Possible new computer in very near future

[William0d0]

So, the other day someone rear ended me at a stop light.

Estimation to repair 2,250 USD. Value of car around 2,700 USD.

Other then a slightly bowed trunk the damage is very minor cosmetic dings and the car is fully functional.

And so it looks like I shall be able to afford a new computer shortly.

I was looking at:

1:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=110228&CatId=333

Intel Core i7 4GHZ Overclocked Barebone PC

This Bundle Includes:

ASUS X58 Sabretooth Motherboard
Intel Core i7-960 Quad-Core Processor
12GB Triple-Channel DDR3 1600MHz (6 x 2GB)
Cooler Master HAF 922 Chassis
Ultra 750W LSP Power Supply
CoolIT ECO-120 Liquid Cooling System

$999.99

2:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7192259&CatId=333

ASUS Sabertooth X58 Barebones Kit

This Bundle Includes:

ASUS Sabertooth X58 Motherboard - LGA 1366, Intel X58, SLI Ready, CrossFireX Ready, Triple Channel DDR3 support, SATA 6GB/s, USB 3.0
Intel Core i7 950 Processor BX80601950 - 3.06GHz, 8MB L3 Cache, 4.8GT/s QPI, HyperThreading, Quad Core, Bloomfield, LGA 1366, Retail, Fan
Corsair CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9 Vengeance 12GB DDR3 RAM - PC12800, 1600MHz, 3x4096MB, Non-ECC, Unbuffered
Seagate ST31000520AS Barracuda LP Hard Drive - 1TB, 5900RPM, 32MB, SATA-3G
EVGA 01G-P3-1450-TR GeForce GTS 450 FPB Video Card - 1024MB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, Dual DVI, Mini HDMI, SLI, DirectX 11, Fermi, FREE Performance Boost Overclock to 822MHz
Cooler Master RC-932-KKA3-GP HAF 932 Full Tower Case and Pre-installed eXtreme 700W Power Supply
Lite-On IHAS124-04 Internal DVD Writer - DVD+R 24X, DVD-R 24X, DVD+RW 8X, DVD-RW 6X, DVD+R DL 8X, SATA (OEM)

$979.99

3:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=61388&CatId=333

This Bundle Includes:

EVGA X58 FTW3 Intel X58 3-way SLI LGA1366 MB
Intel BX80601960 Core i7 960 Processor - 3.20GHz, 8MB L3 Cache, 4.8GT/s QPI, HyperThreading, Quad Core, Bloomfield, LGA 1366, Retail
Corsair CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9 Vengeance 12GB DDR3 RAM - PC12800, 1600MHz, 3x4096MB, Non-ECC, Unbuffered
Lite-On IHAS124-04 Internal DVD Writer - DVD+R 24X, DVD-R 24X, DVD+RW 8X, DVD-RW 6X, DVD+R DL 8X, SATA (OEM)
Seagate ST31000520AS Barracuda LP Hard Drive - 1TB, 5900RPM, 32MB, SATA-3G
Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower Black Case
Ultra LSP750 750-Watt Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, SLI-Ready, 135mm Fan, Lifetime Warranty w/ Registration

$919.99


I'm kinda leaning to no 2 as far as bang for the buck. No 1 looks like the fastest but would require the most amount of additional hardware. No 3 is in the middle.

What does the Trainz mind collective think?

 

[fran1]

No 1 , no comment you dont mention what graphics card.
No's 2+3, the 1tb drives at 5400 rpm, to slow. Any 7500 rpm options or even a raptor at 10 or 12000 rpm.
The 700-750 watt psu's seem a tad on the low side. Check what power the cards need (watts) then check what power the psu's go to on the 12 volt rail.

 

[William0d0]

No 1 , no comment you dont mention what graphics card.
No's 2+3, the 1tb drives at 5400 rpm, to slow. Any 7500 rpm options or even a raptor at 10 or 12000 rpm.
The 700-750 watt psu's seem a tad on the low side. Check what power the cards need (watts) then check what power the psu's go to on the 12 volt rail.

No1 does not come with a video card, hard drive, or DVD drive. But is tested at 4.0 ghz.

I hadn't noticed the hard drive rpm's.

I already have a 1gig GTS 450 video card (in my current computer) identical to the one that comes with no2, I don't see power supply being an issue for any of the choices.

One of the choices comes down to I7 950 vs I7 960. Some seem to favor the 950 CPU for gaming.

 

[fran1]

How about using your card, hard drives and dvd drive in No1 ?

