Yeah, so I just got my new i7 860 for $200 at Microcenter :D! (They actually have i7 920s for $170 now, so if you were considering a LGA 1366 system, go for it) I decided to do a little unboxing of the processor for people who don't quite know what to expect when they are buying computer parts.
I'll probably do more of these as I get more parts so :D!
I normally would not advocate buying parts separately, but the core was only $200 vs the normal price of $280. I had to go for it! Anyways, CPUs don't normally arrive DOA.
Youtube Link
(Yes, I realize my hair is terrible :< )
And since I'm finally starting to get the parts required. I have a general outline of what I'm going to get. Feel free to critique if you want!
I realize that massive fanboyism (ASUS P7P55D over Gigabyte UD3, Corsair 650HX over Antec 750W or 650W TruePower) raised the cost quite a bit, and the build could easily be around $50-60 cheaper, but I do like ASUS/Corsair.
:>
Oh, and the reason the graphics card looks quite stale compared to the rest of the build is because originally, my budget allotted for an ATi HD 5850, but since then, I have removed that, and added in an Intel SSD. I'm not going to be an extremely heavy gamer, so I will wait either for the 5850 to drop in price, or wait for the new Nvidia competitor to the 5830/5770 before buying a GPU. Besides, a 4670 should be more than enough to get 60FPS on SC2 at low at 1680x1050 or 1920x1080.
Nice build, I just recently finished upgrading mine. Few questions though.
1) How do you like your SSD, and why did you get the 80GB rather than 2x 40GB's in Raid0, since all Gen2 Intels support trim anyways. 2) Did you buy the cheap GPU for an upgrade to fermis/6xxx series, or are you just not in the need of a powerful card? 3) HAF 922 is a fucking beast isn't it? 4) 860 over 750?! WAIIIIIIIIIII!
Here's my build xD i7 920 stable at 3.8ghz Gigabyte EX58-UD3R w/ latest bios 2x MSI R5770 hawk <-- these are AWESOME, $340 and performs the same as a 5870 6GB DDR3 Gskill Ripjaws , 1600mhz Corsair h50 using two of the Coolermaster Fans w/ red leds(1.9k RPM, just had em sitting around) Antec Quadro 850W PSU - Got this for $100 at fry's last week, insane price CM HAF 922 with 2 blue 230mm fans, and the storm sniper side panel[$50 craigslist, rofl] 1TB WD black, considering a SSD for boot/games win7professional - student discount ftw $65
Now I have extra parts to make a secondary cheap rig. -storm scout -ocz 550w -3gb adata -9800gt All I really need is a HDD and CPU/MOBO~
I had a comment about quicksand comment but i just thought it was mean. my comment and yours but see i censored myself and did not post it.
You know what's great writing a script or notes it really prevents you stumbling on words and crap
Man i want a 860 lol i'd stream my sc2 if i had a decent quad core like that. Lol but i can't afford a new board and cpu after spending a bunch of a retail copy of windows 7, that way i wont have to call India after every activation.
Congrats on an awesome cpu i assume with that kick ass psu you'll oc it but i don't see an aftermarket cpu cooler in your build list.
On April 03 2010 09:36 superbabosheki wrote: Nice build, I just recently finished upgrading mine. Few questions though.
1) How do you like your SSD, and why did you get the 80GB rather than 2x 40GB's in Raid0, since all Gen2 Intels support trim anyways. 2) Did you buy the cheap GPU for an upgrade to fermis/6xxx series, or are you just not in the need of a powerful card? 3) HAF 922 is a fucking beast isn't it? 4) 860 over 750?! WAIIIIIIIIIII!
Here's my build xD i7 920 stable at 3.8ghz Gigabyte EX58-UD3R w/ latest bios 2x MSI R5770 hawk <-- these are AWESOME, $340 and performs the same as a 5870 6GB DDR3 Gskill Ripjaws , 1600mhz Corsair h50 using two of the Coolermaster Fans w/ red leds(1.9k RPM, just had em sitting around) Antec Quadro 850W PSU - Got this for $100 at fry's last week, insane price CM HAF 922 with 2 blue 230mm fans, and the storm sniper side panel[$50 craigslist, rofl] 1TB WD black, considering a SSD for boot/games win7professional - student discount ftw $65
Now I have extra parts to make a secondary cheap rig. -storm scout -ocz 550w -3gb adata -9800gt All I really need is a HDD and CPU/MOBO~
1. I would go for the 80GB since as of now, the 2x 40GB setup does not support Trim, which leads to SSD death (((((( 2. Both actually. I don't really plan to play many games aside from SC2/D3/Civ V so I just need a decent GPU to hold me over. However, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a 5xxx or fermi later on. 3. Don't have it yet~ 4. i7 860 for $200 or i5 750 for $180? :>
@ Semantics: The plan is a Scythe Mugen-2 or a Cooler Master Hyper 212. If the Hyper 212 gets drastically cheaper in the next 3-4 months I'll take that, but if not I'm going with the Mugen
Oh I forgot you got it at microcenter instead of newegg, damn I actually payed in full for my CPU/Mobo a year ago, a little less than $500 x_x. The 40GB's actually do support trim with a firmwire upgrade, I've been doing a shitload of reading recently lol.
The 5xxx refresh is coming out later this year, save up some money ^_^ Screw the fermi, 95 load temps are not cool at all.
Cool stuff! Tbh your SC2 computer guide has been a massive help in understanding all that is hardware related. Give this man a star or something. That's a pretty similar build to the one I'm hoping to get soon. I'm not getting an SSD though, and getting a 5850 instead. Still a little hesitant about it though, I've read through guides and watched the odd Youtube vid on actually putting together the computer...but I'm worried about fucking up and breaking something -_- Guess I'll never know till I try!
On April 03 2010 09:59 Floydian wrote: Cool stuff! Tbh your SC2 computer guide has been a massive help in understanding all that is hardware related. Give this man a star or something. That's a pretty similar build to the one I'm hoping to get soon. I'm not getting an SSD though, and getting a 5850 instead. Still a little hesitant about it though, I've read through guides and watched the odd Youtube vid on actually putting together the computer...but I'm worried about fucking up and breaking something -_- Guess I'll never know till I try!
The first time you build, it should take you around 3 hours. The next time it will be less than an hour! Awesome experience, and you learn a lot.
You should just build it not worrying about cable management, just to see if it will turn on. After that manage the cabling, which may take a long time to do properly. Just be careful and remember to ground yourself.
Scythe Mugen-2 is interesting becuase it's low rpm cooling is pretty decent but it's the size of a brick, tends to block off ram slots, and if you really want to oc you can always buy more fan brackets and fit up to 4 fans on it which i found to be hilarious and genius be design. esp if you have vrm facing in another direction then where you pointed the first fan you can add another fan to cool off your vrm.
either cooler will do you well from reviews i read.
ofc it's scythe where they make some over the top shit like 10 heatpipe coolers similar to cooler masters V10
I still run my zalman NT 9500 left over from my 393 to my am2 to my now lga 775 lol expensive but has def got my moneys worth.
Yeah, it does block off RAM slots, but only high slots. I should have no problem sticking in a Corsair XMS3 inside the close RAM slot. (It did however, kill my dreams of a Corsair Dominator setup)
Yeah, I do love the design of the Scythe Mugen because it is quiet from what I heard.
I don't know a lot about computers, but that system seems expensive to me if all you'll be doing is SC2 and a few others. How does it handle movie editing and such?