New i7 system spec, thoughts?

[james_k1988]

Hi there,

Buying a new system today (hopefully) from ebuyer and was just wondering what you think of it, any thoughts?

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Socket 1366 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor 151477

Samsung SM2033SW 20"TFT Monitor 1600x900 15000:1 300cd/m2 5ms DVI/VGA Wall Mountable Glossy Black 3 Years Warranty 158373

Asus P6T DELUXE X58 Socket 1366 7.1 channel audio ATX Motherboard 151858

Sapphire HD 4870X2 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card 148278

OCZ 3GB (3X1GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Gold XTC Triple Channel Memory Kit For i7 Motherboards 158577

Hi-Power Black 800W 14cm Blue LED Fan PSU - 20+4pin 4x SATA 4x PCI-E 135197

NZXT Apollo Black Gaming Case - No PSU 119136

Razer DeathAdder 1800DPI Gaming Mouse

I already have a HDD and CDROM drives

 

[james_k1988]

Never mind, just went ahead and bought it

Glad i did

 

[rev_olie]

sorry no one got back to you...all was good however

Some people may have been slightly jealous of your investment :stickout:

However if left up to me it would have been the same...except the mouse. You could have maybe got a better one for the money a weighted one maybe.

 

[LinkedKube]

Looks good to me, although if I were getting a 4870x2/gtx295 I would have gotten something with a higher resolution to actually use the card to its full potential.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Everything is good except the PSU. Not of good quality and a failure is capable of damaging or destroying all of your components. Replace it ASAP, especially if you intend to OC your CPU.

 

[james_k1988]

The PSU was quite highly rated wherever i looked. I normally wouldnt go for a brand which i hadn't heard of but i saw nothing but good things and it was exactly a cheapy one (was like £60-70). It is the weakest link in the chain however i agree, if anythings going to go it'll probably be that but i think it'll do for now

I origionally wasnt going to get a new monitor at all it, it was just an afterthought really as this one was on a sale I have to kinda watch as the way my desk is and how close i am to the screen a larger monitor would look a bit daft/give constant headaches! It likes 1600x900 and everything looks sexy on that (and runs well too thanks to everything else!)

Oh and the mouse was an afterthought too, always wanted to try one of those gaming mouses and that was the first one i saw. Plus as soon as i saw the "glowing logo" i was sold! I really like it though, better to use (especially for FPS games obviously) and very comfortable.

One unintentional thing (i really didnt mean for this to happen) but when i got it all up i noticed that, the case is blue at the side and front, the PSU has a blue light inside, there's a bright wee blue led on the board (with a white chipset light), the monitor has a blue LED under it, the mouse is blue and my keyboard (G15, had for a while) is blue. One could say i have a colour scheme goin on here

 

[redk]

VERY nice. I'm kind of envious of you.

 

[skitzo_zac]

Isn't a 4870X2 a bit of overkill for a monitor at 1600x900?
I probably would of only gone for a 4870 1GB and got a 6GB tri-channel memory kit instead of 3GB.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Possibly, but the 4870x2 is a good card, its not too much of a waste of money.

DeathAdder = pwnage!

 

[LinkedKube]

Isn't a 4870X2 a bit of overkill for a monitor at 1600x900?
I probably would of only gone for a 4870 1GB and got a 6GB tri-channel memory kit instead of 3GB.

I agree that would have been the better choice, especially running multiple programs and hundreds of processes. I'm usually using 2-3gb of ram on average just having all my windows open and programs.

 

[LinkedKube]

Possibly, but the 4870x2 is a good card, its not too much of a waste of money.

DeathAdder = pwnage!

imo your vga should never cost more than your monitor, seriously. In most cases people keep monitors way longer than video cards.

