Final decisions for new system

timbo2410

timbo2410

timbo2410

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27 Dec 2009
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Ok, I was going to upgrade a few bits on my old system but have chosen to do a complete new one. Here is the estimated new one specs:
Case: Antec 1200
Mobo: Asus P6T deluxe V2
CPU: Core i7 975
Memory: Corsair Dominator 6Gb 1600 (2000), with extra fan
PSU: Corsair 1000W
Heatsink: Thermalright Ultra 120
Soundcard: Creative X-FI Titanium Pro
HDD's: 1 x 300 GB Velociraptor 10000
2 x Samsung F3 1TB 32mb cache
Optical: Pioneer BDR-S03xlb
GPU: XFX GTX260 Black
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Now there are probably a few items that people may disagree on but give me all the feedback please. I will be ordering all these parts soon and will try my very first build. I don't have a clue so like I said, give me your feedback and comments please.
Oh, and any advice on the build itself would be great as well.
 
An ssd drive was suggested to me and I looked them up and seemed to find a lot of people who complained about them for one reason or another. I also looked at the price as well :eek:
I am not up with all the technical stuff so as little that can go wrong as possible the better off I am. I'm not into overclocking and stuff either and I definitely don't want to screw anything up. I'll just have a look at what i7 DO is, back in a moment :)
 
what parts have you got? I persome you have not got the mobo/PSU/RAM and CPU and heatsink.

first of CPU, why the 975? it overclocks no better than your ability to overclock, get yourself a D0 920 :). Mobo no problems here. RAM why 2Ghz onces?
again RAM is quite attached the to the CPU it running at 2Ghz is very much dependent if you can them running at that, get the 1600Mhz onces and safe yourself.
powersupply, a little big no? a 850watt would be ample particualy from corsair. the raptor drive, replace that with a SSD.

Now that you have saved quite a bit of money, you could invest in more graphics horse power if you have the screen for it ?


last but no least, if you don't want to overclock, overclockers UK has the answer for you ;) with pre overclocked bundles, I believe you can call them and get it tailored
 
Wow lots of info to read through about i7 DO stepping ... a quick read and there are mixed opinions so I'll read more on it tomorrow.
I haven't ordered a thing yet and I'm still looking at best prices. The reason for the 975 was that I read that if you weren't going to overclock then get the highest cpu that you can get. The ram ... errrr dunno what you mean. Is the 1600 Mhz better? should I stay with Corsair?
The PSU, I looked at the 850 watt but then I saw some figures on the total power used (if I went sli in the future) and the figures suggested that it was pretty close, so I thought I'd get the 1000w and then never have to worry about it again. So 850 watt will be ample?
Now, you mention the graphics card. I do want to stick with Nvidia so higher up the ladder would mean GTX275 or GTX 295. Or sli now?
 
No, for the GPU its old tech, best of with a HD5850 you can get away with putting two in as well on a faily small decent power supply.

Yeah that is one reason, but your paying for it, again OCuk do overclocked bundles

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-003-OB&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat= see here

also the PC rating for RAM for example my memory is DDR2 PC8500 thats the bandwidth (apparently) you are better of with 1600Mhz once, I7 is triple channel so it makes little difference between that and 2000Mhz or 1333 or whatever. trying to save ya money here

hope that saved some confusions lol.
 
Nice build but like others said I would get a i7 920 and overclock it saving yourself a large wedge! Like AMG said you would be better with a 5850 instead of the GTX260. As for the build make sure you put the RAM in the right slots, as when i was building my P6T rig I didn't and it took me ages to figure out why it would not boot. Nice system and good luck with the build! ;)
 
I saw that bundle you gave me the link to :) Now if they just had the P6T v2 ... I'll start looking at the memory and the HD 5850 in the morning. I really wanted to stick with Nvidia if I could as I play CFS3 and there is a problem with (don't quote me please) "specular shine" ... I think I have that right. Nvidia does it but ati don't ....
Thanks for the suggestions everybody, much appreciated. Once I pretty much have it nailed down I'll give OCUK a call and see what sort of price they can come up with. Especially their bundles as that was a good deal. :D
 
