[joewitafro]

Please give your advice and let me know why you choose your opinion. It would be most appreciated. Resolution = 1920x1080, games = BF:badcompany2, MW:2, H.A.W.X. Whatever else badass games come out.

And yes, i know I listed the i7-860 for $129.99, that is the price I am getting it for from intel retail edge

At the moment I am debating whether to spend the extra $130 and get a HD5850 so in a year or two I can do crossfireX HD5850, or whether a single hd5770 will suffice until I go crossfireX 5770... Gah! lol, i AM on a budget. Broke college student.

Quote:

1 GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Model #:GA-P55-UD4P Item #:N82E16813128400 $169.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128400 1 Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860 - Retail Model #:BX80605I7860 Item #:N82E16819115214 $129.99 1 CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail Model #:CMPSU-850TX Item #:N82E16817139009 $139.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139009 1 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH - Retail Model #:F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH Item #:N82E16820231276 $99.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231276 1 Sony Optiarc DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model AD-7241S-0B LightScribe Support - OEM Model #:AD-7241S-0B Item #:N82E16827118032 $33.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118032 1 Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Model #:ST3500418AS Item #:N82E16822148395 $49.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148395 1 ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail Model #:MX-2R Item #:N82E16835186020 $7.98 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186020 1 XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail Model #:HDT-S1283 Item #:N82E16835233003 $39.91 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233003 1 XIGMATEK ACK-I5361 Intel Core i7/Core i5 compatible Bracket Set - Retail Model #:ACK-I5361 Item #:N82E16835233038 $7.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233038 1 SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail Model #:100283L Item #:N82E16814102858 $179.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102858 Subtotal: $859.81 after mail in rebates: $829.81

as far as the case goes, I already purchased a Lian Li PC-K62.

Btw, ive sat here the last 45 minutes looking at benchmarks between 8 games at 1920x1080 on max settings between the hd5850 and the hd5770 and recorded the fps between the two to find out the percentage increase in terms of performance, and then did the same with the 3Dmark vantage score and averaged out the 9 percentages. The HD5850 has a 40.4% increase in performance over the HD5770, though.. it also has a 72% price increase. You can weigh your options on if the price increase is worth 40% more performance or not.. I think I might go for it though.

 

[decimator]

Try and get a Gigabyte P55A mobo instead. It won't have the socket burn problems that a lot of the inital P55 boards had.

 

[joewitafro]

what is socket burn?

 

[dham]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joewitafro what is socket burn?

It's when a total of 4 people on xtremesystems saw their cpu burnt after pushing their to 5+ghz with 1.6+ volts.

 

[Chilly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dham It's when a total of 4 people on xtremesystems saw their cpu burnt after pushing their to 5+ghz with 1.6+ volts.

It "mainly" happens when you are extreme overclocking.

 

[the_milk_man]

WHOA!!!! that ram is terrible for the price and speed.

Get this:

Newegg - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1866Mhz ram - $94.99+ Free Shipping

It's $5 cheaper and 533Mhz faster!!!

Lol, I end up recommending this exact set of ram ALL the time bc people only look for either 1333, 1600 or 2000Mhz ram, but nothing in between. This ram is also known to OC to 2000Mhz+.

 

[joewitafro]

LOL, you know... I've gone through 3 different sets of ripjaw g.skill memorys on my list, each week they have something better and cheaper!

 

[decimator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dham It's when a total of 4 people on xtremesystems saw their cpu burnt after pushing their to 5+ghz with 1.6+ volts.

You're acting like it's 100% certain that this won't have implications on the regular, non-extreme OC'ing user over the long term. Since LGA1156 is so new, nobody really knows for certain whether this affects only extreme users or everyone with a Foxconn socket. Maybe the high vcore and the high clock frequencies are simply accelerating the process. Personally, I'd rather spend the extra money and ensure the longevity of my components rather than take a chance and save a handful of dollars now but potentially have to spend buttloads more in the future when my hardware goes to hell, but hey, that's just me...

