The new i7 build - pictorial

[Nerve]

If you get the time Boz, I think you should post the full system specs ;)

[SuperKid]

Nice machine, im very interested in the machine and those are nice quality photos you have took there :) Makes my gtx 260 q6600 machine look crap! :p

[_dandy_]

Given that the guy earns a living using his computer, I think he can justify just about any amount of money he wants to spend on it. I have three 24" 1920x1200 monitors hooked up to my main PC. Some people think that's insane, but in terms of productivity gains, they've paid for themselves many times over.

[Ez8]

A superb workstation Boz!

I am beyond impressed, you've inspired me to build one exactly like yours :laugh:

The beauty of your machine is that it's paying your bills so speak, Although I'm a power user my skill set in photoshop is what people would call amateurish, I am however wanting to broaden my drawing skills and learn other apps like Illustrator and Flash for example and get one of those new Cintiq Tablet sketchbooks from Wacom. In my case I'd probably be throwing money away, but I'd love to learn even if it costs a pretty penny.

Congratulations my mang! I hope your new rig provides the best of times for you and your work :)

[svnO.o]

A machine like that is my dream machine. Once I get a job I'll build something like it =)

[mail]

You forgot to post the actual specs? What are they? :p

[Hani]

impressive!!

[iamwhoiam]

Glad to see that you got it finished Boz. I have the same case and it's great.

[i_was_here]

4. I've never taken pictures of my hardware and shown it to anyone unless it was out of their curiousity first. An example would be if heatsink fit on a video card, etc. I surely haven't gone as far as to take pictures of everything in their retail hardware boxes after I got a nice box full of new hardware. I open the boxes, install them and move along. Again, it's about humility.

Thats fine but why did you post to this thread just to say this:

I hate when people brag about things. Pride is one of seven deadly sins you know...

If you don't like when people post pictures of their rigs then don't even open the thread.

[Barney T. Administrators]

I see lots of immaturity here..........

Thread severely cleaned

Neowin Community Rule #5- Personal attacks such as instigating "flame bait", verbal abuse, mocking or sexist remarks of members in posts are not tolerated at Neowin. Such posts will be deleted on sight or moderated accordingly.

As above, if you are a long standing member, act like one. Lead by example and assist other newer members rather than attacking them. Members that reply to posts simply to instigate argument will be dealt with and shown no mercy.

Posting an opinion is one thing, disrespecting other members is quite another. Post maturely or not at all. Any more of this and appropriate warns will be handed out, or some of you may be taking a vacation from here...... :angry:

[Boz]

Thats my only gripe with it too! Also a *little* bit is how the doors (at least the back) doesnt connect anywhere to the case except the front for pivot and back with screws...i suppose i could cable manage better than just letting everything dangle where it wants behind the back wall :p But since i didnt, it bulges a little in the middle >.>

Exactly.. I did however cable manage behind.. but i broke a sweat to flatten the cables enough on the back of the mobo tray so I could close the door and, as you said, the problem is that it doesn't have hinges on the bottom to catch on, like some Lian-Li or CoolerMaster cases, having hinges on the front only is not really a smart thing..

You just have to be very patient and flatten those cables and slowly put the door back in. Then the key is to put the bottom screw from the back, so it holds the door for you and you slowly push the upper parts to put the screw in the top part.

[.Blaze]

Do you give donations?

Nice build! Nice choice for the lights inside the case. Very funky

[iamwhoiam]

Nice build! Nice choice for the lights inside the case. Very funky

It comes that way.

[ScottKin]

/me waits impatiently for the system specs...

Nicely done, Boz! Ignore the "griefers" - all they want is attention they're hardly ever going to get.

--ScottKin

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

/me waits impatiently for the system specs...

Nicely done, Boz! Ignore the "griefers" - all they want is attention they're hardly ever going to get.

--ScottKin

Quoted from another thread:

So I'm building a beast again. this time i7. This time around though, I'm not going make the same mistake and shell out $1000+ for a CPU that will be obsolete in 6-10 months and performance gain is like 5-10%. So I went with i7 940.

