Tom's Hardware > Forum > Homebuilt Systems > New System Build > a bit of advice please
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dugan   11-12-2008 at 12:13:50 AM

i plan on building a core i7 computer next month and was wondering a couple of things.

I am on a tight budget of around 2000 give or take 100 or so and the computer would be mostly for gaming

first question, i plan on getting a 4870 1 gig for the graphics card. would it be smarted to go with the i7 920 if i plan to upgrade to crossfire in a couple of years. and for crossfire, is it required to have the same type of video card, like do you have to have the same brand, and do you have to have the same model, like could i have a 4870 and a 4850, or just 2 4870s.

also, i plan on upgrading the entire computer in a couple of years, so would it be smarted to go with the i7 right now so i dont have to upgrade the mobo, psu, case, monitor ect. I would only be upgrading ram, processor, or graphics cards. Would save me more to buy a core 2 quad right now?

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megamanx00   11-12-2008 at 12:46:50 AM
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Generally whenever Intel launches a new socket the first chipset to support it has a very short lifespan. That said I wouldn't count on great upgrade options if you buy one of the X58 boards beyond the CPUs available shortly after launch. You can crossfire a 4870 card with another 4800 series card, like say the 4850 or a 4870X2, but don't expect to be able to crossfire it with a future generation card like say a 5000 series card.

The i7s will officially launch soon and I expect for the prices of the Q9000 series processors to drop shortly afterward. If you plan on buying alot of power hungry parts in the future get a PSU that can handle that. A good PSU today should have no problem powering the technology of tomorrow, so long as you're not pushing the wattage anyway ;). As for the RAM you can get DDR3 RAM now if you're worried about being able to use your RAM in the future, but you need to consider how fast RAM technology has evloved. Ask yourself this, shure if you had built a high end system a few years ago with 1GB (2x512MB) or 2GB (4x512MB) of then newly launched DDR2 533, you could use that same RAM to build a new system today, but would you want to or would you rather just get new RAM?

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bobbknight   11-12-2008 at 01:24:31 AM
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I would not build a Nehalem system for at least 6 months after it's into.
I vote for new ram.

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Proximon   11-12-2008 at 01:31:03 AM
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Well, someone has to buy them.... better him than me ;)

I have a good friend that bought a 790i, a QX9775, and 3 GTX 280s, 3 weeks ago without consulting me.

It's all very good for the economy :p

Message quoted 1 times
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ausch30   11-12-2008 at 01:41:00 AM
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Proximon wrote :

Well, someone has to buy them.... better him than me ;)

I have a good friend that bought a 790i, a QX9775, and 3 GTX 280s, 3 weeks ago without consulting me.

It's all very good for the economy :p


How long did it take you to stop laughing? I still am :lol:

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