fine.

Then allow me to cherry-pick a paragraph from the same closing comments. In fact, the very next paragraph:

However, looking through the performance results and game play experiences, we have to mention just how fast Intel's Core i7 is right now. Its results were just remarkable in Far Cry 2 and it consistently scored at the top in CrossFire mode in the other games even though it has the lowest core clock speed. If platform pricing were better, then the Core i7 series would have a clear recommendation for an upgrade if you were considering a multi-GPU setup.

I mean, you're only looking at $100-150 more cost versus a PhII or C2Q system - so why not? And if you look at that benchmark I posted earlier - you'll see even bigger differences if CF/SLI is fully taken into account.

 

[EndGame]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Yeah, yeah - fine.

Then allow me to cherry-pick a paragraph from the same closing comments. In fact, the very next paragraph:

However, looking through the performance results and game play experiences, we have to mention just how fast Intel's Core i7 is right now. Its results were just remarkable in Far Cry 2 and it consistently scored at the top in CrossFire mode in the other games even though it has the lowest core clock speed. If platform pricing were better, then the Core i7 series would have a clear recommendation for an upgrade if you were considering a multi-GPU setup.

I mean, you're only looking at $100-150 more cost versus a PhII or C2Q system - so why not? And if you look at that benchmark I posted earlier - you'll see even bigger differences if CF/SLI is fully taken into account.

Have to agree. That's from the same link heyheybooboo left me in my build thread and to be honest, that article, and the above quoted paragraph is exactly what finalized my decsion to go with the i7. They others may do "OK" for what they are BUT, for only $100 - $150 more you can have THE top of the line and S1336 + DDR3 will be around for quite some time so the upgrade path is the best you can hope for!