1st gaming rig build with i7 920

Lord Sindore

Lord Sindore

Lord Sindore

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This is my 1st post to this forum and my 1st gaming rig build.

I'm building a i7 gaming rig on the cheap, but that is not what this is all about what I wont to know is has any one else built one of these using the same motherboard?

I've gone for an i7 920 2.66Ghz processor still have yet to order the processor, but I have got the motherboard which is a Gigabyte EX58-UD3R and almost every think else.

dose any one use (Corsair 3GB DDR3 Dominator PC3-12800C8 1600MHz (3x1GB) Triple Channel) memory in there rig? if so what's your take on it / how well dose it overclock? be cos I'm thinking of going for this memory.

dose any one have a (XFX Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5) gpu in there rig if so how good is it? cos if I buy one at a latter date I may have to get a 2nd for the ATI crossfireX fetcher on my mobo.

can I download PhyX / cuda divers for XFX Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5? be cos I need to use this for game making at some point

I would buy an nvidia card for PhyX / cuda dive but I also need this card for 2D art and I here that Radeon kick A#* for that.
 
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Don't buy expensive memory if you're trying to save money :) Get some of this instead:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-151-OC

ATi cards do no officially support PhysX or CUDA, as they are both Nvidia technologies. ATi has its own competing APIs. Your choice of graphics card will make no difference in 2D artwork programs. Even Photoshop CS4, which supports GPU acceleration, will run equally well on Nvidia or ATi hardware.
 
thanks but I do have the motherboard already, as for the memory I'm going for the dominator ram be cos I've heard good things about it, its not going to brake the bank for me, be cos every thing else is on the cheap, so I thought I would splurge out on the ram.

the only reason for me going for a radeon card is be cos of the ati crossfireX on my mobo, can the mobo I'm going for handle two nvidia cards in the same way? and will the crossfireX even work with an nvidia card?

plus the radeon card I've looked at has GDDR5, and the nvidia card with a simile price tag only has GDDR3 the (EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 1024MB GDDR3) card £172.49 inc,
and the (XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5) is £164.99.

any GPU suggestions? / What are you running?
 
@ icey_haj

what do you mean? that every post from AndyOcUK adds will be the same or do you think that I have asked a bad question? lol

@ any one

I think this may have bin a bit to bored question, may be I should have asked some thing a bit more simpler.

I just wont a bit of feed back from any one who has any if not all of the above PC/rig bits?
 
Lord Sindore said:
@ icey_haj

what do you mean? that every post from AndyOcUK adds will be the same or do you think that I have asked a bad question? lol

@ any one

I think this may have bin a bit to bored question, may be I should have asked some thing a bit more simpler.

I just wont a bit of feed back from any one who has any if not all of the above PC/rig bits?
Click to expand...

1. I was talking to Andy :).

2. What kind of budget do you have? We can draw up a spec for you that would go well together.
 
budget
£240 cpu : i7 920
£70 case : NZXT Guardian 921 Crafted Series Tower
£100 memory : Corsair 3GB DDR3 Dominator PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel
£70 cpu cooling / memory : Asus Triton 81 Quiet CPU Cooler / Geil Evo Cyclone Memory ???????????

budget items I need help with / can't make my mind up
£190 gpu : (XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5) or (Zotac GeForce GTX 260 "55nm Maxcore" 896MB GDDR3) or what ????
£100 hard drive : Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache, or do go for a 60gb solid state ????????

back ups / p&p
£50 for misc

total budget
£820

I have the motherboard £175 : Gigabyte EX58-UD3R / psu £80 : Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi / dvd drive £20, of which I have removed from my total above, need help with is GPU / Hard drive, and maybe evern some help with the cpu fans I.e will it fit in the case or not?
 
Graphics wise the 260 and 4870 1GB are very even. Go with whichever camp you prefer.

I just bought a 64GB Samsung SSD, and it worthwhile for £100; absolutely silent and fast as well.
 
@ reflux
that sound good but I have not come across a 64gb ssd that cost as little as that, most come to around £130 for a goodish one.

where did you buy that from, was it from ocuk?

all I could find was (OCZ Solid Series 60GB) for £120.74 that go's over my budget a little, but it should be ok.
 
Raid 0 the SSD and get 10 second boot time ;)
I'd prob get a SSD for OS and 1Tb later for games/storage.
The CPU cooler i'd recommend is Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler , definitely still the best for noise/performance.
As for GFX i would go for 4870.
 
you dont buy i7 for gaming - you get it for number crunching

i would consider a wolfdale or an am3 based system if its for gaming
 
@ linx
Thanks, I looked at the Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler herd that it was a good cooler but I don't think it would fit in to the case I'm getting, plus I've herd that it can be a bit fiddly be cos of the metal clips that hold the 2 fans onto the heatsink.

the Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 cooler go's over my budget by £7.49 but I could push it to that, but I must say its not the most eye caching cooler I've seen, but its cooling power is meant to be grate, sound levels at 12.1dB is a bit high, but not that bad.
 
@ rjkoneill

its for making games not just for playing them so the i7 is going to be used for number crunching, think physic think shaders think oblivion scale game making, this is why I'm building this rig.
 
The ATI Radeon HD4870 with 1GB DDR5 is a bargin right now, that card cost £210 when it first came out, the price has dropped since then, it's a good card but they do run warm,
you can reduce the operating temps using CCC Overdrive to increase the fan speed. I use plus 25% fan speed which makes a big difference, the fan works well, I can't even hear it.

One other thing you need to know if you intend investing in an SSD Drive, DO YOUR RESEARCH, some of them just don't deliver, and the ones that do cost plenty!
 
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I have that MB , CPU and 6Gb of the Ram under water- disappointed with the clock so far at 3.8gtz - but due to the hassles I have had with Vista 64 - not had the time to hone it. To be frank it was a quick and easy clock and I have not played around with the voltages other than the CPU and Ram.
 
Lord Sindore said:
@ reflux
that sound good but I have not come across a 64gb ssd that cost as little as that, most come to around £130 for a goodish one.

where did you buy that from, was it from ocuk?

all I could find was (OCZ Solid Series 60GB) for £120.74 that go's over my budget a little, but it should be ok.
Click to expand...

Yeah, OCUK don't stock it. I can't mention where does, as it's a competitor, but FYI it's the 64GB Samsung MLC drive. Apparently the best budget drive :)
 
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