New Build Recommendations

MSUSteveMSUSteve
edited February 2010 in Hardware
Hello Icrontic folks! I've been following @Primesuspect on Twitter for quite a while and reading his linked articles, but this is my first post on the boards. Happy to be here!

I'm looking to build a new system for my brother for his birthday in March and between myself and my family, we're looking to upgrade his machine for a maximum of $800. He's got an ATX sized case, hard drives, monitor, optical drives, and all other necessary hardware. What he needs is a mobo, proc, video card, and RAM. I threw together this quick build over at Newegg:

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - $194.99

ASRock P55 Extreme LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - $139.99

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - $104.99

MSI R5850-PM2D1G OC Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - $299.99

TOTAL: $739.96

What do you guys think? Alternatives and recommendations are very welcome.

Comments

  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Does he have windows 7?
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    He does not have Windows 7. He's still running Windows XP, but that's a good point you raise. I guess I should build in a copy of Win7 into the budget so he can take advantage of that 4GB of RAM. Will I even be able to install XP onto this rig so that I can use a Win7 upgrade disc?
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    Ah, I see that an OEM version of Win7 is $104.99 at Newegg as opposed to a $99 upgrade version. So no reason to go with the upgrade version anyway.

    I'm sort of attached to getting my brother at least a Core i5 proc. I want to make sure this computer will last him a few years. He was pretty bummed when he checked the specs of Star Trek Online recently and realized that his dual core AMD/Geforce 7800 GT weren't quite up to it.
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    I assume your a MSU student from your handle. If you have a valid student email you can get a student discount on win7 pro. 65 bucks.
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    I was an MSU student, but graduated in 2003. That said, my @msu.edu email address remains my primary email and that site says I'm eligible to receive that deal. Seems a little shady, but sure is a good deal!
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Well, if you're still paying for that education i would say go for it :D
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    Would I run into any problems installing Win XP onto this new machine first? Sorry if that's a dumb question. I just don't know if XP can even run this new mobo and proc or not.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    You should be able to install it, but there's no reason to. If you get the Win7 OEM, just install it outright - a clean install is always better than an upgrade install.

    That said, the choice of an i5 and an 1156 socket will dead-end your brother for the near future - nothing else will ever come out in socket 1156. If you want to give him more longevity, I'd suggest a socket 1366 board in Intel (i7 920, perhaps, which is only $5 more than your i5) or one of the newer Phenom boards if you want to go AMD.
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    Newegg has the Core i7 920 for $288.99, which is almost $100 more than the Core i5 I picked out. Where can I get it for only $5 more?
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Microcenter!

    And don't worry about Microcenter and whether it's legit or not - tons of us have gotten it for the same price through them, they're always fantastic.
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    Thanks for the link. That's a helluva deal! Any particular mobo you'd pair with that proc? The 1366 mobos are definitely more expensive. How about this?

    GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - $188.99.

    Paired with this:

    G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) - $108.99

    Worth the extra $50 or so performance wise over the Core i5 build, or no?
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    I would say yes - the EX58-UD3R is a good board and has good OC potential, and that RAM will be speedy.
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    I suppose I'd better go with triple channel memory if upgrading to an i7 board that supports it:

    G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) - $159.99
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    That ups the budget by $100. Still worth it over the Core i5 build?
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    I didn't realize RAM got so expensive, heh, but yeah. This OCZ set has a MIR that'll bring it down to $140, at least...

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

    I would still consider it worth it. On air, the 920 can get over 4GHz, and you still leave the door open for drop-in chip upgrades in the near future.

    Of course, if he won't upgrade in the next few years, then you might be just fine sticking with 1156; everybody will likely have moved to the next hot socket by then.
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    The next hot socket? Hot! :-p

    I don't expect he'll upgrade again for at least 3 years after this is built. I think I built his current system in September of 2006.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    I'd probably defer to Thrax to be sure, but I don't think there's much enthusiast-level planned for 1366 within that time frame, so perhaps your original plan is perfectly valid.

    Sorry for leading you on a fun time-waster... :D
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    That board does not support tripple channel DDR3.

    Switching to i7 920 is going to put him at a 900+ dollar price w/o Win7.

