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SpartanCaptain
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Some part advice needed.

Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:21 pm

Ok so I will start by saying I am building a new system. I will be waiting for IVY bridge, I know its about 2 or 3 months away. But I want to get the newer chip and newer motherboards.

I currently have
CPU: Intel Q9450
Memory : DDR2 8gb corsair
HD: caviar black 500gb
graphics: gtx 460

I am going to need a motherboard/cpu/memory/graphics/hard drive/ssd/bluray
Now I plan on getting an i7 ivy bridge/and motherboard. which I am estimating around 600-650.
Now for everything else I have around 900 to spend. I will not need a case or power supply.

So can people give me some idea on some parts to fill in
I was looking at the samsung 830 SSD drive 120gb
I want 16gb of memory. 4gbx4 But I am not sure on what speed differences will mean so if you can give some advice on which speed would be best for its price.
I need a bluray burner/player.
a 1tb HDD
and I am thinking about upgrading graphics also. I know this could take a large part of my budget But I probably won't buy this for a month or 2 and see if current ones go down.
How big of a difference is the 7970 compared to my gtx 460?
 
DPete27
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:43 pm

You are on the right track with the suggestions you've made. As far as RAM is concerned, I would wait until Ivy Bridge comes out so RAM performance can be tested on that platform. Currently 1600Mhz CL9 is the best cost/performance wise on Sandy Bridge. I would also wait on your graphics card for 3 reasons:
1) AMD kindof jumped the gun on the 7xxx release and proper software support is not available yet
2) The 7970 is in limited supply and is "bleeding-edge" technology right now, I would suspect prices to drop in the coming months
3) Wait to see what Nvidia Kepler has to show so you can make a good cost/performance comparison (this will also introduce some pricing competition)
On the bright side, the 7970 is currently the best single-chip graphics card on the market. It should be a more than worthy upgrade from your 460 when the time comes.

The best advice I can give you is to start watching prices on the components you've chosen so that in April/May when you build your system you will have a good idea of component price history and can keep your system price as low as possible. Also keep your ear to the ground about the Samsung 830 and any problems that might arise. It's probably the best performing SSD out there right now, but it's also the newest addition to the SSD world. Existing 3rd-gen SSD's have been out for roughly a year and have had much more time to iron out the kinks.
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vargis14
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:12 pm

Besides graphics performance being better on ivy bridge a 20 watt tdp decrease from a already low 95 watts on sandy bridge,i think they are going to perform pretty much clock for clock,but you will also be getting pcie 3.0 and native usb3.It just might turn out to be better once we see benchmarks to get a sandy setup over ivy,i am sure it will save some money that could be better used for that 7970 or perhaps a 7950.We might get lucky and see some kelper from the green team by then,so that extra saving could go to a NV card or a bigger SSD.
I think you can chug along with what you have until we see ivy benches,heck if your MB is sli capable and you really need a graphics boost grab another 460,they scale quiet well.
Luckily VLC open source player will be supporting blu ray playback very soon so you wont have to pay 100$ for say arcsoft total media theater to watch a dang bluray on your pc....i tried the 15 day demo worked well but not worth 100$...total ripoff if u ask me for software to play a bluray when you already payed for the hardware.
I just wish dual layer blu ray media wasnt so dang pricey.the cheapest i can find dual layer bluray disc 10 packs is 54$ out of stock,74$ for what newegg has in stock.
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SpartanCaptain
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:22 pm

vargis14 wrote:
Besides graphics performance being better on ivy bridge a 20 watt tdp decrease from a already low 95 watts on sandy bridge,i think they are going to perform pretty much clock for clock,but you will also be getting pcie 3.0 and native usb3.It just might turn out to be better once we see benchmarks to get a sandy setup over ivy,i am sure it will save some money that could be better used for that 7970 or perhaps a 7950.We might get lucky and see some kelper from the green team by then,so that extra saving could go to a NV card or a bigger SSD.
I think you can chug along with what you have until we see ivy benches,heck if your MB is sli capable and you really need a graphics boost grab another 460,they scale quiet well.


I am going ivy bridge for a few reasons.
It will be lower power, and is suppose to perform slightly better than sandy clock for clock. Also it should overclock a little better.

I dont want to get another gtx 460 because from what I hear lately, though sli may be fast fps wise. There are some downfalls to actuall quality of what you are seeing.
And on the ssd I am not sure why one much bigger would be of any use. HDD do still tend to beat ssd in some benchmarks and I just want to use it as the OS drive.
 
DPete27
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:33 pm

Just caught this in todays shortbread. Looks like the Samsung 830 has growing pains as well.
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JustAnEngineer
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:36 pm

SpartanCaptain wrote:
I am going to need a motherboard/cpu/memory/graphics/hard drive/ssd/bluray
Processor: Are you looking for the top-of-the-heap $332-ish Core i7-3770K or would a $225-ish Core i5-3570K be sufficient?

Motherboard: Currently, the ATX P8Z68-V/Gen3 or Micro-ATX Maximus IV Gene-Z/Gen3 Z68 LGA1155 motherboards from Asus would get my endorsement as the basis of an enthusiast's gaming PC. However, you should wait to see what new motherboards may be available by the time that Ivy Bridge launches.