 

[joewitafro]

Can you explain more? What would your choice be then if you were in my case? Stay with the the mobo i had, or go with the a version for $20 more? Or another motherboard in the same price range?

 

[decimator]

http://www.overclock.net/hardware-ne...heck-your.html

Even though it says extreme overclockers only, there's a good chance it affects more people than that. As Starbuck5000 puts it:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starbuck5000 If you actually read what people are saying and do the maths this can still happen to people who are not benching but actually only running their pc 24/7

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starbuck5000 Some of the socket burn was taking place at less than 200w being fed to the CPU. It seems to be a combination, of Intel not having enough pins for P55 and the fragile sockets not being able to cope with it.

As for what board I would recommend, any of Gigabyte's P55A mobos are revisions and don't have a Foxconn socket. It seems like the P55A-UD3 falls into your price range.

 

[joewitafro]

which motherboard can I buy that has the Tyco AMP / LOTES 1156 Socket then??

 

[decimator]

Just edited my previous post, but since you didn't see it, I'll post it again. Check out the P55A-UD3. Seems to fall in your price range.

 

[pcnuttie]

How the heck are you getting a i7 for 129 BUCKS?! I want!

 

[joewitafro]

I have a very good friend who works for a retail store that sells Intel products. He is apart of the intel retail ridge program and this is one of the deals that is available this month.

He also said i could get a i5-750 for $99.99.

 

[lob3s]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joewitafro I have a very good friend who works for a retail store that sells Intel products. He is apart of the intel retail ridge program and this is one of the deals that is available this month. He also said i could get a i5-750 for $99.99.

Thats the intel retail edge thing. My friend works at geeksquad and he gets the promotion as well. He is gonna hook me up with an i5 for the next build

 

[joewitafro]

I like the HT and bump in clock speed for $30.

 

[iandh]

The "A series" gigabyte boards still have FOXCONN sockets, only the brackets are LOTES. I've seen this first hand twice already, and online.

IMO it isn't worth worrying about. FYI, socket-burn has also been seen on a board with LOTES bracket.

 

[decimator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iandh The "A series" gigabyte boards still have foxconn sockets, only the brackets are lotes. I've seen this first hand twice already, and online.

They're probably revised Foxconn sockets, though. I doubt Gigabyte would knowingly release mobos with faulty sockets after some light has been shed on the issue.

And yeah, I saw that socket burn occurred on the LOTES socket as well. IMO, LGA1156 is borked, but if you must go P55, then take your chances with a Gigabyte P55A board or an EVGA board.

 

[lob3s]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joewitafro I like the HT and bump in clock speed for $30.

I've heard that i7 860's take a whole lotta voltage to get to OC

 

[iandh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by decimate They're probably revised Foxconn sockets, though. I doubt Gigabyte would knowingly release mobos with faulty sockets after some light has been shed on the issue.

From what I've heard (I have a contact at intel, they are aware of the issue but won't comment), it only had to do with improper/uneven clamping pressure, there never was a problem with the socket (that is what is claimed). That is why the LOTES clamps seemed to make the issue go away, people just assumed it was the socket design when it was in fact the clamp's fault.

If you've ever used both (I have), the LOTES clamps are a bit more precise than the FOXCONN clamps. The FOXCONN clamps also have a tendency to sit to one side unless you hold them in place when clamping them, and I personally believe this is the cause of the burnouts.

The 1156 platform in general isn't made for extreme OC, so ANY socket/clamp set running over 4Ghz is a risk IMO, there aren't enough power pins to support the current load.

I also agree that 1156 is a big-ass screwup, you know FOR A FACT if this happened to AMD, intel fanboys would be having a freaking field day with it... yet for some reason this is staying surprisingly quiet.

I personally don't care because I can afford to replace the parts if something happens, and purchased the rig because of 1156's insanely good power management. I'm not interested in high clocks.