Core i7 Build check...

Hi guys!

It's been a while since I posted. Glad to see the community is going strong.

I'm thinking of upgrading and would need your help to check this build...

- Intel Core i7 960
- Kingston HyperX (KHX1600C7D3K3/6GX) (6GB DDR3)
- Asus Rampage III MotherBoard
- A bunch of WD HDDs (not yet decided which one)
- XFX ATI Radeon HD5850 1024 GDDR5 Gfx
- Corsair HX750W ATX modular Power Supply
- Coolermaster V8 Cooler

I've already got a Corsair 650W, is that sufficient or do I need a 750W?

I'm keeping my Coolermaster Stacker for the case, which should just be fine.

Any recommendations? Did I miss anything?

Thank you for your help. Cheers!

Go for the i7 920/930, 960 is over priced for minimal performance gains. 650W PSU you currently have will do you fine also.

Also, you can get 2 5770s for the price of a 5850, and they should give about 25% better performance.

The Asus Rampage III is also about £350... Any reason why you're wanting to spend £200 than a "normal" X58 board? Also, like others say, an i7 960 is definitely not worth the money over an i7 920. Even a i7 930 compared to i7 920 is a waste of money IMO.

You'd be better of using that money saved on a 80/160GB Intel SSD or perhaps the new SandForce based SSDs.

I used an i7 920 OCed to 4ghz and 5770 on a Corsair HX520W with no problems, 650W for an overclocked i7 and even a 5870 will be easy so 5850 is no problem for it to power up.

Also with RAM just get the cheapest 6GB kit you can get, no point wasting money on real world performance gains of less than 5%, even a 6GB 1333mhz CL9 kit won't be much slower than a 1600mhz CL7.

What will you be doing with your PC though? Depending on what you're doing you should spend more or less on SSDs and graphics or perhaps move to AMD for hex core.

Thanks for the input guys.

My PC is rather old (5 years now) and I thought that if I do upgrade, it would be better to get a good one for the 5 years coming.

I believe from the info you provided that I should rethink my upgrade.

I don't play much - maybe I'll try a new game to see how it performs - that's all.

I would run some virtual machines for development purposes from time to time.

Allow me to come up with a revised setup.

I feel good posting and getting constructive comments :)

If the budget will stretch this would make an awesome VM (75k IOPS) / general OS and apps drive:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120GB...-Write-490MB-s £316.22

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xfactor

Hi guys!

It's been a while since I posted. Glad to see the community is going strong.

I'm thinking of upgrading and would need your help to check this build...

- Intel Core i7 960
- Kingston HyperX (KHX1600C7D3K3/6GX) (6GB DDR3)
- Asus Rampage III MotherBoard
- A bunch of WD HDDs (not yet decided which one)
- XFX ATI Radeon HD5850 1024 GDDR5 Gfx
- Corsair HX750W ATX modular Power Supply
- Coolermaster V8 Cooler

I've already got a Corsair 650W, is that sufficient or do I need a 750W?

I'm keeping my Coolermaster Stacker for the case, which should just be fine.

Any recommendations? Did I miss anything?

Thank you for your help. Cheers!

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That rig is barely pulling more than 300W under load. You could run a pair of Radeon HD 5850 in Crossfire with a 650W PSU. Ref: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2848/13