A different new guy, building his first PC. (could use advice!)

[x88x]

/\ This. Though, the trend recently has been to either support both or neither. Since it's entirely a firmware issue now (iirc) to support SLI and CrossFire, as long as their board can do 2x8 or 2x16, manufacturers will generally support both now. As for the MBB, it's a god solid board; I wouldn't say it's overkill.

[SchaibleTech]

okie doke. i will prob. go with that one then. i've never heard of this brand before so i figured i try and go with the underdog. i like the look of it better too. all the other boards under that brand got some great reviews as well. living life on the edge!

[x88x]

Yeah, Biostar isn't a big name but they make pretty good stuff. Kind of like Foxconn, they're a manufacturer that sells a lot of stuff to other companies but also sells stuff to consumers, so they're able to offer good stuff cheaper.

[SchaibleTech]

word up.

i picked myself some PSU sleeving kits, thumb screws, fan controller, and im in the process of finding a Cooler Master Musketeer 2, bud damn they are hard to find. and there is only 1 on ebay.

should be ordering the parts this thursday! i can wait. should have a work log up soon



edit: im going into Graphic design, and i pretty much use every program in Adobe Master Sweet. isnt the i7 supposed to be more built for these kind of programs?

[SchaibleTech]

one question...

so the core i7-920 is on sale at micro center for 200.

should i just go for the i7 because its the same price? or am i going to have to upgrade all the other parts i have picked out?

i know that im going to have to get another motherboard, and i picked out a gigabyte one. its like $209, but im saving almost 90 dollars on the CPU if i go with the i7 at mirco center.

here is the board i picked out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128423

trying not to go too cheap, but still spend an average amount.
to save some money i just downgraded my HDD, because that samsung f3 was supposed to be in stock yesterday, and now they delayed it another week, and i need to order my parts my tomorrow, im not waiting for the HDD. i've been without a computer for too long.

what do you think? i've been reading that its better to stick with the i5 for right now, but i dont really understand why.

[x88x]

I would definitely go with the 920 instead. The biggest difference is not between i5/i7 chips, but between the s1156 and s1366 chips. The s1156 chips only support dual-channel communication with DDR3, but s1366 chips support triple-channel. This will give you a sizable performance boost if you get triple-channel capable RAM (should be all DDR3, but get a 3-stick set to be sure). Because of that, you want to get RAM in multiples of 3 instead of multiples of 2 (which you wanted in dual-channel).

The i7-920 is actually supposed to be almost $300, I think, but when Intel jacked the price on it, Micro Center basically told them to go take a hike. I think they just bought a lot of the chips before the price jump, so now they have it for almost $100 less than anyone else.

EDIT:
Forgot to mention; yes, that's a good MBB you have picked out for s1366.

[SchaibleTech]

awesome. thanks a lot man, you have been a great help.