New Build...only 10 days to do it!

[baldinie]

OK, so i ordered a GTX 580 and corsair 950W to boost my q6600 system....but it wont fit in my case (and am not sure it would fit either giving the positioning of the SATA ports.)

SO i need to build a new system (want to anyway) but i only have 10 days left on my installationg insurance i took out on my card (its a £400 card, and i've not built a system in 3 years)

So, do i got for an i7 950, ASUS X58 Sabertooth mobo, 6 gb Corsair Vengance RAM, 120GB Big foot SSD, all housed in either a NZXT Phantom, Antec twelve hundred, or Coolermaster 932?

OR do i risk a sandy bridge build, risk losing the SATA controller and sacrifise true SLI upgradability?
In which case, i7 2600k, Asus p67 sabertooth, 4gb corsair ram, same everthing else.


Answers pleeeeeeease.

 

[sandybridge]

If SLI isn't in your future, the point of getting a mobo with SLI is moot. What's your current mobo? There are 90' angled SATA connectors. How many SATA do you need?

The only cpu upgrade path for LGA1366 is a $1000+ US cpu. No more for that platform. It'll be replaced by LGA2011 soon.

If you can get your hands on a P67 mobo, go for it. The mobo manufacturers will replace the mobo for free once the new batch is ready. LGA1155 is the only logical choice cuz it's new and it will have some more cpus down the road. There were some premium P67 mobos that do both CF & SLI. Again, do you need it?

What games do you play & at what resolution?

Where do you shop? What's your budget?

 

[Indy-Go]

You canny get a 1155 mobo product line until after April. All the online retailers I shop through have yanked them off the shelf. if you NEED a puter now or within the next 10 days.

Just a few things as far as socket 1366 mobos is concerned - there are no more upgrade paths for them. Eventually by the end of this year the 1366 socket will turn into the LGA2011. as last posted by Sandybridge.

If you don't care for that then Newegg has all that you could want and more for your solution to the dilemma.

 

[baldinie]

i'm in the UK, will be ordering from Scan.co.uk, they still have p67 mobos for order and are agreeing to replace as soon as the replacement stock is in. Budget for the rest of the build is about £600, and i'd like SLi for a future upgrade option.

think the sandybridge route sounds best atm, if they're will be no more socket 1366 support at all.

 

[Why_Me]

OK, so i ordered a GTX 580 and corsair 950W to boost my q6600 system....but it wont fit in my case (and am not sure it would fit either giving the positioning of the SATA ports.)

SO i need to build a new system (want to anyway) but i only have 10 days left on my installationg insurance i took out on my card (its a £400 card, and i've not built a system in 3 years)

So, do i got for an i7 950, ASUS X58 Sabertooth mobo, 6 gb Corsair Vengance RAM, 120GB Big foot SSD, all housed in either a NZXT Phantom, Antec twelve hundred, or Coolermaster 932?

OR do i risk a sandy bridge build, risk losing the SATA controller and sacrifise true SLI upgradability?
In which case, i7 2600k, Asus p67 sabertooth, 4gb corsair ram, same everthing else.


Answers pleeeeeeease.

I would go with the SB build, and when the new boards come out and are in stock, return your P67 board for one of the "fixed ones".

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+/+Processors/Intel+Core+I7+(1155)/Intel+Core+i7-2600K+3.40GHz+(Sandybridge)+Socket+LGA1155+Processor+-+OEM+?productId=43574 £233.99 inc. VAT
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM

 

[sandybridge]

Intel cut old i7 cpu prices. LGA1366 isn't dead, but is golftown - not everyone can afford it. It's a premium platform.

http://www.tcmagazine.com/tcm/news/hardware/35662/intel-releases-core-i7-990x-hexa-core-cpu-cuts-i7-970-i7-960-prices

scan.co.uk
--
LN36550
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 PC3-1280 £73.12, £87.74

LN36731
Intel Core i7 2600K £216.17, £259.40

LN36898
MSI P67A-GD55 £105.55, £126.66

Total
£483.39
--

The mobo is the cheapest and supports SLI/CF. I use MSI as well. No problems so far. I've used all Taiwan mobo brands. FYI, MSI offers free P67/H67 replacement. However, I couldn't find the UK version:

http://service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/snb_support.aspx

If you're running 32-bit OS, replace the 8 gigs with 4 like this:

LN37493
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 Classic DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.5V £33.12, £39.74

What else do you need?

 

[baldinie]

need everything but PSU and GPU, bought win 7 pro 64 bit as well.

why the gd55? why not 65 ot asus p67 pro? the asus is the one scan use in all their systems, and its only like £10 more.

 

[sandybridge]

If it's 10 pounds more, go for it. That's the cheapest SLI/CF mobo. Let me look.

MSI P67A-GD65 supports CF & SLI.

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/P67A-GD65.html#/?div=Basic

Asus P8P67 Pro too.

