Rate my FUTURE system

[jasongom]

Hey Guys,
Im going to be building a gaming rig next june, yes I know i like to plan ahead. So Ive been researching a while and I found the setup that will best suit me and my budget.

Here it goes:

CPU: Intel i7 950 (overclock in the future, its OC capable right?)

MOBO: ASUS Sabertooth X58

RAM: Corsair XMS3 Tri channel 6GB 1600MHZ

GFX: EVGA Nvidia Geforce GTX 580

Sound: Creative labs X-Fi Titanium (upgrade)

HDD: 500GB 7200RPM (Will upgrade to SSD)

Dvd: Asus superdrive

Case: NZXT Lexa S

PSU: Corsair 850watt Silver certified


Extra:
CPU cooling unit (Air now upgrade liquid)
Extra side fan
Red and Blue interior cathode and led lights
HP 21.5 monitor/Viewsonic Led/or Dell 21.5 webcam monitor
Saitek RAT 7 gaming mouse
Saitek cyborg gaming keyboard
already have a sound system

SIDE note:

Also do you guys think if the 5870 successor comes out next june should i get that instead of the 5870? I want to be future proof as much as possible without breaking the bank...im already destroying it as it is.

Im going to be a college student next year...my college setup will have netbook to accompany it...

UPDATE: I decided to go with the EVGA Nvidia Geforce GTX 580 because it performs significantly better in games and video editing...

Because in the increase of video card price I had to move back the SOUND CARD and the liquid cooling to a later date to compensate for the increase. (Sound card and liquid cooling is not important)
Also i switched to Air cooling unit for my CPU

SO what do you guys think? PLEASE RATE IT and give me some tips! first time builder!

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
First of all,the CPU and motherboard aren't compatible with each other.If you want i7 950,then you have to buy a X58 motherboard(The motherboard you posted is P55)
Overall,its a decent machine.And as for 5870,well new HD 69xx are coming out in October but there are currently no benchmarks for them.

 

[batuchka]

Whoa did u say next June? I wouldn't go HD 5.8k now - HD 6870 or await HD 69xx and by June 2011 the whole platform/GPU gig could see an overhaul @@

 

[jasongom]

Hello and welcome to the forums
First of all,the CPU and motherboard aren't compatible with each other.If you want i7 950,then you have to buy a X58 motherboard(The motherboard you posted is P55)
Overall,its a decent machine.And as for 5870,well new HD 69xx are coming out in October but there are currently no benchmarks for them.

thanks for replying...

see i thought the p55 boards were ok since they had sockets for intel i5s and i7s...anyway i went and researched another mobo with x58

1. MSI X58M Mobo
2. Asus Sabertooth X58

theyre both the same price but i will go with Asus if someone doesnt give me a reason to go with the MSI..the asus looks cooler!

also why doesnt the P55 work? it says it works...anyway im getting the other mobos because of increased specs!

 

[jasongom]

Whoa did u say next June? I wouldn't go HD 5.8k now - HD 6870 or await HD 69xx and by June 2011 the whole platform/GPU gig could see an overhaul @@

thanks for letting me know! I was just setting the price point for my GPU...about 300-400USD but not more!

so by next June we can see the successor to the 5870? I like the 5870 because 1. i can afford it 2. because it packs a lot of performance!

also i checked out the HD 6870...they perform worse than the 5870!! was the HD 6870 suppose to be "higher" than the 5870? cuz it looks like its not...plus the price is much cheaper than the 5870..

UPDATE:
ok the 5 6, and the eventual 7's are the generation...someone correct me if im wrong..
600-700 mainstream
800-900 enthusiast or HIGH END

but shouldnt the 6870 replace the 5870? cuz of the same name? but supposedly the 6900series will replace the 5870

can someone explain to me this confusion?

Also it looks like AMD updates their lines every oct-nov-dec

 

[jasongom]

nVidia GTX580
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB or bigger size..
OCZ Technology 60 GB Vertex 2 Series SATA II or bigger size..
SAMSUNG BLU-RAY COMBO 8X BLACK BD ROM/DVD WRITER

i would love that except the nvidia...im more of a Radeon person me...i just like the name better lol...also i plan to get a blu ray and another HDD...

should i go with 1tb? or should i go with 500gb and add another? i dont want the terrabyte crashing on me...

