i7 vs duel core and better graffix card

[Deathslayer101]

me and my friend a building a computer that is aimed to be a leet gaming machine. my parents gave me a budget of aprox. 13 hundred for chrismas (but im sure i can stretch it by about 100 ). with this budget. we are trying to decide if we should put our money twords the i7 920 or your average duel core and a sweet graffix card. plz help me decide and plz sugjust sum graffix cards. thanks

 

[dario03]

Is the budget for just the tower and hardware or does it need a OS, monitor, keyboard and mouse?

Because $1400 for just hardware you could probably build a i7 with a great graphics card.

 

[Deathslayer101]

my budget is for my com. nothing else. NO moniter, speakers, mouse, keyboard. nothing.

JUST COM

 

[dario03]

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops $200-$15mir

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards $290

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory $145

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies $120-20mir

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500410AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
$65


Thats $820 - $35mir. Probably spend about $100 for a good size case, $25 for whatever dvdrw so $945. You could get just about any graphics card but you would need to stretch a bit for a gtx295.

(don't know how space you need but you can get 1.5tb drives for a little over $100)

 

[Deathslayer101]

are u sure 750v is enough.

 

[dario03]

Should be fine. Btw: you could also just get 3gb of ram for now. Newegg.com - G.SKILL 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

bit-tech.net | Review - Nvidia GeForce GTX 295 1,792MB & Quad SLI

 

[Druid]

Dario, I think you reversed the prices on your mobo and cpu, but whatev.

Anyway, you should not take it down to 3gigs with you're current mobo. If you do, you will have to throw out some of your ram when you upgrade because you would be getting 3 1-gig sticks instead of 3 2-gig sticks, and, when upgrading, you would have a total of 6 1-gig sticks. That mobo there only has 4 ram slots. I'm trying to decide between that mobo, and this other one, and I think the other one would be better for $40 more if you count the rebate on that one. I'd say go for the 2 gig sticks, but you're better off either way with this:

Newegg.com - MSI X58 Platinum LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Hmmm, it seems to have just been deactivated though. Anyone know approximately how long it will take for these to come back? $225 is pretty good. Maybe you can find it somewhere else for that price.

 

[theorigamist]

I would look at a mobo like this:
Newegg.com - EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

It costs $100 more than the Gigabyte, but it has the more normal 6 slots for RAM, which makes more sense for triple channel. (Also, I think EVGA is better than Gigabyte, but Gigabyte is certainly a very reputable mobo company.) This way you really can get 3 GB now and add 3 later if you want. Also, I think I read somewhere that you only really see performance increases with DDR3 once you are at 1600Mhz. (Somebody please correct me if this is wrong.) So you should look at 1600Mhz RAM, like this:
Newegg.com - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Also, since this brings the overall price up a bit, you can bring it down by getting either the HD 4870 or the 4870 x2:

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

The x2 is $400 after MIR, but doesn't seem to have a warranty. But I don't think there is a game out there for which you'd notice the difference between the 4870 x2 and the GTX 295. And I doubt you'd notice the difference with the 4870, either. And that's only $225 after MIR.

EDIT: I just realized it looked like I was recommending spending an extra $100 on the mobo just for extra RAM slots. Other benefits of the EVGA: triple-sli/crossfire for the future, eSATA on the rear panel, dual LAN ports, and what looks like better cooling on the northbridge. It also, I think (newegg says nothing in the specifications, but I think I've seen a video about this mobo on tigerdirect), has overclocking features on the board. The yellow and green buttons in the picture (near the PCI slot) I think are power and reset buttons directly on the board. And the little red button next to them, if I remember correctly, clears the CMOS. I would guess the similar red button on the back panel also resets the CMOS. Also, EVGA has a lifetime warranty. So I'd say you're getting your money's worth.

 

[Deathslayer101]

Final verdict: whats more important I7 or sweet graffix card

 

[dario03]

With that budget I would get the i7 since even if you can't get the gtx295 you can still get the 4870 1gb or gtx260 c216 or gtx280 or gtx285 or 4870x2. All of those will basically max everything except Crysis and they come very close (basically no super high AA which to me doesn't do much in Crysis).

Plus later on you can upgrade a graphics card a lot easier then upgrading the cpu, mobo, and ram all at once.