$800 to spend.. go wild guys..

Discussion in 'Die-hard Overclocking & Case Modifications' started by blest, Oct 16, 2009.

  1. blest

    blest Member Guru

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    Wow everytime ive posted on this forum ive been broke as h*ll but now i have MONEY!!!!!

    Hey guys i wanted to know three things....

    1) whats the best mobo/ram/cpu i could get for $800(or less if it doesnt even come close)

    2)whats the best mobo/ram/core i7 860 setup i could get?

    3)Is right now not a good time to upgrade? im running on a slow laptop but i can live until the end of the year MAX.

    p.s Obviously id like some links guys, and cheapest if possible.... if going to mircrocenter would save me some money ill do that(i hear they have insane deals on cpu's)

    thx in advance!
     
  2. PR-0927

    PR-0927 Guest

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    Are you planning on overclocking the CPU?

    If so, get a Core i7 920 (D0 Stepping). If not, get the C0 Stepping.

    Any decent motherboard should do - I think Gigabyte, Asus, ASRock, and eVGA probably have the best motherboards - spend the least you can on them unless you're intent upon overclocking, or know what you want.

    I'd say check Newegg for sorting motherboards and comparing them. These are the ones I would look at:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16813131365,N82E16813131403,N82E16813131358


    Don't spend too much for RAM - if you're overclocking, get something with heat spreaders. If not, just focus on price. Also, don't put too much attention into latency. The most important thing with RAM is the amount of it. The second most important is the speed. Latency makes virtually no difference in real-time performance. I'd say get either 6 GB of RAM or 12 GB, at DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600.

    IMO, it's a great time to upgrade - the current Bloomfield CPUs are going to be sitting as the kings until the Core i9 CPU, which is a six-core, $1000 processor - definitely not worth it, IMO. I'd say aside from that six-core CPU, the Bloomfield Core i7s will be kings until the next major Intel architecture. Good way to "future-proof," at least as much as you can.

    If you're planning on upgrading the GPU, wait until nVidia's new cards come out - if you wanted to grab the new ATI cards, new nVidia cards will drive ATI's prices down a bit as well.

    - PR-0927
     
  3. Omagana

    Omagana Guest

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    Dunno about you guys, but here in the UK D0 and C0 chips were only £1-£2 difference. In fact overclockers.co.uk arn't even selling the C0 anymore :)
     
  4. blest

    blest Member Guru

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    oh what?!!??! there is different steppings? like how amd use to have? awww thats g*y.....

    thx for the quick reply...

    so these 920's are better than the 860's?

    whats the difference? any input would be great
     

  5. RandomBloke

    RandomBloke Banned

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    It's very confusing that they are both called 'i7' because they are actually very different.

    For a start, the 920 and the 860 are on different sockets - 1156 vs 1366. One of the main physical differences is the ddr3 support. The 920 takes triple channel ram, which is better but more expensive than the dual channel ram for the 860. The 920 pumps out more heat, but is better for OCing.

    The 920 and the 860/870 aren't too far from each other in price, so the obvious choice is to go for the 920, which is better IMO.

    The point at which you start to understand why the 860 is in the market is when you think about the overall cost of an i7 1156 rig vs an i7 1366. Triple channel ddr3 + LGA1366 board costs more than dual channel ddr3 + LGA1156 board, in general.

    If your budget allows for it, go for the 920. Otherwise, go for the 860/870.

    I'd read Hilbert's review here on guru3D to get a better idea: http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-750-core-i7-860-870-processor-review-test/
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2009
  6. PR-0927

    PR-0927 Guest

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    The difference between steppings is rather large in the U.S.

    And yes, i7 920 should be chosen over the i7 860. It's heavily rumored that the i7 920 will be discontinued soon, because it's at the same price point as something worse.

    - PR-0927
     
  7. laka

    laka Active Member

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    If you are going to OC go with 920 cuz is unlocked, but if ur not go with 860
     
  8. Matt26LFC

    Matt26LFC Ancient Guru

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    This statement is wrong, only the i7 965 and the i7 975 have unlocked multi's

    The rest are locked.
     
