[Solved] $1,200 i7-860 Gaming System

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Earlier today!

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, school work, surfing

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard (already have--Saitek Eclipse), Mouse (already have--Logitec MX518), Speakers (built into monitor, sound quality isn't a big deal)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: No preferences, just what's best for the buck

OVERCLOCKING: No plans to OC

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Not right now

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Probably just whatever works best once it's all put together, hopefully 1920x1080 because it's the monitor's preferred resolution

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Just purchased the lot earlier this afternoon, hope to be building it by Friday. I feel like it's the best I could buy for the price range I had. Please comment and let me know what you think! Here's the setup:

Case - Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129066

Power Supply - Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371015

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128405

Processor - Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115214

Memory (bought 2 for 8GB total) - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231189

Video Card - HIS H489F1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161276

Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136320

Optical Drive - Sony Optiarc DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model AD-7241S-0B LightScribe Support - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827118032

Monitor - Acer H213H bmid Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen 16:9 LCD Monitor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009157

TOTAL COST: $1,200.50

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You bought the RAM already? They aren't good for their price, you could of gotten 1333mhz CL7 RAM at the same price or like 2 dollars more.

Switch to a samsung spinpoint f3 hard drive.

Your mobo doesn't allow you to sli/crossfire in the future, because it's x16 x4. If you don't care about crossfire/sli in the future, then you're fine. If you do care, switch the mobo to P55-UD4P

why aren't you overclocking? you benefit from overclocking in games, by getting more fps, although turbo boost may be fine, but manual overclock is always better.

also if you do plan on crossfire/sli later, then the power supply you picked isn't good because it only has one 6-pin connector and one 6+2pin connector. you need to get a power supply that has two 6pin connectors with two 6+2pin connectors, that's if you plan on crossfire/sli in future

also, you forgot the operating system.

Message edited by overshocks on 11-05-2009 at 01:16:47 AM

------------------------------ You can select me as Best Answer
e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks

I think that looks like a really good build. Only thing I can think is that I would've picked up either a Samsung Spinpoint F3 500 GB (single-platter) drive or Western Digital Caviar Black 640 GB (320 GB dual platter design). Both would've been faster than the one you bought. But really, that's probably not a big deal. Have fun building.

------------------------------ i7 920 @ 3.2 GHz w/Cooler Master V8,
OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600 MHz 8-8-8-24, Sapphire Radeon HD 4870X2,
Samsung Spinpoint F3 500 GB, Corsair HX1000 Watt PSU,
Intel DX58SO, Cooler Master Storm Sniper mid-tower, Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Reply to mortonww

^i don't think repetition is needed in this case

------------------------------ You can select me as Best Answer
e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks

I had navigated away from the page before I hit "submit". You just posted before me.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ i7 920 @ 3.2 GHz w/Cooler Master V8,
OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600 MHz 8-8-8-24, Sapphire Radeon HD 4870X2,
Samsung Spinpoint F3 500 GB, Corsair HX1000 Watt PSU,
Intel DX58SO, Cooler Master Storm Sniper mid-tower, Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Reply to mortonww

mortonww wrote :

I had navigated away from the page before I hit "submit". You just posted before me.

okay then. you really think the build looks good?

he never even mentioned an operating system, so I'm assuming he doesn't have one

Message edited by overshocks on 11-05-2009 at 01:18:55 AM

------------------------------ You can select me as Best Answer
e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks

I don't really care about the future SLI/Crossfire. The features of the mobo do say "Support ATI CrossFireX for ultimate graphics performance;" but like I said, not a big deal. I'll probably just purchase a new graphics card and sell the old 4870 when I decide I need an upgrade.

The RAM sounded pretty solid to me. However, I'm not a hardware junkie by any means. Why would '1333MHz CL7' be better than what I got? Is mine CL8? (EDIT: Ah, CL7 means 7-7-7 timings and CL8 is 8-8-8. How much of a difference will this make?)

The HDD I also thought was pretty solid, if I had your guys' input earlier today I might've gone with the Spinpoint F3 or WD Caviar Black. How big of a difference do those make compared to the 500GB WD I got?

(EDIT: And I do have a copy of Windows 7 Pro... Rec'd it through my university for free!)

Message edited by bdub21 on 11-05-2009 at 01:22:37 AM

Reply to bdub21

One more thing... Do you think I'll need a cooler for the CPU or will the included heatsink/fan work? I don't plan to OC, but I would like to get the best performance possible.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to bdub21

I think an aftermarket cooler should always be considered over a stock one, even without OCing.

Reply to Onyx2291

bdub21 wrote :

One more thing... Do you think I'll need a cooler for the CPU or will the included heatsink/fan work? I don't plan to OC, but I would like to get the best performance possible.

There are some good ones that are pretty cheap. Like this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

with the i5 bracket:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

That's around $60 and should do an excellent job of cooling your CPU should you decide to overclock in the future as a completely free way to upgrade.

Better to have it now than have to remove your motherboard and install it later.

But if you're definitely sure that you'll never overclock, the stock heatsink will suffice. And it will probably be okay for a very mild overclock, too.

------------------------------ i7 920 @ 3.2 GHz w/Cooler Master V8,
OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600 MHz 8-8-8-24, Sapphire Radeon HD 4870X2,
Samsung Spinpoint F3 500 GB, Corsair HX1000 Watt PSU,
Intel DX58SO, Cooler Master Storm Sniper mid-tower, Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Reply to mortonww

^You are funny, he said he's not overclocking already, why you suggesting such an expensive heatsink? He just needs an aftermarket one that's cheap and does the job better than the stock one.

To OP: Get this heatsink, it's cheap and decent. Hyper 212 Plus , get it on newegg, it's 30 dollars. The i7 860 have Turbo Boost, so it overclocks a little by itself, so this heatsink is the perfect match for you.

