Author Topic: Building a new system….  (Read 1219 times)

Offline Heater

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Building a new system….
« on: January 12, 2009, 03:51:49 AM »
The questions are which way to go… as for price I am looking to spend around +/- $1000

So the question #1 CPU 
Core 2 Duo E8500 or better
Or the i7 920

Question # 2
Graphics card...
Nvidia or ATI…

ATI 4870 or Nvidia GTX 260…

+ one other question....

XP Pro 32 bit or 64 Bit,
and the same for Vista 32 bit or 64 Bit (will dual boot the system)

« Last Edit: January 12, 2009, 05:06:32 AM by Heater »
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Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2009, 04:07:22 AM »
The questions are which way to go… as for price I am looking to spend around +/- $1000

So the question #1 CPU 
Core 2 Duo E8500 or better
Or the i7 920

Question # 2
Graphics card...
Nvidia or ATI…

ATI 4870 or Nvidia GTX 260…


The i7 is a performance king at the moment but the motherboards cost an arm and a leg still.

4870 vs 260, 4870 wins in price/performance. If you're not biased to Nvidia it's a good choice. However 260 will carry you a long way also, just make sure you get the new 216 core.
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Offline DREDIOCK

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2009, 09:07:13 AM »
The questions are which way to go… as for price I am looking to spend around +/- $1000

So the question #1 CPU 
Core 2 Duo E8500 or better
Or the i7 920

Question # 2
Graphics card...
Nvidia or ATI…

ATI 4870 or Nvidia GTX 260…

+ one other question....

XP Pro 32 bit or 64 Bit,
and the same for Vista 32 bit or 64 Bit (will dual boot the system)



Any old parts your planning on using?
Such as a Case,DVD, Soundcard, PSU, Hard Drive?

The more parts you can recycle the more your going to be able to get for around $1,000

With a quick glance f your planning on using the i7 the CPU and compatible motherboard is going to run around $600 plus tax.
Thats going to only leave you around $400 for everything else. and depending on what else you want to go into it. Those numbers can add up rather quickly to send you over budget.
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Offline BaldEagl

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2009, 09:28:52 AM »
The questions are which way to go… as for price I am looking to spend around +/- $1000

So the question #1 CPU 
Core 2 Duo E8500 or better
Or the i7 920

Better bang for the buck on CPU and motherboard with the E8400 or E8500.  The I7 is faster for most applications but actually slighlty (I mean very slightly) slower than the Wolfdales for gaming.

Question # 2
Graphics card...
Nvidia or ATI…

ATI 4870 or Nvidia GTX 260…

<--- Nvidia man.  Actually, the 9800 GTX+ would do just fine.

+ one other question....

XP Pro 32 bit or 64 Bit,
and the same for Vista 32 bit or 64 Bit (will dual boot the system)

I'd be tempted to go 64 bit at this point as everything seems to be moving that way.

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Offline Heater

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2009, 10:01:54 AM »
Just placed the order,

Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-920

Asus P6T WS PRO, X58, Socket-1366

Corsair TWIN3X 1800MHz DDR3, 6GB,

GeForce GTX 260 896MB PhysX CUDA
PCI-Express 2.0, Core 216, 55nm

Cost : € 1049.00
(overshot the budget a bit but oh well)

« Last Edit: January 12, 2009, 10:03:37 AM by Heater »
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Offline Denholm

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2009, 10:33:51 AM »
You did mention +/- $1,000. :P
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Offline TilDeath

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2009, 03:35:58 PM »

Better bang for the buck on CPU and motherboard with the E8400 or E8500.  The I7 is faster for most applications but actually slighlty (I mean very slightly) slower than the Wolfdales for gaming.

Are you talking factory clock speeds or performance?

I benched an E8400 and a i7 920 using FarCry2's benching utility.

The 920 is OCed to 3.8 with the memory running at 739 x 2 (QPI) DDR3 3gb Triple channel 1gb x 3
The E8400 is OCed to 3.6 with a 1840 FSB, DDR3 4gb Dual Channel DDR3 1600 native 2gb x 2
Both machines have a GTX 280 SSC

Results the i7 performed just under 4x's the scores of the E8400.  For a $240.00 processor this thing screams.  Yes the MB's are in the 225+ range for good boards and good memory (cant slouch here) is 150 plus.

