O.K., I know I've bounced around on this for awhile and started a number of threads in the process, but...Here is what I've gotten so far and my intentions for the remaining items needed:

These are the things I've already purchased (ordered the CPU and OS today):

CPU - Intel Core i7 920

CPU Cooler - Thermalright TRUE copper + 2x120mm fluid dynamic bearing fans

RAM - Corsair Dominator 1600 6GB kit (3x 2GB)

GPU - XFX GTX285 Black Edition 1GB

Optical - LG super multi DVD writer 22x

PSU - Corsair TX850w

HDD - Seagate 500GB 32MB cache 7200 rpm (I only have one of these right now, but plan on getting 3 more for RAID 0+1 array. Still cheaper than going with a 300GB velociraptor and faster in the end. Plus the security the redundancy of the +1 mirror)

OS - I decided to cave and got the Vista Home Premium 64 bit SP1 like Gunny.

Chassis - I'm leaning heavily towards gutting my Stacker 830 and using that case again and simply putting all my current stuff into my son's Antec case. It'll save me ~$200 and probably a couple weeks.


Here is what I don't have yet:

Soundcard - X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion PCIE with front panel

HDD - as stated above, I need 3 more for RAID 0+1 or two more for RAID 5

Motherboard - I haven't ordered this yet as I'm in a toss-up between the Asus P6T Deluxe and the Gigabyte GA EX58-UD5 (honestly, leaning towards the P6T)

Hopefully, the end of April I should start assembly. Watching all these shiny, high-tech parts sitting in a box next to my desk is starting to cause some anxiety, but I always hear the wise words of my Father at times like this..."Don't ever settle for anything, but temper your enthusiasm". But it's hard not to feel like a kid on Christmas eve.

Update: I ordered my motherboard and soundcard today. So, technically, I could start assembly next week.

The reality is, I only have the one HDD right now and would like to either do the RAID thing or go with another Raptor for my boot sector. So it looks like another 2 weeks while I decide which direction I want to go and wait for my next installment in my monthly entertainment fund (don't laugh, it works for me).

I set aside a certain amount of cash for my own entertainment purposes to include golf, pc hardware, etc,.. and if I have a new build in the works, I let it build for a couple months. With my processor and mobo together running almost $600 this build will run me a bit more than usual so the extra few weeks.

The upside is, the beginning of actual assembly should coincide with my Wife and youngest son taking a 3-week trip to Texas and Arizona. That's three weeks I'll have to fly my ass off, run benchmarks on the new rig and generally bum around without any negative input...from anyone. Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna miss the hell out of them, but the timing is perfect.

Just think, no baths/showers, really unhealthy fatty foods, ahh the life....

Well, assembly begins tonight. I prepped my case and transferred most of my current components to another case. I'll try to install all my new components tonight and start the OS install, driver updates and program installation dance tomorrow...or tonight if all goes well, but we'll see.

I'm Glad TB i'll be curious about it...

I completed assembly last night and went ahead and did some cable management/routing work on it. I know, that's usually the kiss of death as one fubar component may result in completely pulling apart all the zip ties and tucked wires, but I did it anyway.   :-\

I'm using most all the displaced parts in 2 other pc's in the house and instead of doing the software installation, I went ahead and started dropping some of those parts in the the other machines. It was getting late and I didn't want to start the "Windows dance" at 11 p.m. and those parts were drop-ins.

OS and other proggies go in tonight.

Here's the final list of components btw:

Asus P6T Deluxe V2
Core i7 920
Thermalright TRUE Copper with dual 120mm cooling fans
Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Titanium Champion (lmao...what a name eh?)
6 GB Corsair Dominator 1600Mhz triple channel kit
XFX GTX285 Black edition
Raptor 300GB (boot sector and I intend to partition it in 150GB sectors leaving one for Windows 7 later in the year)
Seagate 500GB 32mb cache (data and programs)
LG 22x super multi optical drive
Put back into my CoolerMaster Stacker 830
Windows Vista Home Premium x64

Since I decided to keep this case for my own rig, I quickly remembered some of the reasons I like this case so much. It's big and roomy, well thought out with a removable PSU plate and removable mobo tray that even allowed me to attach the TRUE and then slide it into place! (no small feat considering the size of that frikkin hunk of copper  :o ), the completely tooless design and last, it's all aluminum so it's not as heavy and cools really well.

