Review of PC before buying

[Fenon]

I was going to wait till Feb to buy my new PC but there is a VAT increase on Tuesday and that will increase the price by £25. So I might buy it today.

I just wanted to see if you guys agree with what I'm getting.


Hardware:

Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz @ 4.20GHz

Asus X58 Sabertooth (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard

Corsair Dominator (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel

Prolimatech Megahalems CPU Cooler w/ x2 Akasa Apache Black 120mm Fans

Artic Cooling MX-3 Thermal Compound

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

XFX Pro 850W Core Edition Power Supply

HAF X (At the moment it's one of the only case's left in the store)

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache

OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter

Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter


Software:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 (1 User)

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 (1 User)



Total cost £1378.75 (Thats with next day delivery)

[mrcrusty]

I'm jealous. Nice rig.

[Freddie]

Nice rig just make sure you get the standard EVGA GTX570 not the so called 'superclocked' (all of 60mhz) edition. I would also consider swapping the hard drive for a Samsang Spinpoint F3 1Tb also the heatsink and fans are out of stock at OCUK which is shame because by getting a combination of MX3/Megahalems/Akasa Apache shows you have done your reading and research.

If you wanted to save money and get a free performance boost you might want to consider getting a Radeon HD6950 and flashing the BIOS on it unlock the extra shaders and with an adjustment to the clockrates you will have a fully working HD6970. You might also want to ditch the anti virus software, I use a combination of Firefox, Spybot S&D immunization, Windows firewall and AVAST and it all works well with Windows 7 which BTW is by far the best OS I've ever used.

[Fenon]

I'm getting the Krypton Black OPS bundle on Overclockers it's says they have more than 10 of that bundle, maybe they keep some seperate for that bundle?

I was thinking about the overclocked version of the EVGA 570 but the price of the standard 570 has gone up and is the most expensive 570 on there thats not overclocked I don't really want to spend more on it. I wouldn't say I'm a fan boy but I do kind of want to get an Nvidia card, they are the ones I've been watching mostly and are the ones I understand more.

I've done very little research on protection for the computer, I've only actually looked at it in the past few days. It's like the vegetables of the build for me, I know I have to have it but I don't want it. I've heard people talk about Kaspersky so I thought I'd give them a go, I don't really know whats good security and I've heard AVG have caused people with Windows 7 64bit trouble with a recent update, so I figured I'd stick with paid for anti-virus etc.

[divinelight]

Ahh i7 is too expensive and not much powerful than AMD II x6 1090T !
Im going to buy a pc too but it would me AMD not insidious i7 with all its adveritisement

thats maybe you have no trouble with spending too much $$
but anyway good pc ,)

[♔KillZoneGB♔]

Nice CPU

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Going for a full out slug fest,


Will the I7 980x will hammer the AMD II x6 1090T : Poll I think so.

But were are not debating 6 core CPU`s. let alone the software that utilizes all cores.

Quad core I7 960 and below.

for one thing AMD biggest let down IMHO is not enough cache.

All I7`s have 2MB cache per core.

For the gamer, the 950 (or even the 920) is a very good choice, linked with a good gpu (s), MB and good higher freq memory modules = a perfect pizza
Just need to trim and tweak for the optimum performance.(with out frying your machine)
over 40 deg you lose life expectancy. @40 15 yrs life expectancy before for failure (on average/depending on quality components)

take it this way, you get what you pay for.

For the small business user I7 980x (6 cores, 12 threads, 2MB cache per core (12MB)) (possibility of using a cad (gpu))

For the Budget business user who just wants to get by the AMD II X6 as you say price
The Gamer Quad Core As of date goes to the i7

[divinelight]

Nice CPU

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Going for a full out slug fest,


Will the I7 980x will hammer the AMD II x6 1090T : Poll I think so.

But were are not debating 6 core CPU`s. let alone the software that utilizes all cores.

Quad core I7 960 and below.

for one thing AMD biggest let down IMHO is not enough cache.

All I7`s have 2MB cache per core.

For the gamer, the 950 (or even the 920) is a very good choice, linked with a good gpu (s), MB and good higher freq memory modules = a perfect pizza
Just need to trim and tweak for the optimum performance.(with out frying your machine)
over 40 deg you lose life expectancy. @40 15 yrs life expectancy before for failure (on average/depending on quality components)

take it this way, you get what you pay for.

