'budget' i7 build thoughts please

ranarama · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:26

It's time I moved on from my ageing A64 3500 based system and was looking at moving to i7 but without spending thousands.

I don't need monitor, keyboard or mouse and still have some arctic silver left from my first build. I have an Antec p160 case so I presume I can still use that. I also have a Antec Truepower 450w PSU. I'm concerned that won't be powerful enough for this system but haven't included it in case I can get away with it.

I will almost exclusively be using this system for Photoshop work (I do quite a lot of batch processing on wedding photos), but I do a small amount of gaming but mostly just flight sim (want to get FSX too as I only have FS9 at the moment).

Anyway, do you have any thoughts about this system, like should I go for the new AMD triple cores instead or go for a Q9550 build. TIA.

Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz - OEM
£229.99

Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £163.99

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 "Toxic" 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (11133-06-40)
£155.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939) £91.99

Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ)
£83.94

Crucial 6GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel Kit (CT3KIT25664BA1339)
£79.34

Zalman CNPS7500-ALCU CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £27.59

Sub Total : £724.19
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL @ Home Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.25
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £110.02

Total : £843.46

AndyOcUK · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:28

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-050-OE

Start with that

ranarama · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:29

Thought you might say that

95thrifles · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:31

Id look at a 1gig version of the 4870, the price difference is quite small nowadays, its not really worth buying the half gig version, even if it is a toxic

AndyOcUK · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:35

ranarama said:
Thought you might say that

Well you can look for a better deal if you like....you'll probably be wasting your time though

FACT!

icey_haj · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:36

ranarama · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:41

AndyOcUK said:
Well you can look for a better deal if you like....you'll probably be wasting your time though

FACT!

I'll look into it.

icey_haj said:
SPEC

Thanks. I know I'm probably just penny pinching here but is it really worth spending nearly £60 of a CPU cooler?

icey_haj · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:44

Well, if you're looking to overclock, then yes.

EDIT: That's the OEM version of the CPU, so it won't come with any cooler. You'll have to get a seperate one like I spec'd you, or get the retail version.

ranarama · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:49

AndyOcUK said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-050-OE

Start with that

Does that come with the cooler? The photo suggests it does but it's not listed in the product description.

EDIT - and one other question. Will that 450W PSU power this system or do I need to upgrade that too?

GunRunner · 9 Mar 2009 at 12:42

ranarama said:
Does that come with the cooler? The photo suggests it does but it's not listed in the product description.

EDIT - and one other question. Will that 450W PSU power this system or do I need to upgrade that too?

If you are trying to save pennies then this cooler does an excellent job..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-052-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=

I am running at 3.9ghz with temps around 68 degrees C. Hyperthreading is off, because I dont need it.

The savings will allow you to purchase a beefier power supply.

ranarama
Nice photos by the way.

ranarama · 9 Mar 2009 at 13:11

GunRunner said:
If you are trying to save pennies then this cooler does an excellent job..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-052-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=

I am running at 3.9ghz with temps around 68 degrees C. Hyperthreading is off, because I dont need it.

The savings will allow you to purchase a beefier power supply.

That's the one in the bundle isn't it? The more I look at it the more attractive it looks. Think I may order tonight.

GunRunner said:
ranarama
Nice photos by the way.

Thanks

AndyOcUK · 9 Mar 2009 at 13:56

ranarama said:
Does that come with the cooler? The photo suggests it does but it's not listed in the product description.

EDIT - and one other question. Will that 450W PSU power this system or do I need to upgrade that too?

Yes - comes with the Akasa Nero as pictured.

Which 450W PSU are you referring to mate?

998cc · 9 Mar 2009 at 14:08

AndyOcUK said:
Yes - comes with the Akasa Nero as pictured.

Which 450W PSU are you referring to mate?

Akasa Nero? When did this change from the unbranded 1 that was previously included and why?

I ordered the bundle on friday, which am i going to receive?

ranarama · 9 Mar 2009 at 14:09

@AndyOcUK - Actually, just checked and it's the Antec 430W True Power. Presume that's definitely too low.

AndyOcUK · 9 Mar 2009 at 14:44

Sysco said:
Akasa Nero? When did this change from the unbranded 1 that was previously included and why?

I ordered the bundle on friday, which am i going to receive?

The other cooler wasn't unbranded - it was by Gelid (Google them m8

)
We are out of stock of them now so I've put the Akasa Nero on it instead. Both are great coolers and this hasn't affected price

ranarama said:
@AndyOcUK - Actually, just checked and it's the Antec 430W True Power. Presume that's definitely too low.

Should be OK but ideally I'd go for this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-014-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084