[The Chad]

After hours of reading reviews, tips and comments I think I have decided on what to get for my upgrade. Can you guys please check if everything will go together and that I'm not making a stupid mistake somewhere. thanks so much:)

CPU: Intel Core i7 950 (3.06Ghz)
Mobo: Intel DX58SO Extreme Series X58 ATX Tri-Channel DDR3 16GB SLI or CrossFireX LGA1366
GPU: Evga 9800 GTX+ 512Mb DDR3 SLI Ready (Two of these)
PSU: Corsair 750W TX series
RAM: OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz 6GB Platinum XTC Triple Channel Kits
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II and Western Digital Caviar Green 750 GB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 16 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II
CPU cooler: Cooler Master V8 Nickel Plated Copper Base Aluminum Fins 8 Heatpipes Core i7 1366 CPU Cooler
Chassis: Cooler Master HAF 932 High Air Flow ATX Full Tower Case Black
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 64-bit for System Builders

and a SLI bridge card for Nvidia.

Is that all I need? Everything compatible? Any suggestions?
P.s. This is basically the best that is availiable in my country, so if you make suggestions and I reject them, sorry, it is impossible to buy it where I live

[Ozzie82]

You could just get the i7 920 and overclock it to 4ghz no problem, no point getting the 950 , well i wouldnt anyways . 9800GTX i wouldnt have either, you could get a HD4890 and maybe push boat out more with savings from i7 950 to i7920 and then get a GTX275

everything else is sweet


I was so tempted to buy this bundle, but just going to get a card now instead

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=BU-003-OB

[The Chad]

I'm not planning to overclock, 3Ghz quad core should be MORE than enough for my needs.

What would the Nvidia equivalent of the HD 4890 be? I'd rather stick with Nvidia.. I'll compare the GTX275 and the 9800 GTX+ now to see which is better.

Thanks for your help so far :)

[Ozzie82]

Originally Posted by The Chad

I'm not planning to overclock, 3Ghz quad core should be MORE than enough for my needs.

What would the Nvidia equivalent of the HD 4890 be? I'd rather stick with Nvidia.. I'll compare the GTX275 and the 9800 GTX+ now to see which is better.

Thanks for your help so far :)

Yep, but you could O.C the 920 to 3ghz no problem :) me anyways i cant see the point in spending an extra £200 on the I7 950 when all your getting is few extra points in benchmark and some extra fps in game. If your set on I7 950 then it will be a nice cpu :)

Not sure what card from Nvidia would be along side the HD4890 . I am also wondering this question myself, because am on the tip of buying a HD4890 or if i see a Nvidia for good price, i would prolly take a GTX275 or GTX295.

The HD4890 & GTX275 would have to be top runners in your options


I so badly want a Nvidia aswell, but now i have really taken to the HD4890 and when push comes to shove on the day of purchase, i will prolly buy the ATI over Nvidia

Am sure what ever choice you make in the end, if you are happy with it thats all that matters

Only thing i would say against your choice ,is 920 over the 950, massive saving of £200 GTX9800 is nice, but its getting old

[The Chad]

Just going through card reviews now and I saw that the GTX275 is considerably better than the 9800GTX+. I'll definetly be going with a GTX 275 then, but only one of them. I was going to runthe 9800GTX+ in SLI but I cant do that with the GTX 275 because I can only afford one. Can always put another one in, in the future though:)

Is my motherboard and CPU compatible? (I'll be going with the 950, even though the 920 is great I'd prefer to get the 950 so its stock 3.0Ghz, instead of the 920 2.66Ghz, thanks for the suggestion though. I went and read up about the different models).

