I7 920 shipped for $1,269.90 Can you make it better?

[lithodora]

The only thing I have to put into this system on hand is Win XP x86. I don't really want to pay for Vista.... I do have a 350GB SATA HD sitting in an external case.. but it's on permanent loan and I'd hate to have to return it and have nothing......

I'm not 100% all for the MoBo, but it fit in the budget. Please feel free to tell me something better for the price...
According to the IRS my refund should be in the bank tomorrow... I'm ready to order this baby up...

I must have a new monitor and I want a tv tuner.... *rolls eyes*
For simplicity I'm ordering this entire thing from newegg.....I'm not going to really O/C this system. I just want it to be reliable and live about 8 good years of usefulness 😛


Case:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$54.99 (only item without free shipping)

Monitor:
Acer H233Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor
$239.99

PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7
$99.99

RAM:
Crucial 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT3KIT12864BA1067
$68.99

CPU:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920
MoBo:
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Combo $529.98

Video Card:
EVGA 512-P3-N884-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ Superclocked Edition 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
$164.99

HDD:
Western Digital 500GB 3.5", SATA, 16MB Cache OEM WD5000AAKS
$64.99

DVD:
SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q - OEM
$26.99

Subtotal: $1,250.91


Shipping: $18.99
Grand Total: $1,269.90

Sadly the little frill I wanted puts this slightly over my budget because it does not have free shipping

Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1250 Hybrid Video Recorder 1196 PCI-Express x1 Interface
$49.99

New Subtotal: $1,300.90
New Shipping: $25.99
Grand Total: $1,326.89


Ok so I need thermal paste.... but for the $12 newegg wanted ($5.99 with $6 shipping costs) I think I can pick that up in town...


*Edit: Picked up carriage returns in topic name...

 

[lithodora]

Forgot to mention the $70 worth of mail in rebates I didn't account for.... I might just be able to talk her into letting me spend a little extra on the TV tuner after all....

 

[xthekidx]

Get the P6T (non-deluxe) and that cpu combo, the P6T is better and overclocks pretty well. As well as a better combo deal, $30 off.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.155910

Here is a review:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2340773,00.asp

I would get the HD 4850, its better for the same price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102802

This PSU is the same price and allows for xfire of up to 2 4870's later
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011

Much better ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231229

I would also recommend an Antec 300, its a little better I think and the same price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Faster HDD, and worth the cost:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

You will get much more for your money out of that processor if you get a CPU cooler and OC it. I recommend the Scythe mugen 2 and MX-2 Thermal Paste for a cheap and good CPU cooling solution.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020
http://www.jab-tech.com/Scythe-Mugen-2-CPU-Cooler-pr-4391.html

 

[gkay09]

+1 ^ ceratinly the PSU and the CPU mobo combination is worth changing....and u shuld look into the 4850...it performs very similar and u can get it for lower price than the GTX

 

[PenguinPc899]

i just put together

a

Case: Sunbeam Transformer

MOBO: Asus P5N-D combo with Quad Core 2 Q700 2.67Ghz

heat sink: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

Ram 8gb if I+OZC

PSU:XlCLIO 850w Sli ready

HDD: Western Digital 650GB

Dvd: Asus Dvd burner 20x20 With lightscribe

 

[PenguinPc899]

i forgot to add

video card: 2 Evga Geforce 9800GTX

 

[xthekidx]

PenguinPc899, what are you trying to say? Are you suggesting the OP follow your build? Unless you already had some of those parts, you could have spent your money much better and built a better PC.

 

[lithodora]

well am I building a better PC with my money? 😛

btw: G.SKILL 3GB (3 x 1GB) was out of stock, so I went with Crucial.

Prior to coming back and looking at the forums I had been considering the 4850.. I'll update the build here in a minute

 

[xthekidx]

Careful with that crucial ram, it has very mixed reviews, and isn't very good quality. Its about the cheapest you can get, and you get what you pay for. I just saw these, $50 MIR!!! Get these, OCZ Platinum is OCZ's best ram, I have the 1600mhz version and they work great.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227369

 

[xthekidx]

well am I building a better PC with my money? 😛

btw: G.SKILL 3GB (3 x 1GB) was out of stock, so I went with Crucial.

Prior to coming back and looking at the forums I had been considering the 4850.. I'll update the build here in a minute

Yes your money is going to much better use.

 

[aford10]

OCZ platinum is almost their best, the reaper is supposed to be their top model. However, that is a great deal on the platinum.

 

[aford10]

i just put together

a

Case: Sunbeam Transformer

MOBO: Asus P5N-D combo with Quad Core 2 Q700 2.67Ghz

heat sink: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

Ram 8gb if I+OZC

PSU:XlCLIO 850w Sli ready

HDD: Western Digital 650GB

Dvd: Asus Dvd burner 20x20 With lightscribe

I used that case once. It is roomy and cheap. However it's the loudest case I've ever heard. I had to turn the TV up anytime I was on it b/c it was deafening, not to mention it's heavy as ####.

