Legit Reviews

I am about 4 weeks away from having enough money to build a new pc. I am now set on getting an i7, but I am looking at only having $1600 for the computer, as I need to buy a new 27" monitor to replace the HannsG POS that just died on me a whole 6 months after the warranty expired!

I have been pricing out Intel Mobo/Proc/Ram setups on NewEgg a lot.

For the 1156 socket, you get a 875k, $330, a p55 based mobo for about $150 (new one with usb 3.0/sata 6.0), but then you hit the problem spot, Memory.

I have 4gb in the PC I have now and I like to increase the amount of ram I have every new build. Ive gone from a P4 2.0ghz with 512, to a Athlon64 3800+ with 1g, to a Athlon 64x2 5000+ with 2gb, and right now a Phenom X4 with 4gb. The problem is the 4gb ram modules are just too expensive. Looking at ~$360 for 8gb, 4gb x2.

Yet if you go the X58 route, you spend $290 for a 930, $190 for an Asrock X58 or $210 for a Gigabyte; but then you can get 3 matching 2gb sticks for only ~ $160.

$160 for 6gb of DDR3 1600 vs $360 for 8gb of DDR3 1600, with proper channel usage; it's like APPLE PRICING!

But the 875K is a better CPU, (unlocked multiplier, 95watt vs 130, higher base frequency).

So the question then becomes do I run an 1156 setup with 3x2gb ram sticks and just not take advantage of the dual channel setup but have a better cpu; or do I run x58 properly utilizing the trichannel setup, but get a worse CPU.

I am leaning towards the X58 setup, but maybe I am placing too much value on having matching ram sticks of the proper number.

why not get 2x 2x2GB, 8GB dual channel, $200-220

The 875k isn't necessarily a better processor, its just a bit faster out of the box. I would really like to see a clock to clock comparison of the 930 and the 875k. If you plan on overclocking I would probably go the X58 route, mainly because you are able to take advantage of the triple channel memory. If you aren't planning on oc'ing at all it's kind of a toss up. With the 875k you have to either run 4 or 8Gb to take advantage of the dual channel. with the 930, you can run 6Gb in triple channel which is significantly faster. Hope that makes sense. Plus if you live anywhere a microcenter, you can get the 930 for 199 in store:lol:

skier wrote:why not get 2x 2x2GB, 8GB dual channel, $200-220

+1. You don't really need to get 2x4GB modules. Just find a motherboard with at least 4 RAM slots.

XstollieX wrote:The 875k isn't necessarily a better processor, its just a bit faster out of the box. I would really like to see a clock to clock comparison of the 930 and the 875k. If you plan on overclocking I would probably go the X58 route, mainly because you are able to take advantage of the triple channel memory. If you aren't planning on oc'ing at all it's kind of a toss up. With the 875k you have to either run 4 or 8Gb to take advantage of the dual channel. with the 930, you can run 6Gb in triple channel which is significantly faster. Hope that makes sense. Plus if you live anywhere a microcenter, you can get the 930 for 199 in store:lol:

Clock for clock, the i7-930 wins some, but most of the time, they perform the same.

skier wrote:why not get 2x 2x2GB, 8GB dual channel, $200-220

If you use all 4 slots you do not take a performance hit over using just 2?

I always thought that with a dual channel setup you get a faster setup using 2 sticks of say 4gb, then 4 sticks of 2gb, and thats how the whole dual or tri channel thing works.

hnzw_rui wrote:

XstollieX wrote:The 875k isn't necessarily a better processor, its just a bit faster out of the box. I would really like to see a clock to clock comparison of the 930 and the 875k. If you plan on overclocking I would probably go the X58 route, mainly because you are able to take advantage of the triple channel memory. If you aren't planning on oc'ing at all it's kind of a toss up. With the 875k you have to either run 4 or 8Gb to take advantage of the dual channel. with the 930, you can run 6Gb in triple channel which is significantly faster. Hope that makes sense. Plus if you live anywhere a microcenter, you can get the 930 for 199 in store:lol:

Clock for clock, the i7-930 wins some, but most of the time, they perform the same.

Thats what I was figuring, but I haven't seen them set up clock to clock like that

with Intel P67/H67 chipsets and LGA 1155 coming at the end of the year I don't know if I'd suggest the LGA1156 to any enthusiast right now. I'd more than likely go 1366 as boards like the ASRock Extreme 3 can be had open box for just $160 from Newegg and come with USB 3 SATA III 6Gbps... Hard to beat that... You can use a dual-channel memory kit on the X58 platform also with no issues... It seems like a better long term value so far. A $199 Core i7 930 from MicroCenter isn't bad either.

Why is Micro Center selling 930's for $199, **** that is a good deal and its in stock locally too. I just need it to hold that price till payday in a week!

Sttm wrote:Why is Micro Center selling 930's for $199, **** that is a good deal and its in stock locally too. I just need it to hold that price till payday in a week!

So they can get you inside the store and sell you the motherboard, GPU, etc for a healthier profit. Don't sweat the price of the i7-930. I think it's staying there for a while.