Greetings - Ready to pull the trigger! Come see.

[Blackstar]

Geekbench Results:
950 - 12883
875k - 13111
980x - 17067

I was pretty surprised with these results when jimx86 on Tonymac suggested I try this comparison. They are all good systems, but I think value for money puts the 875k in the lead. - rabbit.

Sweeeet! Thanks for testing them out. It does look very impressive, especially when you see the 950 goes for over $550 and the 875k I saw for only $330.

The spreadsheet being mightier than the sword these days, I did pull the trigger on the 920 today. NewEgg (where I got everything else) was out of stock and was selling for $298. So the clincher was TigerDirect offering $30 instant off with free ground shipping. So a brand new i7 920 for $249.99 I think was a good deal that saved me another $49 bucks.

I REALLY REALLY think you should go with the GTS 250... It is the same card as the 9800 but is a slightly updated design that uses LESS power (only one power connector rather than two)

LOW POWER SERIES - You should read here
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... catid=3669

As much as 30% less power consumption than the standard 9800 GT.
- Measurements taken running 3DMark06 with an Intel QX9650, nForce 790i, 2GB system memory on Windows Vista 32-bit. - BR HighwayTrucker

That does look very nice. Only things I would be concerned over was the direction of the cooler. It looks to be blowing hot air into the case where I'd be putting my Hard Drives. Seemed odd. The Palit one had HDMI which interested me. Not sure if it works on the Hackintosh, but I wanted to give it a shot since I'll be plugging this into my HDTV which doubles as my main computer monitor. Other than that it looks like a great card though. Thanks.

 

[HighwayTrucker]

That does look very nice. Only things I would be concerned over was the direction of the cooler. It looks to be blowing hot air into the case where I'd be putting my Hard Drives. Seemed odd. The Palit one had HDMI which interested me. Not sure if it works on the Hackintosh, but I wanted to give it a shot since I'll be plugging this into my HDTV which doubles as my main computer monitor. Other than that it looks like a great card though. Thanks.

If your are talking about the PNY.......
The cooler (Fan) blows down on the chip set of the card.....(Very Quite)
HDMI is not a problem because card ships with a HDMI dungle

Sweeeet! Thanks for testing them out. It does look very impressive, especially when you see the 950 goes for over $550 and the 875k I saw for only $330

i7 875K is on sale at "micro Center" for $275.......
Shop around for all best prices

Regards HighwayTrucker

 

[Blackstar]

If your are talking about the PNY...
The cooler (Fan) blows down on the chip set of the card...(Very Quite)
HDMI is not a problem because card ships with a HDMI dungle

But, I gave up dungles for Lent!

Yeah I saw that fan design, but it looks the me like the exhaust instead of blowing hot air out of the PCI case ports (as in others I have seen) it seems to be pointing the other way back into the case. Right there my HD's would be in the Cooler Master 590. I don't know, maybe I'm mistaken.

i7 875K is on sale at "micro Center" for $275.......
Shop around for all best prices - Regards HighwayTrucker

Oh, I did actually. My MicroCenter site says $299.99. Is there a coupon code or something? Local deal perhaps? *Shrug. Even if it was $275 near me, with tax in my state (cause I have a MicroCenter close by) that chip goes to $294. Not sure what shipping would be, and did not want to drive into the city in this heat if I could help it. Hehe.

Thanks though. It's an impressive chip, no doubt. Right now though saving the $50 bucks will be more useful I think. Could put it toward a better cooler or another Hard Drive, fans, etc. Or just keep it for something else later on.

 

[HighwayTrucker]

Yeah I saw that fan design, but it looks the me like the exhaust instead of blowing hot air out of the PCI case ports (as in others I have seen) it seems to be pointing the other way back into the case. Right there my HD's would be in the Cooler Master 590. I don't know, maybe I'm mistaken

I do understand your concen for heat...........But
A video card that has an exhaust port will take up one of your
precious PCI slots.......Not good

In Hackintosh, Some cards only work in PCI slot #1 or #2
Like the problem I had with my WiFi card......Just giving you a heads
up for the future.....

Unless you are "Over Clocking" (Which you are not because you are not buying an unlocked chip)
Then I would have to say that "HEAT" is not going to be an issue......

See my "Sig"...........No case fans, stock CPU cooler !!!!!! QUITE
Best regards HighwayTrucker

 

[flatfoot]

Yeah I saw that fan design, but it looks the me like the exhaust instead of blowing hot air out of the PCI case ports (as in others I have seen) it seems to be pointing the other way back into the case. Right there my HD's would be in the Cooler Master 590. I don't know, maybe I'm mistaken

I do understand your concen for heat...........But
A video card that has an exhaust port will take up one of your
precious PCI slots.......Not good

In Hackintosh, Some cards only work in PCI slot #1 or #2
Like the problem I had with my WiFi card......Just giving you a heads
up for the future.....

