i7 920 new build for under 1100 bucks

[msukc]

I have been going back and forth on going with an i7 750, i7 860 or i7 920 system. My uses video editing/home movie making, copying dvds, burning dvds, some photo editing, possibly gaming at some point but I may never get the time due to having young kids, lots of internet surfing, watching movies, playing music.

I have priced all three systems all with 500 gb hdd and a 60 gb ssd. i am now leaning toward a 920 system as follows for just under 1100 bucks. The reason I am going with this is because the cheaper 750 only saves me a couple of hundred bucks and the 860 about a hundred.

I appreciate any feedback on this system. Thanks.

SilverStone 650W ATX 12V 2.2 and EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply OP650 – Retail Amazon.com 49.99
I7 920 bing/tiger direct 260.99
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail 155.76
OCZ OCZ3X1600LV6GK 6GB PC3-12800+ (DDR3-1600+) Triple Channel Memory bing zipzoomfly $107.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -54.99
OCZ Agility Series OCZSSD2-1AGT60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Retail newegg 169.99
SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card – Retail newegg 159.99
Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 newegg 26.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders 104.99

1091.68


I already have a lian li case and a newer 22" widescreen lcd. I think I am going to start ordering parts soon. Thanks for any help and feedback.

[kent1146]

At the very least, I would recommend you get a motherboard based off of P55 and uses an LGA1156 socket, instead of the X58 / LGA1366 that you listed. The major differences between the chipsets is higher PCI-E bandwidth, which will have absolutely zero impact on anything that you are planning to do with your system today or in the future. Doing this will save you $50.

I would also suggest you consider getting a Core i5 750 CPU for around $200. You will notice absolutely no difference between a Core i5 750 or a Core i7 920 with what you are doing. This will save you $60.

I would then recommend that you take the $110 that you saved, and put it somewhere else, like a larger SSD (maybe the 120GB version of the OCZ Agility) or a larger mechanical hard drive (a 2TB drive for $150). Those will have a lot of practical uses, since you plan on storing photos and videos - and take it from me... it does not matter how much you think that you will never use 500GB - you *WILL* use all 500GB, and that will go fast. Invest in a larger drive up front.

[RealBeast]

+1 -- what Kent said. The only real good reason to go with the X58 motherboard is to be able to run Crossfire at full bandwidth. The P55/i5-750 will do everything you want and you won't notice any difference.

[OS-Wiz]

+2

i5-750
ASUS P7P55 LX $120
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C7
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W PSU

[msukc]

thanks for the feedback. doesn't the i7 920 require a mobo with a 1366 socket? I also think I will start with a 60 gb ssd drive for now. it will be enough to run the majority of my processes. the 500 gb isnt huge I agree. but it will also suffice for now. I also have an external 1 tb I plan to plug in to store pics and movies. Plus I can always add another hdd later for cheap.
As for the 750, it only saves me less than 200 bucks. Maybe if I consider the 750 I should target an AMD or other cheaper cpu.

But I now am seeing the 930 for 15 dollars more than the 920. I am leaning towards that now. And I wanted to have a somewhat higher end system.

1100 wasn't my limit. it is just where it ended up.

[kent1146]

As for the 750, it only saves me less than 200 bucks. Maybe if I consider the 750 I should target an AMD or other cheaper cpu.

But I now am seeing the 930 for 15 dollars more than the 920. I am leaning towards that now. And I wanted to have a somewhat higher end system.[/QUOTE]

The reason that we do not recommend a Core i7 920/930 based off of an Intel X58 chipset is because you are already way past the point of diminishing returns. You will get zero benefit from it over a Core i5 750. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Putting more money into a Core i7 CPU or an X58 motherboard will do nothing for you. You are just throwing your money away.

So instead of doing that, take that money and spend it a little more wisely - spend it on something that you WILL be able to use. Larger hard drives was one suggestion. If you don't want to do that, then consider getting an ATI Radeon 5850 - it is a significant performance upgrade over the 5770. And if you still don't think you could use that, then just take your money, don't spend it on anything computer-related, and keep that $110 in your pocket.

Everybody who has replied to this thread unanimously agree with each other. And every one of us has been on Sharkys for years, with thousands of posts under our names. You will not find better advice anywhere else on the internet. Ultimately, the choice of what to buy is yours - but at least you have the opinions of the experts before you buy.

[Sam888]

In another thread, I already made some comments. Perhaps It should've been directed here since myself and the OP have similar requirements except I dont plan to update or upgrade for ~ 3 years. My expectations is whatever sysem I get, it should last me about 3 years and I won't be doing any overclocking. The peripherals I get in the future like Video cards, drives and RAM should still be available at a decent price for the next 2 or so years and should run efficiently in the mobo that I would currently by: either P55, X58, or AMD.

To summarize, with video rendering, I read that you should go with the X58 and the i7 920/930. The P55 mobos are crippled in terms of SATA 6 Gbps performance. SSD is still pricey and not mainstream for most users so I would like to wait until we get some SSD SATA 6 drives at a reasonable price and high capAcity. I would say this may be possible in about a year or two.

I would appreciate if I could be convinced one way or another to go with a chipset/cpu combo that will run SATA 6 Gbps without any bottlenecks and to run dual video cards to achieve high resolutions and be able to handle effectuvekt whatever new video or HDTV apps are thrown at it. I dont want to dwell on this much longer as it's starting to leave me very frustrated, especially since my local PC builder shop says right now it's a very confusing time to buy a PC. Their ulimate recommendation is that if you can, wait until the dust settles and in particular to wait and see what AMD will have to offer. Of course, I can wait because it seems like there aren't that many options out there now and the mobo that I want, isn't really made yet, at least not at a reasonble price.

[kent1146]

See my comments in other threads.

