Computer Specs

[stevesideas]

At the moment, no you cant get a dual board for the i7's.

[glorybound]

Computer specs

OK. I am ready to plug on a machine. Simply:

Quad i7 - which one?
12 Gb of DDS3

What is the best video card for the money?

[MoonDoggie]

If you can afford the extreme processor i7 then do it absolutely. It's about $500 more than the next one down and would be worth it to speed up every render you do on the machine.

[glorybound]

Specs

How about the graphic card? Dual 512 ?

[beestee]

SLI video only works on a single monitor as far as I know. You are probably better off going with a single upper tier DX10 gaming card for the best price/performance/versatility combination.

Photoshop makes good use of your video card since CS4, so don't go below 1GB if you use CS4 or plan on upgrading. Autodesk has been working on the DX support pretty heavily in Max with the last two iterations, so expect some performance/stability advances there also to make use of whatever video RAM is available on the card you choose.

[glorybound]

Video Card

How about the Radeon HD 4870X2 PCI Express, 2GB?

[beestee]

I personally prefer Nvidia because I have had bad experience with every ATI card I have ever used. However, all of this was before AMD merged with ATI, and I have seen some good reviews of ATI's newer hardware.

My best advice would be to visit a few computer parts retailers(such as newegg), look up the cards you are interested in, and check out the customer reviews. Keep in mind that 50% of people will not review a product unless it has fared badly, so you are better off avoiding the worst reviews and looking at the ones that give a mediocre score. If the overall score from all reviews is really low, you would probably want to avoid that card.

[simmsimaging]

Just a quick note to prospective buyers:

I'm finding the i7 920's are running pretty hot, but it does depend a bit on which software you check with.

Idling along they are around 40-45 degrees, but rendering they are up at 75-85 as measured by Coretemp.exe


If I check with RealTemp then it's about 10 degrees lower across the board. From what I googled I think RealTemp is more accurate, but I still find they are too hot. I'm looking into other cooling options now.

This is just stock chips and cooling btw - no overclocking (not sure if they can be?) and an Antec case with a couple of basic fans.

b

[TRGraphics]

People are clocking these at and 3.8 very stable from what I have read around the net. Not bad for a $300.00 chip!

[simmsimaging]

Not bad at all! I may go there eventually, but right now I just need them functional, I can live with 'normal' speed.

b

[re:FORM]

Any suggestions for a cheap place to build an i7 in the UK?
I'm looking at speccing

i7 920
2 x GSkill 6GB 1333Mhz
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R
ATI 4850 1024Mb
Antec case with 550W psu
vista ultimate 64
HD + DVD drive

for under £1300

[MoonDoggie]

550W Power supply? No no no, too low for the power needs of your combined mobo+cpu and video card. min 750w... Most video cards now days require 2 sustained 12amp lines to the card, a 550w just won't have enough juice after powering the cpu. I know it sucks, but make sure you get a good quality power supply to provide your rig with enough sustained power to do the work you need done.

edit: check the power demands of the video card to make sure.

[re:FORM]

heh, fair enough, I thought even with serious components, alot of the time you rarely approach full load on most PSU's. CAD2 spec a similar workstation with just 670W.

Just trying to keep the costs down!

[MoonDoggie]

Totally understandable, you might be able to get away with 550w, but it would be near the upper limit. Keep this is mind and be sure to check the power requirements on the video card Good luck and that's a great price!

[beestee]

I am planning on powering mine with this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703005

610W continuous
670W peak

single rail

It is a pretty good deal right now.