Unless you are "Over Clocking" (Which you are not because you are not buying an unlocked chip)
Then I would have to say that "HEAT" is not going to be an issue......

See my "Sig"...........No case fans, stock CPU cooler !!!!!! QUITE
Best regards HighwayTrucker

You might want to swap your stock CPU cooler with an even quieter one.

 

[Blackstar]

I do understand your concen for heat...........But
A video card that has an exhaust port will take up one of your
precious PCI slots.......Not good

Eh, I got plenty.

Unless you are "Over Clocking" (Which you are not because you are not buying an unlocked chip)
Then I would have to say that "HEAT" is not going to be an issue......

Not unlocked? Ok, now you have me confused. I got the Intel Core i7 920 Processor BX80601920 - 2.66GHz, LGA 1366, 4.8GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, Quad-Core, HyperThreading, Bloomfield, Retail. Same BX80601920 one on NewEgg and TigerDirect, both with customer reviews all listing this as a fantastic over-clocking chip; which I had very much planned on in the future... so is there something else going on? Are you saying it's not overclockable with my mobo for some reason? Cause if so, I have not ordered that part yet. Please feel free to elaborate.

See my "Sig"...........No case fans, stock CPU cooler !!!!!! QUITE
Best regards HighwayTrucker

Very nice. Planning on putting up to 9 or 10 Hard Drives in mine eventaully though, so cool is more important right now than noise.

 

[Blackstar]

See my "Sig"...........No case fans, stock CPU cooler !!!!!! QUITE
Best regards HighwayTrucker

You might want to swap your stock CPU cooler with an even quieter one.

Hehe. Planning on a Corsair Hydro Series H50 eventually myself.

 

[flatfoot]

Unless you are "Over Clocking" (Which you are not because you are not buying an unlocked chip)
Then I would have to say that "HEAT" is not going to be an issue......

Not unlocked? Ok, now you have me confused. I got the Intel Core i7 920 Processor BX80601920 - 2.66GHz, LGA 1366, 4.8GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, Quad-Core, HyperThreading, Bloomfield, Retail. Same BX80601920 one on NewEgg and TigerDirect, both with customer reviews all listing this as a fantastic over-clocking chip; which I had very much planned on in the future... so is there something else going on? Are you saying it's not overclockable with my mobo for some reason? Cause if so, I have not ordered that part yet. Please feel free to elaborate.

I think he was talking about the unlocked Turbo Boost multipliers of the i7 K-series.
I believe your i7 is like my i5: You can set the base multiplier and the base clock (BCLK) and decide whether to turbo boost or not (same for Hyper Threading on yours) but have no influence on the turbo boost multiplier itself.
So, in the end he is just sort of bragging about his more flexible chip. (which is understandable in a way)

 

[HighwayTrucker]

Very nice. Planning on putting up to 9 or 10 Hard Drives in mine eventaully though, so cool is more important right now than noise.

Oooooh....I didnt know that


Yes....im sorry

I was talking about the i7-875K

I thought you were tossed about which one to by (i7-920 or i7-875k)

My bad

BR HT

 

[Blackstar]

I think he was talking about the unlocked Turbo Boost multipliers of the i7 K-series.
I believe your i7 is like my i5: You can set the base multiplier and the base clock (BCLK) and decide whether to turbo boost or not (same for Hyper Threading on yours) but have no influence on the turbo boost multiplier itself.
So, in the end he is just sort of bragging about his more flexible chip. (which is understandable in a way)

Aaaaaah, ok I see I get it. It is a nice chip. Anything over 10,000 eventually though, and I'll be happy. I'm used to Mac Mini's for the last several years, which the best one I have, has a geekbench score in the 3,000's: http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/view/234525

So a machine that can hold my server drives, cost less or the same as a Mac Mini Server, has more expansion and scores 3x's as much in benchmarks? I'm sold.

Very nice. Planning on putting up to 9 or 10 Hard Drives in mine eventaully though, so cool is more important right now than noise.

Oooooh....I didnt know that

Yes....im sorry

I was talking about the i7-875K

I thought you were tossed about which one to by (i7-920 or i7-875k)

My bad

BR HT

No biggie, just gave me a small heart attack.

I had mentioned it maybe once in a earlier post, so you may not have even seen it, my fault. What got the ball rolling on this whole Hackintosh idea, was getting a larger case for my Media Center Server. Right now I'm using a PowerMac G4 1.25GHz MDD with 4TB WD Green Drives and I'd like to expand to 6 or more 2TB ones. Also I like the idea of 'drobo-like' tray-less drive removal/swapping so I picked the Cooler Master 590. That came yesterday and it fits perfectly in my 19inch rack, so made a good choice on that one. It has 9 (5.25) bays and plan on putting in some Antec Easy SATA 5.25"/3.5" Hot Swap Hard Drive Caddies:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Well, that idea got me thinking, why don't I put the Mac guts in the PC case... and finally it evolved into, why not go the full monty and replace the G4 and my Mac mini and get a hackintosh that does everything I want.