The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

If you looked up what I posted in IPA, that is exactly what you said
You can never be entirely sure everyone pronounces anything the same way, so I decided to use IPA to be sure.
I would pronounce A Zeus, as in a singular king of the gods, in the same way as Asus.

While you do have to get an i7 for hyper-threading, you don't have to buy an LGA1366 chip to do it.
The i7 860 fits the bill quite well for an extra $75.
The i7 860 beats the 6-core X6 1055T by 34% in Photoshop CS5, 1% in x264 encoding and 6% in Adobe Premiere.
It's faster than the 1090T in 3DSMax by 9%, and 2% above the 1055T in Cinebench's multi-threaded test.
In POV-Ray, the i7 860 surpasses the 1055T by 7%.

Right now, using the 890XA-UD3 board you posted for $148.49, the X6 1055T CPU for $179.00 and the XMS3 RAM for $53.99 [ignoring the $10 rebate] comes to $381.48
Using the i7 860 for $279.99, the P55A-UD3 board for $142.98 and the same XMS3 RAM at $53.99, comes to $476.96.

As you see, this is quite a substantial rise. In the less well-threaded applications it's more than worth it. For the applications that are truly multi-threaded, however, the benefits of the 6-core AMD really shine through. They use an enormous amount of power, but they're very cheap and very powerful.
The software issue is what I stress to people. Given your level of research into the right software, I'm sure you will be using properly multi-threaded applications.
The problem is, most people who think they need 6-core CPUs do not, and the extra cores are wasted.

 

Sam,
OK, I'll bite. What's IPA?

I cheated, I asked Asus! LOL!!

I don't want a locked multiplier 2.8gHz 1055T, I want the 3.2GHz 1090T. The 1055T is a 1090T that failed testing as a 1090T, set to run at 2.8GHz with the multiplier locked. I have a much better chance at 4.0GHz with the 1090T. The 1090T also runs CCE with all 6 cores. It's going to drop that 27 minute average time for DVD Rebuilder/CCE a fair amount. Between DVDRB/CCE and Auto-Cad, it's going to save me a lot of time and money. By money I mean my effective hourly rate, The More time it takes, the less chance I have to start a new project every 5 weeks.

My contracts are for a set fee+ additional costs, and generally take me 4 to 5 weeks. Plus I get to charge extra for any of engineering's screw-ups and design flaws like wrong alloy compositions. The whole trick it to try and make the Impellers strong enough to stay together at 450,000 RPM, while keeping the heaviest mass as close to the center line as possible. I have to program all the specifications for the Metallurgy into the computer and then simulate testing on it until it theoretically breaks. Then I have to analyze why it broke, and fax a report to Orange! It all boils down to the amount of time I spend. Generally I give myself about a month to get it done, and the design and Metallurgy I decide on, goes into prototype for real world testing. When something does break I analyze the problem by sort of rewinding the stored data and go forward frame by frame so I can see where the break occurred. I don't have to babysit it either as it has an alarm that goes off for about 30 seconds, the minute it breaks. I start at 350,000 RPM and work it up +25,000 RPM for each test until I get to 450,000 RPM. After that I take it up +10,000 RPM at a time until I get to 500,000 RPM and it has to stay together for 30 minutes at that speed. It's fascinating to watch, especially when one throws a blade! LOL!! There's obviously a lot more to it than this "Reader's Digest" version I'm giving here, but hey, it's a living! LOL!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

International phonetic alphabet.
I'm well aware you're after the 1090T, but it is $50 more, or 28%, for 14% for extra performance. Not terrible, but makes a mockery of the earlier discussion that you wouldn't pay more for extra performance.
Spending more for increased overclocking doesn't count either, as going Intel is the exact same

 

you think the 1090t is only 14% more performance then 955? How does that compute? Also, I've seen people overclocking 1090t to 4ghz. That's beyond my 965. And since x264/cce can utilize multi core processors fully, I see a worthwhile upgrade for amd rigs, as well as more than 14% performance boost. MUCH more Depending on the software of course...