 

[Maziar]

thanks for replying...

see i thought the p55 boards were ok since they had sockets for intel i5s and i7s...anyway i went and researched another mobo with x58

1. MSI X58M Mobo
2. Asus Sabertooth X58

theyre both the same price but i will go with Asus if someone doesnt give me a reason to go with the MSI..the asus looks cooler!

also why doesnt the P55 work? it says it works...anyway im getting the other mobos because of increased specs!

Both of the boards are good,I personally prefer Sabertooth over the other one.
And P55 won't work because P55 chipsets work with socket 1156 CPUs(such as i3/i5 and some i7 models);whereas, X58 chipsets work with socket 1356 CPUs(like Core i9xx series)

 

[Somebody_007]

Both of the boards are good,I personally prefer Sabertooth over the other one.
And P55 won't work because P55 chipsets work with socket 1156 CPUs(such as i3/i5 and some i7 models);whereas, X58 chipsets work with socket 1356 CPUs(like Core i9xx series)

probably just a mistake but it's 1366 and i7 9xx series.

And I'd go with a 6870 over a 5870 any day. Performance is similar, but the 6870 is feature packed as opposed to the 5870.

 

[jasongom]

probably just a mistake but it's 1366 and i7 9xx series.

And I'd go with a 6870 over a 5870 any day. Performance is similar, but the 6870 is feature packed as opposed to the 5870.

yeah i guess so...but early benchmarks say otherwise...it laggs behind the 5870s

also i read that the true successor to the 5870s are going to be the 6900 Cayman series...i think ill be picking up those...

 

[jasongom]

Both of the boards are good,I personally prefer Sabertooth over the other one.
And P55 won't work because P55 chipsets work with socket 1156 CPUs(such as i3/i5 and some i7 models);whereas, X58 chipsets work with socket 1356 CPUs(like Core i9xx series)

yeah, me too i personally like the ASUS brand over MSi...heard great things about ASUS...the board looks really tuff!!!

also what how many years do you guys recommend between switching mobos?

 

[Maziar]

to Somebody_007
Yes you are right,my mistake It's 1366.Thanks for pointing it out
to OP
It depends on when you want to upgrade.CPUs are usually updated 1-2 years and most of them(especially Intel CPUs) aren't backward compatible with the older motherboards.Upgrade when you don't get the performance you need from your system

 

[Somebody_007]

yeah i guess so...but early benchmarks say otherwise...it laggs behind the 5870s

also i read that the true successor to the 5870s are going to be the 6900 Cayman series...i think ill be picking up those...

It's a bit slower, but it has new drivers so performance is bound to improve and it's supposed to have improved tessalation performance which is actually going to be one of the if not the most important factor when wanting beautiful graphics(check out the heaven benchmark and the difference tesselation makes, best look at videos because your current system would struggle with tesselation even at only a few fps.).

And yeah they aren't the real succesors, but the only thing that really matters is performance, price and features. Who really cares what their names are or who's succesor they are? The new 69xx will be pricy though probably out of your budget range but you can wait and hope for the best.

 

[jasongom]

Hey guys I was thinking...should i go with liquid cooling? Corsair offers a really neat water cooling system which is awesome! Corsair H70
I was thinking about adding a bulky air push pull cooling system but the liquid cooling system seems to offer better cooling for less bulk...

or should i wait until a year after i complete the system to add the liquid cooling and OC it?

 

[jasongom]

It's a bit slower, but it has new drivers so performance is bound to improve and it's supposed to have improved tessalation performance which is actually going to be one of the if not the most important factor when wanting beautiful graphics(check out the heaven benchmark and the difference tesselation makes, best look at videos because your current system would struggle with tesselation even at only a few fps.).

And yeah they aren't the real succesors, but the only thing that really matters is performance, price and features. Who really cares what their names are or who's succesor they are? The new 69xx will be pricy though probably out of your budget range but you can wait and hope for the best.

true true...def something to make note of...I was just bummed that the 6870 didnt beat the 5870...gonna look at 5870s real successor...if its too expensive for me ill probably go with 6870s

also dual 5870s or 6870s...is it like 2x the performance?

