I7 build for enginnring student? :) 930 vs. 860

cgroom · Apr 20, 2010

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: (Soon, unless waiting is beneficial.)

BUDGET RANGE: ($600-850 college is expensive. :/ )

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: (Basic very dependable computer but not granny's computer. I’m an engineering student so I will be doing a little bit of matlab, visual based programming like labview, and solid works (CAD) computer modeling(not to ex-stream), and the basic stuff like surfing the internet.)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: (keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: (newegg.com, whereever.com, frys.com, microcenter.com )

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: (San Fransisco, CA. USA)

PARTS PREFERENCES: (I7-930 or I7-860(same price), I've heard ASUS is the best for Mobos?? 3Gbs vs. 6Gb/s hard drive, I'm open for suggestions, windows7 64)

OVERCLOCKING: No to maybe. SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No to maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: (2048x1152 Dell 23" http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-7641)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: ( I would like a quiet dependable PC. As far as components I was going to have 2 routs (A) socket 1366(i7-930) or (B) socket 1156(I7-860), they're both basically the same price. If i go the I7-860 rout then I would have the option to go 6Gb/s h-d drive is it worth it? How did I do on my video card, and ram for each? 2 channel vs. 3 channel, I'm open to any suggestions to deals or if another product will work better )

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(A)--- The 1366 way X58:

■ -(CPU) I7-930 2.8GHz $199 WOW? 20 from microcenter
http://www.microceter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0331303

■ -(Mobo) Asus P6T-SE $185 from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131386

■ -(Hard Drive) WD-640GB WD6401AALS $75 from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

■ -(Ram) G.SKILL 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) $170 from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231223

■ -(Video Card) EVGA GeForce 9800GT 1024MB $89 from microcenter
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0328201

■ -(Power Supply) Corsair 750W $90 from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

■ -(Case) $70 from where ever…
Total= $809

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(B)--- The 1156 way:

■ -(CPU) I7-860 2.8 GHz $230 from microcenter
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0317378

■ -(Mobo)(1) Asus P7P55D $150 newegg (b/c basic and win 7 ready??)
------ or------
-(Mobo)(2) Asus P7P55D-E /or pro $190/145 newegg (b/c SATA 6Gb/s, is it worth it ??)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131621&cm_re=p7p55d-_-13-131-621-_-Product
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0317378

■ -(Hard Drive)(1)WD-640GB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s $75 from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
------ or------
-(Hard Drive)(or)WD-640GB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s $80 from newegg I heard it's loud?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136544

■ -(Ram) G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $110from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

■ -(Video Card) EVGA GeForce 9800GT 1024MB $89 from microcenter
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0328201

■ -(Power Supply) Corsair 750W $90 from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

■ -(Case) $70 from where ever…
total $815-850 ish

THANK YOU!!!!!!

gkay09 · Apr 20, 2010

^ I would choose the i7 860 for your usage...Direct head-on at stock speeds, the 860 would slightly be better than the 930 and also the 860 has better turbo boost...So will perform better...And most importantly it is a 95W TDP compared to the 130W of the 930...So less heat, less power consumption...

Mobo - why you need the PRO ? Based on your requirements and usage, you will most probably not be adding another card in SLI or crossfire...
Save money and get this...
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412

And I dont think the current SATA 6GB/s HDDs are worth it...
Get the Samsung F3 500GB - It is faster than the WD Black and is more efficient and also noise should be low as it just has a single 500GB platter - hence less moving parts...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181&Tpk=Samsung%20F3%20500gb

CASE - Antec 300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042&cm_re=antec_300-_-11-129-042-_-Product

PSU - 750W ? IMO a quality 500-550W would suffice...It can handle even the HD 5870
Antec EA 500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.359965

Graphics card - HD 5670 would be a good option...very low power consumption and good performance...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161319

dmen · Apr 20, 2010

You should really consider an AMD Phenom II 965.
It fits much better in your budget.

gkay09 · Apr 20, 2010

^ The Phenom 965 is good, but for the OP's usage, even the i5 750 would beat the Phenom 965 at stock speeds...And also as the OP will not spending much on the graphics card, mobo and PSU, the i7 will fit in the budget as you can see with the changes that I have suggested...