    For what you want to spend, i like your first plan.
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    MAGIC wrote:
    That board does not support tripple channel DDR3.

    Switching to i7 920 is going to put him at a 900+ dollar price w/o Win7.

    For what you want to spend, i like your first plan.
    The specs on Newegg say that board supports Triple Channel RAM:

    triplechannel.png

    No worries on exploring possibilities Snark. That's one of the most fun parts of building a new system!
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Oh, it does. I was looking at the number of dimms. Good price a 1366 board. Still will be in the 900-1000 dollar range if you factor in Win7(and theres no point in going this route without it)
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    I'm gonna stick with the i5 build as you suggested. The price just escalated a little too much with the i7, despite the awesome price on the proc at MicroCenter. Thanks for help! Anyone else with suggestions, I'd certainly welcome them.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    If the user won't be upgrading for 2-3 years, LGA1156 is the better choice. There's rumor that once S1366 has moved down to mainstream in 2011 to make room for Intel's Sandy Bridge that it will receive some hexa-core CPUs, but the only upgrade options for the socket in the coming year will be faster quads, dual cores or a $1000 hexa-core CPU.

    Speculatively, I think socket 1156 dies with Intel's next-gen. There's no room for it at an enthusiast level once it gets bumped down by Sandy Bridge, so Intel will either retire it, or use it as the the economy option as the firm currently does with LGA775.

    In other words: Anyone who wants to upgrade in the next year or two will be able to with Socket 1366, but anyone who won't be upgrading in that time frame can save considerable money and get 95% of the performance by sticking with 1156.

    That said, here's my recommended build (continuing from our talks on Twitter):
    Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3: $134.99
    Radeon HD 5850: $289
    Core i7 860: $279
    4GB G.SKILL DDR3-1600: $104.99
    Total: $808 and change + shipping

    I know it's a little over budget, but the 860 is a hell of a lot better than anything in the Core i5 series, so it's worth it to put in the little extra change. Ditto the Gigabyte board relative to anything ASRock makes (gaaarbaaaaage).
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    Thanks for the thoughtful recommendations Thrax. That looks like a great build.

    Any particular reason you went with:

    VisionTek 900297 Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB

    over the card I'd selected:

    MSI R5850-PM2D1G OC Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - $299.99

    Also, the video card I picked out is PCI Express 2.1 x 16, but the mobo has a PCI Express 2.0 x 16 slot. Would that work?
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Yes it will work with your board, and go with the visionteck because if you remove the sticker from the card its an identical reference design. When you buy msi for 30 dollars more you are paying for marketing, and potentially customer support but i havent heard anything bad about visiontech. More than likely if you are going to run into a problem with the card it will be in the first couple weeks and then you'll be dealing with newegg anyways.
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    The reason I went with that MSI card is that the core clock speed and effective memory clock was a little faster (765Mhz\1125Mhz compared to 725Mhz\1000Mhz). I'm not sure, what, if any difference those numbers even make.
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Not particularly, and that is something that can be adjusted by the end user.
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    One more quick thing. That RAM is 1600, but the Gigabyte mobo doesn't list that it supports that speed. Am I wrong about that?
  • miragemirage
    edited February 2010
    MSUSteve wrote:
    I suppose I'd better go with triple channel memory if upgrading to an i7 board that supports it:

    G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) - $159.99

    The Socket 1366 motherboard supports triple channel but it is not a requirement. You can still use dual-channel 4GB memory you have originally planned. See here. You can buy another stick to upgrade to triple channel 6GB later.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    MSUSteve wrote:
    One more quick thing. That RAM is 1600, but the Gigabyte mobo doesn't list that it supports that speed. Am I wrong about that?

    I know it doesn't say DDR3-1600 support, but if it supports DDR3-2200, it definitely supports 1600. Consider it a Newegg error. :)

    On the subject of Visiontek vs. MSI, the clockspeed differential isn't high enough to warrant the price difference. The Visiontek card can also be overclocked by the user to the same (or higher) frequencies used by the MSI card, leaving money in your pocket. :)
  • MSUSteveMSUSteve
    edited February 2010
    Thanks. I genuinely appreciate all the help.
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