 

[xthekidx]

...yeah forgot about the reapers...but those platinums are good, get them.

 

[PenguinPc899]

i already bought and installed the reapers but if i have failuires i will think of the platinums.

but yeah it can get a little loud it hasnt been to bad but i havent been pushin to much and it is a little heavy but it wont be movin for a while

 

[lithodora]

Raised price about $80......but still have $70 coming back in mail-in rebates. I have had to drop the coveted TV Tuner
I will use the mail in rebates to get that hopefully. No TV tuner = No TV. 😱 Of course I could still watch it on the current computer.... 64mb nvidia card w/ViVo is still going strong I tell ya...

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920

Mobo: ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Combo Price
$509.98

RAM: OCZ Platinum 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1333LV3GK
$50.00 Mail-in Rebate
$77.99

Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100258-1GL Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
$156.99

PSU: PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$99.99

Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$59.95

DVD: SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q
$26.99

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$79.99

Monitor: Acer H233Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor
$239.99

Thermal Paste: ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound
$6.99

Subtotal: $1,258.86
Shipping: $29.82

Semi-Grand Total: $1,288.68

Cooler: Scythe Mugen 2 CPU Cooler

Subtotal: $37.99
Shipping: $8.23

Semi-Grand Total: $46.22

Grand Total: $1334.90

A little over, but do-able...

 

[lithodora]

Just to put a perspective on the technology leap I'm going to be taking, here's my current system:

Operating System
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3

System Model
Micro-Star Inc. MS-6566E 1.0

Processor
1.70 gigahertz Intel Celeron
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
128 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board
Board: Micro-Star Inc. MS-6566E 1.0
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 07.00T 04/02/01

Drives
931.95 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
415.29 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

Local Drive Volumes
c: (FAT32 on drive 1) 5.99 GB 28 MB free
d: (NTFS on drive 1) 34.01 GB 5.59 GB free
e: (NTFS on drive 2) 163.92 GB 44.70 GB free
f: (NTFS on drive 0) 250.99 GB 1.14 GB free
q: (NTFS on drive 3) 123.52 GB 68.97 GB free (firewire)
s: (NTFS on drive 4) 354.52 GB 300.67 GB free (usb external SATA)
LITE-ON DVDRW LDW-811S [CD-ROM drive]

Memory Modules
512 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot '0' has 512 MB
Slot '1' is Empty The clip to hold the ram is broken off

Display
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 460 64mb AGPx4[Display adapter]
HP D6433A [Monitor] (18.3"vis, October 2000)

 

[leo2kp]

Slight performance gain with the i7 😉

 

[leo2kp]

BTW, are all those partitions or are they separate disks? I used to have a 4-disk setup in my 1.4GHz P4. That was a blast. I thought that having a games disk, music disk, OS disk, and a programs disk would speed things up, e.g. playing a game and using that drive would still allow me to play music without a problem, and my page-file would on the OS disk would be free to use without worrying about tying the drive up by playing a game. I even had like 10+ 80mm fans. I didn't have enough spots to screw them in to, so I ended up taping a few here and there for direct cooling. Those were the days lol

 

[lithodora]

I used twist ties..... I have 5 Hard drives and 1 optical


I ordered the list of my parts today.. a few slight changes, like I got the Deluxe mobo becuase I was able to get rid of all shipping charges.. so I upgraded a bit....

 

[xthekidx]

Sounds good. Post some pics for us once you get it up and running 😉

 

[lithodora]

Its taken me more time than I imagined getting all my 'required' software installed on the new system...
Plus I've had to run it on some games I haven't been able to play up to this point. Since I completed COD4 today I figured I'd come and finally post some pics....

Firstly the empty case:

Now everything crammed in there:

Here you can see the tape that came in the case being reused to hold fan wires out of the way.

The Mugen2 is a MONSTER!

Here you can see all the extra power connectors not being used shoved in the bottom area. That PSU has more plugs than I hopefully will ever use... (there's not enough room to use them all)

Here you can see the small gap between video card and HDDs. Notice I have one IDE drive with its cable tucked under it.

I have one fan in the front of the case blowing across the HDDs. The IDE cable isn't breaking up that airflow too much.

Installing that Mugen2 cooler took the longest of any part of this build. The directions aren't extremely clear. The one thing to look out for if ever installing this: When you take out the CPU cover you gotta put it back at exactly the right height... lol I had tested the way the cover held the cpu prior to taking it off.

I had to play with the O/C settings a bit, just to see what I can get out of it. I'm running at 3.2ghz. I can probably push much more out of it, but I'm really happy with its performance and would prefer to have it stable and reliable for years to come.

My cpu temp is 43C normally, I have the ASUS util running to monitor that temp. It is set to warn me if it reaches 77C and it hasn't yet. I have played all kinds of games at their max settings and things have been running super smooth.

I can't even begin to tell you how well it does with Photoshop in comparison to my old system.

I am VERY happy with this build.