For the small business user I7 980x (6 cores, 12 threads, 2MB cache per core (12MB)) (possibility of using a cad (gpu))

For the Budget business user who just wants to get by the AMD II X6 as you say price
The Gamer Quad Core As of date goes to the i7

For budget business AMD is fine though,im not familiar with AMD processors but I will try...

what do you prefer for motherboard? im going to buy pc too, MSI's new motherboards with new fuzion technology looks amazing for me, anyway its a good pc

[Big Boss]

I was going to wait till Feb to buy my new PC but there is a VAT increase on Tuesday and that will increase the price by £25. So I might buy it today.

I just wanted to see if you guys agree with what I'm getting.


Hardware:

Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz @ 4.20GHz

Asus X58 Sabertooth (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard

Corsair Dominator (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel

Prolimatech Megahalems CPU Cooler w/ x2 Akasa Apache Black 120mm Fans

Artic Cooling MX-3 Thermal Compound

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

XFX Pro 850W Core Edition Power Supply

HAF X (At the moment it's one of the only case's left in the store)

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache

OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter

Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter


Software:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 (1 User)

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 (1 User)



Total cost £1378.75 (Thats with next day delivery)

That's a solid PC.

For budget business AMD is fine though,im not familiar with AMD processors but I will try...

what do you prefer for motherboard? im going to buy pc too, MSI's new motherboards with new fuzion technology looks amazing for me, anyway its a good pc

Why are you talking about businesses? Also, if you have questions please start a new thread, don't disrupt this one.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Going for a full out slug fest,


Will the I7 980x will hammer the AMD II x6 1090T : Poll I think so.

But were are not debating 6 core CPU`s. let alone the software that utilizes all cores.

Quad core I7 960 and below.

for one thing AMD biggest let down IMHO is not enough cache.

All I7`s have 2MB cache per core.

For the gamer, the 950 (or even the 920) is a very good choice, linked with a good gpu (s), MB and good higher freq memory modules = a perfect pizza
Just need to trim and tweak for the optimum performance.(with out frying your machine)
over 40 deg you lose life expectancy. @40 15 yrs life expectancy before for failure (on average/depending on quality components)

take it this way, you get what you pay for.

For the small business user I7 980x (6 cores, 12 threads, 2MB cache per core (12MB)) (possibility of using a cad (gpu))

For the Budget business user who just wants to get by the AMD II X6 as you say price
The Gamer Quad Core As of date goes to the i7

What?

If you wanted to save money and get a free performance boost you might want to consider getting a Radeon HD6950 and flashing the BIOS on it unlock the extra shaders and with an adjustment to the clockrates you will have a fully working HD6970.

6950s are still lower binned chips, and it'll be luck of the draw whether you can match 6970 speeds without frying the RAM or the core. 6950 uses 5GHz 1.5v DRAM, while 6970 uses 6GHz 1.6V DRAM. They're not the same card, and you risk frying you card trying to match clocks or unlocking potentially unstable cores.

[mrcrusty]

Where there's a will, there's a hack. The 6950 -> 6970 unlock has a pretty high success rate, but people are trying to make an edited BIOS so that only the shaders and core clock match up with the 6970 and the memory timings, voltage and clock speed stay at default 6950 values.

[Freddie]

6950s are still lower binned chips, and it'll be luck of the draw whether you can match 6970 speeds without frying the RAM or the core. 6950 uses 5GHz 1.5v DRAM, while 6970 uses 6GHz 1.6V DRAM. They're not the same card, and you risk frying you card trying to match clocks or unlocking potentially unstable cores.

Nice post. There binned for a reason but then again the success rate has been very high some guy over at techpowerup ws keeping a log on succesful flashes by brand and the last time I checked it out there wasn't one failure. Your correct with overclocking as there's always a risk that you could fry the memory or the core by clocking it to high however the given the small adjustments required (10% on both core and memory). The biggest risk with this is the actually flashing of the BIOS as this has a potential to go wrong however these 6900 cards come with a dual BIOS which is dead handy if something goes pear shaped.

[atraps]

The Gamer Quad Core As of date goes to the i7

Time for a monitor upgrade? Link

[♔KillZoneGB♔]

Time for a monitor upgrade? Link

Will need a nice GPU upgrade tho, as my i7 (860) still has plenty to offer.

my system setup is more like a powerful HTPC,

The Mrs has her room, and I've got mine, the shed is currently being used for storage

No O/C settings on GPU

ArmaII OA On Win7,

[Fenon]

Thats for the replies guys I feel happier about the PC now, but I'm going to get the PC sometime this month, I didn't really want to give into the pressure of buying because of the VAT increase. Nearly everything is sold out and I'd rather wait and get what I want not whats left.

Still a bit iffy on the case side, the HAF X is just about perfect other than the size but I don't think I saw a filter under the power supply, I have a cat with a lot of hair and no filter under the case would be a problem I'm sure. Are there any cases that have everything the HAF X has but with all the filters?