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=HMMvTCuBcZLfu2YL&templete=2

Either mobo will fit your big GPU cuz all 3 boards I mentioned have 90' angled SATA ports. Which one is up to you. Personally, I buy the cheapest one. As for cases, it's a matter of personal preference. Any ATX mid/full tower will fit the GPU.

scan.co.uk
--
LN28746
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM £33.33, £40.00

LN36550
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.50V £73.12, £87.74

LN36731
Intel Core i7 2600K Unlocked, Socket 1155, Sandy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.4 GHz, 8MB Cache, 95W, Retail £216.17, £259.40

LN36899
MSI P67A-GD65, Intel P67, 1155, PCI-E 2.0, DDR3 1333/1600/2133, SATA 6GB/s RAID, ATX £105.67, £126.80

LN37314
Sony AD-7263S-0B 24x DVD±R, 12xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 ,12xRAM SATA, Black, Labelflash, OEM £13.89, £16.67

Total
£540.20
--

FYI, MSI is a good make. 9 out of 10 pc build problems are user-error. I've been running a MSI with 2500K + 8 gigs for a month no problems. I'm using the first two SATA6gbps ports.

If you don't overclock, you can save some money with i7 2600 which has better virtualization than the k. Both chips will have the same Turbo speed. k is unlocked. That's all. Or even an i7 2500 will suffice.

Again, it's your money. It's up to you to make the final decision. If you don't like what I'm proposing, that's fine.

 

[baldinie]

I'd like the best CPU i can afford, i know the performance difference in next to nothing, and they both support virtualisation. But the 2600K is my cpu of choice. I just want a mobo that's stable, and well laid out so i can use a PCI port if i buy a sound card, and have no issues with ports if i add a second GPU.

I'm going to phone scan tomorrow, if they will do a straight swap on the mobo when the next batch come in regardless of if its gone wrong or not, I'll order it all tomorrow. MSi gd65 or asus p67 pro, 8gb corsair vengence, and NZXT phantom case. I wont loads of space and i like the look of the phantom.

 

[sandybridge]

No, not exact the same VT support. The vanilla quads have full Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) & Trusted Execution Technology. The K series lack both. If they're in your future, you should get a non-k.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52213&processor=i7-2600&spec-codes=SR00B
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52214&processor=i7-2600K&spec-codes=SR00C

Sounds like a good plan to me. The fixed P67 may be available sooner.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/02/18/fixed-sandy-bridge-chipset-begins-shipping/1

 

[asteldian]

From Scan 'This is an agreement Scan has reached with Intel/Asus/Msi & Gigabyte and is not for the time being a general to all vendors. We suggest you check with your Vendor/Supplier.

All of the above parties have agreed on a intermediate solution to the Sandybridge problem.

As there is No Immediate Danger/Fault and as this fault is likely to affect a small number of boards over time and Replacement Stock will Not be available until realistically in April/May, all the parties above have Guaranteed Direct Swap Out of all P67/H67 Boards bought from Scan should you the end user wish to do so at a later date'

The swap is guaranteed to all P67/H67 boards bought from scan should the user choose to. So, regardless of whether the board is suffering from the flaw you are able to swap your old board.

As for the mob, MSI and Asus Pro are good choices. The easiest way to decide is to pick based on which one is on offer in Scans Today only deals, for example today the i7 2600k + Asus Pro is £357. Given that the i7 2600k is £234 that means the Pro is costing £124, so £20 discount.

The i7 2600k and the Asus board are regularly on offer.

 

[baldinie]

do we think its still worth getting a sandy bridge system instead of i7 950 system even with the hassel of swapping mobo's in a few months time?

 

[Why_Me]

do we think its still worth getting a sandy bridge system instead of i7 950 system even with the hassel of swapping mobo's in a few months time?

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-2010/Gaming-Left-4-Dead,2432.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833.html

http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-2500k-and-core-i7-2600k-review/

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i5-2600k-i5-2500k-and-core-i3-2100-tested

 

[baldinie]

take it that's a yes then. Just wondering if i'll be disappointed when the intel 2011 come out in april?

 

[Why_Me]

take it that's a yes then. Just wondering if i'll be disappointed when the intel 2011 come out in april?

It could always be worse....just ask an AMD fan. They have been getting used to being disappointed since Intel first released the Core 2 Duo.

 

[baldinie]

lol. I used to love AMD, always had AMD till i got my current q6600. If only the board was bigger and better laid out i'd keep it and just get a bigger case. but there's no room, the sata ports are in the way of the PCI slot.

So, SB it is, just cant decide on case now, either HAF 922, 932, or NZXT Phantom...i just want space but nothing too loud

 

[Why_Me]

lol. I used to love AMD, always had AMD till i got my current q6600. If only the board was bigger and better laid out i'd keep it and just get a bigger case. but there's no room, the sata ports are in the way of the PCI slot.

So, SB it is, just cant decide on case now, either HAF 922, 932, or NZXT Phantom...i just want space but nothing too loud

I don't know much about NZXT cases, but the HAF's are quite due to those large fans they run. Amazon has some decent deals on the CM HAF's.

 

[baldinie]

would a GTX 580 fit on a mobo with the sata ports in the way if i used 90 degree cables? would like the idea of keepin the q6600 for now and build a system round the fixed systems in may. But if there is no saving the mobo, then i will just build a new system now.

 

[baldinie]

thanks for all you're input, new system is now up and running (need a new wireless USB adaptor). Got it all purring along nicely, inside a gorgeous NZXT Phantom case. Thanks for all the advice along the way.

(finally built a Asus p8p67 Pro, i7 2600K, 8gb Corsair Vengeance, 128 C300 and WD Caviar Black 1tb, with corsair 950W and the beast that started it all, the EVGA GTX 580) Been a long time coming, been planning a new build since the E8400 came out