I do a lot of video encoding. So it's pretty easy to see the benefit here. I imagine GTA IV will benefit from the 1090t as well xD

I thought this is kind of interesting. I mean no ill will or fanboyism. I'm simply passing on interesting tidbits. It was in my last newegg order.

 

No, 14% more than the 1055.

 

LOL! Guess I should have read Russ's post

 

Thanks for your interest and comments. Russ I can't appreciate your thought yet the world doesn't work that way. If it did all we would need is chocolate & vanilla ice cream.

Pardon my delay in responding but 3 week old MS ergo 4000 keyboard decided to fail last night. That's the 4th one which has failed. I'm addicted to using them so I'll give another go. Just wish MS would redesign the flaky PCB.

Initially I was considering an I7 875K and GA-P55A-UD3 for my next system. Doing some research on ANANDTECH their article on upcoming Sandy Bridge processors recommended a new build at this time would be ill advised.

"Intel confirmed that Sandy Bridge has dedicated video transcode hardware that it demoed during the keynote. The demo used Cyberlink’s Media Espresso to convert a ~1 minute long 30Mbps 1080p HD video clip to an iPhone compatible format. On Sandy Bridge the conversion finished in a matter of a few seconds (< 10 seconds by my watch)."

Also in ANANDTECH 2010 System Builder's Guide:

"All that said, we do need to take a moment to name drop: Sandy Bridge. Our early testing shows it to be around 25% faster than the currently shipping parts, especially Lynnfield and Clarkdale. It will have better multi-threaded and single-threaded performance, and while idle power may not change much the load power consumption should drop quite a bit. Anand measured 121W for the entire system under load with an i5 2400 (3.1GHz), and that's 8% less power while being 23% faster than the i5-760 it replaces. If that pattern holds up, we're looking at overall performance per watt going up by almost 35%. To make matters worse, Sandy Bridge will also usher in a new socket, chipset, and motherboards: goodbye 1156, hello 1155! If you're looking to get the best performance from the most efficient architecture and you don't want your motherboard outdated next month, it will likely be worth waiting for."

"Evaluating the video transcode graphs it appears you may expect performance gains below I7-980 yet about current I7 series. Additionally the memory bandwidth is doubled to 5 GTS."

Given this memory bandwidth it seems logical to use a HSDL SSD to support increased system throughput and a fast mechanical RAID-0 to offload HSDL data. Essentially the WD black drive RAID would be a high speed buffer before transfer to the WD green drives for permanent storage. Recall that we are discussing multiple GB size files.

Since gaming is not an issue an ATI 5 or Nvidia 4 series single card GPU out to suffice at HDTV 1080 resolution. Also a 27-30" monitor should help my hi-mileage eyes. Wading through ALD's, tabular logic, and schematics over the years definitively didn't improve my vision.

In no way I'm knocking AMD, it's just they seem to have allowed Intel to completely dominate the hi-end PC market. Whether this is good or bad is not in discussion. I drive a Hyundai Azera whereas my son an Aston Martin DBS. Both will tote me around but there is a huge speed difference and 'extreme' price too.

My goal is to minimize CPU bottlenecks by sufficient RAM and drive I/O. It's my understanding that HSDL is the fastest way to accomplish that. If anyone knows otherwise speak up, please.

Looking at Intel's processor roadmap, it appears that the 980 CPU will be superseded by a 990 at the same price. Whether Intel will restructure prices is questionable since the I7 975 is still at a $1000 price. Once a CPU is labeled 'extreme' it seems Intel feels price is whatever the market will bear(ly). Ed

 

Thanks for your interest and comments.

Pardon my delay in responding but 3 week old MS ergo 4000 keyboard decided to fail last night. That's the 4th one which has failed. I'm addicted to using them so I'll give another go. Just wish MS would redesign the flaky PCB.

Initially I was considering an I7 875K and GA-P55A-UD3 for my next system. Doing some research on ANANDTECH their article on upcoming Sandy Bridge processors recommended a new build at this time would be ill advised.

"Intel confirmed that Sandy Bridge has dedicated video transcode hardware that it demoed during the keynote. The demo used Cyberlink’s Media Espresso to convert a ~1 minute long 30Mbps 1080p HD video clip to an iPhone compatible format. On Sandy Bridge the conversion finished in a matter of a few seconds (< 10 seconds by my watch)."

