Can i improve this build?

[Guest]

I am going to order a new computer within a couple of weeks. I have done some research and landed on a preliminary build.

The biggest questions i have had are whether to choose socket 1366 or 1155 and whether to go for a faster RAM.

Premisis for asking advice :
1) I dont post a money limit, cause the prises are very different here in norway. But the proposed build will cost approx what i am willing to pay. I am willing to pay about 200$ more total if it actually will give me a peformance boost.
2) The build will be used mostly for gaming
3) I amusing a 24" LCD Samsung monitor at 1920*1200


The question is,

a) are there any obvious bottlenecks here?
b) Are there any other components i should choose that are in the same prizerange (maks 200@$ more expensive) that will give a better performance.
c) The CPU i7 950 is alot more expensive then the i7 920. Should i rather choose the 920 and spend the money on something else? (difference around 280£$)?

My personel biggest question is whether to go for a better RAM/main board. But my understanding is that a faster RAM PC16000 for instance will not give me an increase in performance due to limits on the mother board (FSB i belive) unless i overclock.

The build so far :

CPU : Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-950 1366, 3.066GHz, QuickPath 4.8GTs, 4x 256KB, Boxed
Main board : ASUS P6TD Deluxe, X58, Socket-1366 DDR3, ATX, SLI&CrossFireX, Firewire, 2xGbLAN, 3xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16
RAM : Corsair Dominator DHX+ DDR3 1600MHz 6GB - Kit w/3x 2GB XMS3 modules, CL8-8-8-24, for Core i7

PSU : Corsair TX 950W PSU - ATX 12V V2.3, 80 Plus Bronze, Standard, 6x 6+2pin PCIe, 12x SATA, 140mm Fan
Big Tower : Corsair Obsidian 800D Big Tower - Fans: 1x 140mm Front, 1x 140mm Bunn, 1x 140mm Bak, 4x SATA Hot-swap

Havent decided on a GPU, but will most likely be a single HD 5870 (which i can upgrade to 2X in crossfire when they become cheaper).

 

[_Marku]

With the all the top of the line equipment you're buying I doubt you will need to worry about bottlenecks.

The only thing I'd look into would be the power consumption of running in Crossfire, assuming you wish to do so, to prevent yourself from buying two expensive PSUs.

The difference in the CPUs is notable, but again it'd be up to you to choose, and with overclocking you could probably get the performance to be similar (then again if you overclocked the exterme...)

Personally I think the Corsair Obsidian is not worth the cost, pick something with a little more value (again, just personal opinion, if you want it go for it).

Any idea as to CPU cooler, HDDs, etc.

 

[Tridec]

I would never buy the I7 950, an i7 920 is nearly the same speed and will overclock just as far as the i7 950 can go, so put that money back in your pocket.

You could also go for OCZ 1600 7-7-7-24 platinum memory. I think it's cheaper and faster.

PSU could be less even when leaving room open for future upgrades, but if the diffrence between your PSU and one that is 150W less is less then twenty dollars I wouldn't bother changing.

Gr.

Dylan

 

[Guest]

Thx for the replies.

Considering i shall be using this build for gaming, does it matter if i choose a 1155 or 1366 platform?

 

[Tridec]

Well the 1156 platform only offers 16 PCI-e lanes, so that might be a limiting factor for Sli or crossfire. I took the X58 road mainly for future upgrades.

 

[rooseveltdon]

ummmm There are two ways to go with the budget you seem to have, first of mall do not waste money on a 950,the 920 is just as good and can easily be overclocked to the same speed (it works fine either way) i would get ddr 1333 rather than 1600 but i am cheap so don't mind me lol, the 5870 is fine as well, the 1156 will save you more money and give you pretty good performance as well, you can get the i7 860 which is a better cpu than the 920 (runs cooler and has better turbo boost and overclocking head room) a cheaper mobo and you save money on ram in the real world honestly speaking the difference won't be that great even the lack of multiple pci express slots at 16 lanes won't be a huge performance hit should you ever crossfire so in all honesty you will be fine either way as far as future upgradabilty don't listen to all these guys saying the 1366 is for futureproofness yes the first six coree cpu's might come out on the 1366 however they are going to cost A TON and many of these guys here waiting to buy them won't be able to the 1156 is the mainstram socket so i am pretty sure sooner or later the 6 core will come out there too but you will be fine either way as far as performance if you go with the 1366 stick to the i7 920 if you go with the 1156 and u want high performance then go with the i7 860