andrewcutter · Apr 20, 2010

Messa thinks the 930 is the way to go... Simply because this is one of the circumstances where the extra ram counts. ....... filling 12 is ideal. if money prob then you can fill 3 now and fil 3 later..XD

andrewcutter · Apr 20, 2010

forgot to mention that all the uses you have quoted will give faster results with more ram

cgroom · Apr 20, 2010

gkay09 :

nicely put gkay09.. but you would still go with 860 even if I can get the 930 for the same price..and the dual channel over 3 channel ram.. (both builds would be within $20 of each other and still under the $850 bugget.) Also I'm going to be doing some CAD, some graphics intense, computer modeling I wouldn't mind spending a little more to get the quality parts, that is a good video card, 9800 gt is just over rated? and you will still recommend that hard drive even though it has 16 MB of cache, or does that not matter.. that does look like a better priced Mobo GIGABYTE would be a better choice then Asus. I don't want to have to upgrade my computer for at least 4 years and I wouldn't mind spending a little more to get more powerful parts just in case. so i guess it would be ok to go between $800-900
also is that the correct ram that I chose , and forgot to mention that i will be watching some blue rays sometime.

shortstuff_mt · Apr 20, 2010

I completely agree with gkay09's suggestions. The i7 860 is the way to go. If you have a little room in the budget, pick up another 4GB of RAM for a total of 8GB.

The cache size on a HD has very little effect on the drive speed. The reason the Samsung drive is faster is because it has higher data density. Having more data crammed in the same space allows the drive to read more data at a time.

I would spend an extra $5 on your RAM if you go with the i7 860 system and get CAS 7 instead of CAS 9 RAM.

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM $114.99

banthracis · Apr 20, 2010

if 930 is same price, then go 930. The benefits of triple channel memory may make an impact at your level, and the two processors are very close performing.

Cache size in a HD has very little affect on performance.

If you stick with 1156, Gigabyte boards currently have a horrible USB 3.0/SATA 6.0 implementation. They do it by taking PCIE lanes, exacerbating the platforms already low PCIE lane issues.

You can use this non xfire version of the Asus instead. $154.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131620&cm_re=asus_usb_3-_-13-131-620-_-Product

Case PSU are fine.

Y not CUDA? I'd think for your purposes you'd want that capability.

shortstuff_mt · Apr 20, 2010

The 860's 400MHz higher turbo mode will make it faster than the slight gains from triple channel RAM on the 930 system. I would still pick the 860 over the 930 for the OP's intended use.

The USB 3.0/SATA 6.0 implementation doesn't really matter for a single GPU system. The difference between 16x and 8x is less than 4%.

banthracis · Apr 20, 2010

Normally I'd recommend 860, but since the 930 build is actually cheaper, long as the OP is willing to OC, (3.6 is a nice easy one, and you're not gonna have turbo enabled anyway) the 930 would be better in this case.

Re the PCI lane issue, for gaming I'd agree Short it's a non issue. For industrial application involving CUDA, very much an issue since many applications will saturate the bandwidth. Would be nice if the OP clarified as to whether CUDA is needed.

geek007 · Apr 20, 2010

You should spend some of that money on your girlfriend

cgroom · Apr 20, 2010

I'm pretty sure I don't want to O C it, the 2.8 ghz hyperthreaded quad core in both the 930 and 860 is more then enough power, then I would start to worry about dependability and heat issues. the 930 build is only $15 more. If, lets say they where the same price. For the 860 The slightly faster ram capability and the slightly faster power boost, would be better then the 930 3 channel ram and it's features.?

in the 930 I would have 6 gigs of ram and the 860 I would have 4 gigs(is it really worth putting in an odd number of ram in dual channel architecture).

I don't think I would need CUDA, (but little do I know of it). I will being doing low level Electrical engineering programing, like machine code, a little bit of C, some matlab, nothing like an ex-stream physics application(I wont be modeling the solar system). but I will be using solid works (resource intense CAD software) and LABview (a visual based programing language that takes up some resources including video).

would the 9800 GT that I have be enough or is there something newer and better for the same price. under $125, and would the gigabit be better then the asus that I have?

P55(1156) vs. X58(1366) AHHHH!!?

cgroom · Apr 20, 2010

geek007 :

ok? my girlfriend would probably use it.. so I it would be.. so thanks?

shortstuff_mt · Apr 20, 2010

Like I said, I would go with the LGA 1156 system and up the RAM to 8GB. I recently built a system for an engineer who uses the same applications you will be using. I used a slightly overclocked i7 860 (I was even able to keep turbo turned on and boost the max turbo speed up to 3.8GHz). I also used 8GB of RAM. My customer is VERY happy with the results.

banthracis · Apr 20, 2010

The reason I'm asking about CUDA is that MATLAB is one of the definitive programs that uses CUDA. In addition, some CAD programs, (autocad for example) also benefit from CUDA.

You should look into your needs and CUDA some more and figure out exactly what you're looking for in your PC.

GPU wise your 9800gt is fine. Full list of CUDA enabled GPU's here.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_gpus.html

The 860 vs 930 issue isn't a big one. Neither will have a noticeable difference on performance.

