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Review i7 Gaming Rig Before Order

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Been To Branson

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All parts are being ordered from NewEgg, parts that are not have the link underneath the items. Please review and enjoy.

Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: (Will be overclocking to 3.6GHz)
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Quad-Core Processor 1366-Socket with D0 Stepping
http://www.tankguys.com/review/product/list/id/169/

GPU:
HIS Hightech H489F1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

Memory:
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory

PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power

Heatsink (+cooling compound):
Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme - 1366 RT
http://www.jab-tech.com/Thermalright-Ultra-120-eXtreme-1366-RT-pr-4332.html

OCZ OCZTFRZTC Freeze Extreme Thermal Conductivity Compound
*From NewEgg*

Monitor:
SAMSUNG TOC T240 Rose Black 24'' 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor

OS Hard Drive:
OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD)

Data Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives

DVD Drives:
HP 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black IDE Model HP 1140i

Operating System: (will be switching to Win7 Eventually)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders

Price:
$1996.83

If you have any comments/complaints about these parts let me hear em :).
 
Been To Branson said:
All parts are being ordered from NewEgg, parts that are not have the link underneath the items. Please review and enjoy.

Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Probably my favorite OCing case at the moment.
Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Great board.
CPU: (Will be overclocking to 3.6GHz)
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Quad-Core Processor 1366-Socket with D0 Stepping
http://www.tankguys.com/review/product/list/id/169/
D0 will treat you well.
GPU:
HIS Hightech H489F1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
Great performance for the money.
Memory:
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory
If they are the stick I am thinking of they are an awesome value for the money.
PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power
Good choice but personally I would go with the 620HX for the modular ability. Granted that is a lot more money for that feature, personal preference.
Heatsink (+cooling compound):
Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme - 1366 RT
http://www.jab-tech.com/Thermalright-Ultra-120-eXtreme-1366-RT-pr-4332.html
I would go with the Megalahem.
OCZ OCZTFRZTC Freeze Extreme Thermal Conductivity Compound
*From NewEgg*
I prefer AS5 with MX-2 as my second choice.
Monitor:
SAMSUNG TOC T240 Rose Black 24'' 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
Not up on monitors so I'll skip this one.
OS Hard Drive:
OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD)
Blazing fast, will treat you well.
Data Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives
Solid drive.
DVD Drives:
HP 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black IDE Model HP 1140i
I prefer Samsungs here. My suggestion.
Operating System: (will be switching to Win7 Eventually)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders
Windows 7 is not far off. You might want to consider running the beta until then.
Price:
$1996.83

If you have any comments/complaints about these parts let me hear em :).
Click to expand...

Overall a great looking system. You have done you research and its serving you well.
 
everything looks good, as stated above if you want to make the inside of your case neater I would go with a modular psu and be sure to get a sata dvd burner.
 
A monitor above 1920 res and a 2nd GPU would utilize the power of the i7 much better. As it is, your system's gaming performance wouldn't be any different than a Core2Duo (or C2Quad in some games) setup. Consider those upgrades in the near future, if you want to make use of the i7.

That's assuming money is no problem though; if you're on a limited budget, I'd suggest a whole different system build.

Edit: looked around at monitors and it seems like this could be a good choice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001317

2048x1152 res, along with a 2nd 4890 it will utilize the i7 much better. Otherwise (with one 4890 and 1920x1200 res) you could buy a C2Q system for much less and get the same gaming performance.

One problem though is that when you play media at 1280x720 or 1920x1080 (videos) they might look a little softer/blurrier since they're not run at native resolution, but in games the higher res will give you noticably better visuals with better multi-GPU performance than C2Q systems. You could also go for a 2560x1600 LCD if you're really rich; the prices on those are way out of proportion though, $1k+ at least. A CRT 2560 res monitor is another option but not recommended for obvious reasons, unless you don't mind using a CRT instead of an LCD.
 
Last edited:
Wow,

I just started posting in this forum and all this help, thank you ever so much.

As for my cooler, i was told TRUE is basically the best you can get as for as Intel i7's go, especially as far as overclocking goes. So i think i will stick with it.

I think i am going to make the jump on it, and go ATI 4890x2... what's another 200 dollars muhaha. Do you think my PSU will be enough to handle it all?

Could someone please suggest an dvd drive for me? To be honest i just picked the dvd drives on a whim, no ryhme or reason. Just figured they were all basically the same.

Also, i was told to get d0 stepping from a friend since i plan to OC, could anyone elaborate on what exactly makes d0 so much better than c0?
 
I'd say you catch on very fast, otherwise you already had some knowledge. That is a very solid build. There are maybe something things I'd change just out of personal preferences, but really as a whole that is a very solid build.

And really on the DVD drive thing...I'd almost agree that they are nearly the same. One thing that I have found in the few that I have purchased is that Samsung drives seem to be quieter. This is possibly at the sacrifice of performance i suppose, but really I can't imagine 30 seconds on a burn will really make a difference in most people's lives.

The new steppings on CPU's usually give you the ability to overclock higher and/or with less volts.

Only thing I saw that I would change was your target of 3.6 on the CPU OC. :) I'd deifnitely shoot for 4.0 as that should be easy as pie!

And on the 4890x2, I'm sure that 750 would handle it just fine.

Finally, on the OS. I also agree that you should just download the Release candidate of Windows 7 and run that until it's officially released. It's publicly available on microsoft.com The release candidate will not expire until next summer, so you'll have plenty of time to pick up the retail version after it's released. The RC is very stable, I've not had one issue to speak of, and I'm now running it on three machines.
 
Ok.

I switched my Rom Drives to:

LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner

And my PSU i want be sure i can run X-Fired 4890's and account for the 4.0GHz OC i will be trying by getting a 1000W :) :

CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

How are these 2 choices?
 
Ok i will switch to the 850, save some dough.

What exactly is this microstutter i am seeing written about crossfiring?

Also do you think X-Fired 4890's will handle crysis at full res? And do you think i'll be sitting pretty for a hot minute with it will i need to upgrade again soon?

I am going to shoot for a 4.0GHz OC on the 920, will this HS be sufficient or do you think 4.0GHz requires a liquid cooler?
 
The 850HX is a better psu but the 850TX is great.You wont have any problems with it .The HX is modular and made buy a differnt OEM but like i said you will be fine with the 850TX.For $139 the 850TX cant be beat seriously.I love mine.The rails are dead nutz stable.Its just a rock solid psu
 
Been To Branson said:
Is there a dramatic difference between the Corsair 850TX and 850HX? The one i just added to my cart is a TX and was about 139.99 off newegg.
Click to expand...


It's a higher quality unit and add modular cabling. It has newer tech internals and one of the cleanest signals you can get. That said, the TX is a very capable power supply and will do fine in you system. Personally I would get the HX mainly for the modular cables. I will never have another PSU that doesn't.
 
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