Building a 'High Performance' Windows 7 PC

With Windows 7 release candidate just around the corner, the other day I was asked to spec out a high performance PC suitable for Windows 7 64-bit, This system would also be a great Vista system.

Note: Just to clarify that this is a “high performance” PC, and not a “sky’s the limit, money no object” system. I am therefore choosing parts that offer the best bang for the buck at the high end, and not the very best, bleeding edge components.

Here’s the spec I came up with

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4154&tag=nl.e539

echrada said:

With Windows 7 release candidate just around the corner, the other day I was asked to spec out a high performance PC suitable for Windows 7 64-bit, This system would also be a great Vista system.

Note: Just to clarify that this is a “high performance” PC, and not a “sky’s the limit, money no object” system. I am therefore choosing parts that offer the best bang for the buck at the high end, and not the very best, bleeding edge components.

Here’s the spec I came up with

Building a "High Performance" Windows 7 PC | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com

Like all these articles it really depends on what you are doing with your system.

I have seen posts on this Forum of people installing high end motherboards, large amounts of RAM, insane amounts of Hard Disk space and generally spending oodles and oodles of moolah ($$$$'s/£££££'s/€€€€€'s etc) for doing nothing else than surfing the Net.

I'd have been very interested if the blog had actually given some indication as to what the computer was going to be used for - as I can't really see at this time (maybe in the future this type of hardware would become commonplace) what possible use could a SINGLE USER have for this type of hardware unless you were running a few Aircraft simulators and other Virtual Reality stuff.

Not trying to disparage the efforts here of putting together a good value for money great piece of kit but IMO it's a huge amount of overkill.

cheers
jimbo

Hi there
even for gaming I'd imagine this would still be overkill for a Single user. -- Multi-user games is (are ?) a different ball park altogether -- but the best way of doing that would be to use something like a decent server with the processing power needed for playing the game distributed over the computing resources of the individual players - rather like a CPU distribution mechanism like SETI uses.

As a single user even playing a complex game the machine would probably be spending most of its time waiting for input from the user. The graphic component is probably the most critical resource here as the user would really notice "screen re-mapping" etc etc.

So the above machine would be able to transfer graphics almost instantly giving the user a good experience but would still essentially be spending 90% of its time in a "Wait state".

(However a well written game could still be run on more modest hardware if basic coding rules were followed - such as not "re-painting" the entire screen every time something changes - just update the changed pixels).

Cheers
(and enjoy).

I'm just off to a nice Manchester City Centre Alehouse -- one great thing about contracts in the UK -- there's some great pubs around and the Beer / Whisky etc. is quite cheap given current level of the € vs £.

Jimbo

WOW, i would love that build!

I have never even used a pc with such high specs, i think its about time i pulled my finger out and ditched my ancient machines.

echrada said:

With Windows 7 release candidate just around the corner, the other day I was asked to spec out a high performance PC suitable for Windows 7 64-bit, This system would also be a great Vista system.

Note: Just to clarify that this is a “high performance” PC, and not a “sky’s the limit, money no object” system. I am therefore choosing parts that offer the best bang for the buck at the high end, and not the very best, bleeding edge components.

Here’s the spec I came up with

Building a "High Performance" Windows 7 PC | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com

Save your money and get 8Gb of RAM instead of 12. You won't notice a difference. Spend the savings on a Solid State Hard Drive instead where you will see the difference.

skunksmash said:

well TBH Les, if i read that correctly it WAS a ''sky's the limit'' build

a skt775 platform is still more than capable of delivering SUPER performance, & can still deliver far more FPS than can actually be used..

here's what i'd buy...... ''high end, gaming''


CPU..... Q9550

mobo..... Asus Striker Extreme

RAM..... 8gb pc8500, brand.?? (there are too many to list)

GFX..... XFX GTX285 (later on i could add another)

PSU..... corsair HX620 or XCILIO 850w


& a few extra quid for a case & a decent HSF, but the rig above will max everything currently out there & perform like a champ @ stock settings, OCing would just be a bonus...





:)SK

I Run the Q9550 with 8Gb of RAM ... She flies. All I need now is a SSD (Solid State Hard Drive) for additional performance