New build - i7 and SLI - advice please!

[lmartinefc]

Hi

What is the best motherboard for SLI at a good price

I want to purchase an i7 930 (at least and would like input on this) and looking to SLI with a couple of cards

Not too sure on the main difference between P55 and X58 (are there any other, H57?)

Was thinking of buying a couple of Palit GTX 460 Overclocked Platinum Edition cards (very cheap for the performance) and running them in SLI with the i7 and 8gb of RAM

Any advice on this would be great

I'll sort PSU, case etc another time, for now want to get the mobo, processor and GPU setup right

 

[gkay09]

^ Take a look at this article...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pcie-geforce-gtx-480-x16-x8-x4,2696.html

If it is going to be a gaming PC, then the i5 would suffice...

Mobo for the i5 760 -> ASUS P7P55D-E Pro - Has proper implementation of the USB3.0 along with SLI...

PSU for 2x GTX 460s - 650-700W from Corsair/ Antec EA or TP series/ CM Silent PRO/ XFX/ Silverstone/ Seasonic...

 

[lmartinefc]

I would be looking to do triple SLI in future. Would this board support that

So X58 is the same as P55 just has more lanes?

How many lanes do they support, respectively?

The i5 760 did catch my eye. Is for gaming but also do alot of Excel VBA development and database work, so wanted the full 8 cores of an i7

Thoughts?

Am I right in thinking a twin or triple SLI GTX460 OC would be best product for the money (they are around £170 each and match the 5850 for performance)

I like Nvidia as like the PhysX effects in game etc

Any other Nvidia suggestions would be great

 

[cmcghee358]

The i7 doesn't have 8 cores. It has 4. But it has 2 threads per core(ie 4 "virtual" cores)

Also 2 460s (1GB) will obliterate a 5850 in performance. I recommend it.

 

[lmartinefc]

I was considering this board for an x58 platform

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-Rampage-III-GENE-Intel-X58-S1366-PCI-E-20-(x16)-DDR3-2200(OC)-SATA-6Gb-s-SATA-RAID-mATX

Thoughts?

 

[lmartinefc]

I know the i7 only had 4 physical cores. Excel will process on 8 logical cores.

I meant a single Overclocked (Palit OC Platinum) matches 5850 in most real benchmarks.

What you think of the x58 above.

I would like to strap it to a couple of SSD in raid and 8gb of RAM (maybe 12gb as I will be using large databases of millions of records, 15gb in size, so the more RAM the merrier!)

Basically want a top spec gaming PC, that has the bandwidth and processing power (cores and RAM) to crunch through some large databases

FYI, used the database software on a Dual Quad core XEON system with 16gb of RAM and ran it down straight away. Using 32 bit software on old 64 bit MS server so the WoW memory mapping was pants. I will be using 64 bit Win 7 Utimate

Any input welcome

 

[cmcghee358]

It's great, might be overkill, but it's a great platform. Just realize that intel is going to a new socket for the next gen CPUs so that expensive motherboard will limit your upgrade in the future.

It's a reality of computer building that would you have no will be limited in upgrade in the future. Just lettin you know

 

[cmcghee358]

Last post sentence fail, thats what I get for tyuping and talking at the same time.

"It's a reality of computer building that what you have now will be limited in upgrade in the future. Just lettin you know"

 

[adaman2576]

If you want more ram go with the i7 930 because that uses triple channel ram and most motherboards support anywhere from 12 to 24 gigs of ram. Also, if you are looking to do triple sli with the gtx 460, it's not possible yet. All the 460s out now can only do two way sli.

 

[lmartinefc]

Thanks guys. The 930 looks good.

Would a 920 suffice?

Would a 950 be worth the money

(I do not want to overclock this system, want a top spec without tampering - until temptation kicks in)

 

[gkay09]

^ You cant go Tri-SLI with GTX 460s as they have only a single SLI connector.

X58 like others have said is the most powerful desktop platform yet, but next year, Intel will be replacing it...

Mobo - The Gene is a very good board, but if going SLI, then adding add-on cards later on wont be possible...
Other options...
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-P6X58D-E-Intel-X58-S1366-PCI-E-20-(x16)-DDR3-2000-(OC)-SATA-6Gb-s-SATA-RAID-ATX
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-X58A-UD3R-Rev-2-Intel-X58-S1366-SLi-Xfire-PCI-E-2-DDR3-2200-USB3-and-SATA-6Gb-s

And the i7 950 if overclocking later, else the i7 930 or the 920 D0 if you will be overclocking now...

 

[lmartinefc]

Hmmm...so what is the new linup Intel are proposing

All i have heard is the i9 6 core will be out...anything else (which is basically going to be a repack of the i7 980X into a new socket?)

What else is in the new lineup?

 

[gkay09]

^ The new CPUs would obviously offer more performance per clock...
Check this article about the Sandy bridge - i5 LGA 1156 CPUs replacement...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3871/the-sandy-bridge-preview-three-wins-in-a-row
This is just a preview of what you can expect from the LGA 1365 CPUs...

 

[lmartinefc]

I can't find a release date anywhere.

Tempted to buy it all now. This rig will demolish most things I throw at it, and stay "current" (in terms of handling new games) for at least 2 years

 

[adaman2576]

I think a i7 920 would suffice. I didn't know you could still find them. I thought everyone was selling just the 930 now. I have a 920 and love it. It overclocks like a champ. If you can find a 920 DO stepping, get it. If not get the 930. The 950 is not worth the money. The 930 can be clocked at 950 speeds with no effort at all. And yes the 980X is the last chip for the 1366 socket (at least from what I've heard from several sites), so this will be your only upgrade path before a new board. But I think you will need to upgrade gpus before upgrading an i7 in the future.

 

[gkay09]

^ There is no concrete date as yet, but you can expect them to roll out those CPUs by Q1...

The i7 9xx is not doubt a very powerful one, and if you generally upgrade the PC as a whole, then its fine as the sockets wont matter then as anyways you will upgrade the mobo and CPU together then...