New System c£1k

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23 Nov 2005
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ok basically got the above to spend but willing to wait if new tech is coming out soon (p55 chipset....) worth me waiting for "future proofing" as best ican or sod it and just buy it! looking to get a couple of years out of the box will be gaming but mainly editing pics etc.

i7 on an x58 or wait till p55 new socket comes out?

cheers
 
i just read that the p55 with i5 processors is gonna be stripped of its third channel memory :S
surely it'lll perform better with DDR3?

I was reading that the p55 chipset is just a stripped out version, making it cheaper...doubt it'll be faster.
Someone correct me if im wrong tho, just done a lil bit of reading
 
If wife would let me !. id get this.

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £242.98

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + World In Conflict PC Game £205.99

Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £162.99

Coolermaster Storm 'Sniper' Gamer Case - Black (No PSU) £116.99

Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXUK) £95.99

OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) £78.99

Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ) £64.99

Pioneer DVR-217FBK 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99

Sub Total : £858.18
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £130.60
Total : £1,001.28

& use win 7 RC for now. Untill release.
 
Ahh, appeasing the wife changes things slightly. Getting a more subtle case would be good, one of the lian li ideally. Quiet would also be useful if the two are ever to be in the same room, so a cpu cooler + overclock is much improved over the stock cooler. I'm unsure about the 4870x2, what resolution do you play games on? Dropping that to a single 4890, possibly with an aftermarket cooler is worth considering.

Especially as she'll insist on seeing the initial cost, but just wont notice if you add a second 4890 later on. Two 4890s are faster than the 4870x2 :)

Fairly solid spec otherwise. I'd spend more on ram and less on graphics card, and probably a bit more on motherboard. But I'm not a gamer, and it looks like you are. Consider phenom 2, it performs very similarly in games at much lower cost, meaning money spared for cooling & overclocking, more impressive graphics cards, and perhaps an ssd.
 
Ahh, appeasing the wife changes things slightly. Getting a more subtle case would be good, one of the lian li ideally. Quiet would also be useful if the two are ever to be in the same room, so a cpu cooler + overclock is much improved over the stock cooler. I'm unsure about the 4870x2, what resolution do you play games on? Dropping that to a single 4890, possibly with an aftermarket cooler is worth considering.

Especially as she'll insist on seeing the initial cost, but just wont notice if you add a second 4890 later on. Two 4890s are faster than the 4870x2 :)

Fairly solid spec otherwise. I'd spend more on ram and less on graphics card, and probably a bit more on motherboard. But I'm not a gamer, and it looks like you are. Consider phenom 2, it performs very similarly in games at much lower cost, meaning money spared for cooling & overclocking, more impressive graphics cards, and perhaps an ssd.

Erm, i aint the OP, but im sure he can take your advice anyway :)
 
i just read that the p55 with i5 processors is gonna be stripped of its third channel memory :S
surely it'lll perform better with DDR3?

I was reading that the p55 chipset is just a stripped out version, making it cheaper...doubt it'll be faster.
Someone correct me if im wrong tho, just done a lil bit of reading

The i5s have a dual channel DDR3 memory controller, DDR3 and triple channel are not the same thing (The previous intel 5000 series server chipsets had quad channel DDR2 while the desktops had dual channel DDR2).

The i5 platform will have very similar gaming performance to the i7 platform, the memory controller will make little difference. The i5 motherbaords will be at least £50 cheaper than the i7 ones.
The only place where the i7 should have a significant win over the i5 is in SLI or crossfire setups, where it's superior PCIe configuration will shine.
 
The only place where the i7 should have a significant win over the i5 is in SLI or crossfire setups, where it's superior PCIe configuration will shine.

And in raw number crunching, and generally anything that appreciates high memory bandwidth. Personally I feel the whole point to the processor is number crunching, so am not even slightly tempted by a slower one.
 
hehe cheers for you helps folks :) its not the misses problem she will just have to deal with it haha!

i think its going to be the 17 but what about the new socket coming out soon for the new breed of i CPUs? would it be better to wait?

Shane
 
Well I was trying to suggest that the i5 LGA1156 platform is worth waiting for, yes the i7 platform is stronger in some areas, but if you are going to pair it with a single GPU, as far as gaming is concerned, the i5 will have plenty of power and save you money compared to the i7.
 
is the i7 coming on LGA1156?

shane

Now that's a good question, I believe that two of the LGA1156 processors will confusingly be described as i7s, Core i7 870 2.93GHz and Core i7 860 2.80GHz. Initially, there will only be one LGA1156 processor labeled as an i5, the Core i5 750 2.66GHz.

I'm still in the habit of calling the LGA1366 CPUs i7s and the LGA1156 CPUs i5s. The reason for this, is that for me an i7 has the triple channel memory controller and hyperthreading. Non of the LGA1156 CPUs will have triple channel memory (not enough CPU pins, hence seperate socket), and the i5 750 will not support Hyperthreading.
 
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The i5s have a dual channel DDR3 memory controller, DDR3 and triple channel are not the same thing (The previous intel 5000 series server chipsets had quad channel DDR2 while the desktops had dual channel DDR2).

The i5 platform will have very similar gaming performance to the i7 platform, the memory controller will make little difference. The i5 motherbaords will be at least £50 cheaper than the i7 ones.
The only place where the i7 should have a significant win over the i5 is in SLI or crossfire setups, where it's superior PCIe configuration will shine.

But there also wont be a performance increase? right? :p
 
But there also wont be a performance increase? right? :p

Hmm, kind of yes and no.

clock for clock, with turbo mode disabled, the LGA1366 CPUs will be as fast or faster than the LGA1156s (depending on the benchmark).

However, the LGA1156s have higher turbo steps, so when no overclocking is performed, their turbo modes will see them leapfrog the LGA1366s in CPU core speed (slightly).

Also it is possible that the CPU pricing will be such that if you aren't overclocking, you will get more GHz for your money than with the LGA1366s.

LGA1156 CPUs may also overclock further than LGA1366 CPUs due to only having to support dual channel memory, but I believe, that the LGA1156 CPUs also have an on die 16 way PCIe2 controller, so this might mitigate the heat/power advantage of the dual channel controller. You'll have to wait for the benchies to know.

If you are running a i7 920 at 4GHz, I don't think you'll be looking in envy at any LGA1156 owner, except that they have more cash left in their pocket.
 
i think i will just bite the bullet, i hope to get about 2 years from this PC if i get that ill be happy. think i will go for the i7 tomorrow :O
 
That is an excellent summary from HazardO.

I would not wait for P55 either. Further, when updating my computer next year, it will almost certainly be to X58 and not to P55.
 
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