sillyputty said:
I'm in the market for a new gaming rig, my budget: around $2k. What do
you think of this system? Would the low-end i7 (920) out perform a
previous edition high end quad-core (ex. Q9650)? Btw, I called
tigerdirect and was told the mobo is SFX, HD is WD and RAM is OCZ.
Thx.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4302053
The 920 will outperform a core 2 quad (the older quad core chip) on
applications that are written to take advantage of multiple cores. However,
if you are looking for a GAMING system, the performance will be based mostly
on clock speed. In other words, a Core 2 Duo at the same clock speed would
offer similar performance for gaming, for a LOT less money. Or a Phenom at
the same clock speed would work just as well for a LOT less money. For
gaming, at least.
I'm getting ready to build a somewhat similar system to the one you linked
above. Total cost to build will be about $800 SHIPPED, including Windows
Vista Home Premium OEM. Or, I could go with Vista Ultimate and my total
cost to build would be closer to $900. Oh, but I planned to go with one
video card to start with. So if I upgraded to two 4850s in crossfire with
vista ultimate, that would up my total build price to $1100.
Overall, it looks decent for a pre-built system (that isn't saying much, ha
ha). But if I compare it to the system I'm getting ready to build, I think
you'll get a good idea that you could spend less money to get a better
system.
CPU - I'm currently torn between a Phenom 9850 and 9950, but they are
running the same price, so it doesn't much matter. The 9950 is clocked at
2.6GHz (stock), so it will be about the same as a i7 920, as far as gaming
goes.
Motherboard - The Gigabyte 790GX board I finally settled on has -two-
(normal) PCI slots, along with PCI-Express slots for Crossfire. That's the
main difference in features compared to the board in your system. (other
than the CPU support, obviously). I wouldn't be too crazy about any board
that had just ONE normal PCI slot...especially as you said you want a real
sound card. (unless you plan to buy a PCI-Express format sound card)
RAM - The only thing I like about your system (compared to my planned build)
is the triple channel RAM. I'm going with 2GB of low-CAS DDR2 1066 RAM for
my system. (3GB) would slow it down, as the motherboard I chose only does
dual channel. So if I put in 3GB of RAM, all the RAM would be running in
SINGLE channel mode. And I can't upgrade to 4GB or more (to add more RAM in
DUAL channel mode), without changing my operating system to 64-bit, which
I'm not quite ready to do. Still, 2GB of low CAS RAM at 1066 should be fine
for gaming use. So while your system does have an advantage here, I don't
think it's significant. I think you'd be just as happy for gaming with 2GB
as you would with 3GB. Yeah, I know some people swear that more RAM
increases game performance. I have a tough time believing that though,
after a certain point. Is there a game ever written that will use even 2GB
of RAM? I highly doubt it. Yeah, more RAM can help with other applications
that are running. But why the FRICK would you try to multitask while
gaming?!?!?
Hard Drive - I'm only going with a 320GB drive, as I have a couple other
hard drives to recycle, about 1TB total. I've seen a couple of different
sites advertising 1TB hard drives by WD and Hitachi for $100 or less,
shipped. So If I wanted to add more than 1TB storage... I could, and it
would add very little to the cost of my planned build.
Optical drive - Dual Layer DVD +-RW is a given. These are less than thirty
bucks retail with software right now. Either one of us could upgrade to
blu-ray, but those are still kind of pricy.
Video card - I've considered the HD 4850. I've also considered the 4830 and
4670. I'm not sure which one I'll choose. Both the 4830 and 4670 are
newer, but slower than the 4850. I'm wondering which one will still be
readily available in about a year (exact same model, that is, not just a
card with the same chipset) when I want to add another in crossfire? Still,
as I stated earlier, I could upgrade to 2 X HD 4850 Crossfire right away (my
motherboard and power supply both support it) and still spend WAY less money
than that tigerdirect system costs.
Power supply - Here's the gotcha. I'm betting the power supply in the
tigerdirect system is crap. I already own my power supply for the new
build. I got a BFG ES-800 for $70 (after $40 rebate). Newegg had it on
sale for $110 recently, which is a steal. But they were also offering a $40
mail-in rebate. I don't usually do rebates. But I considered the price
BEFORE rebate very good anyway. I honestly believe the ES-800 is the best
power supply on the market right now, based on ALL reviews. A few follow.
Anyway, I very much doubt that the tigerdirect system has a good quality
power supply. Almost no pre-built system has a good quality power supply.
If you have a thousand or TWO thousand dollars worth of hardware, you really
don't want it running off an iffy quality power supply!
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ2NywxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
http://www.guru3d.com/article/bfg-es-800-watt-psu-review/
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...4768-bfg-es-800-800w-power-supply-review.html
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=542
Sound Card - I chose a Diamond XtremeSound 7.1 PCI. I mainly chose it just
because I wanted to try something different. Reviews on it are mixed. I
don't expect it to sound better than the built-in sound of the mainboard I
chose. (reviews state the ALC889a is pretty good!) But I'm old-school in
the sense that I think it's bad to use built-in sound, even if it has
improved greatly. I don't like Creative products... never have. I Usually
go with Turtle Beach something or other for sound. But I just felt like
trying the Diamond this time around. If I don't like it, I've got an old
Turtle Beach I could throw in.
Overall... the system I'm getting ready to build, even if I upgraded it to
crossfire 4850 and 1TB of storage and Vista Ultimate right away, would cost
me about $750 less SHIPPED price, than that tigerdirect system's SHIPPED
price. Comparing the systems side by side, the tigerdirect system would
probably be about 15% faster on most benchmarks, mainly due to the 3GB of
RAM running in triple channel mode.
Or to look at this another way...
I could go with a MSI X58 PLATINUM mainboard, an i7 920 processor, and 3 X
1GB of DDR3 1333 RAM, all from
www.mwave.com. This would add about $300
EXTRA to my planned build cost, because I substituted more expensive
components . Assuming that I'd already upgraded to 1TB of storage, 2 X HD
4850 crossfire and Vista Ultimate, this is a shipped price of about $1500 or
less, for a system with all known good parts (including the power supply!).
If you are aiming for rather high-end, you should think about building your
own to save a little money. This is one of the few cases where building
your own you actually CAN save money. Usually, building your own is about
spending the same amount of money (compared to prebuilt) but ending up with
a better quality system. But at the high end, you actually can save some
money by building your own.
Only other thought I'd have on that tigerdirect system is warranty. I
wouldn't think about buying a higher-end pre-built system without a damned
good warranty...like 3 years FULL, minimum. A system with an iffy quality
power supply and a 1 year limited warranty? Sorry...but no way. -Dave