I'll rep etc later I don't really have a lot of time right now.

[Cougman21]

I was going to wait till Feb to buy my new PC but there is a VAT increase on Tuesday and that will increase the price by £25. So I might buy it today.

I just wanted to see if you guys agree with what I'm getting.


Hardware:

Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz @ 4.20GHz

Asus X58 Sabertooth (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard

Corsair Dominator (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel

Prolimatech Megahalems CPU Cooler w/ x2 Akasa Apache Black 120mm Fans

Artic Cooling MX-3 Thermal Compound

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

XFX Pro 850W Core Edition Power Supply

HAF X (At the moment it's one of the only case's left in the store)

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache

OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter

Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter


Software:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 (1 User)

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 (1 User)



Total cost £1378.75 (Thats with next day delivery)

Creepy, I'm planning on upgrading my rig here soon and the cpu, gpu, mobo etc are all what I'm planning on getting too. That rig is pretty damn good and should last quite a while. Youre ram is better than mine tho but I'm only putting down $800ish for my upgrades

[mrcrusty]

The chance of frying the memory w/o further overclocking is small though. IIRC the 6950's memory chips are rated to run at 1.4 Ghz. The 6970 memory is only clocked at 1.375 Ghz.

There may be an issue with higher voltage, but adequate cooling should help resolve that. I'm thinking that the people who fry their chips are the people who kept plowing on with overclocking, stress tests and benchmarks without taking into account the temperatures on the memory. A basic unlock wouldn't fry the memory unless the memory chips themselves were sub par.

Oh btw Fenon, you may want to consider a new Sandy Bridge system. The Intel i7 2500k looks like a real winner. Think I'll post a thread on it later.

[Big Boss]

The chance of frying the memory w/o further overclocking is small though. IIRC the 6950's memory chips are rated to run at 1.4 Ghz. The 6970 memory is only clocked at 1.375 Ghz.

There may be an issue with higher voltage, but adequate cooling should help resolve that. I'm thinking that the people who fry their chips are the people who kept plowing on with overclocking, stress tests and benchmarks without taking into account the temperatures on the memory. A basic unlock wouldn't fry the memory unless the memory chips themselves were sub par.

6950 memory is rated at 5Ghz DDR5, or 1.25 GHz, and at 1.5 V. You start telling the BIOS its a 6970, and its going to think the card has the 6970's 6GHz 1.6 V memory chips. Not too mention I can't help but think that AMD wouldn't have put an 8 pin on the 6970 if it was able to do just fine with 2 6 pins, like the 6950.

There is definitely no doubt that they can unlock, but I would still be careful and wouldn't be able to recommend it over the GTX 570.

[mrcrusty]

6950 memory is rated at 5Ghz DDR5, or 1.25 GHz, and at 1.5 V. You start telling the BIOS its a 6970, and its going to think the card has the 6970's 6GHz 1.6 V memory chips. Not too mention I can't help but think that AMD wouldn't have put an 8 pin on the 6970 if it was able to do just fine with 2 6 pins, like the 6950.

There is definitely no doubt that they can unlock, but I would still be careful and wouldn't be able to recommend it over the GTX 570.

I concede on the memory, but it's not that big of a deal if you keep temperatures in check and don't go too far with overclocking or voltages. It's similar to overclocking RAM really.

As for the power requirements, those are fine. The 6970 uses less power than the GTX 570 and those have 2x6-pin power connectors. The reason for the 6+8 configuration mainly has to do with AMD's new PowerTune tool which can increase power consumption by up to 20% (while supposedly increasing performance by 20%).

So long as the person isn't silly enough to unlock a 6950 to a 6970 and then go on to configure PowerTune to use an extra 20% of power, you won't have any real issues.

Not to mention that people who have unlocked 6970s have reported that although the frequencies and everything is identical to the 6970, their power consumption is less than the 6970 which makes me think that ironically, the memory chips, or other components on the PCB, are bigger drains on the 6970 than they are on the 6950.

[Fenon]

I'm thinking about getting the POV GTX 570 instead of the EVGA, is that a bad idea? I know the EVGA have a longer warranty.

[mrcrusty]

The card itself is the same, just a different sticker. EVGA probably has a better warranty system though. So you're paying for the warranty, really.

[Cougman21]

The card itself is the same, just a different sticker. EVGA probably has a better warranty system though. So you're paying for the warranty, really.

I was looking at EVGA GTX 580 on Newegg/Tiger and I noticed most of the 580's were well over $500 but on EVGA's website they are $499 with free shipping. Is there any reason not to buy directly from EVGA's site?