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GPU
I’ve been foolishly and frustratingly waiting for the arrival of the Nvidia Fermi cards to be released before making any decisions on upgrades. However, the 470/480 cards are finally here and although the benchmark don’t look too bad the pricing is a little scary to say the least. As of writing the 480 retails at £150 more than it’s close rival, the Radeon 5870.
Looking at the benchmarks, I don't think there's really any arguing that the 480 is the faster single GPU but the 5870's strength lay in its price over performance which outstrips its competition by a long way.
There’s also the issue of significant power consumption and heat which is of concern. The following article clear shows how the GPU compares with other high end cards and overtakes the dual core GPU of the Radeon HD 5970!
Shocking - excuse the pun! So it’s looking like the Radeon HD 5870 after all.
CPU
Since the CPUs pretty much dictate the motherboard, deciding which CPU will have a big part on the entire system and indeed its cost. I’ve been looking at both the i5-750 (LGA1156) on P55 platform and the new i7-930 (LGA1366) on the X58 chipset.
The i7-930 is a Bloomfield quad core CPU clocked at 2.8GHz with a triple channel integrated memory controller with Hyper threading so there are 4 physical and 4 logical cores. It shares the same D0 stepping as its predecessor the i7-920, which runs at 2.66Ghz by default and has been very popular and a great overclocker since its launch.
The i5-750 is a Lynnfield quad core CPU clocked at 2.66MHz. Unlike the Bloomfield, the i5-750 has a dual channel integrated memory controller rather than triple and omits the Hyper threading function.
Both CPUs are reported as excellent overclockers and should reach 4GHz with the right motherboard. However, the additional logical cores and the extra bandwidth of the Bloomfield may just go to waste on an everyday applications and gaming. The problem doesn’t end there either. The Bloomfield requires it own LGA1366 socket and therefore chipset (X58), which comes at premium. When the i7-920 was released, the price of X58 motherboards and triple memory packs out priced many consumers looking for the “bang for buck” upgrade”.
The Lynnfield on the other hand appears to have struck the right chord for many mainstream PC gamers. Not only is it roughly £100 cheaper than its bigger brother, but the P55 motherboards appear to be reasonably priced and there’s one less memory module to worry about too. In term of performance, the Lynnfield clocks rather well and doesn’t appear to lag too far behind the Bloomfields in gaming.
The comparison below show a table of the i7-920 –v- the i5-750. The site haven’t included the 930 yet but it gives an a idea.
However, pricing up and comparing the two I’ve noticed the price of the LGA1366 falling dramatically. I’ve also noticed that the outgoing i7-920 is £60 cheaper than the 930. It makes sense therefore, to go for the I7-920 on the LGA1366.
Memory
I’ve opted for the highly recommended Patriot Viper 6GB 1600MHz Triple Channel memory kit to accompany the X58 chipset.
Cooling
As with my current system, I’d like to continue on with the water cooling theme. Not only does it keep everything chilled and silent it looks rather cool too. For this I’ve chosen the EK-Supreme HighFlow to cool the i7-20 and the EK-FC5870 for the GPU. Both Plexi. I’ve also opted for ½ ID High compression fittings rather than using tighter 7/16 ” over ½” barbs. These look a bit smarter I think.
Storage
I’m really undecided here. I’m quit tempted by the SSDs but I still think they are over priced in terms of value for money. Not that there is such a thing but its hard not to compare the price per GB of convention Hard Drives.
The ideal setup would be a 64GB SSD for the OS and a 1TB hard drive for storage.
The Intel X25-M Mainstream 80GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive comes highly recommended. However, firmware update version 02HA/02HD is required to enable trim support:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...18363&lang=eng
For my 1TB hard drive, I’m quite happy with Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II with 32MB Cache for my main storage device
Here’ my initial shopping list:
Main hardware
- XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 "AVP Edition" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
- Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
- Patriot Viper 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Low Latency Tri-Channel (PVT36G1600LLK)
- Intel X25-M Mainstream 80GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (SSDSA2MH080G2C1)
- Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)
Sub total including VAT and shipping
£1,053.08
Watercooling
- 8 x 1/4" BSPP - 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD Compression Fitting
- 5 x 1m 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD XSPC Blue/UV Blue Hose
- EK-Supreme HighFlow CPU Block - Plexi 775/1156/1366/AM3
- EK-FC5870 5870 CF – Plexi
* Assumes 5870 is reference
Sub total including VAT and shipping
£173.86
Grand total £1,226.94
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