i think it's beefy enough

T

tommasfoolery

n00b
Joined
Dec 28, 2008
Messages
13
sup everyone. from a technical standpoint, what do y'all think of this one?

EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
LG Black 6X Blu-ray DVD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Model GGC-H20L
EVGA 896-P3-1267-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
HT OMEGA CLARO Plus+ 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card
CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Vigor Monsoon III LT Dual 120mm Fan CPU Cooler Socket 1366 Ready
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

it's making me drool.

oh, budget is around 2G. i may be a bit over but that's OK.
 
Go with a tri-channel 6GB kit of DDR3 if at all possible. I'd drop the VelociRaptor for a WD 640GB Black series drive.
 
silent-circuit said:
Go with a tri-channel 6GB kit of DDR3 if at all possible. I'd drop the VelociRaptor for a WD 640GB Black series drive.
Click to expand...

noted. why are those better?

if i do 6GB, i'll need to install a 64-bit OS - correct? aren't there issues with installing 32-bit software on a 64-bit OS?
 
Ditto silent circut's reccs.. and



May want to get the P6t deluxe.. great board.

No soundcard is needed

1000 watt PS is overkill look at PC power and cooling silencer quad 750. Will handls gtx260 in sli NP for half the $$

How far are you going to OC?
 
tommasfoolery said:
noted. why are those better?

if i do 6GB, i'll need to install a 64-bit OS - correct? aren't there issues with installing 32-bit software on a 64-bit OS?
Click to expand...

The Velociraptor is fast, but it's tiny. A modern OS install can take nearly 20GB on its own; add a few basic apps and some games, and the drive is full almost before you start. The 640GB Black series is as fast if not faster than the old 10000RPM Raptor series drives due to its high platter density (higher density means the read head moves a shorter distance to access the same amount of information) and it holds about 5x more data... for less. You could buy a pair of 640GB Blacks and put them in Raid 0 for what you're paying for the single 150GB Velociraptor -- $150 for 150GB or $150 for 1.25TB? The choice is clear to me. You're talking about another second or two of load time in games and OS startup, if that. No real performance difference.

No. There are issues with installing 16 bit software on a 64bit OS, but not 32bit software. I assume you'll be running Vista / Windows 7, since XP does not support any more than 4 cores and the i7 threads out to 8 virtual cores, so you'd be limiting the chip running XP. That, and no DX10 support in XP, so the GTX 260 makes a compelling case there as well. If you're running Vista already, there is very little in the way of compatibility differences between Vista 32bit and Vista 64bit anymore -- if you have reasonably modern hardware and do not run extremely old or poorly written software you will be fine.
 
tiraides said:
So that I could understand you better, please explain the changes that you've made.

The issues with the 32-bit software and the 64-bit OS nowadays come from the 32-bit software, not the 64-bit OS.
Click to expand...

yo tiraides. thanks for checkin this out again.

so, i took your advice and went with the i7 rig but did some research on the mobo and RAM. the mobo i've picked out is rated better on newegg. the RAM i picked out has better timing (7-7-6-18 vs. 9-9-9-24). as for power, i know it's overkill, and there is no rational reason for the 1000W, but i just want it. i wasn't sure about the HD, so i just threw the raptor out there to see people's reactions (also 10K vs. 7200 RPM). finally the heatsink/fan was better rated on newegg.

as for the 64-bit OS, i realize that the 32-bit programs are the components causing the issue, but how common is it for a 32-bit program to be compatible with a 64-bit OS?
 
You are highly unlikely to have any 64bit related issues. Please read my post above. Also, Newegg reviews mean absolutely jack shit, as they're written by literally anyone who cares to write in the little comment box -- often people that have /no/ idea what they're talking about. I would never make a purchase decision based on them. Ever.

Also regarding your "why are those better" post -- tri-channel memory increases the theoretical throughput to and from your RAM, allowing more memory operations per second than single or dual channel. You must have 3 sticks of DDR3 to enable tri-channel mode with an X58 motherboard and i7 processor... and buying 3 1GB sticks is just outright stupid considering your other hardware. A 6GB kit is not terribly expensive and gives you a good bit of RAM available.

The harddrive thing, I think I explained reasonably well. It is not at all worth the price premium for the VelociRaptor drive.
 
silent-circuit said:
The Velociraptor is fast, but it's tiny. A modern OS install can take nearly 20GB on its own; add a few basic apps and some games, and the drive is full almost before you start. The 640GB Black series is as fast if not faster than the old 10000RPM Raptor series drives due to its high platter density (higher density means the read head moves a shorter distance to access the same amount of information) and it holds about 5x more data... for less. You could buy a pair of 640GB Blacks and put them in Raid 0 for what you're paying for the single 150GB Velociraptor -- $150 for 150GB or $150 for 1.25TB? The choice is clear to me. You're talking about another second or two of load time in games and OS startup, if that. No real performance difference.

