Quick spec check...

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Been wanting to upgrade for a while but kept putting it off for some reason. But since my current machine (skt 939 3500+, 2gb RAM, ATI 1900xt) failed this morning, the time seems right.

I'm wanting something that will last a few years. I don't play many PC games anymore since i got a 360, but would like to play the occasional game (monitor res 1920x1200).

Anyway this is what i have come up with after reading a few similar price range specs -

(im using my brothers notepad atm running Knoppix, so i hope this pic isn't too small cos this screen is really small)

screenshotzi.png


Ermm, yeah thats about it. I have HDDs, a DVD-RW drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse and a X-Fi soundcard so ill be reusing these aswel

Cheers for any input.

Oh and btw, does anyone know what accessories (cables and things) you get with this motherboard?
 
Soldato
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I would suggest going for this motherboard instead. It doesn't have USB3 or SATA 6G (which IMHO is badly implemented on current P55 boards), but it does have x8x8 crossfire - unlike the board above.

Also, please bear in mind that a i7 920 CPU is currently £15 more than the i5 750 and a good X58 board is £26 more than the one you were initially going for. This means that an i7 920/X58 spec costs a mere £41 more than a i5/P55 one. If you feel you can justify the extra outlay, I would certainly recommend this course of action.

An X58 system will work fine with dual channel memory like the stuff you specified, however it can also support triple channel memory which provides even more bandwidth - plus these kits cost less per GB than the 4GB ones. This is a good kit
 
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I would suggest going for this motherboard instead. It doesn't have USB3 or SATA 6G (which IMHO is badly implemented on current P55 boards), but it does have x8x8 crossfire - unlike the board above.

Also, please bear in mind that a i7 920 CPU is currently £15 more than the i5 750 and a good X58 board is £26 more than the one you were initially going for. This means that an i7 920/X58 spec costs a mere £41 more than a i5/P55 one. If you feel you can justify the extra outlay, I would certainly recommend this course of action.

An X58 system will work fine with dual channel memory like the stuff you specified, however it can also support triple channel memory which provides even more bandwidth - plus these kits cost less per GB than the 4GB ones. This is a good kit

Hello. I have just added the items you suggested (CPU,MOBO+RAM) and that's still fine for my budget. What the biggest advantage of the i7 920 route over the i5 750? Will things in general be faster or is it more for future proofing?

Thanks
 
Soldato
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What the biggest advantage of the i7 920 route over the i5 750? Will things in general be faster or is it more for future proofing?

In gaming, there is no performance difference between the CPUs. However, in CPU heavy applications the i7 920 is faster due to hyperthreading. Here is a comparision of the two chips in several tests.

Also, the i7/X58 combo is better for overclocking. It is easier to overclock on an i7 920 than a i5 750 and the i7 requires far less volts.

All X58 boards do x16x16 crossfire as a minimum, meanwhile almost all P55 boards are only x8x8 or worse. The performance hit of PCIe v2 x8x8 is pretty small at the moment - but as more powerful cards come along it is concievable that it will become saturated quicker than a PCIe v2 x16x16. Therefore, an X58 system will be able to work well with multi-GPU configurations further into the future.

X58 also can use triple channel memory - so the theoretical memery bandwidth is much higher than a P55. However, nothing really uses this at the moment - but its nice to have.

Finally, Intel are keeping the X58 platform as their top-end platform until Q3 2011 and they will be releasing cheaper non-EE 32nm Hex cores for the X58 later this year - so there is an upgrade option should you wish to take it.
 
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In gaming, there is no performance difference between the CPUs. However, in CPU heavy applications the i7 920 is faster due to hyperthreading. Here is a comparision of the two chips in several tests.

Also, the i7/X58 combo is better for overclocking. It is easier to overclock on an i7 920 than a i5 750 and the i7 requires far less volts.

All X58 boards do x16x16 crossfire as a minimum, meanwhile almost all P55 boards are only x8x8 or worse. The performance hit of PCIe v2 x8x8 is pretty small at the moment - but as more powerful cards come along it is concievable that it will become saturated quicker than a PCIe v2 x16x16. Therefore, an X58 system will be able to work well with multi-GPU configurations further into the future.

X58 also can use triple channel memory - so the theoretical memery bandwidth is much higher than a P55. However, nothing really uses this at the moment - but its nice to have.

Finally, Intel are keeping the X58 platform as their top-end platform until Q3 2011 and they will be releasing cheaper non-EE 32nm Hex cores for the X58 later this year - so there is an upgrade option should you wish to take it.

Thanks very much for the info. I tend to keep systems for 2 or 3 years before major upgrades so i think i'll be going the i7 route. I'll probably be ordering in a bit unless anyone else has any input on anything? :p
 
Soldato
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For the price difference between i7 and i5 i think its really worth it, sure you wont see a difference right now but some day you should, and if it doesnt break the bank see no reason why you shouldnt go with it.
 
Soldato
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Looks good :D

Very nice PSU by the way. Here is a Review to reinforce you decision (its the 650W version here, but they are very similar inside). If you think you may add a second 5770 graphics card in the future, it may be a good idea to go for the 650W version.
 
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Expecting delivery of the above spec this afternoon :D (minus the graphics card, decided to buy next month).

Since i'm coming from a AMD 939 spec, is there anything i should know for the install? And anything i need to change in the BIOS to get the best settings for the RAM etc? I won't be overclocking this CPU yet. Maybe when i have some more money for a better cooler.
 
Soldato
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Good stuff, hope everything arrives pristine and in a timely fashion.

Most things will be the same as building a s939 system. However, don't worry that there are no pins on the CPU - its all normal :)

As for the RAM, you will want to go into the BIOS and set these setting: DRAM Voltage 1.65V (in the "MB Intellingent Tweaker M.I.T" page), Memory Timings 9-9-9-24(CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS) (in the "Advanced DRAM Features" page which is found through the "M.I.T" page) and memory frequency to 1600MHz - by varying the system memory multiplier (on the "Advanced DRAM Features" page again)
 
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Good stuff, hope everything arrives pristine and in a timely fashion.

Most things will be the same as building a s939 system. However, don't worry that there are no pins on the CPU - its all normal :)

As for the RAM, you will want to go into the BIOS and set these setting: DRAM Voltage 1.65V (in the "MB Intellingent Tweaker M.I.T" page), Memory Timings 9-9-9-24(CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS) (in the "Advanced DRAM Features" page which is found through the "M.I.T" page) and memory frequency to 1600MHz - by varying the system memory multiplier (on the "Advanced DRAM Features" page again)

Cheers.

Got everything delivered just before.

Which way do i install the PSU? The fan facing into the case or the fan taking air through the bottom grill on the case? The case has a 120mm intake fan on the front, a 120mm intake fan on the side panel and a rear exhaust fan?
 
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