Updated Spec - Intel Core i7 System

[Zoom7000]

Right, I thought I'd start a new thread as we aren't talking Core2Quad anymore! I managed to get my mum to increase the budget for my brothers. So this is the spec I have come up with:

Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem)
£233.65
Asus Rampage II Extreme Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
£306.10
G.Skill 6GB DDR3 NQ PC3-10666C9 1333MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel DDR3
£165.59
Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 (Socket LGA1366)
£55.19
BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
£230.30
Antec P182 Gunmetal Grey Super Mid Tower Case - No PSU
£92.44
Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB Hard Drive SATAII *32MB Cache* - OEM
£73.37
Corsair 650W TX Series PSU - 120mm Fan, 80+% Efficiency, Single +12V Rail
£69.99
Samsung SH-S223F 22X DVD?RW/RAM/DL Serial ATA Black Bare Drive - OEM
£14.99
Samsung SM2233BW 22" TFT Monitor 1680x1050 20,000:1 300cd/m2 5ms VGA/DVI-D
£175.03

Total: £1,416.65 (+ Delivery - Not Calculated Yet)

Not 100% about 2 items:

Cooler - Never used a Noctua, is there a better option for silent overclocking or should I stick with it? Ideally I would have gone for the Tuniq Tower, but it doesn't appear to support i7 yet.

Monitor - Not sure whether to go for 22" (above)
24" Samsung SM2433BW or
24" Samsung SM2443BW

I just thought 24" might be too big and the odd £60 could be used to beef up something else.

What do you guys think?

[Michael]

To be honest, I wouldn't touch the Core i7 or DDR3 for a while. I run an Intel E8500 3.16GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2 at home which I can highly recommend. Higher end DDR2 is much better value for money and performs faster than DDR3.

[CPLTD]

To be honest, I wouldn't touch the Core i7 or DDR3 for a while. I run an Intel E8500 3.16GHz at home which I can highly recommend. Higher end DDR2 is much better value for money and performs faster than DDR3.

Curious why you wouldnt touch Core i7, We tested a build the other day and the performance was outstanding,

[Michael]

Ultimately it's down to performance over cost.

[ahuxham]

If you want real performance, than you want to head toward and AMD spider system.

AMD Phenom 9950 BE
Any AM2+ Motherboard supporting 140W processors! (MUST HAVE 790SX/FX) Chipset, and a ATI 4870 X2.

Alot cheap, adn the Phenoms are true quads, where the Intels aren't, they have less pipes to the cores, where AMD Quads have 1 pipe per core instead of being shared.

[ahuxham]

Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe/Wi-Fi AMD 790FX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

AMD Phenom X4 Quad Core 9950 2.60GHz Black Edition (Socket AM2) - Retail

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2048MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

[PeterW]

If your after Core i7 then that spec looks good, its a very fast solution for some things. If your doing any sort of encoding then your in for a treat, the i7 920 out performs the Q9650 3Ghz on most test as well. There isent a huge performance advantage to be had in games at the moment but thats true of most quads (not including the horrible console port that is GTA IV).

Phenoms are true quads, where the Intels aren't

That doesnt really make much of a difference, if Intel wanted to make four cores on one die they could but to be honest you get a much better yeild making dual core dies and combining them.

Phenom's time is coming they really need to get the 45nm chips and DDR3 right.

[ahuxham]

Phenom's time is coming they really need to get the 45nm chips and DDR3 right.

Let's just hope its soon, AMD always do it best, but thats my opinion. Everyone jumped in Intels wagon when their Quads came out, only because theyre clocking ability was better than the AMD versions, little did they know, they aren't true Quads, and nothing really utilizes all four, where AMD does.

Only problem AMD need to fix is their B stepping, 2 is broken, 3 is perfect but released far too late in the game.

However the fact AMD are now pressing, Graphics, Processer and Chipset together looks very promising indeed.

[Zoom7000]

Well the reason I am going Core i7 is to future proof really. I fell into the same trap when DDR2 came out and now I am stuck with DDR and can't upgrade unless I pay crazy prices.

My parents have the money, so it makes sense to pay now and save later when they want a quick boost by memory upgrade.

[PeterW]

they aren't true Quads

But that doesn't make any difference though? If anything it was to Intel's advantage as it makes them cheaper to produce and made for a smoother transition to 45nm.

I am going Core i7 is to future proof really

It depends what you call future proof? Sure DDR3 will last longer than DDR2 but the boards may not accpet 32nm westmere chips when they become available end of next year.

[FN-GM]

I wouldn'y tocuh scan. I have been to pick things up and the manager was very rude.

[JOrdan01070]

this months customPC has a review of the Intel i7 chips, memory and motherboards may help you decide.

[Michael]

Well the reason I am going Core i7 is to future proof really. I fell into the same trap when DDR2 came out and now I am stuck with DDR and can't upgrade unless I pay crazy prices.

My parents have the money, so it makes sense to pay now and save later when they want a quick boost by memory upgrade.

That's fair enough I suppose. I've just had a look at the motherboard specs. It really is the Rolls Royce of motherboards you've selected!