radian23 Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Looking at doing an i5 build. I'm looking at using the following hardware and wanted some opinions. Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 CPU: Intel i5-750 RAM: 4GB G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 1600 PC3 12800 Video: PNY VCG8600GXXB GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Optical: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD Burner Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA So far I have purchased the hard drive, optical drive, and video card. I'm undecided about the motherboard and the CPU. I have also considered purchasing the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 for USB3 support. I'm under the impression that USB3 speeds will likely not be seen in 10.6.2 but I thought it would be nice to have for later down line when it may be supported. I'm also debating weather I should save $50 and get an Intel i5-650 instead of getting the i5-750. The primary use of this computer will be to surf the internet, type up documents, use iPhoto, and some very minor use of iMovie. I appreciate any advice. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Looking at doing an i5 build. I'm looking at using the following hardware and wanted some opinions. Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 CPU: Intel i5-750 RAM: 4GB G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 1600 PC3 12800 Video: PNY VCG8600GXXB GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Optical: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD Burner Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA So far I have purchased the hard drive, optical drive, and video card. I'm undecided about the motherboard and the CPU. I have also considered purchasing the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 for USB3 support. I'm under the impression that USB3 speeds will likely not be seen in 10.6.2 but I thought it would be nice to have for later down line when it may be supported. I'm also debating weather I should save $50 and get an Intel i5-650 instead of getting the i5-750. The primary use of this computer will be to surf the internet, type up documents, use iPhoto, and some very minor use of iMovie. I appreciate any advice. Thanks! Stick with the i5-750. Its the only i5 thats currently supported. As far as the p55a mobo goes, I have had no experience with it. I would search around to see if its compatible or not. The p55m is very popular and has a couple in-depth guides. I personally love mine. And if you don't plan on overclocking, that ram will automatically downclock to 1333mhz instead of the 1600 on the p55m. I would get something at 1333 speeds with tighter timings if you keep stock speeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detosx Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 I am tempted by the Core I3 540 running @ 4.6Ghz on 1.281v but that I do a lot of photography work and video editing, which means I should be looking at the i7 920, but for £60 less I can get the i5 750 which seems to be winning all the awards in all areas other than video crunching. My advice - aside from buy a Mac! - would be buy whatever most people in the community are using, even if that means not buying the very latest kit. It makes life less risky and getting help easier. One of the presenters on Tekzilla was saying less than glowing things about the reliability of recent Asus motherboards. A lot of people here opt for Gigabyte. He also said if opting for RAID, go for the black version of the Western Digital hard drive rather than the green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radian23 Posted January 15, 2010 Author Share Posted January 15, 2010 Stick with the i5-750. Its the only i5 thats currently supported. As far as the p55a mobo goes, I have had no experience with it. I would search around to see if its compatible or not. The p55m is very popular and has a couple in-depth guides. I personally love mine. And if you don't plan on overclocking, that ram will automatically downclock to 1333mhz instead of the 1600 on the p55m. I would get something at 1333 speeds with tighter timings if you keep stock speeds. Thanks. I was planning to downclock the ram to 1333mhz but hadn't thought about the timings. I'll consider something with better timings. I'm glad you mentioned that about the i5-750. I'll be sure to purchase that CPU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David777 Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Hello, Your setup is a winner, Use tonymac blog for the fine tuning, it's very well made: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radian23 Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 Well got everything ordered. Went with the following: Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 CPU: Intel i5-750 RAM: Kingston KVR1333D3N9K2/4G DDR3-1333 4GB Video: PNY VCG8600GXXB GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Optical: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD Burner Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA I hope it'll be smooth sailing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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