£1000 Performance PC

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21 Jun 2010
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Hello.

First off, I would like to say that this is my first time building a pc from scratch, so, if I have done something completely wrong, please explain it to me. Thanks.

I have planning to build a pc only for performance / lab work. That means that the CPU is meant to be really fast, and a good GPU (to offload the CPU work on it). So it really doesn't matter if I have a 5400rpm hdd, since that is not going to be the bottleneck. Having said that, I don't even need a HDD (have a lot at home). Monitors, mouse, keyboard, speakers and etc, I will use from my previous system.

So up to now, I have put together the following components:

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/3585/basket3.jpg

If I am missing something, or components dont go together, please please please let me know. Especially the motherboard.

My maximum budget is £1000 and that is really pushing it.

One last thing is, since I am a linux fan, NVidia vs ATI. I have chosen ATI 5870 because a friend recommended it, but it wouldn't hurt to know your opinion as well. so which one?

Thank you soooooo much for the help.
Mo
 
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Two questions first.

1. are you going to overclock the i7?
2. what is the max resolution of your monitor?

yes, the 5400rpm HDD will bottleneck such a decent platform. You should look at SSD if you are going to spend that sort of money.
 
Thanks Admiral Huddy for the quick reply.

1) Yes I am going to overclock to 2.80 (hence why I didnt go for the 930)
2) I believe the max res is 1280x1024. It is a 19" monitor.

Also, I am updating the link, since I forgot a cpu-heat sink. So please have a look up there...

Thanks, Mo
 
1 . You can get these chips to 4GHZ on either 920 or 930.
2. then the HD5870 is an overkill for this Monitor. possibly look at the 5770 unless you want to change our monitor to 1920x1200 goodness :)
 
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Thanks mate,

I had a look at the 5770, and decided to go with your suggestion. Any compatibility issues that I need to know about the whole setup?

Does the case support the motherboard and etc?

Thanks again.
Mo
 
Someone might need to correct me this but I do believe your going to need a fan for that Ultra-120, I believe all they give you is the heatsink and your left to select your own fan.

What sort of work are you looking to off load onto the video card and are you sure the software you will be using will be compatible to work on board that's designed to draw triangles? Also if you can offload work onto the video card why don’t you use the video card to do all the work, all those parallel processors will give you a lot more performance in terms of number crunching then any CPU.

The case and motherboard are fine. ATX board, ATX case, no worries.
 
sorry if i ask one too many questions.... on the overclockers page: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-068-TR

it says that the heatsink need a 120mm fan... does that mean i need to buy a seperate one and if so how would I fix it? I went through the System Build Guide (which uses the same cooler) but I dont really see a way of attaching a fan to this....

Btw, the case comes with two fans (120mm and 170mm)..

Thanks
 
not sure if Huddy considered this, but if you plan to process information on your GPU other than just the graphics output, you might prefer a higher specced card.

As for linux, it depends what distro you are running. nVidia generally have better support for linux, ATI only officially support Ubuntu, SUSE, and a few others. Arch Linux has working drivers, Fedora does not. If I haven't mentioned your distro, try and find out if it has ATI drivers for the 5xxx series (ATI's drivers for linux are called fglrx).
 
Hey, as a linux user myself, I have had very poor performance with the ati drivers for linux, and a lot of people claim the same.
A lot of people recommend nvidia cards for linux, because of the higher performance. It's completely up to you however :)
 
@Freddie1980
Lol, I just asked the same question in regards to the heatsink..

This might sound funny, but I am not that great with mixing hardwares but I am writing the app myself. It is a research project, and am gonna use the GPU in case the CPU doesnt take it the load. Right now, I am running the project on a Core2Due 2.66ghz and it takes about 30secs for 13xxx combinations (which in terms of debugging, its a pain in the a**)...

I am more than sure that the project will run smooth if I OC the i7 to 4ghz if needed...if that didnt work, then I add modules to move the process to the GPU...but the GPU is a secondary option for the time being...

@wilko49
I originally had the 5870..but comparing to the price of the 5770...its £2xx more!!!! Yes I know that it has 1600 cores vs 800, but dude, £200 LOL...

@blinghound and everyone else..
In that case, what would be the equivalent of the same card in the nvidia range?

Thanks everyone,
Mo
 
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Thanks added one.

My mate keep telling me that there is a huge difference between ram times, specifically this:
7-8-7-20 vs 9-9-9-24

They are both Corsair XMS3. Can anyone clarify, and tell me whether they worth the extra £40? Am I going to see a huge difference?

Thanks.
 
Not a huge difference. If you've got money to burn and you want to get every last % performance out of your PC then you'd go for the lower timing RAM. :p
 
guys, sorry for coming back this late to the forum and checking it. I have two further questions:
1) Does the power supply have enough number of connectors for each components, since there are about 4 fans, 1 cpu, 2 gfx, 2 mobo, 2 sata, 2 optical..... Enough PSU slots?

2) Would the components fit inside the case suggested? I have heard that the heatsink is HUGE, and since I haven't seen the case nor the heatsink itself, can anyone suggest? given that there is going to be a fan on top of the heatsink...also how about the graphics card size?

THANK YOU SOOO much for the help,
Mo
 
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