Another core i7 build question...!

[SourceQuench]

Hi All,

I thought that it was about time that I moved on from my old s939 machine and at the same time give it to my gf who is into more sedate gaming and desktop apps. So, after some saving up, I decided to go for a core i7 system to treat myself (and to run win7 lol).

I've done a lot of reading of the threads and reviews on here as I've been out of the scene for quite a while - I would like to know which would be better in your opinions of the following two motherboards:

• Asus P6T Deluxe v2
• Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5

considering that I will probably be overclocking an i920 D0 to about 4GHz (or how far I get!) along with 3Gb of RAM. Also, the Asus is on special offer on Scan at this point in time combined with a Core i920, so I didn't know whether to go for that or not.

There will also be the usual gubbins of graphics card (a single one at the moment, possibly another one later), hard disks, optical drive, etc on top of this.

One other point that I'd like to ask is what woud be a reasonable size of PSU for this kind of overclocked setup? I know that most PSUs are most efficient at around 80% load - is there a half-decent calculator that I could use?

Any decent brands I should go for? Ideally it should be a modular one if possible. I saw that the Enermax Revolutions are quite good, but I thought that 850W was a bit of overkill.

Thanks a lot for reading this, sorry for all the questions and thanks for your opinions!

[shbris]

you'll need about 600W max, slightly more for dual GPU

and why not 6GB of ram...? go crazy

bequiet make good psu's, or corsair

[piggin23]

If you are looking for a power calculator then try this http://www.corsair.com/psufinder/default.aspx

I am sure that others will be along and slate my choice of corsair, saying they are expensive but I have always used them 24/7 with highly overclocked systems and have had no problems. Also it will give you an idea of what to get.

[Grymdawg]

I am opting for a Corsair PSU in my next build, from what i have heard, theyre pretty sweet.

I would probably go 750w, just to be safe. Thats probably slightly more than you need, but rather too much than too little.

[dangermoose]

I use a Corsair HX520 with my i7 build and it runs flawlessly at 3.8Ghz (at the moment!)..

I too upgraded from a skt 939 system and the difference really is staggering, for me its more about the responsiveness of the system as a whole rather than how many seconds it will take to do something. You wont be disappointed.

I built my i7 system using a Gigabyte UD4P and am very impressed. I have always used Asus in the past and was a bit dubious going for Gigabyte but I'm glad I did in the end. Saying that I think either of the boards you mentioned will be excellent.

Go with 6Gbs of ram if u can stretch to it, it will make a difference if you play games or do any video encoding or graphics work.

Good luck!

[kakahara]

I noticed you didn't post a budget

I'm using the Corsair HX620 PSU atm, and would recommend it to everyone. I'm not using SLI or Crossfire, but if I wanted to, I'd probably get the HX1000. More for peace of mind really.

Gigabyte have a representative over at the Tweaktown forums. You can email him for the latest BIOS or whatever - which I have done, and his english is pretty good too. Think his name is Janus. Customer Service like that is awesome.

Also, you might want to let your choice of HSF influence the motherboard. A really big CPU HSF like the Coolermaster v10 or the Prolimatech Megahalems might not let you install 6 gbs of RAM. And since you are overclocking - you'd surely want more RAM right?

[Ali N]

Another good calculator is extreme.outervision.com

Gives a good amount of details to input and gives as far as i know, an accurate figure.

Maybe look at a 625w Enermax Modu82+ I've seen good reviews about it

[aidanjt]

...but if I wanted to, I'd probably get the HX1000. More for peace of mind really....

Maybe if you wanted to be fusing hydrogen atoms. But for computer use, unless you plan on liquid nitrogen cooling your 10Ghz overclocked CPU and 3 phase-exchange cooled overclocked GeForce 295 cards in SLi, 1kW is overkill.

600W is plenty in 99.9% of usage cases.

[Ronaldo-7]

I liked the Antec PSU 850w modular, its very silent.