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Newbie seeks advice (new build)
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15-10-2009 5:14pm#1
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To be honest though, you should look into overclocking it.
The i7 920 is just a monster and a half when you tweek it, and can actually result in real life reductions in time spent encoding etc.
I agree though you do not need that PSU, it's far too much overkill
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There's very little reason to get anything more than a HD4350 (or even wait for the HD5350 to be released) if all you need is a hardware-accelerated HDCP card with reasonable Audio Over HDMI. This also affects the amount of power used and the kind of PSU to get. As for the Cosmos 1000... dear God... :eek:
If you're not into OCing go the LGA1156 route, as the i7-860 will give you a lot more bang-for-your-buck (and a bit more raw power due to the upgraded Turbo Mode) than a cheap LGA1366 build. I'm sorely tempted to tell you to get a cheap €15-20 PCI(e) SATA card and run the optical drives off that; it'd end up cheaper than paying the €60+ premium for a mobo with an additional onboard SATA controller and extra ports to match.
And with an assload of storage the main thing you need is a reliable unirail PSU, not some 850W monster. Each HDD will usually only gobble up a few watts each when running, the only issue is the initial current surge when they spin up the spindles from idle; that's when they gobble up power (on the 12V rail we're not talking watts, we're talking amps) for just a split second. Anything that wont go into OCP shutdown from that initial surge when the OS starts up and spins up the HDDs (all at the same time :rolleyes: ) will run your system fine. Given the complete lack of super-de-dooper gaming graphics cards (if you follow my advice) you're only talking about a 550W PSU - so long as it has a single 12V rail *cough*Corsair*cough*. Problems start when you try to run a heap of 3.5" multi-platter HDDs off a multi-rail PSU where on sub-800W models all the Molex/SATA devices in the system are shunted off onto just one feeble 18A rail or even the same rail as the mobo and non-PEG (i.e. up to 75W for PCIe) peripheral cards! Sticking them with the mobo and CPU on a nice 41A rail is a better idea
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There's very little reason to get anything more than a HD4350 (or even wait for the HD5350 to be released) if all you need is a hardware-accelerated HDCP card with reasonable Audio Over HDMI. This also affects the amount of power used and the kind of PSU to get. As for the Cosmos 1000... dear God... :eek:
If you're not into OCing go the LGA1156 route, as the i7-860 will give you a lot more bang-for-your-buck (and a bit more raw power due to the upgraded Turbo Mode) than a cheap LGA1366 build. I'm sorely tempted to tell you to get a cheap €15-20 PCI(e) SATA card and run the optical drives off that; it'd end up cheaper than paying the €60+ premium for a mobo with an additional onboard SATA controller and extra ports to match.
And with an assload of storage the main thing you need is a reliable unirail PSU, not some 850W monster. Each HDD will usually only gobble up a few watts each when running, the only issue is the initial current surge when they spin up the spindles from idle; that's when they gobble up power (on the 12V rail we're not talking watts, we're talking amps) for just a split second. Anything that wont go into OCP shutdown from that initial surge when the OS starts up and spins up the HDDs (all at the same time :rolleyes: ) will run your system fine. Given the complete lack of super-de-dooper gaming graphics cards (if you follow my advice) you're only talking about a 550W PSU - so long as it has a single 12V rail *cough*Corsair*cough*. Problems start when you try to run a heap of 3.5" multi-platter HDDs off a multi-rail PSU where on sub-800W models all the Molex/SATA devices in the system are shunted off onto just one feeble 18A rail or even the same rail as the mobo and non-PEG (i.e. up to 75W for PCIe) peripheral cards! Sticking them with the mobo and CPU on a nice 41A rail is a better idea
I could always send the cosmos back, i picked it because it's silent and inconspicuous plus it has place inside for 6 hard drives, if you were to pick a case from Komplett with the same qualities, what would it be ? Cosmos S perhaps ??
Thanks for the advise on the power supply, maybe i was going a bit overboard, lol.
I've been looking at benchmarks for the i7-860 and it seems that it may have an edge over the i7-920 when it comes to encoding movies, thanks for the heads up :-)0 -
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Sorry... the words "Cosmos" and "inconspicuous" in the same line has given me the giggles
Valid point on the HDD issue though, something with space for seven 3.5" HDDs is going to be annoyingly huge :rolleyes: If it was a HTPC I know a lovely little case that can take six HDDs 
On the other hand even the humble Antec 300 would work if you used a 5.25">3.5" bay adapter to give a home to that awkward seventh HDD Few midi-towers can take the seventh HDD without such an adapter, and while the Thermaltake M5 could (if you repurposed both the external 3.5" bays for internal use that makes seven ) it's even more garish than the 300. D'oh. Sophisticated performance cases often command fiendish price premiums I find; the Antec P183 might be more up your alley (if you find the Obelisk from 2001 more "inconspicuous" than street-racer-bling) but its €139! 
And the price of refinement is that the cooling layout is a bit last-gen; all the soundproofing means I'd take the 95W i7-860 over the 130W i7-920 as it'll get a wee bit sweaty in there!
As for the Cosmos S: :eek: That is all.0 -
Sorry... the words "Cosmos" and "inconspicuous" in the same line has given me the giggles Valid point on the HDD issue though, something with space for seven 3.5" HDDs is going to be annoyingly huge :rolleyes: If it was a HTPC I know a lovely little case that can take six HDDs On the other hand even the humble Antec 300 would work if you used a 5.25">3.5" bay adapter to give a home to that awkward seventh HDD Few midi-towers can take the seventh HDD without such an adapter, and while the Thermaltake M5 could (if you repurposed both the external 3.5" bays for internal use that makes seven ) it's even more garish than the 300. D'oh. Sophisticated performance cases often command fiendish price premiums I find; the Antec P183 might be more up your alley (if you find the Obelisk from 2001 more "inconspicuous" than street-racer-bling) but its €139! And the price of refinement is that the cooling layout is a bit last-gen; all the soundproofing means I'd take the 95W i7-860 over the 130W i7-920 as it'll get a wee bit sweaty in there!
As for the Cosmos S: :eek: That is all.
Under your awesome tutelage :-) I shall go with the i7-860 with stock cooling, if I find it a bit loud I may get a different heatsink later on. I am leaning towards the Antec P183 case, reviews say it’s silent and there are no blinding lights coming from it, the only gripe I have with the case is as you said “the cooling layout is a bit last-gen”.
I am going to go with the ASUS Maximus III Formula, P55 motherboard, it has all the SATA ports I need as well as RAID. As for RAM Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9, should keep me happy. As for the graphics card I think I’ll stick with the original choice, the brother may want to play games on it. I am thinking the Corsair HX 750W PSU, it has 12 SATA power connectors which I may eventually need, lol :-)
Im under budget, NICE ;-)0
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