My current computer is a P4

[OzZie]

My host application is cubase sx3 so I'm not sure about that but I know cubase 5 is compatible and I've been meaning to upgrade to that for some time now. Also I'm a bit unclear on the d0 stepping I think that has more pottential to overclock right? but it doesn't seem to be specified on the adverts as I've not really seen it but only heard about it. All I seem to find is the general i7 920 chip, that's it.

Cubase SX3 does support multi-processing, although many with Q6600's at the time were not getting much more performance over the E6xx dual cores, so it is uncertain as to whether a Quad is fully efficient. After all, Cubase SX3 was released in 2005, which is believe was quite a bit before the first consumer quad processor. However, Cubase 5 does fully support up to 16 threads (we use it with a dual quad mac pro in the studio at work)

As for the D0 stepping, your correct in what you say. Most CPU's are released with a certain revision, and after a while, are released with a newer, more updated one which usually allows for lower temperatures and more overclocking ability. (Q6600's had the G0, E8xxx series had the E0). If you take a look in the overclocking forum, you'll find a few folk have their i7 920's past 4.0ghz, although most are on water i believe. However, with good case/cpu cooling, i bet you'd get 4.0ghz or thereabouts on air.

 

[reflux]

Quads are great. The only reason people whine about them is because four threads aren't supported in most applications, but when they are, the performance increase is usually very noticeable.

 

[OzZie]

Quads are great. The only reason people whine about them is because four threads aren't supported in most applications, but when they are, the performance increase is usually very noticeable.

I agree. If the software fully supports the cores/threads, you'd be silly not to utilise the extra processing power. Higher clock speed is more benificial if you have reach the core/thread limit of the software, but another core is always going to be faster if it is supported.

Thankfully, a lot of editing/creative software is ahead of the game in terms of technology, so when newer technology is released, it is very benificial. Video/audio/photo editing can use up much more resources than gaming does, which is why you have i7's and dual mac pro's for those that utilise the power.

 

[killari]

dude if u look around, save up a little bit more money u have a well good upgrade for a i7.

i got my system for £963

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping
Asus P6T Deluxe
Antec P193 Super Midi Tower
G.Skill 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 NQ PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz)
Antec CP 850
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB
Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal
Gtx 260 SLi
Scythe Kaze-Master 5.25" Fan Controller - Black

im just waitin on parts

The OP did state that he did NOT intend to game. a lot of these posts are missing the point.

 

[smelly]

The OP did state that he did NOT intend to game. a lot of these posts are missing the point.

i understand but im explaining the point he can get an i7 if he save up a little more and look around for prices. my point wasnt the face he can play games thank you

 

[magicroundabout]

dude if u look around, save up a little bit more money u have a well good upgrade for a i7.

i got my system for £963

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping
Asus P6T Deluxe
Antec P193 Super Midi Tower
G.Skill 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 NQ PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz)
Antec CP 850
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB
Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal
Gtx 260 SLi
Scythe Kaze-Master 5.25" Fan Controller - Black

im just waitin on parts

which is £363 over his budget

He has a budget of £600 max.

 

[magicroundabout]

Killari that is really tempting!!
I have a slick tower already which I will keep, my psu says AC 230V I don't know if that's suitable but I'll find more on that later. I have a 70gig hard drive just to run the system on ( windows xp ) and 500gig external for all the good stuff. I have a cd/dvd rewriter and router, I have a 2 pro pci soundcards, mouse keyboard and monitor, so that's pretty much it I guess, only things I'd need are PSU, CPU cooler for when I wish to overclock it and a basic graphic card.

What about Graphics? Will you need a card?

Try and find out the make and model of your PSU

 

[dado]

£705 I'll see what I can do. Might have to pop a few items on ebay today. lol
Unless someone wants to buy my mazda rx8

No really, that's tempting, if I could get all that for £600 delivered then I would go for it.

 

[smelly]

which is £363 over his budget

He has a budget of £600 max.

beh! 600 max, u can always put a bit more on by saving up a little longer.

ebay, google shop. find the cheapest prices! you'll get well in your budget!

Godd luck with ur build

 

[dado]

What about Graphics? Will you need a card?

Try and find out the make and model of your PSU

I have no idea, I have opened the case and it says nothing. Besides I'd rather have the peace of mind in knowing that the old psu won't blow up and jeopardise everthing else which is new. lol
Regarding the graphic card, something basic with hdmi which killari has presented very kindly for me seems to be more than suitable enough.

 

[magicroundabout]

ok so you need PSU,CPU,GC,RAM,Cooler + MB

let's take a look

will you be overclocking?

 

[magicroundabout]

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £250.99

Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £164.99

OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) £62.99

Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366) £56.99

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £42.99

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB "Low Profile" DDR2 TV-Out/DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £34.49

Sub Total : £533.42
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £81.51
Total : £624.93

blew the budget by £25

 

[paulh]

just my 2p.

My mate uses cubase and reason a lot and it does not put too much stress on his old pentuim D. So a good c2d would do i'm sure, but if you using a lot of plugins i would go for a good quad just incase.

It would be a right pain if you found the c2d was no good and could have gone quad for not much more.

*** i think i7 might be a bit overkill for this ***

 

[killari]

Lol I couldn't be bothered revising (I mean who gives a toss about markov chains, branching processes and simple random walks anyways?) and decided to try another spec for you to closer meet your budget.

Half way through I realised you'll need a 64bit OS to be able to use 4+gb RAM and sadly it gets more expensive.

I have thought of some money saving ideas tho.

You could use your current OS and only put in 4GB of ram. Then when you can afford it splash out on vista x64. And if you're gonna do that might aswell leave out the CPU cooler until you get the new OS and overclock then. All in all gives you plenty of time to save up for extras.

I'd def recommend that RAM kit in my spec tho. Nice price and overclocks well too. The mobo + cpu + ram combo should overclock quite well and the PSU has enough juice to keep it going.

It does appear that my builds keep getting more and more expensive lol. My bad!

 

[magicroundabout]

ah missed the part of 32bit XP.

Seems like you need to save a bit more so you can buy x64 Vista to go with i7 and utalise all 6gb rather than 3.5gb

 

[killari]

ah missed the part of 32bit XP.

Seems like you need to save a bit more so you can buy x64 Vista to go with i7 and utalise all 6gb rather than 3.5gb

Good thing we picked out on it eh
Could have ended tragically with us spending hours trying to reach 600 then 2 weeks later men with baseball bats knocking on our doors

 

[magicroundabout]

Good thing we picked out on it eh

 

[cmndr_andi]

For what you are going to be doing, I think a q6700 should fit the bill very nicely - and come in at a price you can afford. Furthermore, with this cooler and motherboard you will be able to overclock it rather well.

 

[dado]

I will regret not buying the i7 if it turns out I need more power and I won't need more than 4gb memory so I won't need vista correct?

I asume i7 runs fine on windows xp home edition?

 

[dado]

Killari that graphic card Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4350 says HDMI yet doesn't have the neccesary HDMI connector on the back of it, what gives?