Yes I was one of the Lucky Ones?

[babylon5guy]

Hi,
I just recieved my Sandy Bridge i5-2500k cpu and Asrock P67 Pro3 mobo. Needless to say I'm sending it back today, fortunately I had not started the build yet. For a replacement cpu I was looking at the i-5 655k Clarksdale or the i7-870 Lynnfield. The i-5 is a newer core for the $90 price increase for the i7 Lynnfield worth it, is it much faster? And what is up with ASUS mobo's for the 1156 chipset, reading the reviews a lot of failures, same with Gigabyte? I was thinking of sitcking witht he Asrock P55 Extreme 4, what do you think?
TIA

[Nuclear Krusader]

Where are you getting your "reviews" from? Asus is the top manufacturer and their quality is superb. Gigabyte is close behind. Asrock is made by ECS, need we say more?

[David M]

Computer websites that do reviews do not purchase large volumes of computer parts that people like Khalil do. I doubt that most of them have any clue which computer parts manufacturers consistently make quality parts. For their reviews, they are often shipped parts directly from the manufacturer that I would imagine the manufacturer has checked ahead of time to make sure that it works...at least a smart manufacturer would find it in their best interest to do this.

One sample does not determine quality. Dozens to hundreds of samples working out in the field that customers have not had to return I think is the ultimate indicatior of quality.

Because of people like Khalil and glc, PCMech seems to have the inside scoop on what is quality and what is garbage because they have a huge sampling of parts out working in the field. Reviewers do not have this advantage. Their sampling is one at best.

One of the ways statistics and science works is that one sample of something that can vary does not indicate anything about how much the rest of the samples vary.

[babylon5guy]

Thanks David M and Nuclear Krusader, I got the reviews off of Newegg, if you guys say ASUS is the way to go, that's good enough for me. But my main question is about what CPU to get.

[bd1886]

I too did the jump to Sandy Bridge and parts were delivered yesterday. Newegg and Gigabyte both communicated that there would be extended service on the purchase and that we could opt out by refusing the shipment, do build and receive new board when they are available (90 days with Newegg) or RMA CPU/MB.

Curiosity of seeing how well the build went/performance curiosity won out after finding out we have immediate access to an i7/1156 (or Phenom combo) if needed. Call us guinea pigs....or lemmings.

Was there a recent purchase by ECS? Asus used to own Asrock?

[babylon5guy]

Thanks bd1886, I want to build now and don't want to do it again in 3 months. From what I read Sandy Bridge is not earth shakingly better than the iCores now, so I'll stick to the 1156. I hope Newegg pays the postage ha, ha! I too thought Asrock was owned by ASUS, would have never thought of purchasing it if I had know it was made by ECS, I had thought it was ASUS's budget line.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Asrock is designed by Asus, but made by ECS.

Just stick with Asus.

[rwest]

Originally Posted by babylon5guy And what is up with ASUS mobo's for the 1156 chipset, reading the reviews a lot of failures, same with Gigabyte?

The problem doesn't lay with the motherboard manufacturer. Its the chipset provided by Intel. Intel has already owned up to the mistake and is in the process of rectifying it.

[babylon5guy]

Thanks Nuclear Krusader I do intend to do that, but what CPU of the two above do you think is best?

[bd1886]

Just did some looking around and looks like AsRock is no longer produced by Asus, but rather by their "split the sheets" former partner Pegasus. (Must be sub-contracting out to ECS then?)

[David M]

Best is hard to say until the chipset problem is resolved. For the money and speed, the Sandy Bridges are clearly the better deal in the high end category....so if you can, wait. If you can't wait then I would go the more conservative route and buy a tried and true 1156 CPU. Regardless of the nice gesture that Newegg is making, returning a CPU or a board with a crappy chipset is still a big PITA.

Wait to see some light at the end of the tunnel before buying a Sandy Bridge....that's what I think.

[babylon5guy]

Thanks rwest, I have no problem with Intel, but as I said before, I don't want to wait or rebuild over again, so I returning it and going with the Clarksdale or Lynnfield, just want to know which to get.

[rwest]

Yeh, i saw that. I just wanted to ge the finger pointed in the right direction. I actually have no problems with intel either. it's part of the business. Demand to get newer tech out first is such a huge thing, it's no wonder how it happens. Intel will recover and probably the next release will blow away the competition. They won't make the same mistake twice.