 

[james_k1988]

It was intentionally meant to be overkill. The reason i got this card was simply due to the fact i was out to buy parts that would last me and do wonders, and this one certainly will/has. Also i wanted a card that wouldnt have a problem with any game and i got one The better it is the longer it lasts, the last time i bought a high end card it lasted me AGES and is still actaully still going not to bad (X1800xt). Ive learned the hard way that if you want to buy a PC that will last, do it right. I know its not getting maxed but its for that state of mind really knowing that it can run pretty much anything and if i upgrade it'll be ready. I knew when i bought it that it could go to higher resolutions than this monitor would permit (never realised how high mind you) but this monitor was on a sale for £100 and the one i had wasnt even mine (a 19" random). As i said i need to watch with the physical size of the monitor due to my layout. I could mybye go a bit bigger and will probably buy another monitor at the end of the year. I'm in love with this one though at the moment

As for the RAM, there is a good reason i never got 6GB. Origionally i had a tri channel 6GB pack but i had to take it out as i'm still not hooked on vista at all so i'm on XP and as you know XP cant address as much memory as vista (well apart from 64bit XP but lets not go there...). It was for this reason i went for the 3GB and the fastest memory the board could support to kinda compensate for this, and so far with tons of crap running (well for the sort of programs i use, i dont do use much editing programs or any design stuff) i havnt even went NEAR the limit. The card has plenty of memory as well as far as games are concerned. When i do go up to vista i'll just buy the exact same tri channel pack i bought for this and go up to 6GB, keeps it all the same

Oh and please dont start me on how Vista is all sorted now. I know it is, i use it all the time at work. I'm just not overly keen on it, call me old fashioned

Thanks for the opinions everyone by the way

 

[abstrait]

Oh and please dont start me on how Vista is all sorted now. I know it is, i use it all the time at work. I'm just not overly keen on it, call me old fashioned

You know, I felt the exact same way until I finally got 64Bit SP1 in a system that was designed for it. Now, I look at my XP Pro machine and cant believe I stayed there for so long. This is totally in relation to WORK as I dont game at all. With a minimum of 6GB RAM and a proper system, Vista 64 SP1 is better aesthetically and functionally, enabling me to get my work done faster than with XP Pro. It has better file manipulation, search, content preview, and is just much more intuitive once you get it tweaked a bit to your liking. I admit, it was an adjustment at first, but even via a lowly, stock commercial Core i7 X58 system loaded with RAM and RAID 0, it screams along and works like a charm. I was so surprised I felt like an *** for dismissing it with a toss of the hand to anyone that mentioned. Yes, it's a resource hog. Yes, it took forever to get sorted. Yes, it was a wait till technology finally caught up enough to make it work. But Vista 64 is surprising good and a definite improvement over XP Pro for work, even via 32 bit solutions.

Nice machine, btw. I almost went that route but couldnt pass up a deal. I personally would have gone for a minimum of 6GB Tri-Channel for reasons above but see your point.

kh

 

[james_k1988]

It was really the initial release that put me off, i thought it was dire and more of a downgrade than an upgrade. Thats always stuck with me really and i've always had a bad opinion of it (first impressions an all). But i use it often at work and i know that its decent now. It does as your say have loads of wee extra perks that just make it much easier and efficient to use and it looks gorgeous as well! Plus it has DX10 which is a bonus. Its just i dont know how i would like it on my own machine to use as my main OS, i just cant see myself with it for some reason, i just feel much better with XP Pro, for now at least.

I will upgrade to it, its inevitable really especially since ill be starting my MCITP upgrade track soon plus i can be a bit of a performance junkie. But for now i'll stay where i'm comfy And when i do upgrade (which will be later on this year i imagine) i intented to buy another one of these kits at the same time, that was my plan at the start, i figured it made sense

And thanks, it's blew me away so far Yea i see what you guys mean by going for 6GB, as i said that was actaully on the list until about an hour before i bought it because i realised that XP 32 cant address that much so i couldnt see any point and figured id save some cash for now (good thing i remembered or i'd be sitting with 3GB or memory doing nothing )

 

[TorturedChaos]

Little jealous of your build. I recent had to build a new machine, and wanted to do something along those line, but didn't have the extra cash to do it

Looks like a really nice build tho