Corei7 or X48 QX? Solved/done

2797 Views 29 Replies 16 Participants Last post by chessmyantidrug, Oct 29, 2008

Stianby

Discussion Starter · Oct 27, 2008

Hear me out pleeez!

I'm gathering a small amount of cash together with a good friend of mine, and we're building a insanely powerful PC for gaming. (we meet every other weekend thrashing each other in several games).
I have recently moved, and I'm building a home cinema/gameroom. With some extra cash from the bankloan to redecorate & such we are considering the following:

Asus P6T w. OC palm
Intel Corei7 940
4870x2 (maybe two of those)
4GB corsair 1333 DDR3 or 6 if the P6T takes three sticks at a time i don't know
2xSS F1 750's same as i have allready in raid 0 setup
Corsair TX750 PSU
Case, well we may want to build it out of a box so to speak. make our own frame of sorts
Haven't seen any good coolers yet for 1366, but as soon as a TRUE that fits comes along we'll probably have that.
Now this will probably set us back a cool 4000$ i think with the prices here in norway at the moment.
The other alternative is a freaky 775 setup. may opt for watercooling if necessary.
We were playing Far Cry 2 last night and we found out that we want to build a 3dmark smashing thing. with our combined resources this should be possible!

I'm overly prepared to go over the top here and i will apreciate any advice to my madness! 775 uber machine or a new 1366 crusher?

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procpuarie

· #2 · Oct 27, 2008

hmmm. i would go 775 core 2 extreme with water cooling because it overclocks to the extremes and plays all games beautifully! core i7 looks like a fail to me (especially in overclocking).

Stianby

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 27, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by procpuarie

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hmmm. i would go 775 core 2 extreme with water cooling because it overclocks to the extremes and plays all games beautifully! core i7 looks like a fail to me (especially in overclocking).

That's basically our standpoint as well. We can if we're lucky get a projector that has a really high res, if we "skimp" out and go 775. It's better to get a known item than entirely new and unknowns....

So we set our eyes on the following setup yesterday:

Asus Rampage Formula X48
Intel Core2quad QX9650 edit: 600 bucks difference between QX9770 and this one. Need to go down a bit, to squeeze the Epson in the budget!
Powercolor Radeon HD4870x2 times two
Corsair Dominator 4GB DDR2 8500
Corsair HX 1000w PSU
2xSS F1 1TB Raid 0
LG Bluray,
Maybe the Antec1200 case
Epson EMP TW1000 full hd projector....

When it comes to watercooling i have never done it, and need guidance. But i'll be diving deep into some threads here to find the ideal setup.
We're hoping for a record breaker here. It will be a sweet setup! Just a few issues left, like who will be the proud owner. My preposition thus far, is that my sigrig goes to firend, and the monster stays with me!

Time will show!

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BizzareRide

· #4 · Oct 27, 2008

I would wait for more benchmarks from the Core i7 before I make a decision, so that you won't be regretting your purchase..Potentially... But you can't go wrong with that rig.

Reactions: 1

Mmansueto

· #5 · Oct 27, 2008

wait....QX9850? I have not seen one for sale. I know they talked about them last year, but nothing materialized......do you mean QX9770?

Reactions: 1

Stianby

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 27, 2008

That's supposed to be QX9650, wrong numpad played me, thanks for noticing, i didn't!

Edit: How do i edit this, can't have it saying QX9850, makes me look like as useful as a one legged man at a a** kicking contest.....

-iceblade^

· #7 · Oct 27, 2008

why not just get a normal Q9650 - it'll probably clock to around the same speeds as a QX9650 but be a lot cheaper

i know you don't seem to have a budget, but why not save money if you can?

Mmansueto

· #8 · Oct 27, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by -iceblade^

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why not just get a normal Q9650 - it'll probably clock to around the same speeds as a QX9650 but be a lot cheaper

i know you don't seem to have a budget, but why not save money if you can?

i have owned a QX9650 and the new Q9650 will overclock higher while maintaining a lower temp due to the new stepping.

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Acoma_Andy

· #9 · Oct 27, 2008

The X also stands for eXtremely overpriced. The Q9650 will overclock just as fine with the right mobo.

Stianby

Discussion Starter · #10 · Oct 28, 2008

Well we are about to place our order, and we're very appreciative for any guidance in this matter!

We seriously want the QX9650, and just the fact that we can proclaim a extreme edition processor means a lot at "the gathering" in norway in april 09.

EDIT: we do have a budget, seeing as we want a projector in this package, we need a thorough calculation !

Stianby

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 28, 2008

Well the Q9650 is around half the price of a QX here in norway....... but we are currently within our budget, and i think we will go for the QX edition . . . We have all the components we need .. . we're taking the coolermaster stacker for our case, we don't want to start messing with a "open" setup. It's not very mobile for one, and it probably won't look clean in my "hobby" room!