Memory: Currently, PC3-12800 (800 MHz "DDR3-1600", CAS 9, 1.5 V) memory in 4 GiB DIMMs is very cheap. Wait to see if prices continue to fall, particularly on the larger 8 GiB DIMMs or on faster speed grades.

Graphics: Keep waiting. Radeon HD7970 is the only 28nm GPU that is currently available. By the time that Ivy Bridge arrives we will have at least Radeon HD7950 and Radeon HD7870 (and possibly more) to join it. I don't believe that we are expecting NVidia's Kepler to be ready just when Ivy Bridge launches, but a few early samples may make it into reviewers' hands by then and retail product should follow within 1-1½ months thereafter. If the HD7950 doesn't thrill you, keep using the GeForce GTX460 until Kepler arrives to at least provide some competition.

Maybe hard drive prices will start to recover by April. Look for a 2 TB drive if prices aren't too outrageous.
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SpartanCaptain
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:48 am

JustAnEngineer wrote:
SpartanCaptain wrote:
I am going to need a motherboard/cpu/memory/graphics/hard drive/ssd/bluray
Processor: Are you looking for the top-of-the-heap $332-ish Core i7-3770K or would a $225-ish Core i5-3570K be sufficient?

Motherboard: Currently, the ATX P8Z68-V/Gen3 or Micro-ATX Maximus IV Gene-Z/Gen3 Z68 LGA1155 motherboards from Asus would get my endorsement as the basis of an enthusiast's gaming PC. However, you should wait to see what new motherboards may be available by the time that Ivy Bridge launches.

Memory: Currently, PC3-12800 (800 MHz "DDR3-1600", CAS 9, 1.5 V) memory in 4 GiB DIMMs is very cheap. Wait to see if prices continue to fall, particularly on the larger 8 GiB DIMMs or on faster speed grades.

Graphics: Keep waiting. Radeon HD7970 is the only 28nm GPU that is currently available. By the time that Ivy Bridge arrives we will have at least Radeon HD7950 and Radeon HD7870 (and possibly more) to join it. I don't believe that we are expecting NVidia's Kepler to be ready just when Ivy Bridge launches, but a few early samples may make it into reviewers' hands by then and retail product should follow within 1-1½ months thereafter. If the HD7950 doesn't thrill you, keep using the GeForce GTX460 until Kepler arrives to at least provide some competition.

Maybe hard drive prices will start to recover by April. Look for a 2 TB drive if prices aren't too outrageous.


Yes I will be looking at top of the heap as far as CPU goes. I won't get a Extreme edition but I will get the top i7.
I was just checking motherboards from CES and Gigabyte has some nice ones spec wise. I will probably be going between them or asus.
As far as memory, I believe I read that the memory should be used in four channels. So are you saying 8gb in each totaling 32gb?
Not that I have a problem with this, I am just curious if windows 7 would even be able to properly use that much ram. If so then yea I would spring for 32gb.
As far as memory speed how much difference will something faster than DDR3-1600 make?
 
DPete27
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:55 am

Ivy Bridge will have dual channel memory like sandy bridge, populating two slots is all you need. (You might be thinking about Sany Bridge E LGA 2011 which has a quad channel memory controller) Also, 8GB of RAM really covers the needs of the vast majority of users out there unless youre doing some major Adobe CS5 (files larger than 8GB) or some serious computational stuff like finite element analysis and the like. 32GB is an utter waste of money if you ask me. The reason many people are even buying 8GB right now is because RAM is so cheap.

For sandy bridge, there isnt much improvement to be had past 1600Mhz. We'll have to see what Ivy Bridge brings, my guess is it will be the same story. RAM frequencies higher than 1600 are generally meant for the overclocking community. However, with integrated graphics on next gen chips (Ivy Bridge, AMD Trinity) we might see more need for faster RAM, but that will only be necessary if you're using the IGP.
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SpartanCaptain
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:04 am

Well thats sad. I was really hoping for quad channel Memory. But I guess I will go with 2 sticks of 8gb if price is right.
 
Chrispy_
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:37 pm

SpartanCaptain wrote:
Well thats sad. I was really hoping for quad channel Memory. But I guess I will go with 2 sticks of 8gb if price is right.

Dual channel doesn't restrict you to two slots. You can still buy 4 x 4GB sticks. Each channel will have two slots and for optimum performance you want the same memory configuration in each channel, that is all.
SpartanCaptain wrote:
How big of a difference is the 7970 compared to my gtx 460?