 

[William0d0]

How about using your card, hard drives and dvd drive in No1 ?

That is certainly an option.

If you consider the video card, hard drive and dvd drive cost around 200 bucks,
then is a 3.20 ghz 960 (tested at 4.0ghz) worth 200 bucks more then 3.06 ghz 950 which probably can be overclocked?

 

[fran1]

That is certainly an option.

If you consider the video card, hard drive and dvd drive cost around 200 bucks,
then is a 3.20 ghz 960 (tested at 4.0ghz) worth 200 bucks more then 3.06 ghz 950 which probably can be overclocked?

Probably not, personally if anything is O/C I tend to think it wont last as long, running faster and hotter. Although the liquid cooling will keep the temp down.

 

[Gandalf0444]

No 1 , no comment you dont mention what graphics card.
No's 2+3, the 1tb drives at 5400 rpm, to slow. Any 7500 rpm options or even a raptor at 10 or 12000 rpm.
The 700-750 watt psu's seem a tad on the low side. Check what power the cards need (watts) then check what power the psu's go to on the 12 volt rail.

700-750W is more then enough, now if you want to SLI or Crossfire you would need a beefier PSU.
I am running a AMD Phenom II X4 970(3.5GHz) overclocked to 4 GHz with 8GB of DDR3 1600Mhz, 2 1TB Seagate barracuda 7200RPM, Nvidia PNY GTS 450 on a 500W PSU.

 

[RRSignal]

William0d0, consider looking at the i7 or even i5 Sandy Bridge, which is around the same price. Whatever you do, rule out the HDDs packaged with the Tigerdirect or any other barebones from them - both they are crappy, slow "green" drives AND because, while I dearly love Tigerdirect, I am very leery of their or any other HDDs sold as OEM. If anything, you should be considering a Raptor anyway. I've used both cases and both PSUs with very good results.

I'm leery of a significantly overclocked system just because components often don't last. Others may have different views and experiences but on the whole it's not worth the headache to me. Just something to think about.

All told I kind of like #3 a bit more than #2 because of the CPU.

 

[Gandalf0444]

William0d0, consider looking at the i7 or even i5 Sandy Bridge, which is around the same price. Whatever you do, rule out the HDDs packaged with the Tigerdirect or any other barebones from them - both they are crappy, slow "green" drives AND because, while I dearly love Tigerdirect, I am very leery of their or any other HDDs sold as OEM. If anything, you should be considering a Raptor anyway. I've used both cases and both PSUs with very good results.

I'm leery of a significantly overclocked system just because components often don't last. Others may have different views and experiences but on the whole it's not worth the headache to me. Just something to think about.

All told I kind of like #3 a bit more than #2 because of the CPU.

I would still be leery of the Sandy bridge after the recall. I would let it go a little longer before jumping in on that... Not to mention simply because it has 6 cores doesn't necessarily mean it will run trainz or any program better then quad core or even dual core.

 

[RRSignal]

Yeah, true, very true. Ironically, I'm usually the dude who waits on any new product.

lol, I know I'm being overly optimistic... but the 960 is a great CPU too.

 

[William0d0]

William0d0, consider looking at the i7 or even i5 Sandy Bridge, which is around the same price. Whatever you do, rule out the HDDs packaged with the Tigerdirect or any other barebones from them - both they are crappy, slow "green" drives AND because, while I dearly love Tigerdirect, I am very leery of their or any other HDDs sold as OEM. If anything, you should be considering a Raptor anyway. I've used both cases and both PSUs with very good results.

I'm leery of a significantly overclocked system just because components often don't last. Others may have different views and experiences but on the whole it's not worth the headache to me. Just something to think about.

All told I kind of like #3 a bit more than #2 because of the CPU.

So as far as Sandy bridge (I had to do some googling, since I'm not familiar with it) goes how does this look then for a starting point mother board wise:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7343078&CatId=2050

ASUS Sabertooth P67 B3 TUF Edition Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA 1155), Intel P67 Express, 1866MHz DDR3, SATA 6.0 Gb/s, RAID, 8-Channel Audio, Gigabit LAN, SLI/CrossFireX Ready, USB 3.0

And from there is a I7 960 that much better then the 950?

edit to add:

that is one bad looking mobo.:udrool:

 

[William0d0]

If I go with the ASUS sabertooth mobo then I'm thinking this CPU:

Intel Core i5-2500K BX80623I52500 Unlocked Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 3.30 GHz, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Retail

 

[RRSignal]

That's probably what I would get. Gandalf made me think of something though: Even though the "defective" chipsets were recalled, I'm not 100% sure they are all out of circulation. That said, if you're going to go with Sandy Bridge, go for it. That motherboard looks good from the specs.

