Revamp..

[Dzzope]

Hi..

I am currently planning a major revamp of my very much aging system..

I have decided on either the i7 930 or the i7 875K.. I kow the 875K will give me better results out of the box and possibly overclocked too but the 930 is cheaper and gives the option of possible upgrades in a few years of Hex cores when they become affordable and more useful without a board change. Any opinion is useful..

On that note, I will be needing a motherboard.. I am clueless as to which are good and reliable these days and as such I am majorly open to sugestions.. Features I need on it are usb 3, 6 Gb/s SATA, Crossfire support, (with 2 X16 speed lanes if possible, not a fan of the sharing of bandwidth)

I will also be looking to overclock this to some extent, so anything that provides some utility would be good.

What ram to go for? again I'm clueless as there seems to be dozens of speeds these days and I don't have time to keep up.

Which cooler? I am seriously thinking of getting a Corsair Hydro H70 (Huge heat-sinks may be a problem, but not unworkable)

Finally, I currently have an ANTEC truepower 650W PSU, I think it's an older version than the ones currently on sale on newegg, although they may just be advertising that they are i5 /7 compatable to boost sales. Will this be up to the job at hand?
(it will have a pair of 5770's, 2 WD black HDD's (1 640gig 3Gb/s and 1 1TB 6Gb/s) a few system fans, NO CD / DVD / BR drives and of course the processor named above (whichever wins.. :P )

So far my shopping list includes:
WD Cavair Black 1TB 64MB cach
Core i7-875K or Core i7-930
Arctic Silver 5
Mushkin Enhanced Ridgeback 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR3 2000(PC3 16000) 996902 or
Patriot Viper II Sector 7 Edition 6GB(3 x 2GB)DDR3 2000(PC3 16000) Model PV736G2000ELK

[_dangtx_]

howdy and welcome aboard, sir.

well, if you go between those, 930 and a nice giga ud3h perhaps? your antec will be ok. why, may you ask?

well, two 5770's will eat around 170 watts in normal gaming mode, and perhaps 225 watts in extreme mode.

add another 20 0watts for the rest of the system, aplenty.

btw, what is the exact model of the psu?

if its this one, very nice unit

also, what are your full system specs, right now?

[Dzzope]

You mean this board?

Spec's ATM are very poor....

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (single core, oc'd to 3.2 I think, been a while since I checked)
2 gig ddr... generic stuff I think..
Nvidia 7800GT OC (and another bit overclocked by me)
WD Carvair black

Thats pretty much it... old and decrepid, in dire need of upgrading..

On the point of PSU's... I was actually more wondering about the limitations that having 4 12V rails might have... I remember having trouble before where a system was crashing because the amperage on the rail wasn't high enough for the card.. the max amps on 2 rails is 25 each and the other 2 are 22..
If I've nothing to worry about, brill, if I do, thats this build on hold.. :S

Also with ram... that board says it supports 2200Mhz... would that mean going up in speed?.. Also as far as timings etc in ram is concerned.. I'm totally clueless...

bang for buck is what I'm after.. with a budget of about 800dollars (might be able to stretch as I need win 7 too)

Suggestions for that too? 64 bit pro version or is it worth it?

[_dangtx_]

that is old lol.


hmmmmm...i wouldnt shell the cash for 1366, perhaps 1156 and a 530?

if you are worried about the psu, get a nice corsair or seasonic in the 500-600 watts range.

cooler wise, the h70 is nice but a bit overpriced for what it does. how about a cooler master 212+? :)

although if youre thinking of crossfire you can go with another amd build. but since you want intel, go that route.

btw, intel will release new chips soon, amd new cards.

[Dzzope]

Have the card sitting and waiting (my mobo should but doesn't rekognise it)

I have to get these bits in the next 2 weeks, as I'm getting them on the cheap (I'm from Ireland and saving a ton by getting these while a m8 is in states)

[_dangtx_]

irish fella? ok. prices over there are beyond bad vs the states :)

ok, then dont worry.

go here : Socket 1366 - GIGABYTE

and take your pick :)

[Dzzope]

I just spotted a deal on memory, processor and mobo... however it's an Asus board..
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

Is that a good one or should I steer clear of it and go for a Gigabyte?
(P.S. I'm not a fan of gigabyte after having 2 faulty boards off them in a row a few years back.. but if they the bees knees now I'll try them again)

[fishingfanatic]

Well I think that combo is pretty darn good. Not sure on the price, but if you price match each individually, you'll know. I own that mobo, it's great. Easy to work with,ocing is a breeze.

For memory, I prefer Mushkin, and a rep. from one of the lifetime warranty memory manufacturers told me that
socket 1366 seems to work best with 1866mhz, though I would most likely go 2000. Any of the lifetime warranty ram is ok.

You should try your psu b4 buying another, probably enough with a bit of headroom. If you do end up getting another, look at Corsair, Seasonic... and there are a few others I don't remember atm.

Welcome to HWC btw, good luck, enjoy the build and resulting system.

[_dangtx_]

thats one of the recommended boards around here.

btw, you sure theyre not going to charge your frend when he comes in with the stuff? :)

[Dzzope]

Yea.. He brings all his hardware over from the States when he is visiting his brother..
You only get charged if you are buying from here..

I have 2 more questions.. Firstly is the ram.. is the stuff in that bundel good? I assume it is not bad, at least, being a recognised brand and not from their generic lines..


Secondly is OS.. Windows 7.. Whats the story with it... should I go for 32 or 64 bit (guessing 64) and beyond that, what is the difference between the different "grades" (Home premium, pro, ultimate etc)

As I'm getting a new machine it is really required as XP just won't cut it.. :P *(TBH if I could I'd still be using 2k...)

Considering that my computer isn't going to be used for anything more than games / vids / web stuffs / possibly some video, sound and image editing.. (really want a copy of CS5, but the budget won't stretch that far for a long time) Would getting a higher "grade" of 7 really give me anything extra that isn't usless to me or just goning to suck on some of my soon to be ample resources?


Cheers for all the help so far guys... I've been using the reviews for quite some time now.. but actual advice is great at this stage.. You