Core i7

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Yup, I read through the list, thank you btw, and yeah my Prescott is supported. But I figured I might as well go all the way and get a nice new C2D to go along with my kickass new board.

[bgavin]

Re: Core i7

An E8400 is about $170 from Newegg.
These are low power consumption, and run very cool with the stock cooler.
You can spend a lot more money for tiny increments of faster clock speed.
Not worth it, IMO.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Core i7

I agree with bgavin
Also worth of looking at may be the quad core version; Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

So you guys are suggesting I go for an x8xxx?

Fuck... That'd be $210 for 2 gigs of RAM and CPU.

Maybe I'll hold off for a bit and go for the E8400. Per, Quad Core sounds great but I've heard there isn't much of a performance gain to be had for the extra $$$.

[370forlife]

Re: Core i7

I think its money well spent to buy a cheaper processor, but spend the money saved on a better video card.

A video card will get you a lot more fps in a game than a processor.

I spent about $500 on my computer, it has a $150 sli capable board, 4 gigs of ram, and the processor is a 5000+ dual core and was a combo with my board for $10. My video card is a 9800gt.

My friend built a $600 computer, but he bought a asus crossfire board that was $120, but his processor is a 3ghz core 2 duo, and it was $180. He only has 2 gigs of ram and a 8600gt.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

How do the two machines compare? I've got a Radeon 4850 (the 1GB version), which is the ATI equivalent of a 9800GTX+.

Also I'm thinking E7400 guys. I've been spending too much money lately. I think I'll just get a 7400 and some RAM then settle down and be happy with what I have.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Hey guys, sorry to drag this thread on so much, but I wanted to get your guys's opinion on everything.

Here's what I have:
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P (paid for, shipped, arrives monday)
XFX Radeon 4850 - 1GB version (currently in my system)
Case, beefy 550W PSU (that brick shithouse of an AcBel)
An old (2005) 80GB WD SATA drive

Here's what I'm getting in exactly two weeks:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145247
4GB Corsair PC1066

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115206
Core 2 Duo E7400, 2.8Ghz

What do you guys think of the RAM and CPU I'm getting? Also, my HDD is pretty olde (2005). Do you guys think it'll hinder system performance badly?

[Wizard]

Re: Core i7

Looks good so far. FYI: XP 32 bit will give you between 3.5GB to 3.1GB.

Cheers, Wizard

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Yup, I'm experiencing that on my current system. I've got 4GB of RAM in it and XP claims there are only 3.1GB.

Any thoughts on the HDD guys? Should it be next on the list of upgrades, or is it fine? I don't really need more than 80GB.

[acstech]

Re: Core i7

Processor: Great. It'll overclock like mad.

Ram: The timings and voltage blow large chunks. You'll want to run 1:1 FSB to memory speed anyway. Since that e7400 will never run 533FSB, you're kind of wasting your money on that ram. Besides, it needs 2.1v for 5-6-6 timings. Yuck.

Here is what I would get:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231219

4-4-4-12 timings at DDR2-800, 1.8-1.9v. Since you'll probably never run over 4200MHz (10.5x400) on that E7400 anyway, this ram is more than fast enough. Plus it costs less.

I would, however, run that thing at 400FSB, then set the multiplier to where the processor is stable (it'll probably be somewhere around 3.6GHz, depending on the cooler).

Just my opinions.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Hmmmm... g.skill sounds more like the name of a Gorillaz song than a reputable RAM manufacturer to me, and the name brand Corsair stuff is only $5 more. Plus I won't be doing any overclocking on this bad boy.

Can you elaborate more on why the timing/voltage on the Corsair RAM is bad?

[acstech]

Re: Core i7

Higher timings = slower.
Higher voltage = shorter life. Standard DDR2 voltage is 1.8v. That's what the chips are built for.

If you're not overclocking, why get overclocker ram?

G.skill has actually been around for quite a while. I've had good luck with it, as well as others such as OCZ and Kingston. I just recommended the G.Skill because of it's low voltage requirement with decent timings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.Skill

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Ah, I see. I thought those guys were new.

What you said just made a whole lot of sense. Looks like I'll be picking up some of that 4-4-4-12/1.8v RAM when the time comes.

I'm reading a lot of review for my motherboard I just bought, and it seems the vast majority is VERY positive, almost glowing reviews. However, I'm a bit worried at the moment because about 10% of the reviews mention a well-known issue with RAM slots 1 and 3 on certain revisions of the board causing BSOD's for some and random reboots for others. There are three revisions of the board, 1.0, 1.1, and 1.6. It seems 1.0 is the problematic one, 1.1 is gold, and I saw one review say they had a faulty 1.6. I'm hoping I get a 1.1, or that maybe the reviewer that said his 1.6 had issues got his numbering mixed up.

bgavin you said you sell a lot of these. Had any RAM issues with any?

[Wizard]

Re: Core i7

Ooh. HD thing, you don't have a choice with newer hard drive and it is worthy to buy a 60-70 dollars decent hard drive like hitachi SATA. The 80GB will be very slow because this was 5 years ago vs now.

Cheers, Wizard

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Oh lord, I swear to god this shit will never end. My wallet will be completely cleaned out before I finally have a modern, working, complete C2D system.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319

[bgavin]

Re: Core i7

I've had no end of RAM issues with sticks clocked or volted above JEDEC specs.
Most of it dies in the 3~12 month time frame. It starts with system instability and crashing. Eventually BSOD 0x50 is the tipoff.

The RAM is ruined by then, and has to be RMA'd.
I'm now running Corsair Dominator 1066 at 800 and 1.8v, 4-4-4-12 timings.
This is rock solid and lasts forever.

Another alternative is the G.Skill RAM that comes stock at 1.8v and 4-4-4-12 timings.

[acstech]

Re: Core i7

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319

That's a nice looking drive. I've switched a while back from Samsung to WD and couldn't be happier. The WD drives seem to be a lot more reliable.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Yup. My friend's got the 500GB version and his runs so nice that it convinced me to go WD. The 640GB is supposed to be the fastest of the whole Caviar Black lineup.

I used to prefer Seagate but all the crap I've heard about 7200.7's and 7200.11's, plus how they bought Maxtor, made me think twice about going Seagate. The fact that I just swapped a dying 7200.7 for a client a few weeks back didn't help much either.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Board came in yesterday. I got a rev 1.6; there are several reports of 1.6's having bad RAM slots (usually 1 and 3) right out of the box and either failing to boot or crashing seconds into memtest.

I put two 1GB sticks of 2.1v/1066 RAM in it, loaded up memtest, and crossed my fingers....

She passed with flying colors All slots tested. Also, she ran my P4 just fine. I'm gonna put her away for two weeks until my C2D comes. No sense in getting everything set up with my P4 if I'm gonna have to redo it in two weeks.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Core i7

Also, I forgot to mention, it came with some cheap crappy CMOS battery installed (JDF or some shit like that, it was a weird logo). I swapped it out for a brand new, Japanese-made Energizer 2032. Good move, or waste of $1.99+tax?