No. There are issues with installing 16 bit software on a 64bit OS, but not 32bit software. I assume you'll be running Vista / Windows 7, since XP does not support any more than 4 cores and the i7 threads out to 8 virtual cores, so you'd be limiting the chip running XP. That, and no DX10 support in XP, so the GTX 260 makes a compelling case there as well. If you're running Vista already, there is very little in the way of compatibility differences between Vista 32bit and Vista 64bit anymore -- if you have reasonably modern hardware and do not run extremely old or poorly written software you will be fine.
Click to expand...

thanks silent. i understand. i do have a seagate 1 TB HD i will be installing that i already own (shoulda said that), but you've (and others) have convinced me.

i did not know that XP did not support more than 4 cores. looks like i will be forced to install vista. :( that's fine though, i'll just grab windows 7 when it comes out. hopefully it will be way better than vista. i'll also keep my old 32-bit rig around for a while, just in case.
 
silent-circuit said:
You are highly unlikely to have any 64bit related issues. Please read my post above. Also, Newegg reviews mean absolutely jack shit, as they're written by literally anyone who cares to write in the little comment box -- often people that have /no/ idea what they're talking about. I would never make a purchase decision based on them. Ever.
Click to expand...

i figure if a sample size of reviews was large enough (50+), it could be trusted, but you make a cogent point. good thing i'm posting here. :)
 
tommasfoolery said:
i figure if a sample size of reviews was large enough (50+), it could be trusted, but you make a cogent point. good thing i'm posting here. :)
Click to expand...

One would hope, but really, after glancing through them from time to time and seeing the absolute drivel that gets posted there -- people reviewing products they wish they could afford or admittedly haven't even taken out of the box yet, for example -- I'm not so sure.
 
silent-circuit said:
You are highly unlikely to have any 64bit related issues. Please read my post above. Also, Newegg reviews mean absolutely jack shit, as they're written by literally anyone who cares to write in the little comment box -- often people that have /no/ idea what they're talking about. I would never make a purchase decision based on them. Ever.

Also regarding your "why are those better" post -- tri-channel memory increases the theoretical throughput to and from your RAM, allowing more memory operations per second than single or dual channel. You must have 3 sticks of DDR3 to enable tri-channel mode with an X58 motherboard and i7 processor... and buying 3 1GB sticks is just outright stupid considering your other hardware. A 6GB kit is not terribly expensive and gives you a good bit of RAM available.

The harddrive thing, I think I explained reasonably well. It is not at all worth the price premium for the VelociRaptor drive.
Click to expand...

silent - while i'm at it, should i just get 8GB of RAM, or is that not as optimal as 6 GB?
 
Stick with 6GB of RAM for now. I doubt that you'll need more than that. And if you aren't planning a major overclock of the i7 920, then get a tri-channel kit of cheaper DDR3 1333 RAM.

Have you checked online to see whether or not the sound card that you've chosen works (at all) with Vista?
 
tiraides said:
Stick with 6GB of RAM for now. I doubt that you'll need more than that. And if you aren't planning a major overclock of the i7 920, then get a tri-channel kit of cheaper DDR3 1333 RAM.

Have you checked online to see whether or not the sound card that you've chosen works (at all) with Vista?
Click to expand...

good god i forgot about that one. thanks tiraides.

i checked newegg reviews and people are saying that they're using vista with the card, but as silent pointed out, that doesn't mean much. i may call the manufacturer or just hold off on the sound card cuz, as you pointed out, on-board audio isn't too shabby now.
 
silent-circuit said:
I assume you'll be running Vista / Windows 7, since XP does not support any more than 4 cores and the i7 threads out to 8 virtual cores, so you'd be limiting the chip running XP.
Click to expand...

While I pretty much agree with everything else mentioned in the above posts, for what it's worth, Windows XP Pro 32-bit SP3 supports an i7's 8 cores with no issues. Microsoft changed this policy a while back to look at physical sockets, not the number of cores. I got corrected on this issue before and I personally installed XP on my i7 a couple of weeks ago and all 8 cores showed up and got used properly.

The generic limitation is that XP Pro can only handle 2 physical processors and XP Home can handle 1, but with multiple cores supported per physical. I don't have XP Home so I don't know if that one is the one that won't show up with all 8 but I'm guessing it should work also since it's still just 1 socket.

So if you really want to use XP until Windows 7 comes out, I suppose it's possible. Personally, I did eventually upgrade myself to Vista 64 after a few weeks of XP to try things out and haven't had any major issues with Vista yet.

I'd usually advocate saving some money on cheaper memory that works just as well but with all the other stuff in there, I guess no point in saving a few dollars since it's a such low percentage of the total cost.
 
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