Speccing up a new high end PC

Anaardvark

Anaardvark

Anaardvark

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27 Nov 2007
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Bournemouth, UK
I'm looking at building a new PC and I'm looking for some advice with it :)

Currently I've got a 2.4ghz Quad (Watercooled & OC'ed at 2.8Ghz), 4gb ram and 2x 8800gt's but I've had this for about 2 and a half years now and I fancy an upgrade.

I'm looking for a duel socket i7 motherboard (2x i7 930 2.80GHz), 6/12gb ram (price dependent) and a Geforce 480 GTX.

I'm currently doing a CGI:Animation & Modelling degree at Bournemouth Uni and will be entering my final year at the end of this year so the heavy spec is mostly for rendering in 3DS Max and Video editing. I also play a fair amount of games too, when I have the time :D.

What I want to know is, will it be worth getting a dual socket motherboard? Does it bring any new problems that I might not aware of? I've been out of the hardware game for a couple of years now so haven't really kept up with things.

I know most games don't support more than 4 cores but 3DS Max (from 2011) takes advantage of not only multiple CPU cores but also utilizes the GPU for rendering so I can't wait to get rid of my ageing SLI setup.

I've estimated around £1500 so if anyone can think of something better for the same price than I'm certainly open to suggestions!

Thanks.
 
would you be requiring a new case, hard drive etc?

I'm looking to build a PC next week hopefully, as my boyfriend uses Cinema 4d a lot, as well as Zbrush, Photoshop and After Effects. If it is possible to build one with your budget then i may copy yours as i have the same budget.
 
ok guys I am going to be honest you can only go 2 routes here as there is no mainstream dual socket i7 boards yet. However there is the server boards which take socket 1366 intel xeon processors which come in 2 and 4 sockets I think. However it will destroy your 1500 pound budget as were talking major ££s extremely marked up DDR3 Ram prices as it requires eec or something or the other and the processors themselves cost a lot as well.

However there is the new i7 980x which would be a much cheaper way to get the 8 cores you want.

Intel Core i7 980X 3.33GHz (Gulftown) Extreme Edition (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + Assassin's Creed II Game £885.99

Asus P6T WS Professional Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £232.65

Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK) £142.99

Tri-Channel (PVT36G1600ELK) Patriot Viper 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz) £127.99

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.98

Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £116.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £41.99

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99

This comes up to £1,698.26 including delivery

Can probably save a bit on the case/power supply not sure 100% if 850W is a bit overkill for powering 8 cores or it could be right sometimes rather be safe than sorry.

I put the 5770 there as the GTX 480 is not out yet but as you can see if your budget is 1500 for 8 cores you will not get a 480 in there as its probably gonna cost a crap load as well when it comes out. Even with the 5770 your over budget.
 
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I would have to agree with the 980x build, i am not sure how the amd opterons compare at all though, i think they are really old but am not sure so i would just go with the 980x build, yes it is hexcore i think.
 
Yurihyuga said:
ok guys I am going to be honest you can only go 2 routes here as there is no mainstream dual socket i7 boards yet. However there is the server boards which take socket 1366 intel xeon processors which come in 2 and 4 sockets I think. However it will destroy your 1500 pound budget as were talking major ££s extremely marked up DDR3 Ram prices as it requires eec or something or the other and the processors themselves cost a lot as well.

However there is the new i7 980x which would be a much cheaper way to get the 8 cores you want.

Intel Core i7 980X 3.33GHz (Gulftown) Extreme Edition (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + Assassin's Creed II Game £885.99

Asus P6T WS Professional Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £232.65

Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK) £142.99

Tri-Channel (PVT36G1600ELK) Patriot Viper 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz) £127.99

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.98

Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £116.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £41.99

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99

This comes up to £1,698.26 including delivery

Can probably save a bit on the case/power supply not sure 100% if 850W is a bit overkill for powering 8 cores or it could be right sometimes rather be safe than sorry.

I put the 5770 there as the GTX 480 is not out yet but as you can see if your budget is 1500 for 8 cores you will not get a 480 in there as its probably gonna cost a crap load as well when it comes out. Even with the 5770 your over budget.
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You could get away with a corsair HX650 or a ANTEC new truepower 650W psu, this with a cheaper case, ANTEC 902 or Coolermaster 690 mkII, would allow for a ATI 5850 graphics card.

You would be able to play any game at high resolutions and still keep the fast CPU/rendering speed.
 
That's plenty of power, you could even add a second card at a later date for crossfire with 850w.

Even believe a quality 650w would be enough for that above spec with a second card.

To be sure, maybe get the 750w versions of either psu.
 
Hmmm, some interesting points to think about. Thanks all, you have been most helpfull :)

It's still gonna be a month or two before I can get it anyway but at least I've got something to aim for!
 
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