Here's what I wanted to ask. i7 platform has a lot of bugs and compatibility issues among manufacturers, so I'm trying to lessen my pain with picking up components that work. So those of you who made the builds and have it rock solid with no problems, please feel free to jump in with advices.

What I'm getting:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115201

• Intel Core i7 940 Nehalem 2.93GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601940 - Retail
  
• ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (I really didn't see the point of Deluxe)
  
• 12gb of ram - 2x OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK - Retail
  
• 2x Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM
  
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb
  
• 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
  
• Antec Nine Hundred Two Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
  
• SILVERSTONE ST1000 1000W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
  
• LG Black LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD?R DVD Burner SATA Model GGC-H20L
  

Should I expect some problems with incompatibilties with the P6T and OCZ or anything here really?

I don't think I should but I'd like to hear from you guys who already built it and probably had a few quirks here and there.

Thanks.

[Boz]

^ yeah..but i changed a few things. I took 1200 case instead of Nine Hundred because it was cramped and I went with multiple Seagate 1TB drives instead of Raptors. I usually always bought Raptors but I never really saw that much an improved performance to justify the premium I was always paying not to mention less storage space.

So with that being said .. this is the final config:

i7 940

Asus P6T (regular not deluxe)

OCZ Ram 12gb (I got 6gb only delivered I should be getting additional 6 tomorrow)

2x 1tb Seagate Baracudas in RAID0

2x Evga GTX 275s

Twelve Hundred Antec case

Antec Quattro 850W PSU

LG Black Blu-ray/HD DVD drive

[+shift. MVC]

Looks nice, though the V8 is an awesome heatsink I think you could have made a better choice there.

Just a bit of critique for an overall amazing system.

[Cube]

so what do you plan on doing on this machine?

Or do you build and resell? (you mentioned it will generate you income lol)

nice rig :)

[i_was_here]

Im curious to ask: whyd you get the i7 940? You could've just gotten the 920 and overclocked (unless you didn't like OCing).

[Boz]

Im curious to ask: whyd you get the i7 940? You could've just gotten the 920 and overclocked (unless you didn't like OCing).

Well I just don't like overclocking to be honest. I mean if you can overclock 920 to good speeds, you can do it easier with 940 no? So it comes down to similar things but I really usually don't overclock cause I have this idea that my computer will last longer and be more stable. I know you can do tests and similar to make sure your machine is stable but I just like knowing it's definitely stock and foolproof. Helps with heat too. These machines are hot as it is, they can heat up the room pretty quickly. Overclocking makes it even hotter.

[Boz]

Okay..so I played around with the system and overclocked it to 3.2ghz. It does get a bit hotter at 100% load, but I'm sure those temps will go few degrees down when thermal paste and CPU break in.

Some specs and apps of benchmarks.

[Inertia]

Thats quite a machine, bet you love it :-)

[Vice]

You should have got the Extreme 120 like I suggested. On my 940 it never goes above 60c even at 3.2GHz running Prime on all 8 threads.

It's the best Air Cooler you can get. You're already hitting 80c on that cooler and these i7's crash at 91c under 100% load according to testing conducted by HardOCP so you don't have a lot of headroom.

[sw1tch..]

Jealous ! :p

[Boz]

You should have got the Extreme 120 like I suggested. On my 940 it never goes above 60c even at 3.2GHz running Prime on all 8 threads.

It's the best Air Cooler you can get. You're already hitting 80c on that cooler and these i7's crash at 91c under 100% load according to testing conducted by HardOCP so you don't have a lot of headroom.

Well I'm sure that Extreme 120 is louder than V8 no? Up to 82C and under is normal for overclocked i7s. It's not recommended that you keep it running 24/7 at those temps but Prime 95 is not really an everyday scenario in any case. My normal temps are like 40-45c now with overclock (they were 35c with no overclock).

Edited May 12, 2009 by Boz