Ok, basically I have a budget of 1500 bucks to spend on a desktop, including a monitor. So I went to build two separate systems, one using intel CPU + NVIDIA card and the other using AMD CPU +ATi video card, and this is what I came up with (AMD system is approximately 50 bucks cheaper): Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price 1 SAMSUNG 2243SWX Glossy Black 21.5" 5ms Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP $189.99 1 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $84.99 1 Logitech 967740-0403 Black USB Standard Internet 350 USB Keyboard $9.25 1 CABLES UNLIMITED ACC-1400 Anti Static Wrist Strap With Grounding Wire $5.99 1 Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 $279.99 1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $58.99 1 LG 22X DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model GH22LS50 LightScribe Support $27.99 1 OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600LV6GK $104.99 1 EVGA 01G-P3-1180-AR GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card $329.99 1 EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard $234.99 1 CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply $109.99 1 COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler $59.99 VS Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price 2 XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card $389.98 CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply $109.99 CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8 G $114.99 LG 22X DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model GH22LS50 LightScribe Support $27.99 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $84.99 COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $58.99 Logitech 967740-0403 Black USB Standard Internet 350 USB Keyboard $9.25 COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler $59.99 ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard $189.99 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor $210.00 SAMSUNG 2243SWX Glossy Black 21.5" 5ms Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP $189.99 CABLES UNLIMITED ACC-1400 Anti Static Wrist Strap With Grounding Wire $5.99 I'm planning to OC whichever system I buy (thus the cooler). I've talked to a couple of my friends, and they had differing opinions. Some said go with the i7 system because the CPU rocks, and 285 is the best single GPU card out there and this system will pretty much max out most games. However, some others mentioned how intel will discontinue i7 920, and that I'll be screwed in the future when I have to upgrade or if the 920 breaks, while AM3+ will be fine in the future for upgrade. They also mentioned that since I'm more of a gamer than anything else(I dont do much CPU intensive things like video/music/art type of thing, or computational math things), graphics are more important in a system, and 4890 crossfirex'ed will beat the 285 hands down. Which one do you think I should buy? And also, ANY suggestions on replacing any part in either systems are welcome (for example, my cooler -- is it an okay one for the price? but please consider my budget) because to be honest, I'm not much of an expert in terms of computer hardware (infact first time building one by myself). ALSO NOTE, I'll be buying the system NOT NOW, but most likely mid-august or maybe even late august, but I just wanted to get some info asap. And ordering everything from newegg.com Thanks!
Go for the core i7. 920 is a great chip and can easily overclock to 4ghz, You will not be screwed in the future if it breaks there are others available such as the core i7 940, 950, 965, 975 and the core i9 next year 6 core will also be a socket 1366 release, so the setup will be future proof. The 2gb gtx 285 is one of the best cards on the market but personally I wouldn't waste £300 on a gtx 285 because within the next few months gt300 series cards are coming out and they are reportedly having 512 processing cores and over 1000mhz core speed also higher memory bus frequency. the 4890 is closely matched to the gtx 285 and obviously in crossfire will dominate a single gtx 285. are you not going to be using the onboard fake raid? you not consindering upgrading to two raptor hard drives in a raid 0? definate must have on a socket 1366 setup. motherboard: you not considering the evga classified? with 3x true x16 mode slots 4gb/s bus? will dominate with the new and upcoming gt300 series cards in sli. Amd are good for the money, but does not match upto intel's core i7's
Could you link me to the mobo? and I might actually just buy a GTX 260 core 216, and buy the 3xx series card when it comes out.. but not sure as of now
EVGA | Products Family This is the 2nd best board on the market. The Asus super computer is by far the better board because of the features, but I wouldn't buy it because it's Asus. Worldwide PC Let us know your choice.
I would go with the Intel configuration too, although I really do not understand what does BoBBYI986 have against ASUS motherboards!!
