Advice Needed

[Tired of the Bull]

Ok, I'm doing a little musical chairs with computers. (soon as possible, would buy today)

Plan is to move my son's MB, RAM, Athlon 64 x2 3600+ (939) and Radeon X800 (AGP) into a spare case with the plan to build a NAS

Giving him my GA-P35-DS3P Rev 2.0, 4 or 8GB RAM, E-2160, HD 3850 (mainly so we can do audio through the HDMI to his 42" LCD and get rid of monitor)

Which leaves me with need to purchase a new MB, CPU, RAM and Video. I'm happy with my case (Antec Three Hundred) power supply (CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX) and storage (unless SSDs fall in price).

I'm not as concerned with budget as I am with matching the new components to my usage needs without too much overkill.

My usage profile:
Large Powerpoints (work)
Photo editing
Some video encoding
Rare gaming (might play FPS or Golf game if I had time)
I do tend to run multiple apps (a lot)

I initially was going, i7 920, X58A-UD3R, HD5770, 6GB (Triple) = $765
Then looked, i5 750, P55M-UD2, HD5770, ?GB =$ less than the 1366 setup
Then started looking at Phenom II X4

I'm open to overclocking/unlocking but not if it requires too much effort or huge coolers. (Painful experience with the e2160 and Gigabyte board)
My case is sized to fit a very nice cabinet but airflow is only "adquate" not ideal.

So now I'm pretty much in brain lock. Haven't been keeping up enough with this market to weigh all the pro's and con's or value to performance.

I tend to like MB's with plent of external connection (USB, eSata, 1394) and plenty of SATA (RAID not important).

So suggestions would be very welcome..........

I don't live near a Fry's or MC! (4 hours away)

 

[Tired of the Bull]

Anyone?

 

[tweakboy]

Buy a 5770 card so you don't bottleneck the system. Or go for dual gpu 5890. gl

 

[heyheybooboo]

Well ...

If yah like to 'connect' ...

The GA-770TA-UD3 offers the best bang for the buck, however .... Thuban has yet to make it on the support list (maybe we will find out tomorrow?)

The 1055T is on the Gigabyte GA-890XA-UD3 CPU support list already.

This Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 is on the Gigabyte 890XA QVL list. So ...

Thuban 1055T: $225
GB 890XA-UD3: $150
8Gb RAMs: $230
HD 5770: $160

Just happens to be .... $765

Or you could go low with the Phenom 955BE / Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4, video card and 4Gb of RAMS for around $550 .... at the loss of a couple SATA connections.




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[Reincus]

My usage profile:
Large Powerpoints (work)
Photo editing
Some video encoding
Rare gaming (might play FPS or Golf game if I had time)
I do tend to run multiple apps (a lot)

I initially was going, i7 920, X58A-UD3R, HD5770, 6GB (Triple) = $765
Then looked, i5 750, P55M-UD2, HD5770, ?GB =$ less than the 1366 setup
Then started looking at Phenom II X4

I think the i5 setup you listed will be fine for your needs. Pick a reasonable MB, 4MB of RAM, and the HD 5770 for your occasional game. Should run you about $500. ($250-300 for CPU+Mobo, $150 for video card, and $100 for RAM)

You can also overclock the CPU on the stock cooler to 3GHz without any worries. A lot of people will recommend you get an aftermarket cooler and overclock more, but I'm not sure you will need it. And the cool thing about overclocking is that when you don't have to do right away. Give your rig a try if you want more oomf you can pick up a cooler later and jack up the Mhz

 

[mfenn]

buy a 5770 card so you don't bottleneck the system. Or go for dual gpu 5890. Gl

wtf...

 

[mfenn]

I think the i5 setup you listed will be fine for your needs. Pick a reasonable MB, 4MB of RAM, and the HD 5770 for your occasional game. Should run you about $500. ($250-300 for CPU+Mobo, $150 for video card, and $100 for RAM)

You can also overclock the CPU on the stock cooler to 3GHz without any worries. A lot of people will recommend you get an aftermarket cooler and overclock more, but I'm not sure you will need it. And the cool thing about overclocking is that when you don't have to do right away. Give your rig a try if you want more oomf you can pick up a cooler later and jack up the Mhz

Yeah, there's really no point to Socket 1366 for the OP. It sounds like the i5 750 + 8GB of RAM (for the powerpoints) would serve him well. SSD becomes and option then too. SSD + i5 750 > i7 920 + HDD in terms of user experience.

 

[Tired of the Bull]

Thanks everyone.

Just bought the 5770 here on AT and have an i7 860 pending from another AT member. Now I'm just pondering the MB....

 

[mfenn]

Thanks everyone.

Just bought the 5770 here on AT and have an i7 860 pending from another AT member. Now I'm just pondering the MB....

The P55M-UD2 that you were considering is solid. If you want full ATX, the P55A-UD3 is good as well.

 

[Tired of the Bull]

Any info on the SATA3 and USB3 implementation on the Gigabyte boards? I like the I/O options that the UD4 offers?

 

[mfenn]

Any info on the SATA3 and USB3 implementation on the Gigabyte boards? I like the I/O options that the UD4 offers?

They're the same NEC USB 3.0 chip and Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s that everybody else uses. Not sure if the UD4P is worth the extra money TBH.

 

[Tired of the Bull]

It might help if I put the right board...I meant the GA-P55A-UD4P

 

[heyheybooboo]

Thanks everyone.

Just bought the 5770 here on AT and have an i7 860 pending from another AT member. Now I'm just pondering the MB....

Must be jumping ship for the 1055T





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[mfenn]

It might help if I put the right board...I meant the GA-P55A-UD4P

Yeah, I knew which one you meant. All of the P55A boards use the same USB and SATA controllers. The UD4P has an extra JMicron SATA 3Gb/s controller that is connected to the eSATA ports, I believe.

 

[Tired of the Bull]

That board is only really appealling if I don't succeed at setting up the NAS. My current system is maxed out on internal drives and I have three external 1.5gb drives, two of which are eSata. My goal is to offload most of that into the NAS and have only a couple drives internally in my everyday machine. However, I have no experience in the NAS area so that is not a certainty.

 

[Tired of the Bull]

Ok, I rolled the dice and went for an Open Box ASUS P7P55D-E from NewEgg.