Powerful General Purpose Desktop i7-930

[atek3]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: asap.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: general purpose, transcoding, some gaming, sharing media

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitors, speakers, OS, CPU, GPU, SSD

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com or microcenter

OVERCLOCKING: In the future, yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I've got the i7-930 ($199 microcenter FTW), Radeon 5850, and Intel X18-M G1 80gb. I just need to fill it out. Definitely want mobo supporting USB 3.0

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CPU i7-930

Mobo
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM don't know

GPU Radeon 5850

PSU don't know

Case considering:
COOLER MASTER ELITE 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119161

or

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129042

Hard drive
would like a good deal on a 1 Tb or 1.5 Tb drive

SSD

Intel X18-M G1 80gb

DVD drive

don't know

802.11n networking device

don't know


Thanks

 

[shortstuff_mt]

G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7T-6GBPI - Retail $179.99

Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $119.95

Either case would work fine. I, personally, would pick the Antec 300.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $89.99

SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223C - OEM $19.99

D-Link DWA-552 IEEE 802.11g, IEEE802.11n Draft 2.0 32-bit PCI Xtreme Desktop Adapter Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA, WPA2) - Retail $59.98 - $20 gift card

 

[atek3]

A few questions.

I've seen a number of different DDR3 recommendations, why the G.Skill over the cheaper DD3 kits?

I see OCZ DDR3 1600 priced in the $140 range and patriot DDR3 1600 in the $150 range.

Thanks,
atek3

 

[Silmarunya]

There's no reason to get the PI if you can get OCZ or Patriot cheaper. They're just as good as G.Skill and the real world difference between RAM sets is unnoticeable. So get the cheaper ones by all means.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The difference in price comes down to the timings and the voltage required to get the rated speed and timings. The PI Black RAM is as good as it gets. It only requires 1.5v for CAS 7 timings at 1600MHz. Show me an OCZ or Patriot kit that can do the same thing.

 

[atek3]

is the difference between CAS 7 and CAS 8 noticeable to a non-power user?

also, will that G.Skill kit fit under my Hyper 212 Plus?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

You can raise the fan up a little on the Hyper 212+ to clear the RAM heatsinks. It won't really be needed with 6GB, though, because with LGA 1366 systems you use the RAM slots starting with the one further away from the CPU.

 

[atek3]

Best answer selected by atek3.

 

[tauro91]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231304

 

[atek3]

Final Specs.

WL ADAPTER ASUS|PCE-N13 R
Asus wireless-N adapter

DVD BRN ASUS | DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS% - OEM
Asus DVD burner

WL ANTENNA ROSEWILL|RNX-A5-EX R -
rosewill wifi antenna

CPU THERMPASTE|AS5-3.5G % - OEM
arctic silver paste

MEM 2Gx3|GSKILL F3-12800CL7T-6GBPI -
G-skill pi

PSU ANTEC|TP-650 650W RT -
antec truepower 650W (I probably won't overclock or go crossfire, so a 750W is way overkill)

HDD 1.5T|SAMSUNG HD154UI 32M % -
Samsung EcoGreen got very good reviews (don't mind the performance penalty as all my apps will be on an SSD)

CASE ANTEC|THREE HUNDRED ILLUSION R -


ACC HDD BYTECC| BRACKET-35225 RT -
Adapter for the SSD

MB GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R -
Kind of bummed about this selection...unfortunately, I only had two choices... this or the $300 Asus, oh well.

Core i7-930
Got a crazy deal, $199. Pretty excited about this chip... quite the performance bump from my old Athlon XP 2600+...

Radeon 5850
Got a crazy deal on it... $228.

Hyper 212+ cooler
can't beat it for $30

 

[atek3]

The build was pretty straightforward... waiting for the UPS guy to bring the case (the last part) was a pain, but I did breadbox it beforehand to make sure all the parts worked.

I haven't done much testing yet, but it got 15514 3DMark Vantage points... which is at the upper end of stock i7-930+5850's... so I'm very happy.

Also, it's the fastest computer I've ever used...almost everything is near instantaneous. I'm happy.