That's great news TB, I hope to see you up and running soon! I'm sure you'll not be able to resist going flying on that for very long - here's to a painless OS/Driver installation!

It will be really great to hear about RoF performance with how multithread RoF is.

Part of why I got the video card that I did was so that when you built your i7 machine we would have similar enough rigs to get a comparative sense of how a dual core compares to a HyperThreaded Quad.

TB i recommend you "not" to partition your drive .. bad idea just load a windows into your other drive, you will have better performances and if your Raptor fail ( often on those ) you will still have an OS to start your PC and Fly..
I did get a great Q9650 for mine and i'm at the moment burning in the CPU low voltages and low temp making some higher runs for a week.. yesterday i went for 4.4 Ghz for 2 or 3 hours and now 4 GHZ on cruise low volts with 8GB RAM.. The Q9650 is pushing those GTS 8800 SLI to their max quite impressive.


Welcome to the Quads club TB !!!!! :)

Well, I've never had a Raptor fail - and I've had many.

My ^%$^%$ Seagate 1.5 TB did fail the other day - AFTER I put data on it.

S~

Gunny

Yeap i had and have Raptor(s) and failed.. it's like the Russian roulette but by safety ..... .. Sorry for your 1.5T Gunny..

Installed OS last night and got most everything tweaked (basic Vista tweaking). I installed TeamSpeak but didn't get all my TS info transferred over from my other machine as it's been doing the same thing it was doing a month ago (i.e. not booting...hell, not even posting). So, I'm going to have to setup most everything from scratch. Not too daunting but a pain in the ass nonetheless.

I also installed TIR5 Pro and the new software last night. Since it was approaching 1 a.m. I had to call it quits as anything else I would have started would have added another hour or so and I had to be @ work at 7 this a.m.

Anyway, running at stock speeds and hopefully getting most everything else installed tonight. I obviously haven't stressed it at all yet but ASUS Probe II said it was idling at 38-40c, FYI. That's about 15c higher than my C2D running at 3.2 used to run, but looks to be somewhat normal.

I intend to bug out early again today to get right on it and if things drop right into place I may even run a few sorties tonight just to test. I still need to install all my controllers and learn some of the GUI nuances of the new Creative software (that seems to always be the toughest...lol). I'll let this run as is and do some testing for a few more days before pushing the CPU through OC.

Great TB and remember to push your cpu with out voltage first to see the limit and little increase after that. ;)
I'm on the RAM timing at the moment trying to get all settings right, 8 GB is a different ball. and testing new video drivers as well.
http://www.gozr.net/iocl/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=534

Thanks Gozr :)

I'll have to tell you about it when I get a chance - it was very strange...

S~

Gunny

Yes Gunny if i remember the first 1.5T had some issues but i think they will correct or did it already.. see you on comms..
I'm on the roof working ( using my Mac laptop ) ;)

I installed the CH Control Manager and remembered that in a moment of clarity a couple months ago I was wise enough to backup my CH map profiles and some other stuff (like my IL2 "users" and "conf.ini" folders). It all installed without a single glitch, hiccup or issue (I think that's the first time ever for me... :P). I even was able to apply the 4.08m, 4.09b1m, UI 1.1, and UI1.1.1 patches seamlessly.

At stock speeds with 4xAA, 8xAF, "quality" I'm never dipping below 60 fps (yes, Vsync was on). I really need to get the RoF stuff, but would like to wait until I can get one of you more knowledgeable guys on comms as I was still never able to log back in once our credentials were restored post Russian release.

