i7 $1600 budget gaming rig

[jkool55]

SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q

NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive)

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

SAPPHIRE 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

Antec TPQ-850 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

CORSAIR XMS3 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X3G1333C9

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD

MSI X58 Platinum LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920

What do you think of this build. I have noticed there are not a lot of LGA 1366 heat sink cpu coolers on newegg. do you think more will come out?
I have plans to possible get another 4870x2 in the future and run them xfire so for only 20 bucks more i can get the antec 1000w psu. I intend to use this for gaming on a 1900x1200 monitor (far cry 2, crysis, fallout 3, etc). Not a lot of plans to overclock, probably wont need to initially anyways, although i have heard the i7 are a little bit tricky to overclock if you dont know what you are doing. My budget is about 1600-1700 for the computer. I plan to build a few days after black friday, just to see if there are any price drops (in particular ddr3 ram, its very expensive now, but necessary with the i7 rig).

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I think http://www.moddersmart.com/ has some Noctua coolers with LGA 1366 mounting kits.

 

[jkool55]

it would be sweet if newegg carried them... and if they were sub 50 bucks...

 

[shortstuff_mt]

A buddy of mine just ordered a cooler from them and had it just as fast as the stuff he ordered from newegg. He said they were great. The item was in "shipped" status within 15 minutes.

 

[ragsters]

Try the 6401AALS instead of the 640AAKS.

 

[Horhe]

Get 6 GB of RAM. 3 gigs of RAM will bottleneck your system. I dare to say that it's more important than the graphic card for games and if you can't afford 6 GB of RAM and a Radeon 4870x2 you should get a cheaper card and more memory.

 

[rawsteel]

by my opinion i7 is great processor but isnt worth it at the moment. You can get almost same performance using almost 2x less money with current core 2 quads on Intel. Not to mention that no game will be bottlenecked at the moment from any of the quads, if you overclock it a little bit. So i7 really makes sense if you get the 965E version and overclock like hell.

Its not worth the so much more money for the system just for it. Especially for gaming.

 

[jkool55]

is it worth the money to get 6 gigs right now though? i want a system that i can easily upgrade in the future, and when ram prices go down, i can easily stick 3 more sticks of a gig each. do you think a p45, 4 gigs of ddr2 and a q9550 is a better purchase now? the price difference is only about 200 bucks if i go with the i7 build and i will have a rig that can be easily upgraded. if i get a p45, i could never go xfire.

 

[Huttfuzz]

If you are going to run 2 x 4870x2, pump up the PSU to 1000 watts. Play it on the safe side.

 

[Huttfuzz]

Also, stick with 6 GB now. I wouldn't recommend running 6 stick of DDR3, even if the system permits it. Take in note that your CPU is running the memory now instead of the MoBo chipset.

 

[jkool55]

ok i think i will either go with the 1000W or maybe kick it down to 750W. I havn't decided.

I have been deciding whether I should go with my p45 and q9550 build, but i think i may want to spend the extra 300 bucks and get the i7. i would like to use this system for a long time and not have to upgrade or rebuild. i plan to use it for at least 5 years. and if in 4 or so years i decide i need an upgrade, i can easily upgrade from the x58 mobo. i would have some trouble doing that from the p45.

huttfuzz, when you say the CPU is running the memory instead of the chipset, is that with all x58 boards? or just the MSI one that i am going to get. I dont really know much about this issue, but intuitively it sounds like not such a good thing. the max ram is like 24 gigs, but the i7 920 seems like it couldnt take 24 gigs if it has to run the memory as well as everything else.

 

[jkool55]

any reason to spend an extra 80 bucks on a mobo that can do sli and replace my 4870x2 with a gtx280?

 

[Huttfuzz]

Jkool, with i7 cpus, the memory controller is now included in the processor. Compared to the core2, which has an external memory controller ( the northbridge controls the mem, correct me if i'm wrong anyone).

6 sticks of ddr3 would run for sure but might force you to overclock less, and other issues like that. Also take in note that more memory sticks = higher power requierement.

The less Memory stick you have the better.

 

[V3NOM]

hmm, well the OTHER i7's coming out next year will have yet ANOTHER socket so >.< thanks alot intel.

 

[dugan]

hmm, well the OTHER i7's coming out next year will have yet ANOTHER socket so >.< thanks alot intel.

the new westmere chips will use the lga 1366, so calm down

 

[V3NOM]

well idk i have definitely seen somewhere core i7's using socket 11xx..

edit: i love google: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=2150024&enterthread=y&STARTPAGE=2

 

[jkool55]

well even if that is the case, i dont think the x58 mobo will be outdated soon. it seems like the lga 1366 will be used at least for another round of CPUs, i guess maybe its worth the extra 100 bucks, to get the 6 gigs of ram, even though i think the price is crazy compared to ddr2. but i think its better right now to get the i7 core. i will build over december, and i absolutely must do so because the only computer i have is a 5 year old laptop.

 

[jkool55]

although ill bet in the future there will be tri- 4 gig of ddr3 ram kits. i mean the x58 boards support up to 24 gigs of ram. and you can't reach that with only 2 gig sticks.

 

[jkool55]

what if i dont go with the 4870x2 and get a dif graphics card. maybe change the msi x58 to the asus so i have the option to sli?