Help from the Peanut gallery new build

[Gwjr2]

ok first whats the lo down on the I7 core?

should I use windows 7?


now I ve got 1200 to play with 

want to reuse 1 GTX260 and go SLI with another (really want to run FSX full bore) 

Ive seen the I7 core stuff witch says runs at 2.66ghz that seems slow to me is there something Im missing on that?   

ok after that Im open to what ever... fire away boys 


Thanks Im gone.. 

[Spikes]

Most of the i7's run at 3.0ghz.

[Dragon]

ok first whats the lo down on the I7 core?  Good Stuff

should I use windows 7?  Sure


now I ve got 1200 to play with  

want to reuse 1 GTX260 and go SLI with another (really want to run FSX full bore)  1 should be enough

Ive seen the I7 core stuff witch says runs at 2.66ghz that seems slow to me is there something I'm missing on that?   OC it

ok after that Im open to what ever... fire away boys  


Thanks Im gone..  

Not really enough info.  Need monitor and mouse, keyboard?  New case?

[Jayhawk]

  Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         920  @ 2.67GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz

That's my system.  Works great for what I do, which is a few games, newest one is probably half-life 2 though, that's a couple years old by now.

Edit: This is on vista

[IronDog]

I'm running a Alienware I7 @3.06.With $1,200.00 you could build a very beefy puter if you decided to go with a AMD processor.If you still want an I7 thats good too.I would run Windows 7,as I downloaded the PRC and it looks good to me.
ID

[Gwjr2]

Not really enough info.  Need monitor and mouse, keyboard?  New case?

case yes
Monitor no (my 40 in Sammy works nicely at 1920/1080)
Just the the guts
Mobo, Mem, Cpu, Sound, Drive, Power Sup.

[Dragon]

Gwjr2, check my final parts on this build.  Should give some good ideas.

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,273558.0.html


Too damn lazy to type it all over again 

  and good luck

[TilDeath]

I7 920 is stock at 2.67.  The 920s are easily overclocked to 3.2, 3.4, 3.6 GHz on air for a 24/7 rig and up to 4.4GHz on air for benchmarking.  Make sure you get a really good heatsink and fan.  OCZ Vendetta 2 or Gladiator Max with the 1366 adaptor.  If you have the money look into a Prolimatech Mega Shadow (Megahalem) with the right fan(s) it does not come with one, it can perform almost as well as a boxed H2O systems (case airflow needs to be good also).

If your getting a second GTX260 make sure it is the exact same model.  You do not want to mix and match SLI setups.

Motherboard are all dependent on what you intend on doing with the system other then gaming... will you run at stock or prefer an slight to mild overclock?  Will you over clock manually or use the BIOS or Software OC settings?  Do you want to use dual or triple channel DDR3? (A few of the manufactures MB will accept either or)  What internal devices will you be using?

Need input

TD

[Chalenge]

Whatever you end up with stick to the Intel chipsets on the motherboard especially if you get a SLI video setup. I would avoid Creative also and get HT Omega sound cards like the Striker 7.1 (my favorite).

[eagl]

Go with intel i7, all the way.  Definately go with windows 7 also, preferrably the "professional" version if you're any kind of geek.  Win7 ultimate differs from win7 pro primarily by including hard drive encryption, but win7 pro has a ton of features not included in win7 home premium.

I bought a win7 pro upgrade through the pre-order offer for $99, but it's now over $149.  I think I'd still go with the 32bit version instead of 64bit, but that's just because I still have a couple of old peripherals that might not have 64bit drivers yet.  The 32bit version will work just fine with 4GB installed ram, and that's what I have.  On the other hand, since you have $1200 to play with you could easily get a fast 6GB triple channel memory kit and then you'd see some benefit from 64bit windows.

Make sure your case and power supply are up to the task.  I would also probably forego the additional GTX 260 until after seeing how fast the system is with just the one card.  I really love the new ATI/AMD cards with their triple monitor capability, and in just a few months we'll see 6 monitor setups from the new radeon cards.  So save your vid card money until you really need the graphics horsepower, and then consider the ATI/AMD cards.  Keep the nvidia 260 installed though...  There is a hack out there that will let you use an ATI card for graphics and the nvidia card for hardware physx acceleration, best of both worlds IMHO.

[IronDog]

These well meaning souls are quick to spend your dough,I'm just saying you could get way more puter with AMD,and I run a I7!
ID

[guncrasher]

id
 post your ideal AMD computer that would equal or exceed the i7.  I dont know much about AMD (or intel in general) since i have never used it.  that would help dorks like me  .

semp

[Chalenge]

What really sucks is the price of things are going up as the dollar drops. Im in the market for a few things also but I will wait until January or later.

[Spite]

Ditto the Intel all the way and Win 7. There is nothing that AMD offers that can touch the Core i7's for the most part.

To add to your choices ... I would seriously look at the new Lynnfield offerings from Intel. The Core i7/i5 based on the 1156 chipset offers substantial power and heat reductions from the current Core i7 (920/950/975 Extreme) variants.

The Core i5-750 is the new entry level quad and handily bests the previous top of the line Intel/AMD quads.  And at a cheaper price than the top of the line AMD quad effectively putting the squeeze on AMD. The Core i7-860 matches up nicely and can generally be slightly better than the current Core i7-920.  The new Core i7-870 is too highly priced for my tastes and would instead look at the Core i7-950 over it if I was going to spend that kind of money.

The advantages the 3 Lynnfield chips offer in addition to the mentioned heat and power, is reduced price for both dual channel DDR3 memory and P55 motherboards over the previous x58 mobos and triple channel RAM.

CPU 199.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
MOBO 139.99  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157172
RAM 89.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276

Double up the RAM for 8 GB total and your full total would be 519.96 leaving lots of room for drives, PSU's etc.  Add about 100 to this price for the Core i7-860 (my choice) and you've got a "kick ass" system a fair bit cheaper than the current Core i7 1366 chipset based offering.

The mobo I mentioned is just an example, you would have to research the features you require, although it does use the latest audio codec in the Realtek ALC890 which offers full 24 bit 192 KHz non down sampled blu ray audio support likely negating the need for a dedicated sound card.

Something else to chew on ...

http://www.techspot.com/review/195-mainstream-quadcore-cpu-performance/page1.html

"AMD will not only be forced to decrease the price of the flagship Phenom II X4 965, but we expect them to drop many other Phenom models in the process as there's no longer enough room to offer so many different models in the $100-200 range."

"Current pricing makes the Phenom II X4 a terrible choice. At $500 against the Core i7 860, it is a bad match up for AMD."

[Noir]

Just got a Phenom II X4 965 BE. I competes with the lowest Core i7's for a fraction of the price and gives the i5 a run for his money. I pay in euro so the value may be different tho. I sugest you keep your videocard for a while as its still pretty decent, or you can get the latest ATI 5xxx series wich holds good value in the "long" term as its support dx11.

Ho yeah and win7 is the way to go, I love it. Remember the x86 version doesn't support over 3Gb ram. I personnaly use the x64 version wich works with most software, its just that you may need to unlock it to accept unsigned drivers.