I want to build a new computer around the GTX 470

Viper007Bond

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As discussed previously, buying a new video card alone would make the other components of my current PC be the bottlenecks. So I want to also get a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, and PSU. Does anyone have any suggestions? I prefer Intel to AMD and I think I may want to go for more than 4 gigs of RAM, but I'm interested in your opinions on that.

The timeline is not right this second (I'll have trouble getting my hands on a GTX 470 anyway I bet), so if there's a new CPU coming out soon for example, I can wait a bit.

Budget is undetermined, but I'm looking to buy great but not bleeding edge hardware here. I want to invest in a new computer, but not pay through the nose when I could get something for a lot cheaper with only a small performance loss (case in point: GTX 470 vs. 480).

Thanks as always for helping my helpless ass. :)
 
If you wait a few months, parts will be cheaper due to end of financial quarter and companies wanting to make some last sales.
 
I would suggest Core i5 for the CPU, the difference in performance between the i7 and i5 is not that huge. Also look at quad core AMD's they are cheap as balls and have decent performance.
 
GTX 470 is priced around $350, and +1 on the i5 choice.
 
Yea, i5 would be a cheaper platform to build. If you want HT, get the i5 860, if not, then the i5 750 is much cheaper. As for mobo, the Asrock P55 Deluxe got some pretty good reviews. Most of the P55 boards tops out at 200 Bclk anyways. http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/2924/asrock_p55_deluxe_lynnfield_motherboard/index4.html

HT as in hyperthreading? They still do that?

GTX 470 is priced around $350

Yep, good deal and I want to make full use of the card. :)
 
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i got an i5-750 recently and i'm happy with it, so i can say +1 to that :p
also i read quite a few articles about just OC'ing it to some 3,0 to 3,2GHz without any change to voltage etc so temperatures and power consumption stay pretty much the same with greatly improved performance (haven't tried myself, the thing is fast enough as it is, but i might go for it in a year or so).
the asus P7P55D-E i got with it packs USB3 and SATA3, so it's good to go for future ... thingies... whatever.
if you get a usb3/sata3 mobo you'd have to check out how they connect up the usb3 / sata3 stuff. in some cases they just take the bandwidth off the second x16 pcie slot and create a bottleneck for SLI / CF systems (if you don't want to to SLI/CF, you can just ignore that i guess. my board lets you choose whether you want full pcie-speed or full usb3/sata3 speed... something like that, i don't care). in general there just aren't enough pcie lanes available for everything to to go full speed (with a P55 chipset that is).
also with the asus board i read it's a little bitchy when it comes to RAM, dunno about other mobos with the same chipset. in my case i didn't get RAM that was explicitely on the official compatibility-list and it runs fine, but you never know.

to HT: i saw quite a few benchmarks of games where the CPU was actually faster with HT switched off, haven't read too far into it though (all the i7's were (compared to my i5) too expensive to justify anyway).
 
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What video card manufacturer do you guys prefer? I currently have a XFX and like it and I hear EVGA is good, but what about ASUS cards?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=GTX 470&bop=And&Order=PRICE

Also is it worth paying that $30 extra for a hardware overclocked card? Or should I just do it via the drivers if I'm that desperate for extra FPS?

Don't ever pay for a pre-overclocked video card. You might as well throw that cash into the garbage. GPU tweaking programs like EVGA Precision, Riva Tuner, MSI Afterburner, and whatnot make overclocking quite simple and easy to do. Never, ever pay for a card that is just overclocked as you can do that for free yourself. EVGA only makes nvidia video cards and they are quite good. And I've had no issues with BFG Tech (GTX 260) and XFX (7600GT) and EVGA (another GTX 260) for that matter. Asus is very well respected in the ATI community, not sure about their nvidia cards.

I would actually suggest a Radeon HD5850 instead of a GTX 470. Lower price, less power draw, less heat, proven overclocker, very similar performance.

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Very similar performance in Dirt 2: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2010/03/27/nvidia-geforce-gtx-480-1-5gb-review/5
 
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I would actually suggest a Radeon HD5850 instead of a GTX 470. Lower price, less power draw, less heat, proven overclocker, very similar performance.

Thanks, but I'll gladly pay a premium to never have to deal with an ATI card again. :)
 
Thanks, but I'll gladly pay a premium to never have to deal with an ATI card again. :)

Ah, I'm sorry to hear that you had such a traumatic experience as to boycott ATI. I have actually never used an ATI card until this week when I purchased 2 Radeon HD5850s. All my previous systems I've used nvidia cards (7600GT, 8800GT, GTX 260, GTX 260 SLI) and they've been great cards. Didn't know too much about ATI back then but I guess they were in a hellish state with respect to driver issues. The ATI Catalyst driver interface is a bit more "cool" than the nvidia control panel and I really dig the red theme. So far no problems, just need to flash both card's BIOS with an Asus unlocked bios so that I can crank up the clock speeds.

