Building a *solid* system

[techwizard08]

Hey, if I had that much to spend I would definitely do i7. It's just for his needs it didn't seem to warrant it.

Just thought we might present him an option, and let him decide if maybe a nice 6600 would do the job, and leave him 1500 or so to throw a big party and invite us all over =)

 

[xthekidx]

- reasonable games performance (at least at 1280x1024)

Am I asking too much?

$2000-$3000. Prefer less.

Umm...At your price point, it would be very difficult to build a system that didn't max out every game at the highest possible detail level running at 1280x1024. Have you considered a new monitor? you should if you have $3000 and are still using a 19" flatpanel. You could probably buy a nice 24" monitor and build a system to max out every game out there on highest details for $3000. Your money is worth more than you think it is...unless you are talking Canadian Dollars.

 

[Proximon]

I think X58 itself is just as stable as every other Intel chipset has been, back to P35 at least, and I don't think i7 itself has any issues.

The problems come from things like Ethernet controllers and RAID controllers, and the related drivers, when a new board comes out. These things are usually fixed with BIOS and driver updates in the first 60 days, but occasionally we do see motherboard revisions.

We've been pushing the two second gen P45 Gigabyte boards around here because they got good reviews and benched well, sure. Before that some of us were already pushing them though, simply because they were second generation and so more likely to have all the kinks worked out.
Sure enough, they have been very well received by everyone so far.

So I guess I'm saying the C2D idea has some validity still, but it's hard to recommend when pjw gives a 2-3K price range.

 

[pjw]

Umm...At your price point, it would be very difficult to build a system that didn't max out every game at the highest possible detail level running at 1280x1024.

Well ... there is the 'prefer less' part ;-} (and the idea of a party is appealing). In my mind I was thinking $AU when I set the price point; fortunately the $US2000 setups still fits the criteria. In $US (which is what I should have quoted at the start), at the current appalling exchange rate, I'm probably talking $1400-$2000. From what I can tell this still allows i7 920 setups.

In terms of monitors, I have a reasonably recent ViewSonic that runs at 1600x1200 and an ACER that runs at 1920x1200, both with OK specs for my needs. The 1280x1024 requirement is more a statement about my gaming needs/habits.

Yes, it would be nice to have 1600x1200 at good FPS, but mostly my interest is in stability: so, if the graphics card is going to generate too much heat or is bleeding-edge, then I'd prefer less game performance and more reliability.

So, if there are well-known, still good, but less leading-edge configurations that are likely to be more stable for longer than the i7 720 one, I would still be interested.

 

[grieve]

I vote Asus P6T Deluxe V2, i7 920 and the Antec Signature PSU.

-The P6T seems to be the best X58 right now.
-i7 920 is the best bang for your buck.
-Antec Signature is a solid PSU.

you can not go wrong with this combination.

It may not be a bad idea to pick up an uninterrupted power supply as someone mentioned earlier.

 

[Proximon]

You're buying in Australia? I wish you could have mentioned that earlier.

Antec SG650 $230
Gigabyte UD3P $245
Q9550 $445
G.Skill 4GB 800Mhz $101
Sapphire 4870 1GB $416
Cooler Master HAF $230
WD Caviar Black 640GB $136
DVD Drive $45
Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU cooler $80
Arctic Silver 5 $10

There you go. All solid parts. About AU$ 2000.00

 

[pjw]

You're buying in Australia? I wish you could have mentioned that earlier.
...
There you go. All solid parts. About AU$ 2000.00

Wow. Thanks for the amazingly fast respec; other than $$$, why does buying in AU make such a difference? I can source the parts for your original suggestion for about $US2000/$AU3000 in Australia.

Is your revised setup likely to be more reliable in the longer term?

 

[Transmaniacon]

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=9968152

I made this wishlist public, you should be able to see it, if not let me know.

I made a non-i7 build that comes in at $US1950 after ~$US100 in rebates. I used the best parts in category, and it will give you the performance to run anything you want, the ability to overclock and extend lifetime, and the "solid" build you were looking for.

 

[Proximon]

Wow. Thanks for the amazingly fast respec; other than $$$, why does buying in AU make such a difference? I can source the parts for your original suggestion for about $US2000/$AU3000 in Australia.

Is your revised setup likely to be more reliable in the longer term?

It's less bleeding edge, and all the parts have a proven track record. It will do everything you need and will certainly have better short term driver support for Linux or any server OS you might need to run.

I could have used the Gigabyte UD3R as well, since you are only going to use one video card, but the UD3P has the larger usage history around here, and is not that much more $.

