New i7 860 Build

[chunkylover53]

New build is up and running. So far so good with all of the components after doing all of the diagnostic tests and running prime95 overnight. Figured I would post the specs since I know your working on a new high end build, and i7 860 might be an option you're looking into.

Case is awesome, but big for a mid-tower. Almost everything is screwless. The drive trays for opticals, the HDD trays, and the card slots as well. Fan control knob is nice, and it controls the fan LED's too. Big thumbs up.

MOBO is just right for my needs, and the BIOS is very easy to work in. One of the PCI-E slots is positioned poorly, but I don't have a need for one let alone two. Only 2 on-board USB headers, but I knew that going in. 8 SATA ports is plenty for me, and there are 3 different options for RAID (I'm using the Intel P55 controller for my RAID_0 array).

Haven't run any benchmarks yet, but early results with video editing are outstanding. Now I just need to learn to play a few PC games to give this video card a workout!

COOLER MASTER Storm Sniper http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119194
Intel Core i7 860 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128400
CORSAIR DOMINATOR (2 x 2GB) DDR3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145265
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
3x Seagate Barracuda 500GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339
LG Blu-ray Burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136164
Supertalent AllinOne Card Reader http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609298
Vista Home Premium 64-bit

[The Wise Monkey]

Awesome setup - looks great. :)

One question though - why did you go for the 9800 GTX?

[RickyTick]

Awesome setup - looks great. :)

One question though - why did you go for the 9800 GTX?

I was wondering the same thing.

[chunkylover53]

I'm almost too embarassed to say... almost. It was actually an afterthought. Wanted a basic 9 series card that had OpenGL 2.1 and wouldn't break the bank, and I thought this one was a nice value option. Plus it won't be horrible if I ever get around to using these unopened PC games I have laying around.

Why, am I missing something? Bad card? Not feeling too good about it when it's both of your first reactions. :confused:

[RickyTick]

Not that it's a bad card, it's just an older version. It was rebranded and renamed to the GTS250, and also updated slightly. Also for essentially the same money (or $10-$20 more), you could have gotten a much better card like the GTX260 core 216, or the Radeon HD4870 1gb.

You have unopened games sitting around? :eek: I can give you my mailing address. :D

[chunkylover53]

Uggh. :rolleyes: I knew I should have asked first. Oh well, it will have to do.

They're old games. Not quite floppy disk old, but games I bought a few years ago telling myself it would be a new hobby. Like Half Life 2. I just can't get used to the keyboard, probably because I can't type either!

[The Wise Monkey]

Half Life 2 is a great game if you ever do get around to playing it. :)

The 9800GTX should be fine for playing games from a few years ago and even more modern games - I have a 4850 which is about the same performance and that can play Crysis on high settings on 1680x1050 without any issues.