New PC for windows 7, but where can a Canuck get a deal?

[grinvader]

gill

blurb

giles

warning: texan giles has +5 in axe to the face over british giles

[Gil_Hamilton]

the 30 pin simms where 16 bit, as gill said you need pairs for the 32 bit memory bus for the 386/486's. according to wikipedia, they provided 9bits of data, or 8 later in the article.

Yeah, I shoulda known better than to take that one at face-value.
Pretty sure the 9 is for a parity bit.
But since they're 16-bit devices... moot point.

To be honest, all I really remember firsthand of SIMMs at this point is that they had to be paired. Fuck if I remember which sizes and processors required pairing.

gill

blurb

giles

warning: texan giles has +5 in axe to the face over british giles

Indeed.
And Gil has a telekinetic arm and he can RIP YOUR FACE OFF THROUGH THE TELEVISION!

[Deathlike2]

and all the above were fucking PICKY about who they paired up with.

Yes, I know that from experience. Generic memory was massive fail as the comp would never be able to detect the full capacity until I got a decent brand (though, I forget which, but it was not generic).

[darkbenny]

Now $1,3491




Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Intel® Core™ i7-920 processor(8MB L3 Cache, 2.66GHz)
Microsoft Works 9.0, English
McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty with In Home Service after Remote Diagnosis
No Monitor
9GB Tri-Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 6 DIMMs
1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Essentials
Please contact me with more details
No Modem Option
Dell USB Keyboard
Dell Optical USB Mouse
Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
No Installation
Accessories
Also Includes
nVidia GeForce GTX 260 1792MB
Studio XPS 9000
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language


Yay or nay on this (and why or why not)? Components are expensive in Canada but if anyone could suggest an alternative I'm all ears.

Has anyone here used newegg Canada?


CC'd @ the Boat

Was thinking of switching things up a bit.


Can somebody explain to me in layman's terms the difference between these 2 processors, aside from the clock speed?


Intel® Core™ i7-860 processor(8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)

Intel® Core™ i7-920 processor(8MB Cache, 2.66GHz)

[odditude]

different socket, different memory requirements (and therefore different motherboards).

unless you're planning on buying a hex-core processor as a drop-in replacement in the relatively near future OR doing some absurd overclocking, the i7-860 is the better bet by far.

[darkbenny]

Thanks for the quick response.



So, the the i7-860 will likely be faster, where as the i7-920 option would be more "future-proof".

I almost never tend to upgrade processors (I just buy a whole new rig when the CPU can't keep up with new video cards) so maybe the i7-860 is a better choice for me.

[odditude]

the i7-860 will *definitely* be faster at stock - higher base clock, and bigger bumps provided by turbo. the sole exception at stock clocks would be if you're using an incredibly demanding multi-GPU setup (dual gtx295/4870x2 or higher) and using an app that's gpu-limited.

(technical reasoning: the on-die PCIe controller of an LGA1156 chip only supports a single PCIe 2.0 x16 link, forcing SLI/CrossFireX configs to split it x8/x8. x58, on the other hand, provides enough PCIe 2.0 lanes to support multiple full x16 connections. that on-die PCIe controller also helps hamstring the overclocking of LGA1156 chips somewhat, as opposed to the relatively easily overclockable LGA1366 chips.)

[darkbenny]

Thanks again. I will probably only go with a single GPU setup.

Here is the new build:


Now $1,199

Components
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
Intel® Core™ i7-860 processor(8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
Microsoft Works 9.0, English
McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty with In Home Service after Remote Diagnosis
No Monitor
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 4 DIMMs
1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
nVidia GeForce GTX260 1792MB GDDR3
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Essentials
Please contact me with more details
No Modem Option
Dell USB Keyboard
Dell Studio Optical Mouse
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Accessories
Also Includes
Studio XPS 8000
Integrated 10/1000 Ethernet
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language



I will add a new pimpin' sound card right away, and change the v-card in a few months likely. Note the 8GB ram in place of 9 for this particular system, and the slightly cheaper price.

[I.S.T.]

Who makes the HD?

[odditude]

Who makes the HD?

more or less irrelevant on a mainstream retail machine.

likely wouldn't be the same from box to box, either - order one day, you'll get a seagate, the next day a WD, and a replacement for a warranty repair might be hgst.

[kode54]

I have only had one drive fail on me, and that was a Maxtor. Although after that, I had several other Maxtor drives that lots of wear before I got ahold of them, and they never failed.

[grinvader]

I have only had one drive fail on me, and that was a

QUANTUM FIREBALL

[odditude]

i miss cracking open old compaqs and finding maxtor bigfoots (bigfeet?)

still, a 5.25" hdd is a strange sight.

[grinvader]

i miss cracking open old compaqs and finding maxtor bigfoots (bigfeet?)

still, a 5.25" hdd is a strange sight.

I see your 5.25" hdd and raise by a toaster



happened to so many people

[Gil_Hamilton]

i miss cracking open old compaqs and finding maxtor bigfoots (bigfeet?)

still, a 5.25" hdd is a strange sight.

I wonder if we still have those FULL-HEIGHT 5.25 hard drives kicking around from the dawn of time.
THOSE are some monsters.

[darkbenny]

Thanks for all of your input btw.