Intel i7 Build

[herosmantle]

Hello, I am considering buying a new PC from dinopc.com as follows:

CPU:  			02018 - Intel® Core i7 920
CPU Cooler: 		03004 - Coolermaster V8 LGA1366
Motherboard: 		04039 - Asus P6T Deluxe V2
Memory: 		05022 - 3.0GB Corsair DDR3 1600mhz XMS3 CL9 (3x 1GB)
Hard Drives: 		06005 - 750GB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 	07002 - 20x DVD±RW DL
Second optical drive: 	07002 - 20x DVD±RW DL
Graphics card: 	08035 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 1,792MB
Sound card: 		10001 - Onboard 7.1 Audio
Operating System: 	11001 - No Operating System - I will install my own
PSU:			18004 - 750W Thermaltake Toughpower
Case: 			17014 - Antec Nine Hundred Two
Warranty:		01000 - 3 Year Bronze Warranty

I would just like a second opinion on this build - the above is priced at £1300, which is the top end of my budget. Is this reasonably priced? Anything I should change? Is the power supply enough? Any other useful comments?

[nightkhaos]

Hi there,

I have two changes I would recommend for your system.

First off I would recommend you get a WD Caviar Blue HDD 640GB rather than your drive. Althrough you will lose a bit of storage you will make up for this in performance. This drive has two 320GB platters rather than you 750GB which will have 3 250GB platters. Good review on TechReport .

Second, I recommend you get a ASUS Rampage II GENE Micro ATX board rather than the P6T Deluxe V2 as it will give you slightly better performance and costs less than the P6T Deluxe. Not only that, but it has the same BIOS as the Rampage II Extreme which will be very helpful if you intend to over-clock your CPU. There is a good review for this on TechSpot where it compares it to the P6T Deluxe.

Good luck with your build!

[cmndr_andi]

May I also recommend that you go for 6GB of OCZ PC-1066 (1333MHz) CL9. The extra memory should increase your performance. Also it overclocks very well, I have it running in my i7 built at CL9, 1T and 1440Mhz (i have heard of others getting it up to 1800Mhz).

[watercooled]

If you're building it yourself, I believe the V8 CPU cooler is a pain to install.

[cmndr_andi]

I have heard of problems with that cooler too. Personally I would recommend the TRUE Black with some noctua NF-P12 fans. My friend uses this setup and he loves it.

[quikgoner]

May I also recommend that you go for 6GB of OCZ PC-1066 (1333MHz) CL9. The extra memory should increase your performance. Also it overclocks very well, I have it running in my i7 built at CL9, 1T and 1440Mhz (i have heard of others getting it up to 1800Mhz).

Excellent suggestion. I think it would be more worthwhile to get the RAM to 1600mhz and try to get the CL to 8 or perhaps even 7 (rather ambitious tho).

To get it to 1800mhz a good amount of overvolting on the mem controller is required so be careful on that.

[cmndr_andi]

You may want to ensure that you get a D0 stepping of the i7 920, as this new chip seems to run better on lower volts and has allowed for higher overclocks. Some shops sell them separately while on others its luck of the draw whether you get a D0 or a C0/1. Scan sell the D0 at a slight premium here.

[MPJ88]

Yeah people have problems with the V8 i would choose the Noctua or as peiople suggested the Thermalright TRUE

[baius]

I wonder if the original poster ever intends to return to this site? lol.

[quikgoner]

I wonder if the original poster ever intends to return to this site? lol.

Lol yeah