Anyway, another couple days at stock speeds then I'll need to find out how much real headroom this thing has (I got the C0 step before the D0 came out...bleh).

The new TIR 5.0 beta software is a definite improvement (at least for me) and once I spent a few minutes fiddling with a couple profiles I was able to get something I liked fairly well. I still need to work on a couple aspects of some axes here and there, but so far, I really like it.

Wife's been gone for 4 days and I'm sleep deprived, slightly malnourished and dehydrated...SO, I guess I'm doing well.  8)

:)  The C0 are 3.6 Ghz safe. You'll be happy. You should do a 3DMark06 bench mark and Vantage and compare with after.. I'm curious to see as well.

I said I was going to wait a couple days before testing some OC potential...but I didn't.

Last night I tested it a bit and went about it in a completely ignorant manner. A wise person would have set his numbers in a chart and incrementally bumped things up until he achieved instability and started to tweak and squeeze. Not me.

I made some setting adjustments and went straight to 3.8ghz. I ran through a few quick checks and started 8 instances of Prime95 right at midnight (OCCT wouldn't setup properly for me and I didn't want to fiddle with it right then. Prime went right in though). When I woke up this am it was still running solid and the temps were as stable this am as they were last night when I went to sleep.

At idle it was running about 40c before any OC. I thought that was only marginal but didn't think I needed to go through re-seating the HSF and would simply check for stability over a few days. After setting my OC to 3.8ghz idle temps only went to 46c and under load (after about 40 minutes of running the stress test) it peaked out at 75c. When I woke up this a.m., it was sitting at 73c and still running all 8 instances.

I had to drop my RAM down to 1066mhz before setting my Bclk OC because the DRAM frequency increases incrementally with your Bclk settings and setting my Bclk from 133 to 190 (x20 to achieve the 3.8ghz) raised the RAM from 1066 to 1523mhz. Had I left it at 1600mhz it would have tried to set the RAM to over 1900mhz...which simply didn't want to boot  (yeah, I did that :-[ )

All in all, I am completely jazzed.

Now I really need to get RoF all setup again and will need to try and give you a call Eco (if that's o.k.) as I have a couple questions that I'm sure you can answer.


TB

Great TB  what is your voltage?

Cool! It's hard to resist!

You don't want it to get much hotter than 73C if you can avoid it, and the most important bit of data is missing up there. . what vCore / core voltage are you using? vCore will raise your temps much more than higher clock speeds, so at your given overclock try lowering the voltages. . .and don't OC with voltages on AUTO because that will generally overvolt everything. From what I have seen low 1.3 vCores are normal in this OC range, but find the lowest vCore you can use, and manually set it if you don't want to risk killing the chip.

I set the v core to 1.35 as that was apparently the defacto setting where stability was most common. I haven't dropped it down to see just how low I can take it. I'll DL the 3DMark tests and see what it does there and post.

3DMark06 they just release the update today..  go get it :)
In 3Dmarks06 you can only keep 5 tests so instead take pictures like i did .. if it get full.

3DMark06 results:

total - 18,643
Sm 2.0 - 7,148
SM 3.0 - 8,245
CPU - 6,342


Vantage results:

Total - 15,536
CPU - 52,549
Graphics - 12,582

Not sure how good those numbers are and I didn't turn off AA, AF or any other settings. I know in the past, if I would turn down the AA settings, the numbers would go up, but I ran it at 2 a.m. and just didn't change anything.

Don't bother all Application controlled but 3DMark take care of this.. ( Take a screeny and the best would be to have CPUZ open as well..)

(http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/GOZR/w200821111.jpg)

Yeah, you need to leave the driver level settings at defaults, you should see 3dmark in the nvidia driver profiles tab too. . .don't make any changes, that's way people have agreed to run it for the purpose of comparing to other systems anyway.