Since the i7's have eliminated the FSB and is now done with the QPI good fast memory now bases your overclocking ability more so then the processor.  Put some OCZ 2000 into an i7 rig and got the 920 to 4.6 on 1.4 volts on the processor and 1.65 on the memory.  Only problem was the processor still BSOD because of heat.  Gonna H2O one and make a final decision.  If your going i7 there is no need to get more then the 920 with its OCing ability and being a little less then 25 percent of the 965.  3.8 is an easy overclock on air for the 920 and keep your temps in the high 30s to low 50s OCed (reasonably)


Offline BaldEagl

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2009, 03:43:57 PM »
Are you talking factory clock speeds or performance?

I benched an E8400 and a i7 920 using FarCry2's benching utility.

The 920 is OCed to 3.8 with the memory running at 739 x 2 (QPI) DDR3 3gb Triple channel 1gb x 3
The E8400 is OCed to 3.6 with a 1840 FSB, DDR3 4gb Dual Channel DDR3 1600 native 2gb x 2
Both machines have a GTX 280 SSC

Results the i7 performed just under 4x's the scores of the E8400.  For a $240.00 processor this thing screams.  Yes the MB's are in the 225+ range for good boards and good memory (cant slouch here) is 150 plus.

Since the i7's have eliminated the FSB and is now done with the QPI good fast memory now bases your overclocking ability more so then the processor.  Put some OCZ 2000 into an i7 rig and got the 920 to 4.6 on 1.4 volts on the processor and 1.65 on the memory.  Only problem was the processor still BSOD because of heat.  Gonna H2O one and make a final decision.  If your going i7 there is no need to get more then the 920 with its OCing ability and being a little less then 25 percent of the 965.  3.8 is an easy overclock on air for the 920 and keep your temps in the high 30s to low 50s OCed (reasonably)



Factory clocks from a comparison review I read.  The I7 was faster at everything but gaming but it wasn't very far behind there either.
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Offline TilDeath

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2009, 05:22:47 PM »
Factory clocks from a comparison review I read.  The I7 was faster at everything but gaming but it wasn't very far behind there either.
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Offline Getback

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #9 on: January 13, 2009, 06:32:38 AM »
Just placed the order,

Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-920

Asus P6T WS PRO, X58, Socket-1366

Corsair TWIN3X 1800MHz DDR3, 6GB,

GeForce GTX 260 896MB PhysX CUDA
PCI-Express 2.0, Core 216, 55nm

Cost : € 1049.00
(overshot the budget a bit but oh well)



What about case, hard drive, and power supply?

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Offline RauleDuke

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #10 on: January 13, 2009, 09:35:20 AM »
I am building my first system using the following, total price $993.89
Take a look, wondering if I have any conflicts.

NZXT Tempest case, has 8 internal fans.

Western Digital Caviar 640 GB Hard Drive

OCZ Game XStream 700W power supply

ASUS P5Q3 LGA 775 Intel P45 mobo

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 GHz

Kingston Value RAM 4gb

MSI N9800 GT 512mb vid card

Samsung 22x DVD R DVD Burner

Koutech multi card reader

Vista home premium 64bit

Oh yea, $100 in mail in rebates from Newegg.  Total cost $893.00
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Offline Denholm

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #11 on: January 13, 2009, 12:05:58 PM »
I think you could have done better on the PSU choice. Also is your HD choice a SATA or ATA drive?
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Offline BaldEagl

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #12 on: January 13, 2009, 12:14:08 PM »
I am building my first system using the following, total price $993.89
Take a look, wondering if I have any conflicts.

NZXT Tempest case, has 8 internal fans.

Western Digital Caviar 640 GB Hard Drive

OCZ Game XStream 700W power supply

ASUS P5Q3 LGA 775 Intel P45 mobo

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 GHz

Kingston Value RAM 4gb

MSI N9800 GT 512mb vid card

Samsung 22x DVD R DVD Burner

Koutech multi card reader

Vista home premium 64bit

Oh yea, $100 in mail in rebates from Newegg.  Total cost $893.00

Get low latency Kingston HyperX RAM instead of the Kingston Value RAM.  It will only be a few $ more and will run much faster.
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Offline Getback

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #13 on: January 13, 2009, 01:50:42 PM »
Yep get rid of the value ram Raule, Also, I'm not sure the Vista 64 is worth it. You may want to go xp pro. OCZ PS stacked up fairly well in a comparison. PC Power and Cooling is one of the best though.

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Offline TilDeath

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #14 on: January 13, 2009, 02:06:56 PM »
Yep get rid of the value ram Raule, Also, I'm not sure the Vista 64 is worth it. You may want to go xp pro. OCZ PS stacked up fairly well in a comparison. PC Power and Cooling is one of the best though.
OCZ is PC Power and Cooling and PC Power and Cooling is OCZ... same company just different brand names