If I were to choose between the 950 and 960, I would (and have) gone with the 960, though the 950 has a reputation for overclocking very well. Since I don't really do that (and when I do, it's rarely more than about 5%,) the 960 makes more sense, and for only $20 more.

 

[William0d0]

That's probably what I would get. Gandalf made me think of something though: Even though the "defective" chipsets were recalled, I'm not 100% sure they are all out of circulation. That said, if you're going to go with Sandy Bridge, go for it. That motherboard looks good from the specs.

If I were to choose between the 950 and 960, I would (and have) gone with the 960, though the 950 has a reputation for overclocking very well. Since I don't really do that (and when I do, it's rarely more than about 5%,) the 960 makes more sense, and for only $20 more.

From what I read at wikipedia B3 is a revised chipset and should not have those previous problems.

With that in mind then that mobo with the i5-2500K cpu should be excellent. Throw in 8 gigs of DDR3 1866 mhz memory, a cool master tower case, a 750 watt Ultra LSP power supply and liquid cooling.

I'm looking at just under 1000 USD. Add 100 for win 7 64 bit. Pull missing parts from my old PC and we are looking at around 1100 USD.

Depending on how much money I end up receiving maybe I up the CPU part of the equation.

 

[Gandalf0444]

That's probably what I would get. Gandalf made me think of something though: Even though the "defective" chipsets were recalled, I'm not 100% sure they are all out of circulation. That said, if you're going to go with Sandy Bridge, go for it. That motherboard looks good from the specs.

If I were to choose between the 950 and 960, I would (and have) gone with the 960, though the 950 has a reputation for overclocking very well. Since I don't really do that (and when I do, it's rarely more than about 5%,) the 960 makes more sense, and for only $20 more.

I did notice that newegg pulled all of Intels 6 core when the recall occurred, now there are 2 Intel 6 core CPU's on newegg which may mean that the issue was "resolved"..Only time will tell on that one

 

[William0d0]

I'm surprised djt has not chimmed in on this.

< chipset / cpu / mobo > seems to be the area where he really shines.

His advice for me (in a previous post) to not upgrade my cpu has definitely been correct as current history is showing me now. My current video card (GTS 450) can easily slide into an upgraded everything else.

edit to add:

All Your Page 2 Are Belong To Me!

 

[Gandalf0444]

I'm surprised djt has not chimmed in on this.

< chipset / cpu / mobo > seems to be the area where he really shines.

His advice for me (in a previous post) to not upgrade my cpu has definitely been correct as current history is showing me now. My current video card (GTS 450) can easily slide into an upgraded everything else.

edit to add:

All Your Page 2 Are Belong To Me!

Well let's say that Djt was sort of forced onto furlough
And I would take everything he says with a slight grain of salt.

 

[JCitron]

The first system is nice. The Intel 960 chip is a really nice chip.

The only thing, besides the hard drives at 5400 RPM, I would be leary of Tiger Direct. They have a reputation of bait and swap that doesn't seem to go away even with the lawsuits and hand slapping by the BBB and the Attorney General's office.

Having said that, check out the offerings of similar hardware at New Egg. www.newegg.com They have great customer service, excellent support, excellent shipping, and excellent prices. I've purchased 3 systems from them over the years with zero (0) problems. I ended up doing one return because I purchased 2 of something instead of only one, and the return was painless.

John

 

[William0d0]

Well let's say that Djt was sort of forced onto furlough
And I would take everything he says with a slight grain of salt.

Many things he said where out of line.

I think he had some good thoughts but maybe just needed to package it better.

 

[William0d0]

The first system is nice. The Intel 960 chip is a really nice chip.

The only thing, besides the hard drives at 5400 RPM, I would be leary of Tiger Direct. They have a reputation of bait and swap that doesn't seem to go away even with the lawsuits and hand slapping by the BBB and the Attorney General's office.

Having said that, check out the offerings of similar hardware at New Egg. www.newegg.com They have great customer service, excellent support, excellent shipping, and excellent prices. I've purchased 3 systems from them over the years with zero (0) problems. I ended up doing one return because I purchased 2 of something instead of only one, and the return was painless.

John

I was looking at Tiger Direct because:

1: I've shopped at one of their storefronts and was treated very nicely, got great prices and the place was crazy huge.

2: My online experience with them has been just as great.