Three builds, which one to go for?

liam_abrown · 9 Feb 2010 at 00:10

GOAL = HD capturing and rendering at best and quickest time, with a tad bit of gaming in between. I will take speed over value for money if there shall be a significant difference in performance.

i5 720/750 (socket 1156) = £438

i7 860 (socket 1156) = £517

i7 920 (socket 1366) = £546

i5 720/750 build:
i5 720/750 processor = £133
Asus P7P55D mobo = £110
OCZ gold 4gb 1600MHz dual channel ram = £90
Coolmaster Hyper 212 heatsink = £20
Corsair TX 650W psu = £72
Artic cooling MX-2 thermal compound = £5
£438

i7 860 build:
i5 860 processor = £220
Asus P7P55D mobo = £110
OCZ gold 4gb 1600MHz dual channel ram = £90
Coolmaster Hyper 212 heatsink = £20
Corsair TX 650W psu = £72
Artic cooling MX-2 thermal compound = £5
£517

i7 920 build:
i7 920 processor = £210
ASROCK X58 Extreme mobo = £126
Patriot Viper 6gb 1600MHz triple channel ram = £100
Cogage ture spirit heatsink = £25
Corsair TX 650W psu = £72
Artic cooling MX-2 thermal compound = £5
£546

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 9 Feb 2010 at 00:20

I like the second build as it has a good mix of performance and power consumption but the third one has more RAM which should prove useful for rendering.

Also you should look at whether the applications you use are CUDA accelerated as you end up going for a cheaper build.

liam_abrown · 9 Feb 2010 at 00:35

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
I like the second build as it has a good mix of performance and power consumption but the third one has more RAM which should prove useful for rendering.

Also you should look at whether the applications you use are CUDA accelerated as you end up going for a cheaper build.

What does CUDA accelerated mean?

I use Blackmagic Media Express, Sony Vegas 9 and Adobe Premiere CS4 mainly

ghop · 9 Feb 2010 at 00:39

If you do a lot of rendering, I'd pay the extra for the i7

liam_abrown · 9 Feb 2010 at 00:48

ghop said:
If you do a lot of rendering, I'd pay the extra for the i7

There are two i7 build there. I take it you mean the more expensive one.

liam_abrown · 9 Feb 2010 at 03:28

I am changing the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3r mobo = £140 to ASROCK X58 Extreme after reading the comparison reviews from http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cheap-x58-motherboard,2368-18.html

It is £15 cheaper and has better over clocking options and slightly better performance.

AMG · 9 Feb 2010 at 04:38

I would go for the I7

althrough the i5/i7 crossover is a good balance too

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 9 Feb 2010 at 12:22

liam_abrown said:
What does CUDA accelerated mean?

I use Blackmagic Media Express, Sony Vegas 9 and Adobe Premiere CS4 mainly

CUDA means that you can use your graphics card to accelerate certain programmes.

I would really have a look at this as AFAIK CS4 has CUDA accleration.

Cookeh · 9 Feb 2010 at 16:49

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
CUDA means that you can use your graphics card to accelerate certain programmes.

I would really have a look at this as AFAIK CS4 has CUDA accleration.

It does indeed CAT

And Id go for i5 build tbh - but thats because Im stupidly cautious over money xD

liam_abrown · 9 Feb 2010 at 17:17

Cookeh said:
It does indeed CAT

And Id go for i5 build tbh - but thats because Im stupidly cautious over money xD

I know bugger all about CUDA so I will leave that lol! I obviously have a price limit but I am not going to settle for a suitable system as I always do i want it to excel my expectations so I think I will get the i7 920 build.