What MB +CPU can you reccomend!

C

ctunnicliffe01

New member
Im thinking of a new build as im currently running the following spec.

Thermaltake xaser super tower

Antec true power trio 550 watt power supply

Core 2 DUO - E6400 (2718MHZ) - zalman cnp9500at cooler

ASUS p5b board

Geil Black dragon DDR2 4GB PC2 8500 (1066MHZ)

Zotac GeForce 8800GTS 512mb (amp edition)

HDD'S sata

Seagate baracuda 500gb

Seagate baracuda 320gb

Maxtor 160gb

But im getting tempted to move to the newer i7. Which will require new mb and memory. Ive done a bit of reading but not very clued up on what boards are being reccomended ect.

So my question is which of the i7 cpu's and which motherboard do you reccomend? Thinking along the line of which board and cpu offer best value for £££ spent! i dont mind spending that bit more if it is worth it in the long run.

Thanks in advance.

Chris
 
i would recommend the asus p6t deluxe and the i7 920, dont bother getting any higher cpu cause it just a waste and you can oc the hell out of the 920 just make sure you get the d0 stepping version, as it runs alot cooler and can do higher clocks on lower voltage.
 
920D0 + P6T

Or if you want to save a little cash (only a little) and get an even cooler running one a i7 860 on a P55 is worth a look. You lose some because it's only dual-channel RAM but obviously gain because you've only got to buy 4GB not 6. You lose a little on the CPU price but gain on the mobo price. You lose a little on potential future proofing (hexcore should be 1366 socket) but gain on OC performance on air.

Depends what you're doing. If hyperthreading is no interest, go i5 + p55 for relatively little and still hit 4ghz.

VB
 
thanks for the reply. have read about the d0 stepping and seems the way to go. Hmm you got me thinking now. have a antec 1200 case on the way now.

Tempted to stay with asus boards tbh. Not had a problem with the last 2 boards ive owned.

thanks again!

(am thinking of going for water cooling eventually on this build. just depends on what i spend initially to get it up and running) .
 
Watercooling will cost an arm and a leg to do right but the results are outstanding the only thing better is phase and liquid nitrogen but thats for serious 6ghz+ oc'ing so not for every day use.

Just stay away from kits from thermaltake they are totally useless and a good air cooler perform's better. If your gonna watercool post the setup on here in the liquid cooling section and we will help you out with any problems and also will suggest any changes to the setup etc before you buy.
 
Thanks again for the reply. is water cooling worth the hassle and cost? Or would it do me better going with a good air cooled system? Never had a water cooled setup in the past. just wondering if money is best spent elsewhere.

Also thanks for the help :)
 
It depends what you do with it. I'm running a water cooled setup (two loops) because my previous cpu was too hot for air. I spent about £220 for the first loop and would say it was definitely worth it. Its higher maintenance but gives much better temperatures than air (about 15-20C better in my case). It also allows some extremely good overclocking to occur.

I'm running an EVGA Classified and can't recommend it highly enough for i7, although obviously it is nearly double the price of the cheapest boards. And go for the 920, its the best deal, a nice d0 stepping will see you somewhere up to around 3.8Ghz+, for less than half the price of the more upmarket ones.

A good air cooling system is much cheaper, easier to install and look after but won't give the same temperatures as a decent water cooling effort.

My only regret with water cooling is the fact that when you need to change the motherboard or mounting on the CPU block (e.g. 775-->1366) you need to drain the system which takes time to leak test and can be a little messy. Also it weighs a bit more (not an issue if you don;t move your pc around much).
 
i opted for the i7 920 with the gigabyte ex58-ud5 board. and 6gig of corsair memory 1600MHz PC12800. Going air cooled for now. But things may change later. Once parts start arriving ill get some pics up of the build. :)

thanks for the help and opinions all! :wavey:
 
name='ctunnicliffe01' said:
i opted for the i7 920 with the gigabyte ex58-ud5 board. and 6gig of corsair memory 1600MHz PC12800. Going air cooled for now. But things may change later. Once parts start arriving ill get some pics up of the build. :)

thanks for the help and opinions all! :wavey:
Click to expand...
Good choice, the Gigabyte X58-UD5 gets reccomended alot, plus Gigabytes warranty is very good i.e. UK return base in Milton Keynes.
 
also purchased the mugen2 cooler for the cpu. ! should be fairly decent now.

Next is to purchase a f3 samsung hd . Not willing to part with cash for ssd at the moment. :)
 
name='ctunnicliffe01' said:
also purchased the mugen2 cooler for the cpu. ! should be fairly decent now.

Next is to purchase a f3 samsung hd . Not willing to part with cash for ssd at the moment. :)
Click to expand...
Nice one, I've held back on getting an SSD their just too expensive i.e £ per GB for my liking, my Velociraptor is good enough for me.
 
name='Bungral' said:
F3 seems to do the Veloci in quite a lot of benches. Very nice indeed.
Click to expand...
Nice I haven't checked any reviews/benches of the F3 yet, I like the Access times of the Raptors, owned 74GB, 150GB Raptors & now 300GB Veloci, next upgrade will be SSD when the prices fall.

Probally see 512GB SSD's in retail soon, I dont want to be paying in excess of £200+ for a 256GB SSD really.

I could be tempted into a 64GB SSD for operating system/couple of games when Windows 7 64bit Home Edition is launched on Oct 22nd as I have it on pre-order.
 
This is a touch off topic so only this last post from me, but I only read a review yesterday and it is very impressive. Works out at £0.06p/GB or something stupid. Got two on the way now for RAID 0 for £110.

I read somewhere that industry dudes reckon SSD's will catch up on HDD's by about 2012 in price and capacity.

Might have read it on here actually... :S

/off topic-ness.
 
all agreed with above. made a intresting conversation.

I was tempted by ssd for windows to run on. But as stated. stupid prices . just not worth it as yet. My next thought will be a new graphics card i think. Update the 8800gts zotac i currently have. :)
 
Finally mr delivery man turns up and my new parts arrived.

Still waiting on the f3 1tb drive and new sata dvdrw drive. So not going to be running for a few days yet. ! Heres a quick piccy!

P1000052Large.jpg


P1000047Large.jpg
 
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