New skt-1366 rig

ShevY

Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-920 -€242

Crucial DDR3 BallistiX 1333MHz 4GB CL7 -€99

ASUS P6T SE, X58, Socket-1366 -€167

Total : €508


I'm looking to retire my laptop and future proof a bit. I want to play some of the new FPS games within a few months.
I already have :

-Antec 500W psu
-old PCIe radeon 9800pro or x300 if that doesnt work to tide me over a few months till i buy new gfx card.
-36GB raptor 10k rpm and a couple of 80GB drives
-large case

the mobo i chose just because it was one of the cheaper skt 1366 boards. open to any suggestions. probably wont be doing much overclocking, but you never know

Is this the right direction to be heading in at the moment? I've no idea what going on these days after having oc'ed and watercooled rigs for years.

ShevY

probably spend 250-300 on gfx in a few months

IrishGrimReaper

Tbh you could go with an i5 rig aswell, i5 uses Dual Chanell RAM, making best use for 4gb and 8gb, while the i7 gets uses Tri channel so 6gb is the best bet to go with on the i7.

Really though, in terms of performance the i5 will do just as good a job, you wouldn't notice the difference unless you will be utilising programs that use HT(which isn't many).

I would go with.

Ram. 4gb ddr3 1600Mhz
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=518211

CPU- i5
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=492762

On the mobo I can't remember which model for sure you'll have to look about but I think it's one of the Gigabyte UD(x) versions, one of them has USB 3.0 in it now and 6GBs sata. Good future proof there

Also, if that Antec is an older PSU you might want to consider upgrading to something newer.

Edit: Found them mobo's with USB 3.0.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-P55A-UD5-Intel-P55-S1156-PCI-E-20-DDR3-1333-1600-2200-SATA-III-RAID-ATX-USB-30

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-P55A-UD3-Intel-P55-Express-S1156-PCI-E-20-DDR3-2200-SATA-6Gb-s-RAID-USB-30-ATX

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-P7P55D-E-PREMIUM-P55-Express-S1156-PCI-E20-DDR3-2200(OC)-USB3-SATA-6Gb-s-SATA-RAID-ATX

Solitaire

What's the state of the old case? Might be ATX but no point if it has little in the way of cooling...

Same for the PSU. The fact its a 500W model rather than a 550W model suggests its not a Delta but rather either an old FSP (bad) or an even older self-destructing Channel Well (worse. Much.) The whole "Antec do great PSUs" bit is a more recent phenomenon I'm afraid And if you'll be running so many 3.5" HDDs I'd recommend a bit more 12V overhead than usual anyway. Although I'm not sure if the 80GB units will really be that much use to you in these modern terabyte-scale times. The Raptor should be a good OS drive though

Are you sure you even need an i7?! An LGA1156-based i5-750 would be much better for gaming and is no slouch for general computing tasks either... and its a lot cheaper Only thing its messing is HyperThreading, and while that may be good in massively-multithreaded apps it sucks in games and can actually reduce FPS

As for GFX... I'm guessing you'll be looking for a HD5850. To be fair that borders on overkill if you're an OCer; the HD57*0 series are also very good at resolutions up to and including 1080p and are mean OCers like the old HD4890 while consuming far less wattage With an overvolt while on water even the HD5750 shouldn't be that far off hitting the 1GHz mark (bear in mind it's almost identical to the HD5770; the latter is just more aggressive on every front). But if you're hardcore you'll probably have to wait for a HD5850

Leman_Russ

Omg, how dare you Suggest a LGA1156 i5, 57x0 and a non-Antec PSU! :rolleyes:

Solitaire

I didn't suggest the HD5770, just reminded the OP you can game on a HD5000 without blowing €300+. And did I say "don't buy an Antec PSU" at any point? :P

ShevY

I was wrong about the psu, it 550watt :



The case should be ok, its big and has a couple of fans on it for now :



The LGA1156 seems like the sensible option. The difference between the LGA1156 i5 750 and the LGA1366 i7 920 doesnt seem to be that much. I just wonder will similarly priced items in each range be as similarly powerful in the future?
tempted to just get the i7 and 6GB ram seeing as theres not much difference in price

uberpixie

That case is one nasty piebald POS.

I would seriously look at getting a new case....

Especially one that won't make your PC sound like a cement mixer after you have built it and actually would have some airflow......


http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=354717
I think you can stretch your budget by an extra €50 for an antec 300.....

ShevY

it was cheap at the time

suppose i could stretch the budget a small bit..

Solitaire

The PSU is junk. Pretty sure its one of the dodgy first-generation CWT ones (Seasonic took over the TruePower line later IIRC). And even if it was decent 30A is a bit light on the 12V rail. You could just stretch it with a brand new CX400, a HD5750 and only the one HDD but a heavier LGA1156 config that may be OCd on an old PSU is just a bit out of my comfort zone...