But EVGA, BFG Tech, and XFX are all well respected brands in the nvidia field, especially EVGA. At this early point, all the cards are the same reference cards and the difference from each brand is cosmetics and warranty offerings as well as RMA friendli-ness. Later down the road these companies will come out with their own version of each card that may have some hardware tweaks to provide even more performance/cooling which is usually evidenced by a very difference cooler/exterior appearance than the stock OEM photos. But don't ever go for a card that's simply overclcoked, prime example is the EVGA Superclocked edition cards.

Otherwise Microcenter has quite a deal on the i7 920s at $179, which will certainly be future proof and actually same price as the top AMD quadcore. Of course a X58 mobo and 6/12GB of ram in triple channel will cost a bit more but I believe it is worth it. I just got a i7 930 and it's running at 4.2Ghz on a fairly low voltage and stable 24/7.
 
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Didn't know too much about ATI back then but I guess they were in a hellish state with respect to driver issues.

That's pretty much it right there. Okay, they've probably gotten better, but I've had nothing but great experiences with NVIDIA cards.
 
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That's pretty much it right there. Okay, they've probably gotten better, but I've had nothing but great experiences with NVIDIA cards.

I have to agree. All my previous nvidia cards have been nothing but fantastic, I guess I saw a good opportunity for a change.

I''m part of OCN, which is a very active desktop/general computing forum (always over 1000 active users at any one time, over 2k during busy hours) and they've helped me alot in setting up my desktop. They're a great resource not just for overclocking but for system building and tons of other stuff as well: http://www.overclock.net/ There will have people that will suggest you lot of options for an Intel/Nvidia build. Not to say that this thread has had good discussion as well.

Good luck on the build man, looking forward to seeing a badass rig in the near future!
 
Otherwise Microcenter has quite a deal on the i7 920s at $179, which will certainly be future proof and actually same price as the top AMD quadcore. Of course a X58 mobo and 6/12GB of ram in triple channel will cost a bit more but I believe it is worth it. I just got a i7 930 and it's running at 4.2Ghz on a fairly low voltage and stable 24/7.

$179?! That's $100 less than Newegg! WTF?

Also: they have triple channel now? I assume it's very worth it?


EDIT: Micro Center's website sucks balls and doesn't seem to have any processors listed. Back to Newegg. :)
 
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$179?! That's $100 less than Newegg! WTF?

Also: they have triple channel now? I assume it's very worth it?

Yup. I was shocked when I received the microcenter mailing. I got the i7 930 (basically same as a i7 920 but new batch and can overclock very well) for $199, and they dropped the price of the i7 920 to $179. That is the best thing to get from microcenter and as unbelievable as it is, they are $100 cheaper than newegg! But for most other things newegg still wins, of course.

And yes the Core i7 (not i5 or i3 AFAIK) CPU supports tripple channel RAM, so that is why all the socket 1366 motherboards have 6 RAM slots. Basically it goes 3GB, 6GB, 12GB. Triple channel RAM is not "very worth it" as in I don't think you can tell a noticeable difference but nevertheless you can have a good 6GB triple channel kit that won't be as 'small' as 4GB but not so expensive as getting 8GB, and then if needing to upgrade you can just double that again and have 12GB of RAM down the road.

edit: lol yes MC's website sucks big time. I wish I had access to their internal inventory website/intranet which from what I can observe actually finds things for you.

Here's the page for i7 920, not sure if there's a store near your town though: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0302727
 
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And yes the Core i7 (not i5 or i3 AFAIK) CPU supports tripple channel RAM, so that is why all the socket 1366 motherboards have 6 RAM slots. Basically it goes 3GB, 6GB, 12GB. Triple channel RAM is not "very worth it" as in I don't think you can tell a noticeable difference but nevertheless you can have a good 6GB triple channel kit that won't be as 'small' as 4GB but not so expensive as getting 8GB, and then if needing to upgrade you can just double that again and have 12GB of RAM down the road.

Ah, okay. I bet 8GB with an i5 is cheaper than a i7 with 6GB and a more expensive motherboard. If the performance difference isn't huge, I'll save a few hundred bucks and stick with an i5. :)

Here's the page for i7 920, not sure if there's a store near your town though: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0302727

The closest one is like 700 miles away. The only store around here that sells computer parts is Fry's (meh) and Best Buy's super tiny (and expensive) selection.
 
I have to agree. All my previous nvidia cards have been nothing but fantastic, I guess I saw a good opportunity for a change.

I''m part of OCN, which is a very active desktop/general computing forum (always over 1000 active users at any one time, over 2k during busy hours) and they've helped me alot in setting up my desktop. They're a great resource not just for overclocking but for system building and tons of other stuff as well: http://www.overclock.net/ There will have people that will suggest you lot of options for an Intel/Nvidia build. Not to say that this thread has had good discussion as well.

Good luck on the build man, looking forward to seeing a badass rig in the near future!
Nice to see another OCNer on here. I second the suggestion to check out OCN, they have very active forums, usually you'll get many good build suggestions.
 
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