Unlike gaming, with calculations/rendering these programs will utilize all the resources available. You should OC as there is a noticeable difference.

geek007 · Apr 20, 2010

cgroom :

I was thinking more along the lines of Tiffanys

cgroom · Apr 20, 2010

so if the 1156 was the choice, what mobo would be best: they're both the same price-ish
--asus: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131404
--or gigabit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID

and would the video card that I chose work for what i need with my 23" high resolution monitor, or is that old tech?:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0328201

shortstuff_mt · Apr 20, 2010

The motherboard question really depends on what options you want the board to have. The Asus board doesn't have SATA 6Gb/s or USB 3.0. If that doesn't matter to you then flip a coin. Asus and Gigabyte both make nice boards. I tend to use Gigabyte more than Asus lately, but you can't really go wrong with either manufacturer.

cgroom · Apr 20, 2010

So I guess Basically what I'm hearing is for my application(no to very little over clocking. no duel video cards) I really wont see the difference between the 860 and the 930. And that SATA 6Gb/s is not developed enough to see any differences, Gigabyte and asus are both really good Mobos. so basically both my builds are pretty much the same?

But use 8 gigs for 860. My video card is fine 9800 GT(for watching blue rays and the resource hog, visual based programing, with my 2048x1152 Dell 23") .. over the HD 5670 from gkay09?

gkay09 · Apr 21, 2010

^ Few days before I had another forum member who had some what similar kind of requirements and built the PC with i7 860...He had researched a lot about the CPUs and it was he who told me that these apps run better on i7 860s over i7 920...That is the reason why I had suggested the i7 860 over the i7 920...

And this might interest you...AMD will be launching their new Phenom II X6s...they are expected to retail around $300 and might give a run for the money to the i7 930...
The overall platform cost will also be far less than the LGA 1156 and 1366(Very good AM3 mobos start from $85-$90)
As I can see that you are not in a hurry to buy the PC, why not just wait for sometime ?
But its your call though...

cgroom · Apr 21, 2010

gkay09 :

yes that would be a good idea.. but i think i've came to the conclusion, that i will be moving from the bay area soon, and here you can get an i7-860 from microcenter for under $200, and as far as i can tell that is cheep

the new biuld:

- CPU( I7-860)$200

- Mobo(Asus P7P55D-E) (unless the P7P55D-pro($165) or the gigabyte is better) $150 --- http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0326254

-Ram(G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) $114.99 --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303&cm_re=g.skill_ddr3_1600_4gb_cas_7-_-20-231-303-_-Product&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

-GPU same- EVGA GeForce 9800GT 1024MB $89

-PSU same Corsair 750W $90 (reason: I will have at least 2-3 hard drives and two CD drives and it's only $20 more then the 650w and a good clean PSU is the base for a good PC)

-Hard drive Samsung F3 500GB if you say that's the best -$54

-case I found a cooler master very strong with lots of fans on sale $50

total-- $749ish.. I'd say that's reasonable.. maybe i should do 8 GIGs of ram for only $115 more.. or up grade the hard drive to the F3 1TB $30 more

any last advice as I'm $100 under bugget ..

shortstuff_mt · Apr 21, 2010

That $100 would be well spend on RAM for CAD work.

gkay09 · Apr 21, 2010

I would suggest the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3/ the ASUS not the PRO...Except the Crossfire/ SLI support, it doesnt offer any other additional features...

And I would suggest you to check your power requirements here atleast once...would give you an idea why we are suggesting a smaller PSU
http://www.antec.outervision.com/
Note: Select capacitor aging between 20-30%

And +1 for the 1TB Samsung F3, it is actually faster than the 500GB version in some cases...and for CAD modelling and other graphical apps, more the RAM the better...so 8GB would be a good investment...

cgroom · Apr 21, 2010

gkay09 :

wow?? that website said I needed 832 watts minimum...

so more ram it is. the 8 gig type recommended by shortstuff_mt

Nice and yes I'll go with the F3 1TB. unless having a such big HD for my OS would be loud and unreliable/practical.

the Asus P7P55D-E (un-pro) $150 would support USB3 and SATA3 with the same features as the P7P55D, but I would save $20 with the gigabyte(but that's a cheep dinner for two)(yes it would also support USB3 and SATA3). . (I've been trying to look for comparisons for the P755D series vs the P755d-E series I guess they're the same the -E just has usb and SATA 3? for 20 more dollars) but...

as quoted by 'banthracis'

"
If you stick with 1156, Gigabyte boards currently have a horrible USB 3.0/SATA 6.0 implementation. They do it by taking PCIE lanes, exacerbating the platforms already low PCIE lane issues.

You can use this non xfire version of the Asus instead ..(Which is the asus -E).... $150

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131620&cm_re=asus_usb_3-_-13-131-620-_-Product&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

I7 build for enginnring student? :) 930 vs. 860

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