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Can I do better without spending more?

K

kandor

Gawd
Joined
Aug 24, 2005
Messages
632
Hi, Can I do better than these 3 item for $660 cdn. I also looked at the MSI GD85, but wasn't clear on any advantage. This system is for gaming and I will put 2 GTX280's in SLI in it. Also, hoping to run it on a Corsair TX750 psu.


Core i5-750 processor = 224$

MSI P55-GD80 = 219$

Patriot Extreme Performance Viper II Sector 5 Series 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-16000 DDR3-2000MHz, Low Latency Kit (8-8-8-24), 1.65V for Core i5 = 219$
 
i5-750 at MC If you have a micro center nearby, they have great prices on cpus. Personally I wouldn't build an i5. If you want to spend less, get an i3 and oc it. They oc really well and have great temps. With a $20-$30 cooler they will stay well below 60c at full load clocked around 4.5ghz. On the other side, most of the time at MC they have deals on the i7-860s for $199. So basically for $10 more you get HT or an extra 4 virtual cores.
 
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Kidius said:
i5-750 at MC If you have a micro center nearby, they have great prices on cpus. Personally I wouldn't build an i5. If you want to spend less, get an i3 and oc it. They oc really well and have great temps. With a $20-$30 cooler they will stay well below 60c at full load clocked around 4.5ghz. On the other side, most of the time at MC they have deals on the i7-860s for $199. So basically for $10 more you get HT or an extra 4 virtual cores. Maybe my mobo knowledge is off but I thought the h55 boards were better for sli?
Click to expand...

That would not do because the OP is in Canada.

Also, the H55 chipset is single GPU only. You cannot do SLI on any H55 motherboard without a separate onboard NF200 bridge chip added.
 
Hi and thanks,

Another question: will my SI-120 or other various Zalman HSF's I have mount on an 1136 mobo with the same 775 mount bracket? Also, it looks like the patriot ram is out of stock, so I will replace it with Mushkin Blackline 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-16000, DDR3-2000MHz, 1.65V, (7-10-8-27) Dual Channel Kit (998776). The timings are different but I don't know what the impact of that would be.
 
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Ah yes, I didn't know you were in Canada. Surely there is somewhere that will ship to you with a better price than $224. I don't know who ships to canada but even the egg is cheaper than that right now. I'm almost positive that you will need a different bracket as my cooler had different pin settings for the 775 socket,1156 and 1366. I'm still not sure if I would spend the money on building an i5. You could probably find an i7-930 and decent x58 board at close to the same price which would allow you to run triple channel and you would have a better socket for future upgrades(hopefully). About two weeks ago there were some excellent deals on 920s going on, if you found one of those that would be pretty nice. Looking at your current setup, going from quad to quad w/o ht doesn't seem as justifiable as going from a quad to a quad +ht. I know that the 750 is a great performing cpu but $225 seems like too much.
 
kandor said:
Hi, Can I do better than these 3 item for $660 cdn. I also looked at the MSI GD85, but wasn't clear on any advantage. This system is for gaming and I will put 2 GTX280's in SLI in it. Also, hoping to run it on a Corsair TX750 psu.


Core i5-750 processor = 224$

MSI P55-GD80 = 219$

Patriot Extreme Performance Viper II Sector 5 Series 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-16000 DDR3-2000MHz, Low Latency Kit (8-8-8-24), 1.65V for Core i5 = 219$
Click to expand...

What kind of machine are you trying to build?
 
Gaming - just games, I have other machines for work with quadro 3700's etc. that are all fine.
 
I would go with an i3 and a decent motherboard. You can find i3's for <$100 and a decent mobo for <$150 which is about what you were planning on spending for just the i5.

If you are interested, there is a thread here for i3's and dual core i5s that show the oc progress some people have made. The numbers are actually really impressive.
i3 overclocking thread
 
I thought i3's wouldn't do SLI? Plus, the games I play use all 4 cores. Plus, I went out this afternoon and bought all the stuff so it's on my desk! :)
 
What did you end up getting? I haven't read anything about i3s not being capable of sli.
 
Kidius said:
What did you end up getting? I haven't read anything about i3s not being capable of sli.
Click to expand...

Core i5-750 processor = 224$
MSI P55-GD80 = 219$
Mushkin Blackline 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-16000, DDR3-2000MHz, 1.65V, (7-10-8-27) Dual Channel Kit (998776

I was suprised to learn that the expensive ram runs at 1333mhz until I overclock - not used to that - felt a bit ripped off!
 
Kidius said:
I haven't read anything about i3s not being capable of sli.
Click to expand...

Actually, it's the motherboards on which the i3s are typically mounted on (usually with chipsets that enable the i3's integrated video capability) that can't do SLI.
 
kandor said:
Core i5-750 processor = 224$
MSI P55-GD80 = 219$
Mushkin Blackline 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-16000, DDR3-2000MHz, 1.65V, (7-10-8-27) Dual Channel Kit (998776

I was suprised to learn that the expensive ram runs at 1333mhz until I overclock - not used to that - felt a bit ripped off!
Click to expand...

Actually, the memory defaulted to 1333Mhz because it was Intel's decision to limit the officially supported memory speed of its i5 processors to DDR3-1333/PC3-10666. You will either need to overclock your processor or use an eXtended Memory Profile setting in order to enable the higher memory speed(s).
 
kandor said:
Core i5-750 processor = 224$
MSI P55-GD80 = 219$
Mushkin Blackline 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-16000, DDR3-2000MHz, 1.65V, (7-10-8-27) Dual Channel Kit (998776

I was suprised to learn that the expensive ram runs at 1333mhz until I overclock - not used to that - felt a bit ripped off!
Click to expand...

Not really the memory's fault. The motherboard's default timings are most likely 1333MHz.

Same goes when you buy DDR2-1066 and the motherboard sets it to DDR2-800.
 
Yeah, I know - it's just my first i series chip, so I was unfamiliar with how it worked. I guess I have enough top end on the ram to reach 4 ghz on the processor without oc'ing the ram.
 
E4g1e said:
Actually, the memory defaulted to 1333Mhz because it was Intel's decision to limit the officially supported memory speed of its i5 processors to DDR3-1333/PC3-10666. You will either need to overclock your processor or use an eXtended Memory Profile setting in order to enable the higher memory speed(s).
Click to expand...

It seems like the eXtended Memory Profile just overclocked the processor when I tried it?
 
kandor said:
It seems like the eXtended Memory Profile just overclocked the processor when I tried it?
Click to expand...

In the case of your particular memory, then yes, it raised your processor's BCLK speed from the default 133MHz to something like 166MHz or so.
 
Yea, you really have no choice but to raise the bclk if you want your memory to run at the advertised speed. Of course, the 750s can be great overclockers and that memory gives you alot of potential. I am willing to bet that if you check the speeds, the timings are tighter than the package says, mine booted at 7-7-7 instead of the advertised 8.
 
the Mushkin shows timing of 7-10-8 - I'll try tightening them - so far I'm running at 190x20, 1900 on the ram.
 
I think a good question would be the games you play. Most games will be fine with a dual-core but say BC2 will really require a quad to play well.
 
Yes not only that, but BC2 was not good with a q6000 at 3.2 - it was totally cpu bound. The i5-750 even at stock makes BC2 gpu bound. Nice for a change to see the 2x GTX280's sweating.
 
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