Also in ANANDTECH 2010 System Builder's Guide:

"All that said, we do need to take a moment to name drop: Sandy Bridge. Our early testing shows it to be around 25% faster than the currently shipping parts, especially Lynnfield and Clarkdale. It will have better multi-threaded and single-threaded performance, and while idle power may not change much the load power consumption should drop quite a bit. Anand measured 121W for the entire system under load with an i5 2400 (3.1GHz), and that's 8% less power while being 23% faster than the i5-760 it replaces. If that pattern holds up, we're looking at overall performance per watt going up by almost 35%. To make matters worse, Sandy Bridge will also usher in a new socket, chipset, and motherboards: goodbye 1156, hello 1155! If you're looking to get the best performance from the most efficient architecture and you don't want your motherboard outdated next month, it will likely be worth waiting for."

"Evaluating the video transcode graphs it appears you may expect performance gains below I7-980 yet about current I7 series. Additionally the memory bandwidth is doubled to 5 GTS."

Given this memory bandwidth it seems logical to use a HSDL SSD to support increased system throughput and a fast mechanical RAID-0 to offload HSDL data. Essentially the WD black drive RAID would be a high speed buffer before transfer to the WD green drives for permanent storage. Recall that we are discussing multiple GB size files.

Since gaming is not an issue an ATI 5 or Nvidia 4 series single card GPU out to suffice at HDTV 1080 resolution. Also a 27-30" monitor should help my hi-mileage eyes. Wading through ALD's, tabular logic, and schematics over the years definitively didn't improve my vision.

In no way I'm knocking AMD, it's just they seem to have allowed Intel to completely dominate the hi-end PC market. Whether this is good or bad is not in discussion. I drive a Hyundai Azera whereas my son an Aston Martin DBS. Both will tote me around but there is a huge speed difference and 'extreme' price too.

My goal is to minimize CPU bottlenecks by sufficient RAM and drive I/O. It's my understanding that HSDL is the fastest way to accomplish that. If anyone knows otherwise speak up, please.

Looking at Intel's processor roadmap, it appears that the 980 CPU will be superseded by a 990 at the same price. Whether Intel will restructure prices is questionable since the I7 975 is still at a $1000 price. Once a CPU is labeled 'extreme' it seems Intel feels price is whatever the market will bear(ly). Ed

 

Sorry WD20EURS green drive.

 

Well, it's the Holiday season again, with a new Decade fast approaching. This will be my 8th Decade on this Planet. Frankly I'm tired of not being able to express what I feel in my heart because it's Politically Incorrect. I'm not trying to foster my views or beliefs on anyone, nor am I criticizing other people's beliefs, I simply want to wish everyone here a very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year. Please accept it in the Spirit that is intended.

 

And a very Merry Christmas to you as well from one old man to another, didn't even have to click on little Jackie, already have all her cd's. Have a goodie Russie Ronnie.

 

Also Russ Have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year...

 

Merry Christmas to you Russ. But, do you really mean "9 decades on this planet"? Would that not make you about 90 years old, or am I missing something?

 

have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to russ

 

Typo, it's my 8th Decade coming up! 40s,50s,60s,70s,80s,90,00,10! Yup 8th Decade coming up!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year,

 

If you turn 80, technically you're starting your 9th decade

A new born baby is beginning their first decade. 10yrs old marks the ending of the first decade, and the start of the second. Another example is our current calendar year. It's 2010, and yet we are living in the 21st century

Hope all is well with everyone. I wish everyone a merry christmas and a happy new year.

 

Oman7,
I was born in 44, so I'll be starting my 8th Decade. Hope you liked the music, it's her best performance to date! The girl keeps getting better and better! Simply amazing talent! It's still hard to believe that such beautiful voice is coming out of a tiny 62 Lb, 10 year old girl!

Best Wishes,
Russ

 

A merry christmas and a happy new decade to you too Russ, here's to another decade!

eskoog: To be honest, I'm not really that impressed with the idea of the Caviar Green AV drives, I think you may as well just get a normal WD20EARS.