Building a 'High Performance' Windows 7 PC

[echrada]

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

 

[kenabi]

feh, my box performs fantastically, and i can only imagine that dumping a bit more on a high end 200 series graphics card would even out the little bit of jerkyness i have at all. i7? unless i'm hosting a billion servers and playing crysis too, i see no need for it yet. maybe some other year :v

 

[jimbo45]

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

 

[RST101]

Gaming jimbo! That is my use for it anyway.

EDIT: and visiting sevenforums.

 

[jimbo45]

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

 

[win7]

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.

 

[skunksmash]

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

 

[GreyWolf]

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.

 

[GreyWolf]

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

 

[skunksmash]

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

lol..... i cant believe i forgot the HDD, without it the rig i listed wont be doing a thing

but yes i'd probably have a 32gb SSD for W7 & 320gb 7200 SATA for the media..


what a great build that would be....






SK

 

[itznfb]

if i were building a high performance pc right now i'd go with:

AMD Phenom II X4 940 - $215
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P - $180
OCZ OCZ3G1600LV6GK $95
XFX HD-489A-ZDFC HD4890 - $250
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB RAID0 - $170 x2 = $340
Western Digital 2TB - $300
HT Omega CLARO - $160
Corsair CMPSU-850TX - $150
LG Blu-ray GGC-H20L - $100
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 - $50
Zalman VF1000 - $45
Antec Twelve Hundred - $180

The total cost actually ended up being much higher than i expected at $2065
it would still be a badass machine

 

[weh]

I just completed my "Windows 7 Ultimate" Core i7 computer about six weeks ago (see system specs in my profile - I won't repeat it all here). My primary use (other than visiting the Win 7 forums, of course ) is for my other hobby/profession: my photography.

As I have no interest in gaming, my video board choice was a compromise between power and silence. The Gigabyte/ATI 4850 1GB was the most powerful board I could find with a totally passive cooler. Moreover, the single board can handle my two 24" monitors at 1920x1200 resolution easily.

I considered going with a full 24BG of memory; however, after conversations with service reps at both Corsair and OCZ, both heavily into digital photography, I cut back to 12GB, buying the 6x2GB OCZ platinum kit. Bibble, NX2 and PhotoShop fly.

The only place I went really hog-wild was storage: digital images seem to multiply faster than a single coat hanger in a locked closet. My system drive is currently two single 150GB VelociRaptors, one with Win.7.7000 installed and the other with Win.7.7077. I can swap between the two easily (they're mounted in a hot-swap drive cage). My intention is the use the two drives in a RAID-1 configuration when Win.7 is released commercially later this year. My primary workspace is a pair of 1TB WD "black" RE3 drives in a RAID-1 configuration. If one fails, I'm covered. This combination is faster than greased lightning. Well, maybe SSDs would be faster, but they certainly aren't cost effective.

Ongoing projects are stored on an 8-drive RAID-6 array using an Adaptec 5805 controller and eight of the 1.5TB WD "green" drives. At half the price of the 2TB version, again, they were the cost-effective choice.

I run a full backup weekly with incremental backups daily of both the system drive and my primary workspace, swapping out the target backup drives, three more 1.5TB WD greens (they mount in a hot-swap bay), one per week in a three-week rotation, giving me a true, three-generation backup of my work. Finally, there are a pair of 6-drive Netgear ReadyNAS units (currently containing 1TB drives, to be upgraded to 2TB drives when their price drops), one mirroring the other, which serve for additional storage. I archive projects to multiple DVDs.

 

[Mark]

That sounds like one Amazing system Weh, shame you don't play games because I bet they would fly on that system as well.

 

[weh]

If I were building for gaming (actually, I have - but not for myself) I would stick with 6GB (or possibly, only 3GB) memory, drop all the fancy extra storage, run 4 hard drives (a pair of 150GB VelociRaptors or a pair of SSDs, depending on budget, in RAID-0 for OS & games/applications, a 640GB or 1TB WD "black" for data, and a 1TB or 1.5TB WD "green" for automated backups. Plus I'd probably install a pair of the new 4890 video cards (and in a much smaller case than the full-tower I'm currently using) instead of the single 4850 I'm using for image editing.

Another change would be choice of monitors: I'm running a pair of H-IPS panels which might not be really bad for gaming; but a much faster TN panel would be a better choice. An auxiliary sound card with 5.1 or 7.1 speakers would be good for immersion gaming, too.

 

[GatoSoft]

I can say that my machine is cheap now adays (see my system specs, it's the Core2Quad one that I use at home). I bought it ending 2007, but now is very cheap and a good choice as high-end machine. Cheap & fast. Maybe you don't need the quantity of hard disks that I've, but I recommend to use 2 hard disks into a RAID-0 to get even more performance.
I use that machine for video and audio encoding without problems at a very nice speed. I also play games with that and do whatever a computer tech can do with a computer, that means EVERYTHING. From virtualization and OS tests to hardcore gameplay and MP3.
I think that a PC with that features must be at some 1000 dollars now adays. Think about it.

 

[scaramonga]

Core i7 for Windows 7 FTW!

 

[Gemini Man]

Sorry if this is straying off topic, but any chance I could see some of your work weh? I love photography.

 

[jokky]

12 gb of ram and 3 tb of HDD space is overkill imo.

I'd stick with 6gb of ram ($110), 60gb ocz vertex ssd ($234) and a WD black caviar 1tb (actually seeing it sell for $99 atm). I'd also spend a little more on a quality PSU like a 1000watt corsair just in case I want to sli in the future ($230) and ditch the soundcard (-$135). Onboard sound is decent on newer mobos and I probably couldn't tell the difference anyways.

That comes to a total of $673 for these 3 components so I'd still have $117 + $130= $247 to spare. With the ssd I'd definitely see a performance increase compared to having 12 gb of ram and 3tb of HDD space but if i was really running low on space i'd spend that 247 for another 1tb. leaving me with 147 left as pocket change

Honestly, I would consider this a very expensive and nearly a sky's the limit rig. Wish i had $2000+ to spend on a PC lol

 

[sunfowerggs]

Hi there, Would a new one like me be welcome here?
Thanks so much in deed.


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[skunksmash]

Hi there, Would a new one like me be welcome here?
Thanks so much in deed

All are welcome........


hop along to the introductions thread & say hi there