Thoughts on i7 build

[OPUS1]

I am going to water cool everything


CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB (3 x 2GB) (PC3 16000)
EVGA E760 CLASSIFIED 1366 Intel X58 EATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
2 Raptors


Will be doing 3D rendering
Digital Audio recording
Gaming

Any comments would be welcome....

 

[Dangman]

Good performance but sucks in terms of price to performance for the following reason:
- The i7 920 is, at most, 5% slower than the i7 950 yet costs $290 less. 5% is not worth $290

- Dominator RAM are usually overpriced and there is virtually no real world performance difference between DDR3 2000 RAM and DDR3 1600 RAM. So you're paying more for nothing.For $100 less than that DDR3 2000 set, you can get 12GB of DDR3 1600 RAM if you get 3 sets of these:
$80 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM

- I'm assuming that you're talking about Velociraptor drives. The $75 WD6401AALS drive is only 10% slower than the $180 150GB Velociraptor drive. That extra 10% is not worth $105 IMO. However, if you do go with the RAM and CPU cuts I mentioned earlier, you'll have enough money for SSD drives (roughly $390) , which will provide a significantly more noticeable performance and OS responsiveness than the Velociraptors, the i7 950, or DDR3 2000 RAM. Here's a good quote on SSDs:

If you want to speed up the system, and since you have the budget, I'd highly suggest one or two SSDs in RAID0, and get a couple F1 or Caviar Black 1TB drives for storage. If you go for a single SSD for OS/Apps, get the Intel X25-M G2 (msrp $225). If you want RAID0, go for an Indilinx-based SSD, like the OCZ Vertex/Agility/etc, Super Talent UltraDrive ME, Patriot TorqX, or G.Skill Falcon.
http://www.alphaq.org/enginurd/hdd/ocz_vertex.html

If you ditch the Raptors, that'll free up another $360 for another SSD drive. So with a remaining budget of $750, you can get two of these Intel X25-M G2 80GB SSD RAID 0 for $600 total:
https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010790

Ues the remaining $150 on a fast storage drive like the WD Black 1TB HDD

 

[PC_User]

I agree with Danny on all points.

i7 950 is not worth the amount over the i7 920.
Also take a look at this 6GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 low voltage kit.
Consider the WD 640GB Caviar Black (WD6401AALS) or the single-platter WD 500GB Black.

 

[OPUS1]

Thanks for the suggestions
Coming off of AMD stuff
My MSI board was pretty fussy with ram
Corsair worked and Ovclked real well
But
If the GSkill stuff Ovclks well
as does the 920
You guys saved me enuff doh!
Already have 2 Raptors that I love
but are getting close to 5 years old
Time to make them do server duty
No comments on the EVGA board must mean I did alright with that!?
Tanks

 

[vanilla_guerilla]

you can save money on that, also.unless you are doing xtreme or sub-zero overclocking, you will see no real difference between the classified and a vanilla evga x58 sli (758). so what will you be using for vid and psu?

 

[Shadowssong]

Good performance but sucks in terms of price to performance for the following reason:
- The i7 920 is, at most, 5% slower than the i7 950 yet costs $290 less. 5% is not worth $290

- Dominator RAM are usually overpriced and there is virtually no real world performance difference between DDR3 2000 RAM and DDR3 1600 RAM. So you're paying more for nothing.For $100 less than that DDR3 2000 set, you can get 12GB of DDR3 1600 RAM if you get 3 sets of these:
$80 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM

- I'm assuming that you're talking about Velociraptor drives. The $75 WD6401AALS drive is only 10% slower than the $180 150GB Velociraptor drive. That extra 10% is not worth $105 IMO. However, if you do go with the RAM and CPU cuts I mentioned earlier, you'll have enough money for SSD drives (roughly $390) , which will provide a significantly more noticeable performance and OS responsiveness than the Velociraptors, the i7 950, or DDR3 2000 RAM. Here's a good quote on SSDs:



If you ditch the Raptors, that'll free up another $360 for another SSD drive. So with a remaining budget of $750, you can get two of these Intel X25-M G2 80GB SSD RAID 0 for $600 total:
https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010790

Ues the remaining $150 on a fast storage drive like the WD Black 1TB HDD

Absolutely excellent advise, I agree on all points!

 

[UMtech84]

As has already been mentioned, I would put those Raptors out to pasture and get an ssd or two. I have a 34gb Raptor that i have been using as my OS/apps/game drive for the past 4 years and i'm going to put it out to pasture soon and replace it with an SSD.

 

[s1eepy]

looks like ur gonna build something nice..
i'd switch the following
920 and oc > 950
ocz plats or maybe the gskill tridents to match ur classified > dominators
intel ssds > raptors

 

[sgrinavi]

So why are you water cooling? How fast do you want to go? what kind of video card are you looking at?

 

[dx2]

So why are you water cooling? How fast do you want to go? what kind of video card are you looking at?

Along the same lines as above - if you are looking for the bang for buck air cool that ish with a nice TRUE 120.

But on the other hand --- why not? If you are looking for an OC build that could hit some nice numbers go with a custom WC setup.

 

[senova]

920 oc should be a better choice, esp. since you have classified.

 

[OPUS1]

Beginnig to question myself....
THe 920 might be the best approach,thanks
especially with the gulf comin.
Maybe the mother board is overkill?
But I found from my last build that if you go top shelf
you'll have a system that will grow/last for many cycles.
I already have H20 in my current rig
Need to look at the SLI deal alittle closer
So much to read so little time!

 

[Sherloc]

If your really trying to budget down, 2x 640 WD Blacks would be an option in Raid 0 $150 for hdd's with more room.

 

[s1eepy]

the classified IS overkill.
if ur not sure about the classifed then u definitely won't need what it offers.
most x58 mobos offer more than enough for the avg enthusiast.

 

[Kellygtp]

yeah the classified is a very overkill board, however a very very nice board

if you wanted to save some money you could get a x58 SLI LE or a x58 SLI 3-Way

dont forget a high quality PSU....