Will the cards (Sound and video) all go in? I'm pretty sure I chose everything with the right sockets, can you guys just make sure so I don't stuff up in buying the wrong stuff. Thanks for everything so far! I'm busy reding up about the HD4890 vs. GTX 275

[Carbon]

i7 is useless for gaming. Green drives are 5200RPM and slow.

http://www.computer-juice.com/forums...posting-23819/

[Ozzie82]

Originally Posted by The Chad

Just going through card reviews now and I saw that the GTX275 is considerably better than the 9800GTX+. I'll definetly be going with a GTX 275 then, but only one of them. I was going to runthe 9800GTX+ in SLI but I cant do that with the GTX 275 because I can only afford one. Can always put another one in, in the future though:)

Is my motherboard and CPU compatible? (I'll be going with the 950, even though the 920 is great I'd prefer to get the 950 so its stock 3.0Ghz, instead of the 920 2.66Ghz, thanks for the suggestion though. I went and read up about the different models).

Will the cards (Sound and video) all go in? I'm pretty sure I chose everything with the right sockets, can you guys just make sure so I don't stuff up in buying the wrong stuff. Thanks for everything so far! I'm busy reding up about the HD4890 vs. GTX 275

Well you could get 2x 9800GTX that would be better than one GTX275 i would think, but one GTX275 is all you ever need for gaming unless you are looking to extreme game . Carbon is right too , I7 is not much better than anyother quad like Q9400 upwards, thats why you be better going for I7 920 if you was to buy an I7, but if you are happy with your 950 then go for it

The I7 will fit that motherboard no problem and ram is ok too. If i was in your shoes now, i would ditch the 950 for a 920 or even a E8500 or Q9400 or higher then either get GTX275 or a HD4890

Another great bit of hardware you could invest in is a SSD (Solid State Drive) HDD

Ive heard from some guys on xfire and steam that this upgrade alone makes a great difference in games, have not tested this yet myself so only going by what other have told me. The SSD is still very pricy £200 + for a good 120GB drive.

Your going to need a good 650w + to run all this too with at least 40 > 50 amps on a single rail

[The Chad]

The harddrive spin at 7200rpm, I don't know why you said they only run at 5400rpm?

Looks like I'll go with a GTX 275. It'll handle all games I'm planning to play. Hopefully on max settings. Games like GTA IV, CoD, Doom 3 and Far Cry 2 should be okay, right?

The processor I'm really undecided. I was reading up about the Q9400 and it doesn't say anything about hyper-threading. The i7's on the other hand have that.Would I be better off with a 2.66Ghz Q9400 than a 3.06Ghz 950? I think it's going to be one of those last minute decisons I make when buying this all.

My power supply isn't "SLI Ready", do you think I should buy one that is SLI ready incase I one day do put another GPU in?

P.s. Might be a dumb question but I'm quite new to building, my motherboard and power supply will fit into the case right? I know the harddrives will because the case has slots open for 3.5" drives.

Thank you once again :) :)

[Carbon]

WD Greens spin at 5200RPM. Their speed is sometimes rated as "5200RPM to 7200RPM" but WD has admitted this means 5200RPM. They should not be used as a system drive.

If this is a gaming machine, any quad here is useless. Buy a X3 720 or a E8400 and overclock it or just wait for i5. Since you haven't actually said what this is for, it's kind of difficult to tell you whether an i7 is worth it: if it's video editing or something, it may be. SLI is similarly useless and most "SLI-Ready" PSUs are poor, a 520HX should be fine for your GTX 275.

[The Chad]

I'll look for a different harddrive then. Can it still be WD, but just not Green? I need the 2Tb atleast to store my music/videos/movies/games/photos. The 750Gb will be work related things + OS.

The computers primary use will be gaming. But also for watching movies and music. The only work that will be done on it will be simple Microsoft Word documents. In my predeccesing post I mentioned the games I'm aiming at playing.

For the power supply I've already chosen a good one, Corsair TX 750W.

The processor now, how would the i7 950 hold back on performance? Its got a good clock speed, hyper-threading, powerful and all reviews I've read are quite promising. I'd prefer to stick with Intel processors, as AMD cost much more to ship to South Africa. Would the Q9400 be a good processor to go by then?