new build opinions/advice

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polonyc2

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I'm interested in upgrading my current C2D rig with an i7...I'm thinking about going with the i7 920, ASUS PCX58D Premium and 6 GB of triple channel Kingston HyperX DDR3 1333 RAM...any opinions/advice would be appreciated...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

lots of gaming...Crysis, Fallout 3, Call of Pripyat, Bioshock 2, DiRT 2 etc

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

I would like to keep it under $1000

3) Where do you live?

New York City

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.

motherboard, CPU and memory

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

will be reusing my G.Skill Falcon 256GB SSD as my only hard drive...Corsair HX850W PSU...Sapphire 5870 GPU (single card)...Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 sound card (PCI)

6) Will you be overclocking?

only using the Turbo Mode overclocking

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

NEC 2490WUXi-BK

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

as soon as possible

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.

would like to somewhat future proof my system by having certain features I may never use but want to have just in case I ever decide to use them...such as SLI/Crossfire, USB 3.0, SATA 6

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?

yes...Windows 7 Home Premium
 
polonyc2 said:
Care to elaborate? You mean because I'm using a single GPU?
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Well, no. A lot of P55 board manufacturers have circumvented the X16 PCI-e issues. But that aside, I made the comment because you said you don't want to overclock. A Lynnfield i7-860 runs at a higher stock clock and engages a more robust Turbo Mode.
 
TheQuestian said:
Well, no. A lot of P55 board manufacturers have circumvented the X16 PCI-e issues. But that aside, I made the comment because you said you don't want to overclock. A Lynnfield i7-860 runs at a higher stock clock and engages a more robust Turbo Mode.
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true but as far as 'potential' future-proofing...if I ever wanted to go SLI/Crossfire with dual 16X lanes, Bloomfield would be the only choice...I just want this system to literally last me 2-3 years (with only the video card being changed out during this time)...I don't want to have to upgrade my CPU and mobo

so in that respect Bloomfield gives me more options in the long run...
 
I don't understand what you mean. My point was that SLI/CrossFire is no problem.

PCI-e 2.0 X16: 4

229.99 ASUS P7P55 WS SuperComputer with NF200 LGA 1156

PCI-e 2.0 X16: 3

209.99 MSI P55-GD80 LGA 1156 - [H] Editor's Choice

And just for giggles:

339.99 EVGA LGA 1156 Intel P55 Classified 200 SLI EATX
 
polonyc2 said:
true but as far as 'potential' future-proofing...if I ever wanted to go SLI/Crossfire with dual 16X lanes, Bloomfield would be the only choice...I just want this system to literally last me 2-3 years (with only the video card being changed out during this time)...I don't want to have to upgrade my CPU and mobo

so in that respect Bloomfield gives me more options in the long run...
Click to expand...

Well the thing is A) you're not going with a CF/SLI setup right now and B) your current setup does not need upgrading at all. You're not gonna notice a performance difference between a Core i7/Core i5 setup and your E8400 setup especially at the resolution you're gaming at. The only time you will notice a difference is if you use a SLI or CF setup. Since you do not have a firm plan or idea of when you're planning to go Crossfire or SLI, it would be a poor decision to upgrade.

Unless you're planning to get a second HD 5870 within the next month, zero reason to upgrade to a Core i7 setup for gaming. Wait till those new games in your list actually comes out and then see if you need an upgrade. More than likely you won't considering the rate of graphical improvement and hardware required in video games over the past few years.
 
+1 with danny. there is no need to upgrade your system at all. actually you will be tossing that 1000 in the trash. use that 1000 for something else. Are you not happy with your system performance as of right now?
 
Danny Bui said:
Unless you're planning to get a second HD 5870 within the next month, zero reason to upgrade to a Core i7 setup for gaming. Wait till those new games in your list actually come out and then see if you need an upgrade. More than likely you won't considering the rate of graphical improvement and hardware required in video games over the past few years.
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Good point.
 
Danny Bui said:
Unless you're planning to get a second HD 5870 within the next month, zero reason to upgrade to a Core i7 setup for gaming. Wait till those new games in your list actually comes out and then see if you need an upgrade. More than likely you won't considering the rate of graphical improvement and hardware required in video games over the past few years.
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I posted this in another thread regarding the use of more then 2 cores in games that were released in 2009...yes most games are still optimized for dual cores but the curve is changing where quite a few games released at the end of the year started using 4 cores more efficiently (Modern Warfare 2, DiRT 2, Left 4 Dead 2 etc)...

http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?id=7427&pageid=6287

so 2010 might be the year where quad core optimized games become a reality and that's why I am considering going i5/i7...although maybe the Q9650 would be a better option for now...and wait another year or so and see what Sandy Bridge has to offer
 
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