Any more news?

Actually, no. Once I ran the benchmarks I deleted them as I'm not one to "play" benchmarks competitively. I still have them, but the "Vantage" program said I could only run it once for free anyway and I'm not even remotely interested in buying it so I deleted it. I can do a few more runs on 3DMark06 after changing some settings and even grab some screenies of the results, but to what end?

Also, I dropped my Bclk to 180 for a total overclock of 3.6 instead of 3.8. I know it's stable at 3.8, but just to see the fraps counter go from 174 frames up to 197 frames just didn't seem worth the extra wear on the CPU. Changing it back is really easier than loading saved BIOS profiles so I can reset it anytime I want with a simple reboot.

What I really need to do is get RoF reinstalled and get it updated to the latest version and see what it will do on this machine. At this point I'm a little lost as to how to go about it though.

i understand TB the benchmark system is a very good one but not to see what is the max  like me i posted the Bench mark at 3.9 or 4 just to see and to actually make a fine tune system for example making a 3.8 having a better bench than my other bench mark at 4 Ghz and i did. SO it 's a personal tune challenge as you can see i didn't post anything at 4.2 or 4.4.. I'm thinking concervative ( heat of summer max ) but with the best tuned system and some time bumping the voltage do not run better ..  To me Tuning with 8 GB is the challenge ..

I hope to see you in RoF :) since i saw no one flying with me on Lockon SU-25.. ;) alas...  I have the sim but not the numbers yet but it's out very very soon.. i can't wait !!!

Good call TB, one of my favorite features of my motherboard is that I can select one of 6 different profiles so I have my default which is an underclocked and undervolted setup for web browsing and such, on up to the FSX CPU lifesucker settings at 4.0GHz. On your machine RoF should run well at clocks close-ish to stock as you have the hyperthreaded quad core and RoF should use all "8" cores well so you can probably run 3.0-3.2 in RoF without much need for more. . .but I'm just guessing being a lowly dual core user.

I am on a laptop and don't have TS, but you can call me for help getting RoF setup, but actually I think there is already a thread dealing with that, you just need to change that updater file.

This is posted in detail on the RoF forums, I'll PM you at their site with a link.

Mine has only 3 profiles.. Great stuff isn't it :) Tomorrow the 17 GoGamer doesn't have it yet  and Paypal do not take Pre-orders so maybe tomorrow.. ? hope so..

I'd like to get a system that can handle RoF well.

I like your system Thunderbolt, and was curious Eco, what system you have these days?

I've been pricing out various systems using the i7 chip... (i7 920 and 960s), motherboards, memory... and finding a lot of the pre-built computers that seem to be a lot cheaper than what I could build myself.

Has this been anyone else's experience?  Granted, some reviews I've read of various pre-builts leave me a little concerned about who's actually slapping these systems together.

Any suggestions?

I was looking at a
MB: Asus X58 DDR3 1600Mhz
Power: Ultra X3 1000 Watt
Memory: 12GB Corsair 1600Mhz 8-8-8-24
CPU: i7 920
Heat Sink: Cooler Master V8
Optics: LG Blue Ray
Thermaltake Tower
GPU: GTX 295
OS: Win 7 Home Premium

All running for $2520.89 or $2800 for an i7 960 instead.

Then there's the pre-built "CyberpowerPC" with an i7 960, with the same amount of ram, including 2x 1TB HDs (not priced above), Blue Ray writer, 800W power supply...

for $2149.99

better than this one
(http://i.imgur.com/eePBp.jpg)

I'd advise to save the $300 and just go with the i7 920. It's got plenty of headroom and especially the D0 stepping variants are easily able to sit at 3.8ghz-4.0ghz on air cooling stable as the rock of Gibraltar. That's more than enough juice to put the load back on the GPU...for now.

