i7 Build Completed for $1769

[philw007]

No...26" monitor...So no.

 

[philw007]

Now leaning toward the evga mb because of the great reviews on newegg and excellent history of customer service. Talked to their CS and they say that the step up program may or may NOT be eligible with the evga classifed board!

So, revolution with n200 technology vs evga with excellent reviews and cs?

If only asus would release a bios update to alleviate my concerns! As you can tell I really want to like the asus board. But may have to go with evga for its better reviews and cs!

 

[krnmastersgt]

I still say the UD5 is the way to go in this situation... The Classified is just something I brought up, but it offers no real benefits unless you're stacking 3 High end cards like the 280 or 295 together. If you're seriously considering the Classified, you should also be considering getting a few GTX295s and a 30" monitor for some epic gaming.

 

[philw007]

actually im now seriously considering the plain evga x58 mb (not classified). The customer service seems to be the best with evga with good forums as opposed to gigabyte. Also reviews on newegg seem to be much better with the evga with fewer bios issues atm.

What do you think of that? If I can get over having the n200 chip, I now lean toward the evga board. Almost ready to pull trigger...someone stop me or push me over the edge pls!

Reaistically I will never do tri-sli. The n200 may not be all it was cracked up to be...IDK

 

[krnmastersgt]

You do realize the majority of people who post on Newegg, who rate themselves having a high tech level, have no idea what they're talking about, and consider those occasional DOAs to be the rule, not the exception right? The input you get from AT members is far more valuable/knowledgeable than the comments you see on Newegg, some of which are incredibly stupid when you really look at them and the situations they use certain parts in.

 

[philw007]

True...I can understand that. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a lot of enthusiasm for nahalem and the boards so there is not a lot of at member advice. So its certainl been hard to decide with a dearth of side-by-side reviews, at member advice, and bios problems!

Can I as you if you were deciding between the evga non-classified, gigabyte ud5, and the asus revolution, which you would choose? Anyone?

I think you would chose the ud5, but y over the evga?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Because all 3 companies offer quality service + parts, so in this case unless the board had some special feature that none of the other boards had, and you wanted that feature, I'd go with whoever is cheapest amongst those 3.

 

[philw007]

The EVGA and UD5 are same price. So how would you choose between the two? Similar featurewise...

 

[krnmastersgt]

Aren't there boards that go for around $50-100 less than either? Just find the cheapest board from Asus/Gigabyte/EVGA out there and you won't be disappointed.

 

[philw007]

True krnmaster...there are some cheaper boards but my heart is already set on one of the premium about $300 ones...I do appreciate the reassurances tho that I will be happy with any board. I guess I should just go evga for the most hasslefree board (so far it seems).

 

[GLeeM]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
You do realize the majority of people who post on Newegg, who rate themselves having a high tech level, have no idea what they're talking about, and consider those occasional DOAs to be the rule, not the exception right? The input you get from AT members is far more valuable/knowledgeable than the comments you see on Newegg, some of which are incredibly stupid when you really look at them and the situations they use certain parts in.

While reading along, a question was forming.

Thanks for the answer, krnmastersgt!

And good luck with the decision. I can relate, I need to buy soon too (similar system) and finger is getting itchy actually already bought GTX280 for $237 on Saturday, now need to decide on mobo, PSU, ram, HSF

 

[philw007]

U don't need to decide on psu, ram and hsf...just get the same as me

 

[philw007]

Thanks for the help. PUlled the trigger. Ordered the ud5. Will work on build this wknd. Thanks to all for the help!

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: philw007
Thanks for the help. PUlled the trigger. Ordered the ud5. Will work on build this wknd. Thanks to all for the help!

Good choice, that's what I have and I couldn't be happier. I don't know what BIOS issues people are reporting, I've had 0.

 

[philw007]

Well, I just wanted to get a board from a company that address' bios issues. I wasn't happy with my asus board when they never released any bios updates. I'm all for don't update if you don't have problems, but I want the company to be responsive to problems! Knowing that gigabyte is responsive was what I needed. That was the major deciding factor...

 

[philw007]

Thanks to everyone who helped. All parts are in and build is underway. Upgraded graphics card because splurged on new monitor 30" needing to drive 2500x1600.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Grats on the new system! :beer: Tell us how you like your new monster rig

 

[philw007]

Posts first time on. Had a little trouble setting up raid 0 (my first time setting up a raid), but all running fine. Windows vista ultimate x64 fully updated and booted first time. Bios updated and screwed up my raid. Had to start over and reinstall everything!!!! Remember on next bios update to change settings back to raid!!! before restarting or kills raid!

Guess it helps to have good components...no problems so far! Soon to try overclocking!

 

[philw007]

Just to update:

The ud5 board is soo easy to oc. I'm a noob oc'er and the ud5 was sooo easy to oc. BLCK up to 180, memory profile to extreme setting 1 (corsair dominator 2gb x 3 1600), everything else on auto...stable 3.8ghz with 2hrs prime95 (too lazy to do longer) but temps do get up there to 70-80's.

blck to 190...stable with prime95 for 1 hr (too lazy to do longer) but temps up there to 80's.

blck to 200 (4ghz oc....memory to 1600)...boots, but crashes with 5 min prime95.

Definitely think I can get to 4ghz if I take stuff off of auto...but as a noob, i'm happy with keeping blck 180 and everything on auto for now!

 

[redgarl]

The core i7 is really not an interesting platform. It's really expansive in comparaison to the other alternative. It's too new, we don't know the quality of the boards and the benefit of DDR3 is really not a good investment.

I always told everyone to pay for stronger graphic cards instead of stronger CPU if they really care about their money.