Looking To Upgrade

W

-=WooDWorKeR420=-

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 29, 2006
Messages
392
Alright, I will try and keep this brief as this seems to be the time of year when [H] is flooded with people looking to find ways to spend their tax returns. (I am no different :p)

My current rig is in my sig.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Primarily Gaming.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
No more than 2500. I expect to get alot of it local, so tax and shipping are not a major concern.
3) Where do you live?
CANADA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, MOBO, RAM, PSU, CASE, FANS, HEATSINK (no WC for me), HDD's, SOUND CARD??
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
DVD Drive (not sure on model), Speakers (Z5500's), Monitor (Dell 3007 WFP), Keyboard (logitech Illuminated), Mouse (Mamba), Soundcard (X-Fi xtreme)-Not sure about upgrading this one? GPU (Sapphire Radeon 4890))-Not sure about upgrading this one or just getting a second?
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
30" Dell 3007 WFP-HC (Game at Native 2560x1600)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Coming weeks / 2 months.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Crossfire or SLI Support.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
No, Will be purchasing Win7.


This is what I was originally looking at, but wanted some input.

CPU -Intel Core i7 920 Quad-Core Socket LGA1366
MOBO - Asus P6TD Deluxe Socket 1366
RAM - Corsair Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D Matched Triple 6GB Kit (3x2GB) DDR3
PSU - Corsair HX Series CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX EPS12V Power Supply
HDD 1 - Western Digital VelociRaptor (WD3000HLFS) 300GB SATA II 10000RPM 16MB
HDD 2 - Western Digital RE3 (WD1002FBYS) 1000GB (1TB) SATAII 7200RPM 32M Buffer
OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
CASE - Silverstone Technology TJ07 Silver Aluminum Super Tower with Window
FANS - Blacknoise Noiseblocker Multiframe S-Series M12-S2 51.2 CFM
CPU FANS - Noctua (NF-P12-1300 )1300rpm Premium Silent 120mm Fan
HEATSINK - Prolimatech Megahalem Rev B for Intel Socket 775 /1156/1366

Well....I think thats everything. I look forward to hearing your suggestions / advice.

Thanks in Advance
WooD
 
the PSU seems a little overkill to me
a 750W would do just fine, heck even lower than that
 
dell 30" is a sweet monitor, might be worth it to try and ditch your 4890 on craigslist for 160 bucks and grab a 5870. even a 750W will power a 2x 5870 just fine. just get a quality PSU

dominators are overpriced. you could save money by going to gskill or something. just get some good timings. I run OCZ myself the planinum @ 1600 / 7-7-7-23 in a 920 setup with no problems

another upgrade I have been looking at is 2x raptors in raid 0 for as a OS/game drive. so save money with the ram and go for a faster HD setup.

hope this helps :)
 
Do you think it would work if I re-used my PC Power & Cooling 750watt Silencer? I could always buy a cheapie PSU to throw in the old machine.
Nice advice on the ram too, if there is no real performance gain or anything from the Dominators than I agree, makes sence to save the cash or use it elsewhere.
Is the performance upgrade from the 4890 to the 5870 substantial? In other words would it be justified given my native res and the fact this is a gaming machine?
 
-=WooDWorKeR420=- said:
Do you think it would work if I re-used my PC Power & Cooling 750watt Silencer? I could always buy a cheapie PSU to throw in the old machine.
Nice advice on the ram too, if there is no real performance gain or anything from the Dominators than I agree, makes sence to save the cash or use it elsewhere.
Is the performance upgrade from the 4890 to the 5870 substantial? In other words would it be justified given my native res and the fact this is a gaming machine?
Click to expand...

If it has all the connetors than it depends on how old it is. older PSU's get less efficient over time (like 2-3 years for noticable effects if its a quality PSU) Im not familar with that brand so i cant comment. Most likely its just fine.

5870 is about 40% faster then a 4890 stock, so I would think it would be worth looking at. Either that or a 5970, at 30" it would be worth looking at. Im in canada too, try looking at craigslist for used 5870 or 5970(hahahha good luck on that 5970) but I have seen a few 5870's on but they are still pretty rare. 5970 @ 700$ CDN is a tad steep but it would last for good long while. even with new tech comming out it would be current.

there have been times where i was very close to buying one they were just out of stock :(
 
The other questions I had is how can i be sure I get the good revision on the i7 920? Isnt there one revision that is better than the other (C0 or something)?
Also, is there any real reason to get Win 7 x64 ultimate or would the Pro 64 version be just as good? Is there any gaming or performance gains with the Ultimate?

Oh yea, and the soundcard? Is that worth picking up the X-fi Titanium or has nothing changed here?
 
-=WooDWorKeR420=- said:
The other questions I had is how can i be sure I get the good revision on the i7 920? Isnt there one revision that is better than the other (C0 or something)?
Also, is there any real reason to get Win 7 x64 ultimate or would the Pro 64 version be just as good? Is there any gaming or performance gains with the Ultimate?

Oh yea, and the soundcard? Is that worth picking up the X-fi Titanium or has nothing changed here?
Click to expand...

onboard sound is just find for general gaming.

As far as getting a D0 stepping 920, its a very good chance you will since they have been out for for 6 months. really doubt you will get a C0. that being said C0's are just fine, its what i run.

there is no reason to get ulimate. in fact, go with the home premium for ~110$. you wont miss any of the features of ulitmate. its mostly for extreme power users. for gamers its unnessesary
 
No reason to get the soundcard. As far as the OS all you need is win7 home premium.
 
If the power supply is over three years old, I recommend getting a new one. There's no telling if or when an old power supply will fail... I personally believe that it's better safe than sorry.

The features that Windows 7 Ultimate has over Windows 7 Home Premium are BitLocker Drive Encryption software, a better backup/restore system, Windows XP Mode, 35 language support, and better remote desktop tools. You can find freeware programs for drive encryption (TrueCrypt), system backup (too many to list), and virtual machines (Microsoft offers Virtual PC 2005 for free, and there are others). Stick with Windows 7 Home Premium.
 
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