New rig I'm getting

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New rig I'm getting "It's about bloody time"

MusicallyInspired

The Sarien Encounter

#1 Posted 14 January 2011 - 10:08 AM

After some meticulous research, review-reading, advice-asking work I've settled on a new set of specs for my new system which is a long time coming! Considering the last computer I bought was in 2003 this will be a refreshing change. I can barely run things like Bioshock at a decent framerate with medium to low settings. This must end now.

GIGABYTE GA-X58-USB3 LGA 1366 Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-950 3.06GHz
Intel BXSTS100A Active heat sink with fixed fan (to replace stock fan of the i7, which apparently sucks for overclocking)
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W Power Supply
MSI GeForce GTX 460 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 SLI Support
SAMSUNG 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
Acer 24" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

I should have the money for this stuff in the next month or so. I'm super psyched! I was going to get a 28" Hanns-G monitor but they ran out of stock. Maybe they'll get some back once I actually have the money....

This post has been edited by MusicallyInspired: 14 January 2011 - 10:09 AM

Hendricks266

Weaponized Autism

#2 Posted 14 January 2011 - 04:00 PM

I'll bet your current setup is better than mine.

I've heard excellent things about Sandy Bridge, but there's some fallacy about waiting a long time for upgrade/updates because there will always be another upgrade, etc. Good luck!

Danukem

Duke Plus Developer

#3 Posted 15 January 2011 - 12:13 AM

How much $$ is that going to set you back? I thinking about getting a new rig for myself, but I don't think I can afford it right now.

MusicallyInspired

The Sarien Encounter

#4 Posted 15 January 2011 - 05:48 AM

Actually, I've changed this list again since I've posted it. The current price is hovering around $1480-$1620 CAD after mail-in rebates depending on which PSU I choose. I completely forgot about the extra wattage required if I plan on going SLI in the future (which I do). I also went with the Sandy Bridge which required a mobo change and in turn a RAM change. Here's a new working list:

This one comes out to $1620 after mail-in rebates, though I'll probably hold off on the monitor for a bit. It's funny how much you realise you need and have to change stuff afterwards. I went with an EVGA card because it has a lifetime warranty, it's cheaper after the mail-in rebate, and the core and shader clocks are actually faster. Otherwise pretty much exactly the same specs as the MSI.

I was going to buy it piece by piece, but it turns out I'll have some extra cash to throw into this since I'm also going to be using it as a recording studio computer.

This post has been edited by MusicallyInspired: 15 January 2011 - 05:57 AM

High Treason

#5 Posted 16 January 2011 - 01:29 AM

Looks reasonable, if you're going to use it in a recording studio you might want to think about liquid cooling down the line.

Personally though I would wait until Intel's next "tick" - they will bring out a new Sandy Bridge in Q4 which is merely a smaller fabrication, at this point the price of the hardware you want will drop.

I'm thinking of getting a new rig myself this year, machine I am on now is starting to show it's age a little.

MusicallyInspired

The Sarien Encounter

#6 Posted 16 January 2011 - 06:39 AM

High Treason, on Jan 16 2011, 03:29 AM, said:

Looks reasonable, if you're going to use it in a recording studio you might want to think about liquid cooling down the line.

Why? The bulk of the sound processing will take place in the interface which is outside the computer.

Quote

Personally though I would wait until Intel's next "tick" - they will bring out a new Sandy Bridge in Q4 which is merely a smaller fabrication, at this point the price of the hardware you want will drop.

Yeah, but that quickly turns into "oh just wait a little longer until the next NEXT tick" and the next and the next. I can always change the cpu later if I want. I assume all Sandy Bridge processors will have the 1155 socket type.

High Treason

#7 Posted 16 January 2011 - 07:01 AM

Maybe you won't have issues with noise, it's just from my personal experience... but then most of my systems sound like diesel generators or something and I assume yours will not.

I'm not certain that the next lot of CPU's will be on the same socket (The early P3 was different to the later P3, the old P4 was different to the new P4 and so on) but the hardware you want will not be vastly exceded by that point, I'm only suggesting waiting as you may be able to buy better hardware out of what is currently available once the new hardware appears. Once again, it's just from my own experience - it usually works out cheaper, but on second thoughts, the economy is screwed anyway so that isn't guaranteed anymore.

MusicallyInspired

The Sarien Encounter

#8 Posted 16 January 2011 - 10:38 AM

Maybe your right. But I'm just so tired of working off of this old P4. I need to upgrade. I've had it since 2003 or so! I'm tired of being behind. Gotta jump in sometime.

This post has been edited by MusicallyInspired: 16 January 2011 - 10:40 AM

Spirrwell

tile 1018

#9 Posted 16 January 2011 - 06:43 PM

750W power supply... I would go with a slightly bigger one, especially if you intend to do overclocking. Although that's just me, it'd probably be just fine, I don't have an i7, I have a standard Q6600 quad core. It's a 2.4 GHz that I have clocked to 3.4 GHz, which was choking my 650W power supply with crashes, so I moved up to 900W and there's no problems. Then again, I am running two 1GB video cards in SLI, and one of them comes with a factory clock of 700 MHz (overclocked). So that could've been my problem there. I just recommend doing some more research there, you can never be too careful with stuff that expensive.