More than double the performance. If you don't have a 30" screen, or multiiple monitors though, your 460 will probably run even the latest games fluidly at high-ish settings.
Wait until the killer game comes along that drops your 460 to its knees, THEN buy the new card. GIven that almost everything is a console port, the 460 I have still runs everything very very well at 1080p.
SpartanCaptain wrote:
I was looking at the samsung 830 SSD drive 120gb

Unless pricing is different in your area, the 830's are expensive and merely average for their performance.
Almost every SSD controller has had some hiccups, even Intel. Now that the bugs have been fixed and the dust has settled, the sandforce drives look the best for desktop systems. Given the low disk-queues in a workstation you're probably better off getting an asynchronous variety for better value (OCZ Agility 3 / Corsair Force 3) instead of the synchronous variety (OCZ Vertex 3 / Corsair Force GT). And remember: Despite all the shouting and bad press you hear, even the worst RMA rates for SSD's are no different to RMA rates for mechanical disks. Nerdrage beats logic when arguing on the intarwebs, sadly.
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SpartanCaptain
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Mon Jan 30, 2012 10:45 am

Chrispy_ wrote:
SpartanCaptain wrote:
Well thats sad. I was really hoping for quad channel Memory. But I guess I will go with 2 sticks of 8gb if price is right.

Dual channel doesn't restrict you to two slots. You can still buy 4 x 4GB sticks. Each channel will have two slots and for optimum performance you want the same memory configuration in each channel, that is all.
SpartanCaptain wrote:
How big of a difference is the 7970 compared to my gtx 460?

More than double the performance. If you don't have a 30" screen, or multiiple monitors though, your 460 will probably run even the latest games fluidly at high-ish settings.
Wait until the killer game comes along that drops your 460 to its knees, THEN buy the new card. GIven that almost everything is a console port, the 460 I have still runs everything very very well at 1080p.
SpartanCaptain wrote:
I was looking at the samsung 830 SSD drive 120gb

Unless pricing is different in your area, the 830's are expensive and merely average for their performance.
Almost every SSD controller has had some hiccups, even Intel. Now that the bugs have been fixed and the dust has settled, the sandforce drives look the best for desktop systems. Given the low disk-queues in a workstation you're probably better off getting an asynchronous variety for better value (OCZ Agility 3 / Corsair Force 3) instead of the synchronous variety (OCZ Vertex 3 / Corsair Force GT). And remember: Despite all the shouting and bad press you hear, even the worst RMA rates for SSD's are no different to RMA rates for mechanical disks. Nerdrage beats logic when arguing on the intarwebs, sadly.


Weird the reviews I saw over at toms had the samsung 830 as pretty much the top performer.
 
integer
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:35 pm

SpartanCaptain wrote:
Chrispy_ wrote:
SpartanCaptain wrote:
Well thats sad. I was really hoping for quad channel Memory. But I guess I will go with 2 sticks of 8gb if price is right.

Dual channel doesn't restrict you to two slots. You can still buy 4 x 4GB sticks. Each channel will have two slots and for optimum performance you want the same memory configuration in each channel, that is all.
SpartanCaptain wrote:
How big of a difference is the 7970 compared to my gtx 460?

More than double the performance. If you don't have a 30" screen, or multiiple monitors though, your 460 will probably run even the latest games fluidly at high-ish settings.
Wait until the killer game comes along that drops your 460 to its knees, THEN buy the new card. GIven that almost everything is a console port, the 460 I have still runs everything very very well at 1080p.
SpartanCaptain wrote:
I was looking at the samsung 830 SSD drive 120gb

Unless pricing is different in your area, the 830's are expensive and merely average for their performance.
Almost every SSD controller has had some hiccups, even Intel. Now that the bugs have been fixed and the dust has settled, the sandforce drives look the best for desktop systems. Given the low disk-queues in a workstation you're probably better off getting an asynchronous variety for better value (OCZ Agility 3 / Corsair Force 3) instead of the synchronous variety (OCZ Vertex 3 / Corsair Force GT). And remember: Despite all the shouting and bad press you hear, even the worst RMA rates for SSD's are no different to RMA rates for mechanical disks. Nerdrage beats logic when arguing on the intarwebs, sadly.


Weird the reviews I saw over at toms had the samsung 830 as pretty much the top performer.

TR also agrees - it is a top performer.
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DPete27
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:56 pm

"Top performer" is an all around generalization. Its not the best at every benchmark. All that aside though, the real world difference between the 830, Sandforce, and Marvell is going to be unnoticeable. (Boo Intel, "pay the most for the slowest drive on the market, but we have the stereotype of being the most reliable"...that doesn't sit well with me) Benchmark numbers and graphs exaggerate performance differences greatly. They're helpful but dont lose sight of reality. I think you would be hard pressed to tell the performance difference in real life between the Samsung 830 and an Async Sandforce drive.
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ImSpartacus
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Sun Feb 05, 2012 1:47 pm

I would get a nice SSD (830 is fine), a widely supported CPU cooler and a nice Blu Ray drive.

Between the 120GB boot drive and a half TB of storage from your old hard drive, you shouldn't be pressed for storage.

That Q9450 is still admirable. Try an aggressive overclock with a better cooler.

Everything else can wait at least until Ivy Bridge comes out. If you just do some gaming (and get a nice overclock), I honestly think you can keep your mobo until Haswell.
 
Chrispy_
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Re: Some part advice needed.

Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:15 pm

Ignore me, I hadn't seen the Samsung 830 review yet when I posted that and was mistaking it for the older 470.
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