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?
nice I learned alot btw...who gave u that hair cut..i think i can give you better haircut than what u currently have...and I have never given a haircut before....
Out of curiousity, why the P7P55D instead of just the P7P55 LX? From the specs, it doesn't look like the P7P55D really gains 50% more performance than just the LX version i.e. no usb 3.0, except that it has one more SATA port.....and it doesn't look like you'll use up all of yours anyways
Unless this particular board OC's better than the P7P55 LX, I don't see a reason to pay so much more for it
Though, I am sort of a hardcore gamer but my rig is relatively outdated maybe except for the GPU, which is a 4770. And yea... Those pins are terrible, my first time trying to remove and place it back on, it felt like they were broken or something.
edit: Ive been wanting to get a Phemon II X4 955 instead since the i7s' are still relatively pricey. Though the worst part is my mobo is really old and besides that its a Intel board that supports only up to QXXXX series, so it would be like a total overhaul.
KOF: I couldn't really care less about USB 3.0 or SATA 3 support, and the P7P55D has an extra PCIe 2.0 x4 slot I can use for another GPU to run extra monitors with. It is also 12x9.6 rather than the 12x8.6 of the LX, which is important since I plan on using a relatively large CPU cooler, and besides, the P7P55D has all those extra features I want to get around to trying out! The 12+2 phase power design in theory should make the P7P55D a better overclocker!
Disregard: You don't have to be a hardcore gamer to use SSDs, and I honestly believe everybody could use a SSD in their system. Buying a $100 30GB SSD will do soooo much more for you in everyday tasks than an extra 4GB of RAM (3GB if you're doing triple channel!).
I actually support the AM3 platform. The first (and hardest) decision I made was Phenom II vs i7. The Phenom II X4 955 is an amazing processor because it is just extremely cost effective. At $160, it overclocks to 4ghz easily, and even without overclocking, it can compete with the i7 750. It also has a stronger platform than the i5 750 since AM3 is receiving some love with the 6 core Phenom IIs
On April 03 2010 09:22 FragKrag wrote: 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.
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.
First of all, you can pick up Windows 7 for students for 65 bucks now. Look up Windows 7 Student promotions on google. Also, I would invest in a Blu ray player. Many people don't realize how much better Blu ray quality is compared to standard DVDs. Sure, a normal optical drive works but a blu ray drive is a good investment. Also, you are wasting money on the SSD. Prices are expected to drop by year's end and spending that much on an SSD just for slightly faster boot up times (my velocis boot up in 10 seconds) and bragging rights doesn't really make much sense.
On April 03 2010 14:59 FragKrag wrote: KOF: I couldn't really care less about USB 3.0 or SATA 3 support, and the P7P55D has an extra PCIe 2.0 x4 slot I can use for another GPU to run extra monitors with. It is also 12x9.6 rather than the 12x8.6 of the LX, which is important since I plan on using a relatively large CPU cooler, and besides, the P7P55D has all those extra features I want to get around to trying out! The 12+2 phase power design in theory should make the P7P55D a better overclocker!
Disregard: You don't have to be a hardcore gamer to use SSDs, and I honestly believe everybody could use a SSD in their system. Buying a $100 30GB SSD will do soooo much more for you in everyday tasks than an extra 4GB of RAM (3GB if you're doing triple channel!).
I actually support the AM3 platform. The first (and hardest) decision I made was Phenom II vs i7. The Phenom II X4 955 is an amazing processor because it is just extremely cost effective. At $160, it overclocks to 4ghz easily, and even without overclocking, it can compete with the i7 750. It also has a stronger platform than the i5 750 since AM3 is receiving some love with the 6 core Phenom IIs
I'm sorry but buying a 30 GB SSD will not do much more than 4GB of RAM. you can barely fit anything inside a 30GB SSD. OS and a couple of games and it's already full. Plus, you usually only get like 28 out of the 30 GB in the SSD.
I have no intention of ever using Blu-Ray though (or any physical media for the most part). I also realize that the new 25nm SSDs are coming out later this year, but I really just don't care enough to wait, because then other things will come up and it will just become a bunch of waiting imo.
4GB of RAM will do absolutely nothing for you except cache a few programs (if it even does that) in Windows 7/Vista. Otherwise, it sits there doing nothing while your SSD lets you load up programs extremely quickly and makes your computer run much smoother. Most people don't even need more than 2 or 3GB of RAM anyways.
I'm not quite sure how to get the $65 windows 7. I assumed that was only for people in college?
Snowbird: Microcenter does not offer international shipping. It doesn't even offer shipping for its processors. The entire point of them offering a $200 i7 is because they want you to go to the store and buy other stuff imo.
On April 04 2010 02:08 superbabosheki wrote: I agree with that, the socket 1156 is pretty much done already. The x58 platform is expected to stay for a while.
The future is "Sandy bridge" and buying a new mobo because it will be a new socket.
It isn't if you don't plan on using any X58 features (triple channel is useless for gaming, I don't plan on Xfire/SLI), X58 does me absolutely no good. The SSD and LGA 1156 setup gives me much more performance than a X58 and a HDD. I don't understand why people advocate 1366 blindly when they don't even know how the chipset works.
i7 is so that I don't have to upgrade any time soon. I was considering the i5 750 before that, but I wanted the i7 860. When it dropped to $200 at microcenter, I jumped on it. Note that I'm not going to be an 'extremely heavy gamer'. I'm still going to game and play SC2/Civ V etc and I want to be able to play them at a decent setting.
The SSD is to speed up daily usage of the computer.
Not to hijack your blog but... Recommend me an AM3 mobo thats reasonably priced and is decent to support my overhaul?
Phenom II x4 955 Undetermined brand - 4GB DDR3 1600 Sapphire 4770 140mm fan + a couple of 40mm And maybe also a PSU recommendation
Earthwatts maybe?
All shoved into a shitty Xion Onyx? case(The model with the glass side panel and blue LEDs) I bought many years ago when I was still totally inexperienced.
edit: Im using a terrible Coolermaster PSU right now, had it for awhile. Have to replace it because the fans make a very audible grinding noise, though Ive sorta gotten used to it by now.
I was told about the RAM problem before, was a bit vague about it. Guess I'll start with the PSU first before I go on buying everything else, curse those pricey mobos!! Thanks.
Hm, if you don't plan on adding any other graphics cards, you can get cheaper mobos. Those are just the normal mid-end performance mobos that I usually recommend.
The problem with DDR3 1600 and AM3 is that it doesn't use that bandwidth very well. You might as well get DDR3 1333 and have lower timings which will give you more performance. 7-7-7-20 DDR3 1333 will work better than a 9-9-9-24 DDR3 1600
Oh, I forgot to mention that Im not adding another 4770. Im just gonna continue using the single 4770 that I have since I replaced my G80 not long ago when it died on me.
EPT
((((((
