GTX 295 or I7-965

[PC_Plum]

I'm thinking of building a new rig. I'm torn between whether to get the highest CPU or GPU? Anyone please help?

Case: HAF 932
Mem: 6GB Dominator
PSU: Coolermaster 1250W Real Power
Cooling: Coolit Domino ALC
MOBO: Asus P6t
HDD: TB Caviar Black

Thanks in Advance.

 

[Helloworld_98]

why pay so much? a 4870 X2 and i7 920 oc'd to 4ghz will do pretty much just as well if not better.

 

[ehanger]

OK first of all there is no way in hell you are going to ever need 1.25 kW of power for your computer. There are people that have i7's and GTX 295's and run off of 650w PSU's and do just fine. Also I don't recommend getting a 1TB hardrive if you are going to be gaming as they are a bit slower.

If you need the 1TB of Data storage then get a smaller 300-600 GB HDD for OS and programs and a 2nd 1TB hardrive for data.

Also, about that watercooling device thingy.... its not worth it. A high quality air cooler can be 90-95% as good as watercooling for a fraction of the cost.

For the CPU, do what helloworld said and get an i7 920 and OC it to 3-3.2 GHz. A 4GHz overclock is kinda pointless as it requires you to pump a ton of voltage through that proc which uses a lot more power and can greatly reduce the lifetime of your chip. In my experience, a light overclock with little to no voltage increase yields the best results. For gaming, the difference between 3 and 4GHz is only like 2-3 fps anyways.

For the graphics card... there is absolutely no point in getting a single, dual gpu graphics card in an SLI mobo. 2 GTX 260's in SLI perform almost as well as a single 295 for $150 less. Only get the 295 if you are planning to get another one in the future for quad-SLI.

 

[PC_Plum]

I'm not into any OC that is why I'm looking after the best in performance. Though my budget is not that high I can't decide which one to pick. Should I go for CPU or GPU. I', planning to use this rig for 3d Rendering and video converting. Thanks.

 

[Helloworld_98]

Oh thats why you went Nvidia.

Ok, just get an i7 920 and a GTS 250, it will do nearly as well a Job as a 965 and GTX 295 in your apps and cost a tonne less, also use the spare cash for more memory.

And @ehanger, with the new D0's they can reach 4ghz on stock voltage.

 

[PC_Plum]

OK first of all there is no way in hell you are going to ever need 1.25 kW of power for your computer. There are people that have i7's and GTX 295's and run off of 650w PSU's and do just fine. Also I don't recommend getting a 1TB hardrive if you are going to be gaming as they are a bit slower.

If you need the 1TB of Data storage then get a smaller 300-600 GB HDD for OS and programs and a 2nd 1TB hardrive for data.

Also, about that watercooling device thingy.... its not worth it. A high quality air cooler can be 90-95% as good as watercooling for a fraction of the cost.

For the CPU, do what helloworld said and get an i7 920 and OC it to 3-3.2 GHz. A 4GHz overclock is kinda pointless as it requires you to pump a ton of voltage through that proc which uses a lot more power and can greatly reduce the lifetime of your chip. In my experience, a light overclock with little to no voltage increase yields the best results. For gaming, the difference between 3 and 4GHz is only like 2-3 fps anyways.

For the graphics card... there is absolutely no point in getting a single, dual gpu graphics card in an SLI mobo. 2 GTX 260's in SLI perform almost as well as a single 295 for $150 less. Only get the 295 if you are planning to get another one in the future for quad-SLI.

About the cooling, Coolit is not that expensive its almost as price as v8 or TRUE 120. I was told that instead of getting GTX 260 go for GTX 275 because it's better. ARe you sure 650w is enough head room for future SLI? Slizone indicates that dual SLI will require 850w at least. Is this correct? What If I want to put 5 HDDs on my rig is that enough? That's what HAF 932 can accomodate and with all of my project I need a huge amount of storage.

 

[PC_Plum]

Oh thats why you went Nvidia.

Is this a sarcastic comment?

Ok, just get an i7 920 and a GTS 250, it will do nearly as well a Job as a 965 and GTX 295 in your apps

Does this mean it still can't beat or break even with 965?

 

[Helloworld_98]

1) it wasn't a sarcastic comment, I was assuming you used CUDA based Apps.

2) Ummm, why on earth would you want to pay $700 more for something only slightly better? If you really need that extra power then OC the cpu, it's not hard and with a good cooler will hit 4ghz with ease at stock voltage.

 

[PC_Plum]

1) it wasn't a sarcastic comment, I was assuming you used CUDA based Apps.

2) Ummm, why on earth would you want to pay $700 more for something only slightly better? If you really need that extra power then OC the cpu, it's not hard and with a good cooler will hit 4ghz with ease at stock voltage.

What is CUDA? Googled it but too technical. Can you please explain on an id10t level?

So which PSU do you recommend if I'm going to get GTX 275 and SLI, say next month. Is GTX 285 better?

 

[ehanger]

Oh thats why you went Nvidia.

Ok, just get an i7 920 and a GTS 250, it will do nearly as well a Job as a 965 and GTX 295 in your apps and cost a tonne less, also use the spare cash for more memory.

And @ehanger, with the new D0's they can reach 4ghz on stock voltage.

SERIOUSLY? damn, if thats true then core i7 is a lot better then I thought it was. Even though it won't have a major impact on games, that bit of info makes me tempted to buy one

 

[PC_Plum]

SERIOUSLY? damn, if thats true then core i7 is a lot better then I thought it was. Even though it won't have a major impact on games, that bit of info makes me tempted to buy one

Now this is sarcastic. :lol:

 

[PC_Plum]

So what about PSU any comment on that?

 

[Helloworld_98]

1) it is true.

2) you'll want a corsair 550w minimum if you go with a 920 and GTS 250.

 

[PC_Plum]

Guys I'm still wondering about my question though. Will there be a big performance difference?

 

[Helloworld_98]

no.

and CUDA is a system which apps run on, think of it as x86 is to windows, CUDA is to some apps.

 

[PC_Plum]

no.

and CUDA is a system which apps run on, think of it as x86 is to windows, CUDA is to some apps.

Do you think CUDA will add benefit to 3D Rendering? Is this available on any GTX 200 Series? I'm currently using Maya and 3DSMax. Thanks.

 

[Helloworld_98]

CUDA is used with the majority of nvidia gpu's.

and it only benefit's some programs so you'll have to check up on that.

 

[batuchka]

+1 for i7 920 and GTS 250 cheaper and greener!

 

[batuchka]

Btw Maya/3Ds max rendering:

IIRC i7 965 is really close to i7 920 (such that the price difference does not make sense) but being a sort of crack specialist in low cost rigs costing peanuts i look at *somehwere* near the top of those charts and go with a P2X4 940 and a CUDA enabled cheapo GF8200/8300 IGP chipset hehe It ain't no i7 but leaves my clients smiling when they recalled how much they paid for those rigs

 

[halcyon]

Just for comparison, I'm running the following on 750watts and I still think I may have more PSU power than I really need

Core i7 920 @ 3.47
12GB RAM
6 hard disks
2 optical drives
9 fans
2 cathodes
fan controller
Antec Veris Elite
GTX295

I haven't read all the preceding posts so forgive me. I can't imagine why you'd need 1,250 watts for the system you've mentioned. ...only consider the GTX295 if you can find it for less than $500 and forget the i7 965 and just overclock a 920, there's no reason to waste that kind of money, just learn to do a little overclocking, its not hard and the folks here will help.