proposed i7 build advice

[sammorris]

To be honest, I was happy with the Nexus 80mm Basics I bought from Aria for £3 a piece, they score very highly at SPCR.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

To be honest, I was happy with the Nexus 80mm Basics I bought from Aria for £3 a piece, they score very highly at SPCR.

I will have a look at them.I also already have a Sharkoon SE 2000,a few Panaflos,a NMB-Mat and some other 80mm fans lying around.

[allyb]

Be interested to see what components & case you would choose if you were to build a new i7 system to keep the noise down. I have toyed with going for an SSD for my system drive.

regarding your comments about the low to hi spec companies. Does this apply to cases too?
also can anyone tell me if there is any advantage to a D0 stepped i7 IF you do not intend to overclock?

[sammorris]

Probably something like a TRUE1366 and NZXT Tempest, with all the fans undervolted.
If you do go SSD, buy nothing less than an OCZ Vertex. The cheap SSDs (OCZ Core, OCZ Solid) are dire unless used in a RAID array.
As far as I know there is no advantage to a D0 unless overclocking, besides being able to reduce the voltage a bit further to run at stock settings (i.e. less heat)

[allyb]

Probably something like a TRUE1366 and NZXT Tempest, with all the fans undervolted.
If you do go SSD, buy nothing less than an OCZ Vertex. The cheap SSDs (OCZ Core, OCZ Solid) are dire unless used in a RAID array.
As far as I know there is no advantage to a D0 unless overclocking, besides being able to reduce the voltage a bit further to run at stock settings (i.e. less heat)

so you don't rate the fortress?

[allyb]

just had a look at the tempest, i dont like that, the hush silver is ok but it looks a little small to fit all the hdds in it

[sammorris]

Silverstone make better cases than they do fans, I know that much, but I don't know much about the Fortress, it looks like it has capable cooling, but is very expensive, and doesn't have a side fan, which most cases going for top cooling should.

[allyb]

so which subtle looking case, preferably silver, does (sorry im a girl, aesthetics are important too!)

[scaryjim]

...my key needs are as follows:
...
efficient dont want a power hungry beast if i can help it
...

Sorry for being a bit late to the party with this but if you're really concerned about power draw you shouldn't be going for an i7! A mid to high range Core 2 Quad has a better balance of power and performance. The i7 is obviously a better performing processor, but it'll chew through a fair bit more power on the way! It's worth being prepared for that...

[sammorris]

Agreed, quite frankly. The performance per mhz of the i7 is well above and beyond what any other CPU has yet achieved, but the performance per watt is frankly mediocre.

A Core 2 Quad Q9550/Q9650 uses roughly 55W idle, and 95W load. An i7 920 by the same comparison uses 80W at idle, and 150W at load. If you want out and out performance though, and are willing to have a stab at overclocking, nothing else will touch an i7. If you're not overclocking, there's no reason why you can't say buy a Q9650 on Socket 775, it probably works out slightly cheaper, and will be a lot more power efficient. You won't lose very much on performance at stock levels.

[sammorris]

It's amazing how hard it is to find a decent Silver case. To be honest, if you like the Silverstone Fortress you may as well buy that.... :O

[allyb]

more concerned about the noise levels a power hungry beast usually means. I do think that since the i7 is cheaper than the q9650 theres little point buying older tech now.

[allyb]

yeah a silver case is really hard to find, so not a fan of the shiny black stuff, id hav to polish it constantly!

[sammorris]

Noise need not be an issue. A well designed case can run fans at low speed and still cool acceptably.
For the record, most black cases are mostly matt, not shiny.