Is i7-930 and x58 still worth it?

[nick_ville]

I have a chance to buy a desktop (CM Haf 922 case, 500 w PSU, i7-930, Gigabyte x58, 16 gb RAM, Asus 5770 HD) used locally. The seller is willing to include a SSD (OCZ (VTX3-25SAT3-120G) Vertex 3 2.5" 120GB SATA3) too. I have offered $300, and I'm waiting to hear back.

My offer is on the low end, but in my research I have found that SATA III is not fully supported on these older motherboards, meaning I won't be able to get the full use of the SSD. I plan on either using this computer for some casual gaming, and photo editing, or using it as a HTPC. It might be a bit overkill for a HTPC though, and power consumption will probably be on the high end for a HTPC too....

Is this computer still worth picking up?

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by nick_ville

I have a chance to buy a desktop (CM Haf 922 case, 500 w PSU, i7-930, Gigabyte x58, 16 gb RAM, Asus 5770 HD) used locally. The seller is willing to include a SSD (OCZ (VTX3-25SAT3-120G) Vertex 3 2.5" 120GB SATA3) too. I have offered $300, and I'm waiting to hear back.

My offer is on the low end, but in my research I have found that SATA III is not fully supported on these older motherboards, meaning I won't be able to get the full use of the SSD. I plan on either using this computer for some casual gaming, and photo editing, or using it as a HTPC. It might be a bit overkill for a HTPC though, and power consumption will probably be on the high end for a HTPC too....

Is this compute still worth picking up?

If you can get it for $300 then yeah id grab it for that price. I wouldn't worry about the SATA II vs SATA III bit, real world difference you probably wont even notice it.

[nick_ville]

Originally Posted by BLindsay

If you can get it for $300 then yeah id grab it for that price. I wouldn't worry about the SATA II vs SATA III bit, real world difference you probably wont even notice it.

Thanks for the reply. His counter offer was $360 without the ssd, and $440 with the drive. I know that the processor is still fast enough, and there are lots of ram combinations that would work as well. Might like to upgrade the graphics at some point, but would work for now. Especially as a HTPC.

So you really wouldn't be worried about poor SATA iii support? I have heard it can make a huge difference in performance.

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by nick_ville

Thanks for the reply. His counter offer was $360 without the ssd, and $440 with the drive. I know that the processor is still fast enough, and there are lots of ram combinations that would work as well. Might like to upgrade the graphics at some point, but would work for now. Especially as a HTPC.

So you really wouldn't be worried about poor SATA iii support? I have heard it can make a huge difference in performance.

SATA III makes a big difference in benchmarks, but in actual real world noticeably performance not so much.



Considering he is charging $80 for that SSD, I would just buy your own. The Vertex 3 is getting pretty old at this point.

Edit: to clarify, on that gen board you would want to use the good Intel SATA II port over the crappy third party (probably marvel) SATA III port

[nick_ville]

Originally Posted by BLindsay

SATA III makes a big difference in benchmarks, but in actual real world noticeably performance not so much.



Considering he is charging $80 for that SSD, I would just buy your own. The Vertex 3 is getting pretty old at this point.

Edit: to clarify, on that gen board you would want to use the good Intel SATA II port over the crappy third party (probably marvel) SATA III port

Thanks for the input. I don't think that he is really that firm on the price either. I said that I wasn't interested in the package for $440, and am still waiting for a reply. You are probably right in that SATA III probably wouldn't make a noticeable difference in actual use. Is there any issue connecting the drive via Intel's SATA II port?

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by nick_ville

Thanks for the input. I don't think that he is really that firm on the price either. I said that I wasn't interested in the package for $440, and am still waiting for a reply. You are probably right in that SATA III probably wouldn't make a noticeable difference in actual use. Is there any issue connecting the drive via Intel's SATA II port?

I went from an X58 board (Rampage III Extreme) to Z68 and SATA II to SATA III and couldn't notice any difference outside of benchmarks.

The biggest thing that makes a SSD feel fast is its random read/write performance and that isn't largely effected by the bus speed. (considering a good ssd only has 30MB/s 4k random read)

You will want to use the Intel SATA II port as it is more reliable and has been random performance

[nick_ville]

Originally Posted by BLindsay

I went from an X58 board (Rampage III Extreme) to Z68 and SATA II to SATA III and couldn't notice any difference outside of benchmarks.

The biggest thing that makes a SSD feel fast is its random read/write performance and that isn't largely effected by the bus speed. (considering a good ssd only has 30MB/s 4k random read)

You will want to use the Intel SATA II port as it is more reliable and has been random performance

Thanks again for the input. It makes me feel a bit better about it if we can find a price that works for us both. Nice to hear from someone who had experience with both sockets and SATA types.

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by nick_ville

Thanks again for the input. It makes me feel a bit better about it if we can find a price that works for us both. Nice to hear from someone who had experience with both sockets and SATA types.

no problem, let me know if you have any other questions