New Computer i7 / GTX 470

[flyinghaggis]

After buying an upgraded video card last week and finding it didn't really make the expected difference in my games I've decided to go the whole hog an build an entirely new PC!

 

Specs as follows :-

 

Intel i7-920 CPU

6GB Crucial Ballistix 1600 DDR3 Tracer (with LEDs!)

Asus P6X58D-E Motherboard

Nvidia GTX 470 Video Card

Intel X-25M 80Gb SSD

2 x Samsung F3 1Tb HDD

Coolermaster HAF 922 Case

Corsair 650Watt Tx PSU

20" Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP + 20" Dell Ultrasharp 2009WFP

Logitech X-540 Speaker System

 

Just finished getting it intalled and setup today. The differece between it and my old E6600 /8800GT is certainly noticeable. I'd say it's now about 3-4 times as quick as my old rig in terms of FPS and most benchmarks!

 

Gonna order myself a slightly larger monitor next week possibly funds permitting

 

Happy Times

[mac_shinobi]

Just curious how fast is the Intel X25 drive to write to ref installing the OS or just writing files to the hdd in general, am guessing speed wise its a lot faster then a normal hdd but not sure ?

[flyinghaggis]

I actually installed it on a single Samsung SSD 1TB HDD before I got the Intel and felt like the HDD was holding the system back to be honest. I thought about striping the 2 F3 1Tb drives but in the end decided to go for the SSD instead. It certainly doesn't feel any slower to write than a HDD and the read speed must be a least twice as quick as the HDD. Windows now boots in about half the time.

 

One second and I'll try a file copy to test the write speed.

 

Edit: It's tricky to tell from the windows file copy. I'd probably need a benchmark to find out exactly but in terms of time to install Windows it certianly didnt feel any slower copying files than the HDD though to be honest the DVD is probably the bottleneck in the Windows install. In general use I've yet to find a scenario where the HDD felt quicker.

Edited May 29, 2010 by flyinghaggis

[Arthur]

Intel i7-920 CPU

Is there a reason you went for the 920 instead of the 930? Just curious.

[Arthur]

Just curious how fast is the Intel X25 drive to write to ref installing the OS

Compared to a normal HDD, the difference is night and day. You can easily install Windows 7 from a USB flash drive to the SSD in around 8-9 minutes.

[flyinghaggis]

Is there a reason you went for the 920 instead of the 930? Just curious.

 

The i7-920 is currently on sale for £170 vs the £230 the i7-930 costs. The only difference between them is literally that the 930 is has a slightly higher clock multiplier and runs at 2.8ghz (compared to the 2.6 of the 920).

Edited May 30, 2010 by flyinghaggis

[EduTech]

Curious as to where your getting this from? and how much it is costing you?

 

Have you checked out this site? -- Custom Built Computers & Custom Gaming PCs - Computer Planet

 

and note: there stress tests: - PC Testing Information | FAQ | Computer Planet

 

James.

[flyinghaggis]

I built the PC myself. All in (given I already had a few of the parts case/psu/monitors/speakers) it cost about £1000 for the rest. I did consider buying one pre-built but it was going to cost about £400 more at most places for the spec I wanted.

 

Bought all of the parts from Scan but most of the other usual suspects (overclockers,novatech,etc) are fairly similar with their pricing.

Edited May 30, 2010 by flyinghaggis

[mac_shinobi]

Not trying to start a flame war between ATI / Nvidia or any of that but just curious as to why you went with the GTX 470 instead of say an ATI 5870 or 5890 ??

[flyinghaggis]

Not trying to start a flame war between ATI / Nvidia or any of that but just curious as to why you went with the GTX 470 instead of say an ATI 5870 or 5890 ??

 

Don't think I can anwser that without starting a flame war by my personal experience is that ATI's drivers are unstable and runreliable so have always preferred NVidia TBH. My choice of video card was either going to be a GTX 470 (£280) or a HD5850 (£240) and I felt happier paying the extra £40 for the Nvidia card. In pretty much every benchmark the 470 is quicker than the 5850 aswell.

Edited May 31, 2010 by flyinghaggis

[mac_shinobi]

Don't think I can anwser that without starting a flame war by my personal experience is that ATI's drivers are unstable and runreliable so have always preferred NVidia TBH. My choice of video card was either going to be a GTX 470 (£280) or a HD5850 (£240) and I felt happier paying the extra £40 for the Nvidia card. In pretty much every benchmark the 470 is quicker than the 5850 aswell.

 

Am the same with Nvidia but seeing the newer ATI cards am not sure. Got a mac now with an old 8800 GT card but it plays the games I want to so Im happy with that.