Advice for new i7 build (870 or 930)

[thomasg76]

I am planning on building a new machine for myself in the very near future.

I want to use it at home for HD Video editing and fotos, but since i like good graphics i also might play a game here anf there.
Other than that it will be used by the kids for emails and Internet.

I am not planning on overclocking straight ahead but i am thinking if getting the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Cooler for OC.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: As soon as possible

BUDGET RANGE: 2500 A$

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Video Editing, Gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, etc. Just looking for the core PC.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: www.pccasegear.com.au

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: AUSTRALIA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Prefer Intel

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Not at this stage, but yes ater when the cards fall in price

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080




My two choices are.

i7 930 Setup:

CoolerMaster HAF 922 Case
XFX ATI Radeon HD5870
Intel Core i7 930
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ
Pioneer BDR-205 Blu-ray Disc Writer OEM
Samsung P2350 23 Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Motherboard Rev2.0 OR ASUS PX58D-E or Premium
Corsair HX-750 Power Supply
Leadtek WinFast DTV2000DS Dual HD Tuner
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8T-6GBRM (3x2GB) DDR3 or Corsair XMS2 CL8 TR3X6G1600C8G
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
TOTAL 2461 A$

i7 860 setup:

XFX ATI Radeon HD5870
CoolerMaster HAF 922 Case
Samsung P2350 23 Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ
Corsair HX-750 Power Supply
Pioneer BDR-205 Blu-ray Disc Writer OEM
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3R Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM (2x2GB) DDR3
Intel Core i7 870
Total :2278 A$


Ok so i am torn between 1156 and 1366 but i musta dmit i am more leaning to teh 1366

My biggest concern is the Motherboard for the 930 at the moment. Iw anted to go with the UD3R but must admit i have read that loads of people have a lot of issues with it that i am leaning more to the asus board.

Has anyone epxirience with the ASUS PX58AD-E or Premium.

The other big question is, is it worth waiting for the new Intel Socket and Chipset coming out late this year and mid next year replacing both 1156 and 1366 ?

Any comments feedback or expirience with any of these parts are very appreciated

 

[gkay09]

^ If you want to build a PC mainly for gaming and still want to wait till EOY for the new socket, you can do this - Get an AMD Athlon II X3 440 + 870A mobo temporarily to hold on till the new socket is released...
The rest of the parts can be easily reused with the newer CPU and mobo...
Though you have said you prefer Intel, but if going this temporary route, then AMD will better suit...

And FYI the P55 board that you have chosen is not good for Crossfire as the 2nd PCIe x16 slot runs crippled @ x4...

As for the LGA 1366, though the Gigabyte UD3R is a very good option, but like you said of late there are many complaints about this board...
The other ASUS options are very good, except that the "-E" version doesnt have eSATA if that matters...

 

[thomasg76]

Seems none of the asus boards have eSata which means i just have to use one of the sata boards and use a Sata to eSata bridge.

In regards to P55, i think i will stick with the 1366.

I will have a look into your AMD suggestion, but i cant even find a Athlon II X3 440 Processor. The lowest i can see is a
AMD Athlon II X2 245 or a AMD Athlon II X4 630 which are 69 A$ and 115 A$

 

[gkay09]

Have you checked in other online stores ??

 

[geofelt]

Both builds will work fine.

I like the 930 build because it will have 6gb of ram, an amount that is good for multitasking and editing.

You will get good motherboards from Gigabyte, EVGA, and ASUS. Newer boards have usually had some issues that eventually get fixed with bios updates.

If that bothers you, look for something that has been out a few months.

What would you use E-SATA for?

If it is for backup, there are several additional options.

I use a mobile rack in the 5 1/2 drive bay to hold my backup hard drive. It operates at full sata speeds, and I just remove the drive when done.
I think USB3.0 will become very popular. It will not cost much to get a usb3.0 add on card if your mobo does not have one.

Sandy bridge 32nm quads are supposed to come out early, by the end of this year on a 1155 socket.
They are supposed to have clock rates starting at 3.1 and the new architecture will do more work per clock.
The 32nm manufacturing process will let Intel yield twice as many chips per wafer so their costs will be lower.
No doubt they will sell at a price the market will bear, but there is room to cut if the competition gets too frisky.