  9. laka

    laka Active Member

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    My bad
     
  10. PR-0927

    PR-0927 Guest

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    Core i7 920 is also better for overclocking, however.

    - PR-0927
     

  11. MM10X

    MM10X Guest

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    i7 920 + EVGA X58 LE + 6GB 1333-1600Mhz DDR3. thats what i'm going to get prolly once i get around to upgrading, you can prolly throw in a 5770 at the price of that, maybe even a 5850. :p

    or a core i7 860, P55 FTW, and some 4GB DDR3, which would probably be the same price.

    if you plan on going crossfire/SLI later then dont bother with the P55, it only supports x8/x8 PCIe lanes for multi GPU so it will bottleneck anything more powerful than a GTX 285/5770.
     
  12. Omagana

    Omagana Guest

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  13. blest

    blest Member Guru

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    ahahah thats exactly what i came up with... im not a noob or anything to the computer building scene, ive just been out of the loop with the newest tech. My old system(on the left fried itself.) I still havent bought anything but i cant wait to be gaming.

    Speaking of gaming....

    windows 7 vs xp? what do you guys think.. i wanna start off with a fresh install of one or the other.. whats best for gaming? i mean.. yeah i know technically xp would be because it requires so little to run esp withe the hardware im buying but should i just make that leap and use a new OS

    (currently using microsoft xp gold edition)
     
  14. DraZor

    DraZor Master Guru

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    If I can recall correctly, XP = no DX11 support + it is old tech.

    I'd never consider going XP over 7 :nerd:
     
  15. king-dubs

    king-dubs Ancient Guru

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    Off-topic: aka counterfeit windows xp
    You should buy Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate or obtain it heavily discounted from certain sources on the internet and/or local college.

    On-topic:
    Honestly, you should save the money and get a Phenom II rig. Stick with DDR2 memory if it's significantly cheaper, and a Socket AM2+ motherboard, or AM3 if DDR3. Be aware that Phenom II 940 only works on AM2/AM2+ boards, but the Phenom II 945, 955 and 965 work on AM2/AM2+ and AM3 boards. This is because Phenom II 9x5 have DDR2 and DDR3 memory controller, but Phenom II 9x0 only has DDR2 (besides the missing two pins on AM3, but that's done just for the purpose mentioned above).

    Then, spend the rest of the money on a Radeon HD 5770, 5850, or 5870, whichever your budget allows. It would net you much more GPU power for the same price. Core i7 platform would take up most of the money alone, and it would force you to use a much lower powered GPU.
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2009

  16. blest

    blest Member Guru

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    hmm i should have mentioned i have a 8800gts which was already giving me like 60 fps in every game i had with my old ass rig.. so yeah... im NOT considering AMD or RADEON ever again... i was always an amd fan but ever since those intel core 2 duo's came out.. intels been on top and thats just pure facts. So only intel suggetsions please. :)
     
  17. blest

    blest Member Guru

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    how much would it be if i took the student route btw? how much is windows 7( i am def wanna have a hard copy)
     
  18. Omagana

    Omagana Guest

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    Students in the US get W7 for $30, annoyingly its also £30 for students in the UK.

    $30 does not equal £30 Bill.
     
  19. Dustpuppy

    Dustpuppy Ancient Guru

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    Just to toss my 2c in

    Anandtech just did an article on lga 1156 sockets not seating the CPU properly. Apparently the pins don't make proper contact causing the motherboard and processor to take damage on clocks above 4ghz due to spotty power. What's more is some motherboards are literally blowing capacitors off according to toms hardware*. Apparently this is because the manufacturers designed the LGA 1156 i5 sockets & motherboards to a lower power specification and used a % based tolerance. As a result of all this, imho i5 is not really an option for overclocking at this point.

    So as others have said the i7 is definitely the way to go.

    *I think, I forget if it was them for certain but I think it was.
     
  20. InfDaMarvel

    InfDaMarvel Guest

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    I7 is also on that same socket (870), but buying one of the unaffected motherboard would be pretty easy as well (Non foxconn sockets). Not to mention your still going to have warranty.
     

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