Forgot to say, when I do build you can be sure I will be back on this forum ... I've read the "how to" pages over and over now, I can't afford to bugger it up ;)
 
just remember to put the stand offs in the case( so you can screw the mobo in and to raise it off the mobo tray) or it won't boot, and connect everything up, also keep one had on the case at all times, and watch the screw driver :p
 
The connections seem pretty straight forward but the type of connections confuse me a bit. But I will ask for help long before I risk turning the power on ;) Now to look up those SSD drives and the ATI cards and the 920 stepping .... more questions from me here shortly. Thanks for the help thus far :D
 
ok I've looked up the i7 stepping and there is a HUGE difference in price between the 920/950 and the 975 ... so I'll change my system spec for that.

Now I've looked at the 5850 graphics cards and there is a XFX 5850 XXX that is a good deal cheaper than the gtx 295 so does that sound better?

Just gotta look for a SSD hdd .... any suggestions? And how do I make sure that this hard drive is only used for windows and not any other program installation?
 
The Intel X25M G2 seems to be a popular SSD, the 80 GB one would be perfect as a boot drive for installing Windows on. Alternatively, any Indilinx controller based SSD would be a sensible choice from OCX, Crucial or Patriot given that they're newer. Just avoid older SSDs with the JMicron controller as they suffer from poor write speeds and stuttering (where the entire operating system freezes for a second or three).

Most new SSDs are 2.5" as far as I know (I've never heard of 5" versions) so you'll need a 3.5" to 2.5" mounting bracket (Alaska do a good one) if you want to put it securely into a desktop. The Patriot Torque SSD I believe comes with such an adaptor whereas most others don't.
 
timbo2410 said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-001-KS&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1427
Click to expand...

The Kingston V series, I believe, uses the dreadful JMicron controller and have poor read and write speeds so it isn't much faster than a hard drive except for access times. The V+ series are supposed to be much better as they use a newer controller but they're much more expensive. Unfortunately, the memory chips SSDs use is very, very expensive at the moment and this is driving the prices up. If you only plan to install Windows on an SSD then a 60 (OCX), 64 (Crucial) or 80 GB (Intel) model will be fine.

A good SSD, IMO, will have read speeds of 220+ MB/sec and write speeds of 130+ MB/sec.
 
Just looking at the ones you just suggested. They are still very expensive for the amount of space you get. But I've just looked at access times compared to a normal HDD ... boy are they fast. Now Seeing as the help I've had has saved me loads of money, I can spend a little more on a larger SSD :D
Is that worth it?
 
timbo2410 said:
And how do I make sure that this hard drive is only used for windows and not any other program installation?
Click to expand...

When you are installing games/apps etc, after clicking next a couple of times you get a screen that suggests a destination that you can browse and select your own.

if the SSD is drive C and you have another drive which is lets say D then you can just put the cursor next to where it says C/program.../.... and delete the C and change it to D
 
For your motherboard, I don't think they make the P6T Deluxe v2 any more, a new version has been released called the P6TD Deluxe - it is basically the same board and in stock.

However, I have a P6T Deluxe v2 and I would suggest that instead you get a Gigabyte UD5. It has more SATA ports and overclocks like a dream.

As for RAM, this would be my current suggestion. No point bankrupting yourself on RAM, as AMG says - there is so much bandwidth on an X58 that more expensive/faster RAM doesn't give much of a performance boost.

In regards to SSDs, the Intel X25-M ones are fantastic, as are the OCZ vertex dives. Personally, if I had the money to spend I would get an Intel X25-M 160GB. Its super quick and has plenty of space for my OS/apps/games.
 
Appreciate the input :D Looking up the bits and pieces now. I really don't want to overclock my system myself, I will try and source pre overclocked items as I do not know enough about it to play around.
I'm going to have enough problems building this and getting it going without frying it or myself :eek:
Certainly looking at the suggested memory and SSD ....
When I have the system built and am ready to fire it up for the first time, will their be any issues with it recognizing the SSD as the drive I want to install windows to? Or can I pick the drive from a list and name it a,b,c,d, whatever?
 
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