I'm always one to lean towards building my own, but if you want to save the time and effort (and get a bulk cumulative warranty on the rig) then by all means look into a package. I'd make sure that it has a really good cooler AND that it won't void your warranty if you oc because if it's not already oc'd, you'll be leaving waaaay too much performance on the table if you don't oc it yourself.

Keep us posted.  ;)

Thanks for the suggestions Thunderbolt.

After reviewing CyberpowerPC on several different websites and forums, I'm amazed it is still in business.  I just wish there was a way to order the parts (not removed from the original packaging) from them, and put the system together myself.  Alienware seems to have become less uptight about using their odd sized power supplies, and locked out bios... which is good news, however, they're more expensive than what I can do for myself.

So, I think I'll stick to building something myself, perhaps with water cooling.

Get an I7 D0 stepping. They will OC great, though the recent batches aren't as good as they used to be at overclocking but you should still be able to do 3.8-4.1 on average if you pick good hardware to match it.

Get an EVGA X58, Asus P6T (non-deluxe or deluxe), or you may have decent enough luck with the cheaper Gigabyte X58. Buy the Megahalems cpu cooler and you won't need to bother with or pay for water cooling. . .and get a PSU like the Corsair 750 TX.

You'll be pleased with that setup, and I've built dozens of them in the last three months and they total around 1,300-1,800 for the builds I've been doing (buying the i7 920 for 199 at Microcenter).

Thanks Eco.  What is D0 stepping?  When you mention the EVGA X58 and Asus P6T, you're referring to two different motherboards, correct?  The X58 handles triple memory streams, while the P6T handles dual?

BTW, my current problem was indeed my graphic's card.  I thought for sure I had tested it with an old ATI X800 card I had, and observed the same issues of scrambled text on video post... Also, after some research figured out that usually when a CPU goes bad... it goes BAD, and nothing works... so I suspected my motherboard (after trying out the other two PCI-e slots with similar results).  When I was about to yank my motherboard out and send it back to EVGA, I decided to double check with my ATI card one last time, and it worked just fine!  (Which left me scratching my head--had I just had a vivid dream of taking the ATI card out of my old computer and testing it out with my current one, a week before?).

The sad part, is that I had registered my 8800GTX with EVGA 40 days after ordering it from newegg.com, and just found out that the limited lifetime warranty only applies if you register within the first 30 days!  I paid more money for that card than my cpu and motherboard combined.  I've decided for now just to replace the GPU, and put on hold building a new system, until I can justify spending the quality time of tweaking a new machine--something I can't really do, when most of my spare time has been trying to "beautifye" my Oahu Scenery, and get that project finished for once.

In any case, I appreciate your suggestions Eco... when I'm ready, I'll start buying those parts (unless something even more fun comes out before then).

D0 stepping is just the latest generation run on the i7 920 chips that are supposed to be better overclockers in general. Mine is C0 and it's solid, but if I'd had a choice I'd have gotten the D0 as well.

Both of those mobos handle triple channel DDR3 too btw. Mine is a P6T Deluxe v2 which is the same chipset as the vanilla P6T. Both are excellent overclockers.  ;)

The "tweak" time really isn't too much. There's enough info online such that when you do decide to take the plunge, you can do some research beforehand and basically step right in with the throttle wide.   ;D

Interesting reading here as well.  I was really impressed with your rig TB when I came down to Fla. I'm looking to upgrade in the coming months and looking at i7s as well....   Unfortunately I have to really work within a tight budget and that's why I'm about a year behind.  In any case, I notice that you prefer the D0 stepping, but I'm curious, do you ask for that when ordering a CPU?  What I mean is say I build a rig from NewEgg and order an CPU, do I let them know I want a D0 chip, or don't they just give me whatever is in stock?

I think they usually just send what they have in stock. As far as I know, the only way to verify before purchase is to go online and get the D0 lot numbers and take those with you to a retailer where you can look at them before buying.

Honestly though, I wouldn't fret over that particular spec too much. Mine is an early C0 and it's been humming along at 3.8ghz on air for over 6 months.