Lukeatluke

· #12 · Oct 28, 2008

I would go wih x48 thing because i7 is more like station thing and i hope games will utilize 4 cores soon, not even twice more.
One more thing, hings which comes in all there glory out to the market are never as good as 2months later, so i would not buy an i7 when it's fresh on the market.
And once again, why 8 cores?

I would go with 4870x2 and quad core, it will be inave for next year, maybe 2.
It's nearly 2 years since games support 2 cores.Damn and quads in games.

Starbuck5000

· #13 · Oct 28, 2008

I would wait until core i7 comes out, the indication/romours is that a Core i7 EE will cost about the same as either a QX9770 and a QX9650, in which case I'd get the Core i7.

For everyday performance a QX will not really offer much more performance than you Q6600, in benches and overclocking it will. The same can be said for thje Core i7 EE however it will bench better so go for that.

Plus new tech is allways fun

SickStew

· #14 · Oct 28, 2008

OK OK

Why spend Â£$Â£$Â£$Â£$Â£ on a QX you are silly

QX is good if you have phase or LN2 but for air or water just get a Q you'll be able to achieve lower temps and maintain a good overclock don't worry about your e-penis.

plus that extra Â£$Â£Â£$Â£$ can be spent buy other great parts

Stianby

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 28, 2008

Well, i have compared prices with newegg, and as it turns out, i'll save close to
1000$ compared to norwegian prices!
So 3,180,65$ is the final price, without the projector & watercooling setup.
The question is, if we want to go WC, or just have a TRUE, with a pair of silent fans.
The OC potential is greater with WC, and that's what we want??

Parts List:

Asus Rampage Extreme

Corsair XMS3 DHX 4GB DDR3 1600

Corsair HX1000W

Intel Core2Quad Q9650

Sapphire Radeon HD4870x2 X2

WD Caviar Black 1TBx2

Coolermaster Cosmos S RC-1100

Logitech MX5500 cordless setup

++ WC setup, got a mate here in OCN that lives in Oslo, somewhat of a WC expert, he'll be my consultant!

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NrGx

· #16 · Oct 28, 2008

Go for a Q9650 if you want but it depends on what this computer is for. I'd say the HD4870x2 is not a good option to crossfire. If you want better performance, go for the GTX260 in Tri-SLI or something. But one HD4870x2 can max out any game at 1920x1200.

Stianby

Discussion Starter · #17 · Oct 28, 2008

I've been a ATI man since ever, and i want to continue in that fashion . . . .
We want to rule at any given sunday, and with two x2 cards i feel we can!
I'll need to upgrade my electricity wiring in my house, but what the hell!

Mygaffer

· #18 · Oct 28, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by procpuarie

View Post

hmmm. i would go 775 core 2 extreme with water cooling because it overclocks to the extremes and plays all games beautifully! core i7 looks like a fail to me (especially in overclocking).

How in the hell does Core i7 seem like fail to you? The truth is, we don't what overclocking will be like on the Core i7, DIMM voltages and what not be damned. A lot motherboard manufacturers have said there are ways around this. Also, since my computer shop is an Intel Channel member my boss sent me to the ICC and there I saw some performance demos, granted it was a controlled environment but the performance was really really good.
Also, with the new integrated memory controller even the cheapest Core i7 sku will have memory bandwidth that in a WORST CASE SCENARIO will perform like a current FSB architecture at 1600Mhz.

They have a version of Hyper Threading that actually boosts performance this time, in some apps there is no boost but in certain other apps there are HUGE gains from the extra efficiency introduced with Hyper Threading.

I'd say if you want to go 775 then at least wait until Core i7 has been in the channel for a couple months and buy Q1 of '09. That way you'll get be able to pick up some discounted sku's/bundles.

My 2 cents.

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Stianby

Discussion Starter · #19 · Oct 28, 2008

Good point!

Always a good idea to get the size measured on the new generation processors . . .

Sidenote: when intel announced two and four core architectures AMD was crowned king because of the complexity of multicore CPU's, new motherboard designs etc....... well we all know how that turned out

Let's see how the corei7 performs in real life tests, and i'm sure the likes of asus, gigabyte etc... will come up with ways to circumnavigate any oc obstacles!

Wahkee

· #20 · Oct 29, 2008

DONOT get the QX9650. A regular Q9650 is half the price and clocks higher! why would you go with the extreme edition knowing this info?

Even the Q9650 runs cooler, so unless your going watercooling, you wont be getting anything higher than 4.2ghz with the QX(4.2 if your lucky!), whereas the Q9650 is guaranteed 4.3 (no matter what because of the E0 stepping)

IMO, not a very smart buy and the saved money going with the Q9650 would be better spent on something else...

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