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Won an i7 975, cheap build possible? under 1000?

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i recently won an i7 975 at an electronics store giveaway and am excited to see what i can do with this. im not a complete newb when it comes to technology, but i also dont follow every single tech to the tee. first off id like to say i would really like to keep the i7 975 and use it and not sell it and buy lower, because why give away what has been won to use, and downgrade to less.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: i dont have any set date.

BUDGET RANGE: i would really really hope for it to be below 1000

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, i enjoy using headphones so i hope i can just plug it into the ports directly without having to buy a sound card.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: since its intel i7 975 it will have to be intel

OVERCLOCKING: No and SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1280x1024

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: i can wait a couple of months like the end of july as im in no hurry or rush to put a computer together. yes i know the resolution of the monitor is crap low but since i already have a monitor that works great why spend more when it can be saved for other items.

More about : 975 cheap build 1000

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First of all, congrats! :D 

I'm supposing you have a budget of $1000 for everything apart from the peripherals and monitor.

I like how you think. :) 

Anyway:

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R - $209.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

G.SKILL PI Series 6GB 3x2GB DDR3 1600MHz CL7 - $174.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5850 Toxic 1GB GDDR5 - $349.99, $7.87 shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200RPM - $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Corsair TX650W 650W PSU - $89.99, $20 rebate available
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

After rebates and shipping $902.82 w/o case or ODD.

For a low resolution like yours, the HD 5850 would probably be epic overkill - you could drop it to an HD 5770 or HD 5830 and use the spare cash to buy an SSD if you wanted to.

As for the case and ODD, those are completely up to you - some recommendations are the Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced or the HAF 922.

I'm really surprised that you're not going to overclock - that's the main reason why people buy Extreme Editions, although you won yours.





thanks for such a fast response lmeow. the whole overclocking thing just doesnt appeal to me is all. sure it will run faster and all, but since im very inexperienced, i just dont want to *** anything up, and yea i know there are guides and such, but still, im a cluts when it comes to such things lol.

i love all the suggestions you gave. the graphics card is a bit much i think at 350, so i will probably grab the 5770. one thing though, you didnt list any fans or heatsinks, does the fan that comes with the i7 975 worth keeping and not bothering with?

IIRC the Core i7 975 comes with the Thermalright Ultra 120-extreme which is a very adequate cooler. If it comes with the stock LGA 1366 cooler, it's a lot less beefier but it does the job. Otherwise just grab a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus for $34.99 which will allow some mild overclocks I'd say if you choose to do it in the future. If you do grab the HD 5770, you have another $200 or so to spend on an SSD as a bootup drive if you'd like. Something like the OCZ Agility 2 50GB would be just right at around $169.99 after $10 rebate. If you really don't care about bootup speed though, might as well save that $200 or so for later on.
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tghe i7 975 is insanely powerful and doesn't need to be OC'd to be of good use. The heatsink that comes with the i7 975 is pretty cheap and makes a lot of noise but If you don't care about OC or noise then don't bother buying another one.

Also for gaming a 5770 is a bit underwhelming but If you intend to keep that monitor for a long time still then it will do.

Lmeow has a good, sensible build. If it was me that won the 975, i'd sell it for about $900, use that money to finance the bulk of the rest of the system. That's just me though, grats on the win!

builderbobftw is right, the only difference in the i7 975 and the i7 930 is that the multiplier is lower and the frequency is higher (which can be easily matched by overclocking). They still use the exact same architecture and everything else, plus the unlocked multiplier, IMO, takes some of the fun out of overclocking, i.e. finding the limitations of the motherboard and CPU, etc. I would sell it to finance the build, but it's really up to you.

But fermi has amazing potential. Its very ineffiecient right know which one can see in its power consumption and heat expulsion. If it gets only 10percent more efficient. It will as hot and as power consuming as the ati's. And it will perform far better.

That is IF they can make it more efficient.

If is a bit of moot word...

Fermi isn't efficient right now, period. At the moment, ATI has the best GPU at every market segment.

Top end? The 5970 runs cooler and consumes just as much power as the 480, and is a lot more powerful (but it costs quite a bit more).

Upper mid end? The 5870 is only 10% slower than the 480, but a lot cheaper, cooler, less noisy and less power hungry. It also thrashes the 470

Higher mid end? The 5850 vs 470 is the same story as 5870 vs 480.

Mid end and below? Nvidia is nowhere to be seen, other than the terrible and non-DX11 GTS 2XX series.

Face it, the green team just isn't a sensible buy right now. Fermi is everything but green...

Fermi is a good buy if you play high settings low res.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-r...

The benchmarks on that page on the next two prove that if you play on 1920 or below nvidia is a much better buy. The heat doesn't really matter as you can crank up the fan or just leave it because it doesn't matter a damn thing. And it is not noisier than ati reference designs so pls people stop crying....

and yes it comsumes more power sadly

Just my 2 cents.. Sell it, grab an x6 or even a phenom x4 965 and drop the extra cash toward the 5970 (absolutely colossal GPU that will play the latest and greatest for the next 2 years. So even 5 years down the road you're set with the graphics card and multiple processors clocked high.) Sounds like a great bit of fun here =). If you have the 975, use it to the potential, or just get rid of it and let someone else use it to its potential, save your $$ for other stuff you do use.

If you aren't using the item to it's potential, get rid of it.

Doesn't make sense to keep somethin' badass and just bottleneck the thing.

I drive an M3 (high end, but not crazy high end yet) but I drive 70mph... Might as well switch to a smaller luxury car or even a honda and save the gas... if your foot isn't on the gas pedal then why use it?

Even if I WON a damn car of that kind, I'd sell it and grab something I'd be happy with and save the money for other stuff I use.

5970 is top notch nothin touches it. Any CPU won't use it to it's potential, sure they might give more leeway, but again you're talking about a cap on his $$ and the most likely possibility of just upgrading the whole system again using the same graphics card later down the road.

AMD fanboys get the idea that per core intel performs far better than amd so for gaming there is only one answer: INTEL. And on a different note a 5970 is a little to much for this budget.
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