Edit:
Oh and about that lifetime warranty, don't bank on it lasting forever, I got a NVIDIA BFG 9800 512 MB video card that HAD lifetime warranty, until BFG went under. Although EVGA is doing okay, so maybe I just ended up with a raw deal.

This post has been edited by Spirrwell: 16 January 2011 - 06:49 PM

MusicallyInspired

The Sarien Encounter

#10 Posted 17 January 2011 - 07:24 AM

I've been doing so much research on this that I'm still going back and changing everything. I just found out my RAM isn't test on this motherboard so I have to pick another set. I've already gone up from 650W to 750W and I just don't have the money to go higher. I can buy another PSU later if need be (if I go SLI). For now it should be fine. And either way, the EVGA is still better because it was cheaper than the other card I had picked out with the same features http://forums2.duke4...tyle_emoticons/default/smile.gif.

Omni

#11 Posted 17 January 2011 - 04:03 PM

To bad you missed the NewEgg Shellshocker today. it was that MB +6 gigs of ram for like 230 US

Hank

#12 Posted 17 January 2011 - 04:57 PM

Omni, on Jan 17 2011, 07:03 PM, said:

To bad you missed the NewEgg Shellshocker today. it was that MB +6 gigs of ram for like 230 US

In Canada they have a thirty day money/replacement guaranty, too short, in my opinion, for hard ware. What's your experience with them? I know off-topic, but I'm curious.

MusicallyInspired

The Sarien Encounter

#13 Posted 17 January 2011 - 06:25 PM

I've never had to return anything. My buddy and I bought parts for our studio computer in the past from NewEgg and everything went smoothly.

Jeff

#14 Posted 18 January 2011 - 08:20 PM

When I had mine built, they called me yesterday and said that there were some issues with the DDR3 1600 RAM (crashes & such), so they put in some DDR3 1333 and everything is fine. They told me that 1600 MHz RAM isn't officially supported for Sandy Bridge.

I should be able to pick up my system tomorrow. Was also going to add, you have the same CPU cooler as me.

This post has been edited by Jeff: 18 January 2011 - 08:21 PM

MusicallyInspired

The Sarien Encounter

#15 Posted 18 January 2011 - 08:47 PM

That's what I'm discovering as well. It says it supports it in overclocked mode but if you don't overclock it than it will just bounce it down to 1333 anyway. But just to be safe I'm going to order 1333 RAM instead anyway.

Jeff

#16 Posted 19 January 2011 - 01:16 AM

I might try overclocking mine, or do the TurboBoost thing. I heard this version works differently than the original TurboBoost.

This post has been edited by Jeff: 19 January 2011 - 01:23 AM

Danukem

Duke Plus Developer

#17 Posted 20 January 2011 - 01:21 PM

Hey, guys, I want your opinion. Does this seem like a good value?

http://www.cyberpowe...ega_Special_II/

I would get it with an Nvidia card for sure, and Windows 7 (which adds another $100). I don't know what other changes I would make. Shipping is free. I don't want to spend much more than $800 total.

Mikko

Honored Donor

#18 Posted 23 January 2011 - 09:05 AM

Why only a Dual-Core processor? You should go with AMD Phenom II X6; it's not too expensive and it's the best there is. If you insist on an Nvidia card, GTX 460 is the way to go.

MusicallyInspired

The Sarien Encounter

#19 Posted 23 January 2011 - 09:20 AM

Sandy Bridge blows everything out of the water currently with its price to performance ratio.

Danukem

Duke Plus Developer

#20 Posted 23 January 2011 - 11:10 AM

Having the best price to performance ratio is not the same thing as having the best value. Whether it's the best value depends on your needs. If you need that, then great. The computer I ordered came to just over $800 (including tax), and it's way better than what I have now. It will meet my needs for the next 3 years or more. If I spent $1600 like you did, I would get a better price to performance ratio, but I would be poorer and the extra performance would mostly be wasted considering the games I play.

MusicallyInspired

The Sarien Encounter

#21 Posted 23 January 2011 - 12:44 PM

I'm not saying to pay $1600. But the Sandy Bridge processor is dirt cheap, is all. It's almost worth it to go for it. You don't need to go all out like I did. But that's cool. It's your computer and if you're happy with it then that's awesome.

Stabs

#22 Posted 23 January 2011 - 03:37 PM

best of putting as much as you can into GFX and getting a cheaper chip if your a good overclocker, the gains from a GPU overclock are just so minimal i dont even bother OC'ing gfx anymore

If a GPU is shit, its shit, if a CPU is shit it can be made alot better.

As long as that PC has a GTX250/9800 minimum DT it should be fine, depends what res you want aswell tho

Danukem

Duke Plus Developer

#23 Posted 23 January 2011 - 05:28 PM

DanM, on Jan 23 2011, 03:37 PM, said:

What I'm getting will have a GTS 450 card and Athlon II x2 265 cpu at 3.3GHz per core.

My current rig is a Gateway that I got just over 3 years ago. The mobo does not allow overclocking. I'm going to give the Gateway to my wife, which will be big upgrade for her.