 

[jasongom]

liquid cooling, I don't do.
the thought of someone pumping liquid in and all around a electronics board is baffling..

this one is different tho...no maintenance to pumping in liquid...you just install and it works!!! i dont know too much about liquid cooling...but this looks like a good way to cool it down and potentially oc it in the future...

anyone can give me some do's and donts of water cooling?

 

[batuchka]

Some reading for TS:

ATI Radeon 6870 6850 - Featured Review - Widescreen Gaming Forum

Conclusions

The Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 are both excellent cards, and offer an amazing price/performance ratio. In my testing, the Radeon HD 6870 offered approximately 95% of the performance of the Radeon HD 5870, for 64% of the price - all with lower heat, noise and power.

The Radeon HD 6850 performed offered approximately 85% of the performance of the Radeon HD 5870, for 48% of ther price. The HD 6850 vs. HD 5850 comparison held ot that of the 6870/5870 - 95% of the power for 64% of the price.


The New Cost of Eyefinity

I year ago, the entry price for a high-end Eyefinity setup was $400 (or more, based on demand) for a Radeon HD 5870, and another $125 for an DP > Dual-Link DVI adapter. This was approaching $525 - just for the GPU. If you needed extra monitors, the cost went up significantly. Today, you can get a Radeon HD 6870 for $239, plus $25 for a DP > Single-Link DVI adapter. This puts you at less than $275 for what is essentially the same performance. Saving $250 on your GPU setup is a major improvement in affordability. That money could be put towards a CFX setup, the 3rd monitor, or left in your pocket.

Now for the incoming Cayman Pro/XT!

 

[jasongom]

Moar!!!

Also thank you for the post! Ill prob be getting the caymans!

 

[batuchka]

Yep u are welcomed ^^

 

[Somebody_007]

the corsair h70 is okay but it only comes in its own on very high overclocks. From the benchmarks it performs like the nh-d14 yet costs a bit more and is smaller. So your choice really.

 

[jasongom]

the corsair h70 is okay but it only comes in its own on very high overclocks. From the benchmarks it performs like the nh-d14 yet costs a bit more and is smaller. So your choice really.

so its only worth it if your going to be doing very high overclocks? I plan on doing OC after few months of initial use...but i dont want to go buy an air cooler like 35 bucks and then switch over to corsair h70...so im just gonna drop the bomb and get it now...

also do you recommend using the stock fan for the initial month to "break" in the cpu before you start using the water cooler? cuz i plan to usee the stock fan for performance comparisons and then switch over to liquid cooling, although i dont know when i should!

THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES!

 

[jasongom]

me, I just got the 500GB and SSD. there's room to add on if needed but including my OS,
I'm only using about 80GB of total space and that includes both drives.
I have some music and videos but I don't save everything, I go through and delete frequently..

I wanted to get the TB mainly because i thought it would perform better than the 500gb...i read some specs that said that...
however since im getting all the liquid cooling and stuff its gonna strain by budget...

yeah..i have tons of movies, music, and photos on my comp...i need the space...500gb will do for the first year but not after..Lol..

 

[jasongom]

Also can someone explain to me Lynnfield vs Bloomfield....I was wondering if the new i7 8xx perform better than i7 950/920?

The 8xx are newer, less wattage, but it uses dual ddr3 memory instead of tri channel...

someone please explain, its harder as they are similar in prices!

 

[jasongom]

@Malmental
Excellent article and input! thank you!

So im safe with i7 950 and x58...also im glad that the westmere will use the same socket...the prices are similar to 920 now...300 vs 270

so are the westmeres coming out next year?

 

[jasongom]

Also for anyone reading this thread, i got some info on the new Radeon HD 6 series
the true replacement to the 5870 is the 6970 and its pure awesome, performs significantly better!

6000 GPU (Level at which it performs) = 5000 GPU it is meant to replace.

6850 (Performs at 5850 level) = 5750

6870 (Performs at 5870 level) = 5770

6950 (Performance > 5870) = 5850

6970 (Performance >> 5870) = 5870

6990 (Performance > 5970) = 5970

well its just a guess that Im quoting from another thread...

 

[coldsleep]

I've been posting this everywhere, it seems like, but right now, the 1 TB Spinpoint F3 is on sale for the price of the 500 GB, $55.