"The RAM sounded pretty solid to me. However, I'm not a hardware junkie by any means. Why would '1333MHz CL7' be better than what I got? Is mine CL8? (EDIT: Ah, CL7 means 7-7-7 timings and CL8 is 8-8-8. How much of a difference will this make?) "

^Well, not much of a difference, since you got it already there's no point. Basically the CL7 is the same price offering better performance (lower latencies, faster bandwidth, but just a little)

"The HDD I also thought was pretty solid, if I had your guys' input earlier today I might've gone with the Spinpoint F3 or WD Caviar Black. How big of a difference do those make compared to the 500GB WD I got? "

Not a big difference, just a small difference, the Spinspoint f3 is a faster hard drive than the WD Caviar Black, and it's cheaper. Since you bought it already, it's pointless.

Good luck on your build!

Message edited by overshocks on 11-05-2009 at 03:49:11 AM

------------------------------ You can select me as Best Answer
e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks

Well that puts a little damper on my day but it sounds like I wouldn't notice any of this anyway. It's still going to be a kickass upgrade from my current AMD Athlon 3200+, 1GB RAM, and GeForce 6800.

I think I'm probably going to just stick with the stock heatsink/fan for the processor. The order has already shipped and I'd hate to wait another day to boot it all up for the aftermarket heatsink!

Reply to bdub21

Quote :

^You are funny, he said he's not overclocking already, why you suggesting such an expensive heatsink? He just needs an aftermarket one that's cheap and does the job better than the stock one.

In the context of $1200 + dollars, a $30 difference in heatsinks is not "such an expensive" upgrade. I didn't plan to overclock when I first built, but 3 months later I completely changed my mind and ended up having to take my motherboard out, fool with thermal compound, then put everything back in place.

To be completely honest, I didn't really have much knowledge of the Hyper 212, though, lol.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ i7 920 @ 3.2 GHz w/Cooler Master V8,
OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600 MHz 8-8-8-24, Sapphire Radeon HD 4870X2,
Samsung Spinpoint F3 500 GB, Corsair HX1000 Watt PSU,
Intel DX58SO, Cooler Master Storm Sniper mid-tower, Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Reply to mortonww

So I talked to a Newegg guy and he said I could refuse the package and be refunded for the whole deal or just return the components in question without opening them for free as well.

I may or may not do this. I am spending $1,200 on this thing so I'd like to get the best bang for the buck. If I do return I plan on getting the following in place of the currently listed components:

Faster Ram - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231276

Faster HDD - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152181

Different mobo (in case I decide to Crossfire/SLI) - GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128400

And also a more powerful PSU (once again in case I Crossfire/SLI). However, I don't really know how powerful the PSU would have to be, so I was hoping to get some input from you guys on that. I need a PSU that's a good price, has 2x 6-pin and 2x 6+2-pin connectors, and is powerful to run my system with an additional graphics card. (EDIT: The Newegg PSU calculator says I would need a 826W PSU! I specified the i7 processor, high-end motherboard, 4890 series GPU, 8GB's of DDR3 RAM, DVD-RW drive, and a 7200rpm HDD. Here's the link to the PSU calculator: http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html)

Also I'll probably buy the Hyper 212 Plus heatsink no matter what.

Message edited by bdub21 on 11-05-2009 at 05:19:00 AM

Reply to bdub21

Would this PSU (750W) work?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371026

Reply to bdub21

mortonww wrote :

Quote :

^You are funny, he said he's not overclocking already, why you suggesting such an expensive heatsink? He just needs an aftermarket one that's cheap and does the job better than the stock one.

In the context of $1200 + dollars, a $30 difference in heatsinks is not "such an expensive" upgrade. I didn't plan to overclock when I first built, but 3 months later I completely changed my mind and ended up having to take my motherboard out, fool with thermal compound, then put everything back in place.

To be completely honest, I didn't really have much knowledge of the Hyper 212, though, lol.

Check the performance of your suggested heatsink against hyper 212 plus, I'm sure they perform 1-3C temperature by each other. i've read a lot of good reviews on the hyper 212 plus.

------------------------------ You can select me as Best Answer
e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks

if you can refund your items, that would be great, make sure they don't charge you a 15% restocking fee.

hey man, good choice on the UD4P which I suggested earlier, it's always good to have an option to sli/crossfire in the future.

anyways, get the power supply 750W instead of your 650W, because this one allows you to crossfire/sli in future(750W has 2x 6pin connectors + 2x 6+2pin connectors, that's why):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371026

by the way, don't trust the newegg calculator, trust me.
750W is good enough for you to sli/crossfire, and even overclock your cpu and video cards.

everything looks good now.

Message edited by overshocks on 11-05-2009 at 07:09:28 AM

------------------------------ You can select me as Best Answer
e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks

Awesome thanks for the good input guys. I posted threads about this setup on Anandtech and another forum and got only a few replies over a long period of time, and you all also had better advice.

And by the way overshocks, when I talked to them earlier tonight they said just to call them up and organize the refund. As long as I haven't opened the packages they said there would be no restocking fee.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by bdub21 on 11-05-2009 at 07:49:54 AM

Reply to bdub21

Best answer

bdub21 wrote :

Awesome thanks for the good input guys. I posted threads about this setup on Anandtech and another forum and got only a few replies over a long period of time, and you all also had better advice.

And by the way overshocks, when I talked to them earlier tonight they said just to call them up and organize the refund. As long as I haven't opened the packages they said there would be no restocking fee.

that's great..

i think you are pretty much done.

good luck on your build

Message edited by overshocks on 11-05-2009 at 07:51:44 AM

------------------------------ You can select me as Best Answer
e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks

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Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - [Solved] $1,200 i7-860 Gaming System