Fall should bring some tweaking of products and prices on graphics cards.
If you are interested in a SSD, then gen3 products will have a much better price/performance this fall.

If you can wait, wait.
If you have the itch, scratch it and build now.

 

[thomasg76]

Both builds will work fine.

I like the 930 build because it will have 6gb of ram, an amount that is good for multitasking and editing.

You will get good motherboards from Gigabyte, EVGA, and ASUS. Newer boards have usually had some issues that eventually get fixed with bios updates.

If that bothers you, look for something that has been out a few months.

What would you use E-SATA for?

If it is for backup, there are several additional options.

I use a mobile rack in the 5 1/2 drive bay to hold my backup hard drive. It operates at full sata speeds, and I just remove the drive when done.
I think USB3.0 will become very popular. It will not cost much to get a usb3.0 add on card if your mobo does not have one.

Sandy bridge 32nm quads are supposed to come out early, by the end of this year on a 1155 socket.
They are supposed to have clock rates starting at 3.1 and the new architecture will do more work per clock.
The 32nm manufacturing process will let Intel yield twice as many chips per wafer so their costs will be lower.
No doubt they will sell at a price the market will bear, but there is room to cut if the competition gets too frisky.

Fall should bring some tweaking of products and prices on graphics cards.
If you are interested in a SSD, then gen3 products will have a much better price/performance this fall.

If you can wait, wait.
If you have the itch, scratch it and build now.

I think i can't wait as i need a new PC as my old one reboots every 2 minutes :-( and its an Athlon 1800 and creeping.

Why do i need eSata ? I have an externa; 500GB eSata drive which i use for storing movies etc and if i wanna transfer bigger things between laptop and PC etc.
The HAF922 has a front eSata port, so the question is will i be able to cennect that via a sata port ?

 

[geofelt]

Do not restrict your motherboard search to one with esata; an add-in card is not expensive. Included with the mobo is a bonus though.

 

[thomasg76]

Ok the order has been done, i should be getting al my parts on Wed or Thursday .
I decided to go for the HAF 922 and the 16000 ripjaws with the Asus P6X58D-E and i was actually even luckier as i went to a local shop here in erina and got it priced and it came 80 bucks under the online proces and of course no delivery. That m eans the 120 $ i saved can gop straight on a second harddrive for RAID or a nice Nocturna cooler .

Can't wait to get mys stuff. Will be laods of packets and its like christmas hehe.

Obviously i decided iw ill not wait another min 6 month to build a new PC.

So my final setup is :

XFX ATI Radeon HD5870
Intel Core i7 930
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ
Pioneer BDR-205 Blu-ray Disc Writer OEM
Samsung P2350 23 Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
ASUS P6X58D-E
Corsair HX-750 Power Supply
Leadtek WinFast DTV2000DS Dual HD Tuner
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-16000CL9T-6BRH 6GB
HAF 922

and it came in all under budget of 2450

I will let you guys know how it went next week as soon as i have it up.

 

[geofelt]

You did very well, particularly if you got that motherboard for $80 less than newegg.

Did you get a cooler? You will want one if you are going to overclock.

 

[thomasg76]

You did very well, particularly if you got that motherboard for $80 less than newegg.

Did you get a cooler? You will want one if you are going to overclock.

The 80$ less was for the whole setup (in australia)

No i haven't ordered a cooler yet because i haven't looked much into it. Probably will tomorrow though

 

[geofelt]

The 80$ less was for the whole setup (in australia)

No i haven't ordered a cooler yet because i haven't looked much into it. Probably will tomorrow though

I would suggest installing a cooler up front. You need to mount it with the motherboard outside of the case for several good reasons. It is a pain and a risk to take apart a working PC later to do it.

 

[thomasg76]

Well, all the bits have arrived besides the TV Tuner cad which i can live without for a bit.

Its all set up and so far running good. Looks very nive with the case and the massive XFX card in there.

No its on to overclocking. I just played with the auto settings and got it up to 3960 yesterday. Running a bit hot though, so i will try to get the voltages down. I must say so far it seems everything works fine. i was able to run my memeory straight ahead at 2000 Mhz as well which seems not always to be the case

I think i will now move over to the overclocking threads.

Thanks guys for your advice