LOL!
That was my justification.
I wanted a system that wouldn't be totally obsolete in a few years....
new system
- Thread starter Danolo
- Start date
That was my justification.
I wanted a system that wouldn't be totally obsolete in a few years....
Actually, I'm not a big gamer... but I will have some time on my hands this winter, so I thought I'd TRY a few games. And if one of them hooks me, and the video isn't cutting it, then I'll have the system to support a hotter video card...
PLus there's also the fact that I am an addict.... addicted to MORE!
PLus there's also the fact that I am an addict.... addicted to MORE!
Ok, revisiting motherboards...
I was talking today to the chap who is gonna assemble my system and he says, the top three motherboard suppliers, in his experience, are ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI.
He said ASUS has terrible after sales support and Gigabyte is only marginally better. He says that since MSI is right here in Ontario Canada he gives it an edge over the other two.
So, I'm gonna go back and look at the MSI motherboards.
I was talking today to the chap who is gonna assemble my system and he says, the top three motherboard suppliers, in his experience, are ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI.
He said ASUS has terrible after sales support and Gigabyte is only marginally better. He says that since MSI is right here in Ontario Canada he gives it an edge over the other two.
So, I'm gonna go back and look at the MSI motherboards.
i have never had an Asus MB fail on me. I did have a bad experience with MSI though. i tried one once and it failed right out of the box. they refused to replace it saying it was my fault.
needless to say i will never use MSI again. Both Gigabyte and Asus are regularly rated higher by Toms Hardware and Maximum PC.
I would rate Asus as the most reliable of the 3. My MSI 79FX-GD40 is a nice board with great reviews though some of the other cheaper boards are not so well reviewed. If you go MSI really do your homework and be prepared to go top of the line. Preformance wise my 1 try with GIGABYTE was not great but has been a solid trouble free board on a 24 / 7 under utilized, who else uses a PII 940 to seed torrents ........ with a bit of burning tossed in. I am probably gonna sell this system as I just put together a small system from spare parts which is just sitting around now collecting dust..
ASUS is solid.
Sounds like he is just shilling for MSI to steer you there.
I would still go with ASUS based in their rep and past performance.
I've been quite impressed with Asus motherboards purchased for a number of systems. I wouldn't switch to MSI.
On another note: consider a better case. Just finished assembling a system with a Cooler Master Elite case. It is somewhat cramped. It will be especially cramped for a system with an 850 W power supply.
The elite case does not provide sufficient clearance between the hard drives in the hard drive bay, meaning that it is difficult to properly cool them. Also, the power supply cables barely reach the bottom two positions. This takes the case from having 5 usable hard drive bays, down to 2 usable bays.
Purchase a case with the power supply mounted at the bottom, enough access to hide the numerous power supply cables on the back side of the case, and a case with more cooling power. Make sure the case has enough clearance to handle the bigger video cards too. Some 5870 video cards barely fit in some of the cases. The direction in video cards is bigger, both physically and in terms of power consumption.
The Elite case works well if you plan on using on-board video, and up to 2 hard drives. Good for a small machine with minor expansion ideas.
On another note: consider a better case. Just finished assembling a system with a Cooler Master Elite case. It is somewhat cramped. It will be especially cramped for a system with an 850 W power supply.
The elite case does not provide sufficient clearance between the hard drives in the hard drive bay, meaning that it is difficult to properly cool them. Also, the power supply cables barely reach the bottom two positions. This takes the case from having 5 usable hard drive bays, down to 2 usable bays.
Purchase a case with the power supply mounted at the bottom, enough access to hide the numerous power supply cables on the back side of the case, and a case with more cooling power. Make sure the case has enough clearance to handle the bigger video cards too. Some 5870 video cards barely fit in some of the cases. The direction in video cards is bigger, both physically and in terms of power consumption.
The Elite case works well if you plan on using on-board video, and up to 2 hard drives. Good for a small machine with minor expansion ideas.
I'm not gonna have that much crammed into the case... it will be fine...
As for the motherboard, I have switched back to the ASUS motherboard. All you folks suggest it, plus a couple of guys on an independant tech forum as well...
So, my lists are now out for quotes from two dealers close by where I live... we'll see..
Well, I finally made all the decisions and paid a $500 deposit on this system.
Intel Core i7 870 Quad-Core
Asus Motherboard P7P55D-E LX
Coresair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 4GB Kit
GIGABYTE ATI RADEON HD 5770
WESTERN DIGITAL 1 TERABYTE SATA 6GB S BLACK DESKTOP 7200 RPM 64MB CACHE BARE DRIVE
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD
Cooler Master Elite 430 Black ATX Tower Case
CORSAIR TX SERIES 850W ATX PS/2, POWER SUPPLY
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE WINDOWS 7 PRO 64BIT ENGLISH 1PK DSP DVD
Intel SSD 80GB SSDSA2MH080G2R5 9.5MM Intel X25M
Kingston FCR-HS219/1 Media Reader USB
Everyday Low Price:$1529.50
Taxes:$198.84
Total:$1728.34
Promotional Cash Price After Taxes:$1682.45
I'm paying cash, so the actual price of the system will be $1,488.90 plus HST
1 year Parts and Labour.
The next nearest quote was about $200 more!
If you want to know who I'm dealing with, let me know.
Now, I just have to wait... I'm gonna be out of town for 10 days, so I won't get my new system until early October!
Intel Core i7 870 Quad-Core
Asus Motherboard P7P55D-E LX
Coresair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 4GB Kit
GIGABYTE ATI RADEON HD 5770
WESTERN DIGITAL 1 TERABYTE SATA 6GB S BLACK DESKTOP 7200 RPM 64MB CACHE BARE DRIVE
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD
Cooler Master Elite 430 Black ATX Tower Case
CORSAIR TX SERIES 850W ATX PS/2, POWER SUPPLY
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE WINDOWS 7 PRO 64BIT ENGLISH 1PK DSP DVD
Intel SSD 80GB SSDSA2MH080G2R5 9.5MM Intel X25M
Kingston FCR-HS219/1 Media Reader USB
Everyday Low Price:$1529.50
Taxes:$198.84
Total:$1728.34
Promotional Cash Price After Taxes:$1682.45
I'm paying cash, so the actual price of the system will be $1,488.90 plus HST
1 year Parts and Labour.
The next nearest quote was about $200 more!
If you want to know who I'm dealing with, let me know.
Now, I just have to wait... I'm gonna be out of town for 10 days, so I won't get my new system until early October!
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