The Q9650 would be ideal, but the price I saw for you was pretty extreme. Apparently no one in Australia has got the note yet about Intel slashing prices.

 

[techwizard08]

Proxy put together a nice rig there.

And I don't want to discourage you about i7. Just wanted you to be aware that there were other options.

Sometimes I have to put aside what I would spend 3k on...so...party time? 😉

 

[xthekidx]

Lol, AUD$ changes the story quite a bit.

I would consider Proximon's build in that case, although you could still swing a pretty decent i7 system on that budget. You could look at something like this:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=14386287

High end GPU's are not going to make your system unstable or cause BSOD's unless you OC it. They generate heat, but not enough to BSOD, and most newer high-end ones have rear exhaust that puts the majority of the heat generated outside of the case instead of into the case area like most older GPU's.

 

[pjw]

Lol, AUD$ changes the story quite a bit..

Yes, but not as bad as one might expect. I can build something close to proxi's original spec for about $2,850, and your spec for about $2,600, and proxi's second spec for about $2230. Note that I configured all the specs with 2x1TB disks, and the HAF case.

So...pricewise there's not a lot of difference.

I suspect all I need to do now is decide if I can abandon my quest for 'safety' in favour of what looks like a very nice system on the basis that I am buying decent components. Or if I should go with one of the cheaper systems.

Based on many of the comments, I also suspect that by buying at the upper end of the market, I will get added 'safety' just because of the better engineering.

Thanks again to everyone, this has been incredibly helpful.

 

[Proximon]

Just realize that the only real performance difference is the processor. The difference between a Q9550 and an I7 920 is not large, and almost non-existent if it's the Q9650.

 

[pjw]

Just realize that the only real performance difference is the processor. The difference between a Q9550 and an I7 920 is not large, and almost non-existent if it's the Q9650.

lol...now you have me confused....so....I'm sorry to say, more questions...

Does this mean that I will have almost identical system performance if I just replace the Q9550 with a Q9650?

If so...what is the advantage of the more expensive setup? Which is more likely to be reliable over time?

I have shown the configs I am considering below; the main price differences are Motherboard and Memory. Will the shift from 6GB of DDR3-1600 to 4GB of DDR2-800 really make only a small difference?

I also notice that you changed from an ASUS 4870 to a Sapphire 4870 ... is that because it works better with the GB motherboard? Or just because it's cheaper?


I have kept some things constant in each configuration. These are:

2xWD 1TB Disks - just want a little more (mirrored) space
CM HAF (seems like a very nice box with plenty of space)
Arctic Cooling (it's only $6 more)
Sony DVD(IDE, but should I go for SATA?)

by varying other options, I have 3 contenders:

1. ($2,786) Proxi's original:

Asus Radeon HD4870
G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800
I7 920
CM V8
ASUS P6T Deluxe
Antec Signature 850W

2. ($2,406) Modified version of Proxi's cheaper option (taking elements from expensive), (*) marks changes:

Asus Radeon HD4870*
G.Skill 4GB DDR2-800
Q9650*
CM V8*
Gigabyte UD3P
Antec Signature 850W* (only $60 more for what seems to be a very safe bet)

3. ($2,216) Proxi's original cheaper version:

Saphire 4870
G.Skill 4GB DDR2-800
Q9550
Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Gigabyte UD3P
Antec Signature 650W

 

[pjw]

And one other thing I've been wondering about.

Should I consider a Sapphire HD 4850 X2 2G PCI-E instead of the ASUS Radeon HD4870 Dark Knight 1GB, for +$100?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Sony DVD(IDE, but should I go for SATA?)

You should definitely go with a SATA burner. There's no reason to put a big IDE ribbon cable in a new build.

 

[Proximon]

lol...now you have me confused....so....I'm sorry to say, more questions...

Does this mean that I will have almost identical system performance if I just replace the Q9550 with a Q9650?

If so...what is the advantage of the more expensive setup? Which is more likely to be reliable over time?

Your performance in games would certainly be very similar, as the limiting factor would be your video card.

Some apps would actually be faster on the Q9650, but many would be faster on the i7 920. If you like, you can browse through the benchmarks =on&prod[2180]=on&prod[2181]=on]here and at Anandtech.

As to longevity... all three systems are going to hold up about the same. Probably a few more CPU upgrade options for the i7 build.

 

[pjw]

Thanks again to everybody; I ended up going with Option 1, but with a Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler since they were out of V8s. I hope that's not a mistake, they looks like nice coolers.

 

[Proximon]

The Noctua is at least adequate. I have heard that removing one fan may actually lower CPU temps, so you may want to play with that. Something about the air pulses from the fan not being in sync? Not sure.