How much RAM is optimal for an i7 920

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joopjoop

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Feb 21, 2009
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Hi,
I'm not that literate in Computers, but planning to buy an i7 920 system with a 4870 512 graphic card. The system comes with 3GB RAM (Patriote DDR3 1600). I could upgrade to 9GB for an additional USD 250. Should I do this?
Need the system primarily for HD video rendering and a bit gaming.
Thanks
 
Get a 1gb 4870, not the 512, the card was made for it and it'll last longer because it will be able to cope with larger and larger textures.

If the 1gb 4870 is outside your price range, get the 1gb 4850.

Also, when it comes to mixing and matching RAM, you're better off having all the same sticks. 3gb would be 3x 1gb sticks, upping it to 9 would be 3x 1gb, and 3x 2gb, a mismatch. Wouldn't make too huge a difference but still, I'd suggest either going 6gb day 1 and upgrading to 12gb down the line (of course all that assumes you'll have a 64-bit operating system).

And just to answer your thread title - How much can you get? Quite simply, the more RAM you have the better (up to the max your motherboard can support, of course). Grab yourself Vista 64-bit, if you have 9 or 12gb RAM then disable the page file, and you'll have a system that just flies.
 
3 is alright, it will run and do what you want, but most likely 6 will show significant improval, 9 will be a little improvement over 6, and 12 will be maximum performance (with maximum expenditure of course) I would recommend the 6 gigabytes, it will run Vista smoothly and handle your video editing with ease (Make sure you have a 64 bit operating system to make use of over 4GB).
 


You mentioned the "system comes with 3GB RAM". Are you buying a pre-built system from a company? Or are you building it yourself? I'm getting the idea someone else is building it for you and you're ordering it.

If they'll allow it, I'd say go for 6GB of RAM. That should be fine with current software/gaming. Also, if you can have the option (and can afford it) do the 1GB 4870 video card. Some of the most recent video games can benefit from the higher video memory levels due to high resolution textures.
 
Thanks a lot for all the answers.
Yes I plan to buy a preconstructed set, as I am not skilled enough to put everything together. The bundle comes with a 3 GB RAM and a 4870 512. I asked if I could exchange items, which they declined, they will only add. They said if I want to add another 3GB RAM this would cost me around USD 170, whereas adding 6GB cost USD 220 (strange isn't it). Also if I would want a 4870 1GB, I would still have to pay for the 512. This is the bundle they offer for USD 1'550

Tower Enermax Phoenix Midi-Tower, Black, Red LED.,eSATA,ATX, 25cm Side Fan (17db)
Power Supply ModeCom 500Watt PowerSupply with 14cm FAN, ATX 2.2 ToughPower
Motherboard Gigabyte EX58-UD4P, Intel X58 Express, DDR3,SATAII,1394,GLAN, Raid
CPU Intel 4 Core i7-920 Nehalem, Quad-Core, 4.8GT/sec, 8MB, 45nm
Bloomfield, 2.66GHz, HT, SSE4.2, TXT, MMX
Memory 3072MB RAM (Patriot PVT33G1600ELK), DDR-3 PC-12800, 1600MHz. (3x 1024MB)
Graphiccard ATI Radeon HD 4870, 512MB, TV-Out, 2xDVI, DDR5
Harddisc 1000GB (1x1000GB), SATA-II-300, 7200rpm/ 8.9ms/ 32MB
DVD-ROM 18x DVD-ROM, Lite-On IHDS118
DVD-Recorder 22x DVDRW +/- R, +/-RW Lite-On IHAS222, LightScribe
Card-Reader Apacer 15-in-1, USB 2.0
LAN-Card Gigabit LAN controllers 10/100/1000 MBit/s, Realtek 8111D
 
With that psu, no. 500watt is not going to last long, and even worse it's a no-name psu so it'l be rubbish and probably operate at 400-450w max.

If you can find someone who will build the PC for $100 or something around that range, then it will save you a bit and it'll be a better pc for the price.
 
Yeah, ask them if they can substitute a real PSU for that piece of junk. Or you can price in another $80-$100 and yank that junk out of there as soon as you get it.

ModeCom does have nice "coloured mices" though. :lol:
 


That is so complete and utter BS. His system is going to max out at around 350 watts.
 

Ah sorry forgot I removed the first bit of my post before posting
Basically the more video memory you have the better, especially if you're looking at gaming and video rendering (if it uses your GPU to accelerate the process at least)
 


4870 512 mb is certainly a better gaming card than 4850 1 gig.
 
I think it would be better if he just went and purchased all the hardware himself and then having someone build it for him,
Because who ever hes buying that system from is putting alot of crap in it that he prob wouldn`t normaly be able to sell,
You have a good i7 cpu, but the PSU/RAM/ looks sh-it and the GPU & Motherboard are average,
The cpu will just not be able to take advantage of how good it is because of the rest of the system holding it back, it will be like getting a spider and tying 4 of its legs up, the spider will just not be able to run fast.
 
$1550 for that setup? Like what other people already said, find someone to do it cheaper and better. Or if you're comfortable using a screw driver, just find a guide on building computers online (doesn't really matter how old it is). Even if you come across a little problem putting it together, the folks over here would probably help you out.
 
Sure, but he doesn't take into consideration that it's a no name POS PSU. It could blow up anytime. The PSU doesn't even have active PFC. I know it really has no bearing on it's output, but it is a good indication of what a piece of crap it is.
 
