Looking to re-build my Windows desktop, advice on new mobo, CPU and RAM please

**Sicilian** · 02-04-11, 09:21

I'm looking to rebuild my Windows desktop. I'm looking for mobo, cpu and ram recommendations. Been looking at the i7 cpu's, whats the difference between sandy bridge and lynnfield versions?

**Stanman** · 02-04-11, 11:04

What are going to be using the comp for?

**Sicilian** · 02-04-11, 11:06

Mainly office stuff, photo images, some graphics. I like a powerful pc though cos i get impatient lol. I'm now looking at a amd phenomenon quad core.

**Stanman** · 02-04-11, 11:15

I have both an i5 and i7 and to be honest there is hardly any difference in performance.
I do HD videos on the i7 and its about the same speef as sd videos were on my sthalon X2.
If you want the very latest chipset and core, there were problems with the mobo and thry did a recall, not sure if they have restated selling.
For video editing. Intel are supposed to be better, but i do prefer AMD as they are brtter value.

**bassethound** · 02-04-11, 11:15

I would check out SCAN,s daily specials most days they offer great bundle deals on mobo/cpu/ram

Code:

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx

**Sicilian** · 02-04-11, 11:22

Today i7 pc bundle looks well cheap.

**Blu-ray** · 02-04-11, 11:26

All you want to know about Sandybridge & Lynnfield i7 CPUS, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel.Corei7

**Sicilian** · 13-04-11, 20:34

I'm actually of thinking of going for a 6x AMD Phenom now, bundle here

Code:

http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-amd-gamer-bundle--includes-m4a87td-evo-motherboard--amd-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-black-edition---4gb-ddr3--77X5.html?q=asus%20evo

**pooface** · 13-04-11, 21:21

Personally, I'm Intel all the way now. Previously, used to be an amd man... But guess it must be coming down to old age and settling in to my slippers before bed

Latest Intel i3 and i5 machines I've used have been great, and if you get one of the 6-core i7's (if u can afford

), then I'm sure you'll be a happy man...

Sent from my HTC Desire Z

**Tyler** · 13-04-11, 23:10

Check out cryo if u want top spec computer.
They build ur machine and overclock it to the max

**sivhead** · 14-04-11, 11:35

I think the I7's have USB3 by default. If I was getting a new motherboard USB3 would future proof it for a while at least.

**Sicilian** · 14-04-11, 11:40

Thing with the I7 they're just so damned expensive. The bundle I posted has USB3.0 too.

**pooface** · 14-04-11, 12:14

lol, a few comments I found when checking out that cpu vs the intel i7 930...

PhenomII is very competitive for some workloads, but can suffer severely on both memory bandwidth and memory latency. Virtualization is also supposed to be better on the i7 although I haven't measured that myself.

For most of what I do the Phenom is competitive and the cheaper mainboards and the fact that I could reuse DDR2 memory I had floating around made me go AMD. I did end up with a crappy Realtek Ethernet chip, though, and now run of a GbE PCI card.

I still think the i7 is a better choice, mostly because of the high clock speed that the Phenom has to run at to achieve its competitive performance.

You can only get so much overclocking head room out of a chip, so a 3.2Ghz chip that can just barely keep up with a 2.66Ghz chip isn't going to see nearly as much of an improvement from an 800Mhz overclock. And if they both hit 4Ghz, obviously the 2.66Ghz chips is going to vastly outpace the other.

I guess it will depend on what the system will be primarily used for, but I just don't see what makes it future proof if it barely outpaces the competition right now and loses significantly in many cases.

It's because in threaded games and apps it loses only to the 980x. Most new software is goign to be threaded. Look at BFBC2 for instance, it runs the best on the phenom 6 cores.

Remember that i7s have hyperthreading as well, so they can take advantage of up to 8 threads to some extent.

This is the cheapest i7 bundle I could find... Comes pre-clocked tho

Code:

http://www.awd-it.co.uk/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=8947&product=Intel+i7+930+%40+3%2E33GHz%2C+Asus+P6X58D%2DE+Motherboard%2C+6GB+DDR3+1333MHz+Overclocked+Bundle+BU34OC

Alternatively, they had the i7 950 with an asus motherboard and 6gb corsair ram, available seperately for £400...

**Sicilian** · 14-04-11, 13:10

I7 is just too expensive, think it gonna have to be an AMD x

**Sicilian** · 14-04-11, 16:32

Order these parts in the end.

Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 880G Socket AM3 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

Code:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/206153

AMD Phenom II X6 Black Edition 1090T 3.2GHz Socket AM3 9MB Cache 125W Retail Boxed Processor

Code:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/204933

Kingston 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz HyperX Memory Kit CL9 1.65V

Code:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/254550

All going to be house in a sexy Antec Sonata III Case, kindly given to me by Silverfox, thank you

Thanks for all the input everyone.

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