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Gaming / Windows Computer

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Hey guys i really need your help on this one because i can't decide what to get and also because i'm a performance fanatic. Here's my sitrep, i'm willing to spend 950 € on a setup that allows me to play the latest and future games at 1920x1080 in maximum detail. I also want a good performance on winrar, quickpar, firefox (30+ tabs), I/O file operations and windows 7 itself. For gaming purposes i've chosen the ATI HD5850 and in the future i want to buy another one and make a Crossfire X so the motherboard and PSU have to support that.
The indecision starts with the CPU, the i7 860 vs i7 920, there are so many threads out there and i still can't decide, one complements the other in so many ways that it's hard to choose. I'm planning on overclocking, although i don't alot about it, only know how to increase the multiplier and clock base in the bios and that's it, either way a good motherboard and cooler are required. As for memory i chose 4 gb dual channel for the 860 and 6 gb triple channel for the 920. I have some configurations in mind and i would appreciate some input and suggestions.

Common

THERMALTAKE Strike MX Fan or Cooler Master Centurion 590 or other (must fit the 5850)
Corsair TX-750W or other (do i really need the 750w for 5850 crossfire?)
Noctua NH-U12 other
ATI HD 5850


Socket 1156

Core i7 860
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4, UD5 or Asus P7P55D PRO, EVO or other
gskill ddr3 pc12800 ripjaws 4gb cl7 or other (the socket 1156 supports 1600mhz ?)

Socket 1366

Core i7 920
Asus P6T or other
GSkill PC12800 NQ Triple Channel 3 or 6Gb (the 3 gb is in case of budget limit)

I know the "best buy" doesn't really exist, but i would like something as closer as it can get to that. I will edit the or reply here if i remember any other factor to take into consideration.

More about : gaming windows computer

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Given the problems with general motherboard quality currently in LGA 1156, it seems wiser to go with i7 920.

You intend to crossfire a fairly strong card, and the X58 boards have full PCI-E bandwidth whereas the P55 boards do not.

And yes, you need something along the lines of the 750TX. Look for the Cooler Master 690 for the case.

What do you mean with problems in the motherboard quality of the LGA 1156? I've seen an article that demonstrated that the difference between 8x 8x and 16x 16x was very small, also in dual vs triple channel. What motherboard would you recommend for the 920 ?

The difference between X8 and x16 was small last year, on LGA 775 board with lesser cards such as 4850s. Times have changed, and higher end cards these days are beginning to need the bandwidth.

It's true that triple channel doesn't do much.

Here is a recent post I made that pretty much lays out my concerns with LGA 1156. Basically you have to spend so much to get a guaranteed quality board that it's best to get X58 instead.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274121-31-good-boards...
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Common

THERMALTAKE Strike MX Fan 23CM Preto - 47,75 €
Fonte Corsair TX-750W - 110,90€
Powercolor ATI HD5850 1GB DDR5 - 228€
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 - 56,75 €

Total: 443,4 €

Socket 1156

Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4 - 131,50 € or Asus P7P55D PRO 156,90€
Intel Core i7 860 - 249.8€
gskill ddr3 pc12800 ripjaws 4gb cl7 - 88,20€

Total: 494,9 € -> 938,3 €

Socket 1366

ASUS P6T - 207,40 € or Gigabyte EX58-UD4P - 210 €
INTEL CORE I7 920 D0 - 244,30 €
GSkill 6Gb DDR3 1600 MHZ - 114 €

Total: 565,7 € -> 1009,1 €

Does the 70 € difference makes up for it? Everything else i've chosen is compatible with each other? It would be troublesome to select a psu that was not enough, or a memory with mhz that are not supported, or a tower where the 5850 doesnt fit lol

I'll probably go with the 920, although i'll never use the 6 GB completly, but since i have full pci-e bandwidth i don't know if going for the HD5850 or the HD5870, either way i'm going to crossfire, so what would you suggest between these two? The 5850 is a lot more money-wise, but on the other hand you want the best :p  If i have a 5870 crossfire and an i7 920 at 4 ghz a 1000w PSU is still overkill right? The guy that is hooking me up can get me a Corsair CMPSU-1000HXEU 1000 W for 262 dollars, but i don't know if it is worth it. I've chosen the Thermaltake M9, will the 5870 fit there?

If you are going to buy two cards up front, just get the 4850. 5870 would be great as long as you buy a second within the first 8 months... that's my rule. If you don't buy a second card within that time you will likely never do so. You will just upgrade instead. Fot instance, my 4870 is only about a year old and I couldn't match it with a second now.

Besides being a gamer i'm a game programmer so having the hardware that supports directx 11 now is important. I think that maybe in those 8 months i will get the other one. So for the graphics card i have to choose between the HD 5850 or HD 5870 (fits in the M9 case?) ? I know the 5870 is not the best money wise, but i want high end so that i don't have to worry about my pc for 4-5 years and although the 5850 crossfire is good a 5870 crossfire is better :p  But the main question here is that from what i've read the 5870 crossfire and i7 920 @ 4 ghz consume together 800 watts (497 + 300 watts) so is the Corsair 1000w PSU overkill or not so far way from what i need?

Heh I meant 5850, not 4850.....sorry for the confusion.

I would be comfortable with a good PSU with 70A on the 12V rails, but if you want a bit more margin grab the Corsair 950TX. Your actual draw is not likely to exceed 600W, even with the OC.

As far as case room, I would recommend a CM case. 690 would suffice, but a Storm Sniper case would be better, or HAF.

Currently i'm leaning to:

ASUS ATI RAD HD5870 1GB DDR5 PCIE2 299,65 €
Cooler Noctua NH-U12P SE2 (i5 & i7 ready) 51,87 €
Intel® Core I7 920 2.6GHZ skt 1366 8mb Cache 222,65 €
Memória Kingston DDR3 HyperX 6GB 1600MHz DDR3 CL9 (9-9-9-27) DIMM (Kit de 3) 135,93 €
Motherboard Asus P6T DELUXE V2- INTEL X58 - 1333/1060 FSB - 6DDR3(Triple Channel) ATX 201,52 €
Disco Western Digital 500GB CAVIAR 32mb cache SATA2 3,5" 43,29 €
Disco Western Digital 500GB CAVIAR 32mb cache SATA2 3,5" 43,29 €

Total: 1051,85 €

Besides the M9 case and the 1000w PSU would you change anything from this config?
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