Even though that system may not use 500W the fact that the PSU is rather low quality will probably lead to stability issues. Also, cheap PSUs have a higher failure rate and are more likely to take the rest of the system with them if they fry.

Yeah 6GB is enough, but if you can afford 9GB then why not. Really though upgrade the PSU first.
 
wow i didnt see that it was a crap brand. I dunno why I keep on thinking people buy quality PSUs. Stick with Corsair, Seasonic, PCPC, etc.

I have never heard of ModeCom, and generally, if you've never heard of it, it's crap.

I would pay the extra $80 or so bucks and get a quality unit... it is worth it to know that a pos PSU is not gonna destroy all of your components.
 
That's because LeJay took the quote out of context. Here is the full quote:
I don't know what he was getting at when he said 500W won't last long, but in context that 500W probably won't.

One more time

ModeCom does have nice "coloured mices" though. :lol:
 
Honestly dude I'm not saying these dudes are ripping you off. But putting a computer
together is super easy now.

Before I get started everything below the two prebuilt systems is about what
i priced for a system if you did it yourself and it could potentially even be cheaper
but I picked a few really NICE parts that would probably be useless to you so
you could swap them out and save maybe a couple of hundred.

But if you still dont want to go the build your own route then atleast check out these
two computers from Bestbuy. With the price differences you could easily sale the graphics
card, and toss the power supply and get better stuff and be way below $1500.
Dell SXPS-122B - Sku: 9180423 $999
(Core i7 920 4GB DDR3, 640GB Hard Drive, ATI 4850 512mb Graphics)

Gateway FX FX6800-01e - Sku: 9081325 $1249 (Actually bought the gateway talked down to $1149)
(Core i7 920 3GB DDR3 750GB Hard Drive, ATI 4850 512mb Grahpics)
Gateway also is capable of Crossfire it has 2 x16 PCI Express Slots, plus Hot Swappable Hard drive
bays on the front. I just love those things really really nice. Also Touch controls for volume and some
other media center function stuff at the top, plus a hidden door on top that has Media card reader.)

Now back to the real post, about building your own.

Hardest things are putting processor in/thermal paste on/
and putting heat sink fan combo on.
Everything else is simply follow the diagram provided with your motherboard
plug and play stuff man.

My daughter is four and I already have her putting old Pentium 2 machines basically
together. Only problem is plugging things on to the motherboard leads. And thats
simply because she doesn't have the fine motor skills yet, and cant really read
computer terminology.

But if I color code everything she is good to go.

I did a price comparison with pretty decent components. and when i mean decent
i mean Essentially the most expensive motherboard out there with some really
decent memory and I came to $1,566.69 shipped. And best thing the hard things are
done.

I order a lot of my components from www.mwave.com and for $10 they assemble
and test Motherboard/Processor/Memory. It gets shipped to you together in one
piece. Saves me a lot of time with unpacking and cleaning and putting thermal
compound and then trying to put those some time tricky heat sink fan combo's on.

$10.

Then for $4.99 they install your power supply into your case and test it.
Good stuff so then all that's really left for you is screwing in the motherboard.
All you have to remember about that is LINE UP THE SCREW HOLES LOL.
Me personally I always put a washer on top and below the screw holes for
motherboard. Just for extra safety but most don't even need one now.

The last thing will just be plugging stuff onto motherboard and you have
diagram sometimes a poster to help you with that.

Cool thing is the hard stuff is really done. If you plug up something wrong
no worries just unplug and try again.
The really Really important things only plug in one way.
The things that can plug in multiple ways on all the motherboards i have
seen the past 5 years wont fry your computer.

And if you fried it and you bought the parts yourself you
could always RMA (Return to manufacture) most companies are great about
that.

The computer i built plus shipping on mwave.com from parts is as follows.
This is basically the machine i bought for myself a few differences. But you wouldnt
need that motherboard, I would personally for what you are doing go for the most
stable board of the motherboards and not buy an overclockers board like the one
listed. Plus its super expensive. There are boards x58 boards below $200 now.

1. Intel Core I7 920
2. ASUS RAMPAGE II EXTREME
3. OCZ OCZ3G1600LV6GK 6gb kit (2gb x 3) 1600mhz 8-8-8-24 240-pin ddr3
4. Assemble and Test Bundle
= $841
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Antec Nine Hundred PC Case (I have 3 of these. Big and lots of cooling) + extra blue 120mm Fan.
6. THERMALTAKE W0101RU 550W
7. Install and Test Power supply
= $197
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. LITE ON IHAS122-04 black 22x sata dvd drives internal DVD+/-RW dual layer drive
9. SEAGATE ST31000333AS 1tb SATA2 7200rpm 32mb cache + 24" Sata Cable
10. MSI R4870 T2D1G OC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
11. MICROSOFT Windows vista 64bit home premium DVD ($98.95 OEM)
12. $51.80 shipping regular 4 -5 day to my address.
= $1566.69
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can do that basically yourself and feel like a man for putting your first beasty computer together.
And because you are buying from an authorized seller all manufacture warranties count on the hardware.
So you still get the 5 year Seagate hard drive warranty and so on.

Really in the long run building your own is way better, or at least get one built from a big company.
Like someone said you could build your own and if you have problems people on here would gladly
help. Hell i know i would.
 
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