Buy what you need, when you need it. If you sit and wait because the "next best thing" is just around the corner, then you will be waiting forever.

The system I am using now is one that I built 4 years ago in 2006. I upgraded the video card when my old one was too slow (note, that I sold my old video card and bought a new single fast video card - going with multiple cards is foolish). I added more RAM when I needed more RAM. I added larger storage hard drives when I needed the space. I switched over to an SSD when I wanted more speed. Eventually, I will need a faster CPU. So I will eventually replace my CPU / motherboard / RAM with newer parts when the time comes.

If I had tried to sit and wait back in 2006 for the "next best thing", because I wanted a future-proof machine that I would never want or need to upgrade, then I would still be waiting today. If you want to build performance computers, then you will need to accept the fact that your computer will be outdated the moment you buy the parts.

Just because something better comes out, doesn't mean that what you own is somehow "bad" or degraded. My Core 2 Quad system runs just as fast as it did back in 2006, and it still runs fast enough to do whatever I want it to do.

[Sam888]

I agree for the most part. That's why I havent upgraded in a long time. I can't watch HD movies on my current PC with lag and jerking, browsing is slow, rendering video is next to impossible, my mobo has RAM compatibility issues , an AGP card, and only SATA 1.Overall performance is sluggish even after reformatting and reinstalling XP. Time for an upgrade.

[Nater]

Do you need lots of PCIe lanes for RAID controllers, server grade NICs, fibre channel HBAs, or a four card Quadro/Tesla setup? Do you need 12-24GB of ram?

No? Then you don't need an X58 system. Save your money, get a nice P55 motherboard and a i5 750. The LGA1156 platform is the one to have for 90% of performance desktop users. Most of whom would never need the added PCIe bandwidth or memory bandwidth/capacity offered by the X58. X58 is really more of a single socket workstation platform than it is a desktop architecture.

The need for multiple graphics cards has, at least temporarily, gone away. Games are not being designed with high-end hardware in mind these days, so why someone would need a full-on array of HD 5970s or GTX 480s is beyond me. Unless they're using them for compute, they're wasting their money.

[kent1146]

I agree with Nater. His recommendation is the same as mine, which was posted in your other thread here:
http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?p=2700180

Get an Intel Core i5 750 CPU and a P55 motherboard. If you want to run games, then get an ATI Radeon 5850 video card to go with that. That combination of CPU, motherboard, and GPU will have more than enough power to do everything you want to do today or 2 years down the road.

I would also highly recommend an SSD. There is not a single piece of hardware that you can buy to make your computer "feel" faster than getting an SSD. To give you an idea, getting a faster processor ($200) and motherboard ($110) will improve your performance by 0% - 50%. Getting an SSD (Intel X-25M 80GB for $220) will improve performance by AT LEAST 300%. If you want a quick upgrade, then get an SSD today so you can start using it right away. If and when you decide to go for a full system upgrade, then you can easily just move your SSD over to your new system.

[Sam888]

Thanks, you guys have convinced me on the P55 platform. I'll have to check out the local prices of SSD drives. However, $200 for 80 GB seems really steep to me. I won't do a system upgrade in the future. I'll probably use that PC as a server or give it to a friend or school. But, the HD and SSD drives I'll likely transfer over to the new build.

As I posted in another thread, most people are recommending the 750. I was considering it too initially, but since then, I thought I would go the i7 860 because it performs a bit better and it has hyperthreading. Windows 7, so I was told is optimized for hyperthreading. And it's only $90 difference. Is it not worth it even I wont be doing any OCing?

Can I have your thoughts on whether the 750 vs 860 is still the best choice, especially for multimedia? Perhaps some recommendations (or links) on a mobo with firewire and ram combo (probably 4-6 GB ? to start)- not necessarily sold as a combo, and if possible, a PSU? I have not had good experiences with Asus but the reviews have been decent for the Sata 6 mobos. For a video card, does it have to be ATI or can it be Sapphire or XFX? I was leaning toward the 5670 as I hardly play any games.

As far as cases go, I'm still old school where bigger is better...I hate the micro cases and I'm fussy with HD temps and dust. I would prefer the ease or simplicity to remove/add hard drives. I like the HAF 932 case but I missed out on a big sale locally on Black Friday.

[OS-Wiz]

MultiMedia is a non-issue; drop that. Now, if you will be doing heavy duty video or photo editing, and the apps you use to do that can exploit multi-processor cores and hyper threading then the 860 starts being the better choice. Short of that, the 750 is your best price/performance point.

The HAF 932 is a great case, however, check out the COOLER MASTER ATCS 840. Nearly as big and has built in filters to keep dust problems to a minimum.

[fluffmonster]

750 is pretty damn good on a performance per dollar basis according to techreport.

There are add-on PCIe to USB3 and SATA6 cards that are not terribly expensive. You could forget about those now and then add in one of those cards later when it might actually be used. Another argument to support kent's case that it should not be a consideration at this point.

[Sam888]

Ok. I see I'm using the incorrect terminology again. When I wrote multimedia, I was referring to heavy duty video and photo editing. Therefore, it stands to reason the 860 is the CPU of choice. Thanks, I just took a peek at the Coolermaster case. It has everything I want, but it sure is ugly. I just noticed the price tag too. Maybe I should go with the HAF 922 then: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-197-_-Product

Yeah, I wont focus much on the SATA 6 but from a cost perspective there's not too much difference, locally. The tech report didnt measure the i7 860 though. The popular mobos I am considering are Asus and Gigabyte boards. I'd rather stick to these brands EVGA isn't recommend much locally and not too many people are buying them (locally). I am leaning though toward the Asus P5P755D Deluxe, P7P55 Pro, or P7P55D-E Deluxe , even though I dont like Asus. If not Asus, then the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P or a standard Intel mobo.