i7 Gaming Rig

[d0dge_182]

Hey, I'm building an PC within the next week for the first time, and I'm just wanting to be sure on my choices.

 

Processor - i7 950

Memory - Corsair XMS 1600 C8

Graphics - Gigabyte Radeon HD 6870

Case - HAF 932

PSU - CoolerMaster eXtreme Power Plus 700w

Motherboard - Gigabyte X58A-UD3R (Rev.2)

HDD - Samsung F3 1tb

 

Going to overclock only slightly (3.2 - 3.5ghz), so aftermarket cooling wouldn't be necessary, would it? It's just that I'm cutting it fine with budget already...

And planning on Crossfire with 6870s later on.

So, just give me your opinions and suggestions on this build.

 

Thanks.

[Owenisbad]

I would go with a gtx 460 rather than a 6870, better value for money and nearly the same performance, and they work great in sli.

 

As for the cooling, it should be ok in that case but I would go with a cheap aftermarket one like the cm hyper 212 just to be safe.

 

Also how much is that psu? Corsair ones are better than coolermaster if you can strech your budget.

[OwinC]

If you are only going to overclock between 3.2 - 3.5ghz. Why not save a quite a bit of money and get the i7 930.

And overclock it to your 3.2 - 3.5ghz. Then you could get a nice cooler with the extra cash.

[Water_Hazard]

If you are only going to overclock between 3.2 - 3.5ghz. Why not save a quite a bit of money and get the i7 930.

And overclock it to your 3.2 - 3.5ghz. Then you could get a nice cooler with the extra cash.

 

The 950 is only about 5 bucks more than the 930 since the price drop a while back.

[MercuryDoun]

Get the i7-950, that is definitely the better option over the 930(basically same price, higher stock speeds, x23 multiplier for awesome overclocking when that time comes for you). But DO NOT OVERCLOCK AT ALL with that crappy stock cooler... When i had the stock cooler on my 930 stock cooler at stock settings = 85c in about 5 minutes of prime95... That is a big no no for me... after i got my Megahalems(which admittedly is not a cheap HSF) after my 4.2Ghz overclock i only had 72c temp on hottest core after 12 hours of prime95. Maybe i just personally had some bad luck with my stock cooler or something, but i have a DF-85 with extremely good CPU cooling and it didnt go well. So i would not recommend ANY overclock with the stock cooling solution.

 

6870 sounds awesome... dont listen to the nVidia Fanboys :-P But really though... with the recent price drops to the gtx 460 and its amazing scaling in SLI... i have a really hard time telling you for sure to get a 6870 over a gtx460... Personally i prefer ATI, err i mean AMD, so id go with the new fancy 6870, but again, thats just me.

 

I use 3 Samsung HDD's in my current computer and they seem great, only thing i might say is get 2 smaller cheaper HDD's and raid0 them for some awesome speed but similar storage. Something like this is crazy awesome i have two of them in Raid-0 and are pretty fast, no SSD but still fast.((Meh nevermind just looked on newegg and the prices on a 1tb F3 HDD are amazing, I know its not as fast as the new F4's but man, thats alot of cheap storage))

 

Last thing, Might i recommend this ram: Mushkin says hi!, im not saying its better than Corsair's offering, but you werent very specific as to what kind of ram you are getting. Usually mushkin is cheaper. I personally use this ram in my i7 rig and its amazing. I run it at 6-8-6-20 timings at 1720mhz, Thats tighter than stock timings at 120mhz over stock speeds. Also these very low profile heat spreaders will keep any future CPU cooling solutions very open. As they will not interfere with any of the huge CPU coolers that people use these days such as the NH-D14 or Megahalems.

Edited October 26, 2010 by MercuryDoun

[IVIYTH0S]

I would go with a gtx 460 rather than a 6870, better value for money and nearly the same performance, and they work great in sli.

 

As for the cooling, it should be ok in that case but I would go with a cheap aftermarket one like the cm hyper 212 just to be safe.

 

Also how much is that psu? Corsair ones are better than coolermaster if you can strech your budget.

i7's need aftermarket cooling for any kind of overclock lol

 

also "psst" to the rest of you, he's in Australia. Your deal offerings are moot

[Owenisbad]

i7's need aftermarket cooling for any kind of overclock lol

 

also "psst" to the rest of you, he's in Australia. Your deal offerings are moot

fair enough

[Timmy94]

if you're not already aware, MSY Technology are without doubt one of the cheapest retail stores in Aus. That is, if you have not already looked there.