I agree too any I7 would be good if you are not OC like a maniac .

I've also recently built a few machines using the P55 chipset, and both Core i5 and the newer i7-860s. They are a fair bit cheaper, and actually give a lot of performance for the cash, but my experience thus far is the i7-860s run very hot compared to the 920, and so overclocking is more prone to be temp limited. These may be problems with the early batch that we got.

I'm really wondering if I can run RoF on our cluster (12 separate i7-920 machines OCed to between 4.2 and 3.8 ) that should do away with the CPU usage issues eh?  ;D

That would be a good test... with pictures etc.. ;)  do it .. do it ... do it ..

I do plan on bringing my stick, pedals and maybe even TrackIR to Santa Cruz so I can get some sim time going. I'll probably be flying it on the I7-860 based machine (at stock - running really hot in a Lanbox). . .I don't think I'll be taking the cluster down to try RoF though it does sound fun!

That would be awesome Eco. It'd be cool to see you around again.  :-*




Too bad. That would be probably the most cool test for RoF yet.  ;D

If the application is fully threaded it should work!

Hope you get enough time/space to try it.......

Eco - come home........ 

S~

Gunny

Ok Gents!  Salute first of all!  Good to see all you guys still around!

I'm about to start purchasing parts for a new box myself...  Should I also go with the i7 920?  I have a Microcenter here so I can pick one up locally then probably build the rest of the machine when tax returns and flexpay money arrives.  I'll probably go with the EVGA X58 mobo with 6GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600 and the Mega cooler that Eco suggested.  The proc will be purchased with combination Christmas cash and football pool winnings! (My Saints won and I won my first ever football pool!)

Please post any other suggestions you guys may have...  As always, looking for something that I can upgrade in the future and get the most possible out of FS9, FSX, IL2, and ROF.

Thanks in advance for you guys help...

That sounds good to me Rah!

I would stick with the i7-920 - my experience with the i7-860 tells me that it runs hotter than the 920, it also uses the P55 chipset which limits your future upgrades to the higher end 1366 lineup - if that matters to you. The 6 core is currently slated only for a 1366 release, of course by the time that thing is affordable you will probably want a new mobo anyway.  8)

I have noticed boards coming out now offering 6g Sata and USB 3.0.  I know Asus had 1 or two in the 1366.  It may not be relevant today.   I doubt there is any device available to take advantage of it but if it's something you think you might upgrade to in the future, you might want to take a look.

 

My local MicroCenter doesn't have the 920 anymore...Booooooo....

Well....MicroCenter has more i7 920's in stock and by luck they're D0 stepping!  I picked one up today along with a Megahelams they had in stock!!  Will be buying the rest when I get paid this week... WooHoo!!

Eco, what fan(s) should I get for the Megahelams?

I'm thinking I may go with 2 Intel 80GB 3gbit SSD drives as well...  Have you guys heard anything good or bad about using them?

 There are some things to check out with SSD’s.   They require a special defragmentation tool and there own diag tools.  Some of these tools will not work if you set them in a raid configuration.  Here is a link to one of Intel’s user’s guide. 

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/18455/eng/Intel_SSD_Toolbox_User_Guide.pdf (http://downloadmirror.intel.com/18455/eng/Intel_SSD_Toolbox_User_Guide.pdf)

Mostly just hear people rave about the bloody things though.

I'd think they could only make a record player so small. Thats what a HD looks like to me. I imagine the SSD are the next big thing or already the thing. 

My i7-860 with an SSD boots REALLY fast. . .like fast. . .moving large files to it has always been from network transfers which are rate limited, I imagine loading maps in games would be super fast.

Another thing that confused me on the SSD’s  was which mode to use, AHCI / IDE Sata.   I think the consensus now would be to use IDE mode but there is still seems to be a lot of differences in the drivers.   Make sure your up to date.