Good News!

Started by Jack, April 17, 2010, 12:54:52 AM

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Jack

hey guys a I will have a new system within a month
specs on what i am getting
Commercial in confidence

CPU:          AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 3.2GHz , 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3  
        Cache Socket AM3 125W Black Edition (would you recommend this)
Motherboard:    Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD770 5200MT 4DDR3 PCI-E 2.0 SATA2
Gigabit LAN 3x1394a ATX  
Memory:    8GB (4X2GB) Strontium Hynix 2GB 1333MHZ DDR3 PC10660
(may add 12gb still undecided)
Hard Drive:    Western Digital Carviar SE 3.5 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Cache (with additional 320gb of storage from my old pc)
Case:    Cooler Master Elite 331 Black 420W peak PSU Mid Tower Case  
Video Card:    XFX GT-240X-ZNFA Geforce GT 240 1GB 128mb-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express 2.0
x16 Native HDMI 40nm DX 10.1


Final Price:     $1065.78+GST
GST:           $133.22        
Total:         $1199.00 (Direct Deposit Price)
                $849.492 USD
 

Does this sound like a good setup guys like to here your feedback!

My terragen gallery:
http://wetbanana.deviantart.com/

Jack

My terragen gallery:
http://wetbanana.deviantart.com/

piggy

#2
Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 12:54:52 AM
hey guys a I will have a new system within a month
specs on what i am getting
Commercial in confidence

CPU:          AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 3.2GHz , 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 
         Cache Socket AM3 125W Black Edition (would you recommend this)
Motherboard:    Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD770 5200MT 4DDR3 PCI-E 2.0 SATA2
Gigabit LAN 3x1394a ATX 
Memory:    8GB (4X2GB) Strontium Hynix 2GB 1333MHZ DDR3 PC10660
(may add 12gb still undecided)
Hard Drive:    Western Digital Carviar SE 3.5 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Cache (with additional 320gb of storage from my old pc)
Case:    Cooler Master Elite 331 Black 420W peak PSU Mid Tower Case 
Video Card:    XFX GT-240X-ZNFA Geforce GT 240 1GB 128mb-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express 2.0
x16 Native HDMI 40nm DX 10.1


Final Price:     $1065.78+GST
GST:           $133.22       
Total:         $1199.00 (Direct Deposit Price)
                 $849.492 USD
   

Does this sound like a good setup guys like to here your feedback!


PSU, what is the PSU ?

I would invest a little bit more on a good quality PSU. Mine is Silverstone, with 750 Watt rating.

The RAM price is going up by the day, and if you want to have 12GB of RAM, go for it now because by June the price will go up by at least another 20%.

I would forgo the 500GB HD for the moment since price for HD isn't going up, and could even go down since many people are crazy with SSD right now.

If I were you I will get a solid PSU and as much RAM as I possibly could afford right now, and then 6 months or one year down the road I will upgrade the rig with a 2TB HD. On GPU I would rather having ATI, much cheaper than the one offered by Nvidia.

Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 01:10:45 AM
or is it worth upgrading the cpu to this?
http://www.elive.co.nz/intel-core-i7-920-cpu-sy2114.php
i7 920 costs about USD100 more than AMD Phenom 955. If I were you I would rather use that money to up my RAM because i7 920 doesn't run that much faster than the Phenom 955.

I am assuming you do not OC your processor.

piggy

Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 01:10:45 AM
or is it worth upgrading the cpu to this?
http://www.elive.co.nz/intel-core-i7-920-cpu-sy2114.php
i7 920 costs about USD100 more than AMD Phenom 955. If I were you I would rather use that money to up my RAM because i7 920 doesn't run that much faster than the Phenom 955.

I am assuming you do not OC your processor.

Jack

nope i dont and the psu is 420w
My terragen gallery:
http://wetbanana.deviantart.com/

Jack

Quote from: piggy on April 17, 2010, 02:38:10 AM
Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 12:54:52 AM
hey guys a I will have a new system within a month
specs on what i am getting
Commercial in confidence

CPU:          AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 3.2GHz , 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 
         Cache Socket AM3 125W Black Edition (would you recommend this)
Motherboard:    Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD770 5200MT 4DDR3 PCI-E 2.0 SATA2
Gigabit LAN 3x1394a ATX 
Memory:    8GB (4X2GB) Strontium Hynix 2GB 1333MHZ DDR3 PC10660
(may add 12gb still undecided)
Hard Drive:    Western Digital Carviar SE 3.5 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Cache (with additional 320gb of storage from my old pc)
Case:    Cooler Master Elite 331 Black 420W peak PSU Mid Tower Case 
Video Card:    XFX GT-240X-ZNFA Geforce GT 240 1GB 128mb-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express 2.0
x16 Native HDMI 40nm DX 10.1


Final Price:     $1065.78+GST
GST:           $133.22       
Total:         $1199.00 (Direct Deposit Price)
                 $849.492 USD
   

Does this sound like a good setup guys like to here your feedback!


PSU, what is the PSU ?

I would invest a little bit more on a good quality PSU. Mine is Silverstone, with 750 Watt rating.

The RAM price is going up by the day, and if you want to have 12GB of RAM, go for it now because by June the price will go up by at least another 20%.

I would forgo the 500GB HD for the moment since price for HD isn't going up, and could even go down since many people are crazy with SSD right now.

If I were you I will get a solid PSU and as much RAM as I possibly could afford right now, and then 6 months or one year down the road I will upgrade the rig with a 2TB HD. On GPU I would rather having ATI, much cheaper than the one offered by Nvidia.

Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 01:10:45 AM
or is it worth upgrading the cpu to this?
http://www.elive.co.nz/intel-core-i7-920-cpu-sy2114.php
i7 920 costs about USD100 more than AMD Phenom 955. If I were you I would rather use that money to up my RAM because i7 920 doesn't run that much faster than the Phenom 955.

I am assuming you do not OC your processor.

ido Cuda raytracing though with octane so nvidia is a must!
My terragen gallery:
http://wetbanana.deviantart.com/

piggy

#6
Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 02:48:59 AM
nope i dont and the psu is 420w
Nvidia GT 240 Power Consumption could hit as high as 200 Watt. See http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3028/nvidia_geforce_gt_240_video_card_round_up/index18.html for more detail.

Which means your PSU rating of 420W may not be enough to power both your GPU and your CPU, HD, RAM, MOBO, etc.

Normally I add up the component power consumption and tag on an additional 100 to 150 Watt to make sure everything runs fine.

One of the reason your last computer got fried could be an electric short circuit caused by an overtaxed PSU.

Jack

I will get about a 600w i think
My terragen gallery:
http://wetbanana.deviantart.com/

piggy

Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 02:54:10 AM
I will get about a 600w i think
600Watt is okay, but remember to get the branded ones like Silverstone. Not all 600Watt PSU are the same.

piggy

#9
Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 02:50:39 AM
Quote from: piggy on April 17, 2010, 02:38:10 AM
Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 12:54:52 AM
hey guys a I will have a new system within a month
specs on what i am getting
Commercial in confidence

CPU:          AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 3.2GHz , 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 
         Cache Socket AM3 125W Black Edition (would you recommend this)
Motherboard:    Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD770 5200MT 4DDR3 PCI-E 2.0 SATA2
Gigabit LAN 3x1394a ATX 
Memory:    8GB (4X2GB) Strontium Hynix 2GB 1333MHZ DDR3 PC10660
(may add 12gb still undecided)
Hard Drive:    Western Digital Carviar SE 3.5 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Cache (with additional 320gb of storage from my old pc)
Case:    Cooler Master Elite 331 Black 420W peak PSU Mid Tower Case 
Video Card:    XFX GT-240X-ZNFA Geforce GT 240 1GB 128mb-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express 2.0
x16 Native HDMI 40nm DX 10.1


Final Price:     $1065.78+GST
GST:           $133.22       
Total:         $1199.00 (Direct Deposit Price)
                 $849.492 USD
   

Does this sound like a good setup guys like to here your feedback!


PSU, what is the PSU ?

I would invest a little bit more on a good quality PSU. Mine is Silverstone, with 750 Watt rating.

The RAM price is going up by the day, and if you want to have 12GB of RAM, go for it now because by June the price will go up by at least another 20%.

I would forgo the 500GB HD for the moment since price for HD isn't going up, and could even go down since many people are crazy with SSD right now.

If I were you I will get a solid PSU and as much RAM as I possibly could afford right now, and then 6 months or one year down the road I will upgrade the rig with a 2TB HD. On GPU I would rather having ATI, much cheaper than the one offered by Nvidia.

Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 01:10:45 AM
or is it worth upgrading the cpu to this?
http://www.elive.co.nz/intel-core-i7-920-cpu-sy2114.php
i7 920 costs about USD100 more than AMD Phenom 955. If I were you I would rather use that money to up my RAM because i7 920 doesn't run that much faster than the Phenom 955.

I am assuming you do not OC your processor.

ido Cuda raytracing though with octane so nvidia is a must!
I just paid a visit to Octane's site ( http://www.refractivesoftware.com/faq.html ) and they recommend GTX 260 instead of your GT 240.

Here is a very rough guide I picked up somewhere regarding Nvidia's card performance hierarchy vs. that of ATI:

GTS240 ~ 9600GT < 8800/9800GT ~ 4830 < 8800GTS 512 ~ 4770 < 9800GTX/GTS250 ~ 4850 < GTX260 ~ 4870 < GTX275 ~ 4890 < GTX285 < 5850 < 4870x2 ~ 5870 ~ GTX295 < 5970 < 5990

Jack

what Nvidia card would you recomend
My terragen gallery:
http://wetbanana.deviantart.com/

FrankB

Quote from: piggy on April 17, 2010, 02:46:47 AM
Quote from: wetbanana on April 17, 2010, 01:10:45 AM
or is it worth upgrading the cpu to this?
http://www.elive.co.nz/intel-core-i7-920-cpu-sy2114.php
i7 920 costs about USD100 more than AMD Phenom 955. If I were you I would rather use that money to up my RAM because i7 920 doesn't run that much faster than the Phenom 955.

I am assuming you do not OC your processor.

I disagree. What on earth would he want with more than 8GB right now? I am assuming the main hardcore use case for this machine is rendering with TG2, in which case it can't consume more than 4 GB at once, until the 64bit version come out, but nobody knows when that will be. Over time, RAM always got cheaper in the past 20 years, so pre-investments are futile.
Also - although I haven't taken the time to find a proof - the i7 should be much faster in rendering than the AMD. The 920 can also be slightly overclocked, although I don't find that necessary, as the i7 is really pretty fast anyway.

Frank

FrankB

also, looking at the TG2 benchmark, it tells it's own story about the i7 vs the Phenom 955

http://www.3dspeedmachine.com/?page=3&scene=47

Frank

Jack

ok but 8gb i should stick with
and go with the corei7?
My terragen gallery:
http://wetbanana.deviantart.com/

domdib

Yes, remember the core i7 has hyperthreading, so it's effectively like having an 8 core processor. I don't think the AMD has (but please, correct me if I'm wrong)