[babylon5guy]

Thanks David M, I don't need the latest greatest and you're right it is a pita, so I don't want to go through again. Just want to know if the i7-870 Lynnfield $90 better than the i-5 655k Clarksdale and the Clarksdale has Turbo Boost the Lynnfield doesn't and is that a big deal?

[Nuclear Krusader]

What will the main use for this machine be?

[David M]

Nuclear is right. How fast does it need to be? What are you doing with it?

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by babylon5guy Thanks David M, I don't need the latest greatest and you're right it is a pita, so I don't want to go through again. Just want to know if the i7-870 Lynnfield $90 better than the i-5 655k Clarksdale and the Clarksdale has Turbo Boost the Lynnfield doesn't and is that a big deal?

The i7-870 has turbo boost, its a 2.93ghz processor that turbos up to 3.6ghz. I am running its unlocked variant the 875k, and I love it. Its extremely fast even before OC.

[babylon5guy]

Sorry was gone all day or I would of replied sooner, I do some light gaming, my most advanced game right now is Starcraft II, I might try something a little bit more graphic intense. I do a lot of streaming internet video from news websites, my church, you tube, movies from Netflix and I play the horses once in awhile and watch the races, when I'm doing that I'm running 4 different programs at once. These are the two processors I was looking at Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7870 , Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-655K Clarkdale 3.2GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor BX80616I5655K I am moving my SSD and raptor from my current PC in my signature and I bought a 500 GIG Samsung 7200 RPM for backup. I have already purchased a Video Card - Zotac ZT-40503-10L GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi), 1GB 128 GGR5, Power Supply - Corsair CAPSU-750TX 750 Watt ATX 12V, Memory - Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (2X4) 240 Pin DDR3 1600 Model No. 996776 and a CPU Heatsink Fan XIGMATEK GIA SD1283 R. If I'm going to get a whole lot more speed from i7 for $90 more I'll probably get it but if the i5 really zips along I'll save the money. What Asus mobo do you guys recommend? I'd like USB 3.0, have no use for it now but I could see having a need in the future.

Thanks birddog 61 I didn't know the Lynnfield had Turbo Boost. I had been researching the Sandy Bridges and wasn't paying much attention to the rest.

[glc]

I would get an i5-760. I don't like any of the lower priced Asus 1156 boards that Newegg has in stock right now. I'd probably get this:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Good luck with that samsung hard drive, Zotac video card, and Mushkin ram..........

[babylon5guy]

Thanks glc I would pay more to get something solid. I was looking at the mobo you recommended yesterday. I don't want problems, the whole parts world has seemed to be turned on it's head, things I used to get and were solid no longer seem to be. I was going to get PC Power and Cooling PSU and saw they were bought by OCZ and I went to Corsair. I take it you don't like Samsung, Zotac and Mushkin ha, ha. Those can be returned also, still unopened and in the box. What do you recommend? Again my reasoning, reading the reviews for WD and Seagate on Newegg one bad review after another the Samsung had more eggs and fewer complaints. Seems like when they went with these new high density platters there has been problems. Mushkin used to be one of the better RAM makers out there, and Zotac was on sale and had good reviews. If you remember you gave me advice on a build for me about 6 months ago, but I ran into some financial problems and had to delay it till now, I guess I should have waited another 6 months ha, ha.
Thanks for your help

[glc]

Hard drive: WD Black.

Video card: Asus, EVGA, Diamond, HIS. This card is better than a GTS450.
Newegg.com - HIS H577FK1GD Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

Ram: Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, or A-Data.

[babylon5guy]

Thanks glc I RMA'd video card, ram and HD. Again Newegg took them back no restocking fee and free shipping label because it was part of my Sandy Bridge build and I said I wanted different parts for my new build. They had this ram on sale CORSAIR XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR 3 1600 for $90 so I got that and the video card, mobo, CPU and hard drive you recommened, hope to have it up and running early next week. Thanks again for the help.

[babylon5guy]

Thanks guys for all the help, finally got all my parts (in signature), built it 3 days ago and it is running great, had no problems, assembled it and it fired right up. Windows installed in about 10 minutes, of course getting all the updates, installing all my software and tweaking it took hours and hours ha, ha. Didn't try overclocking it, I'm more than satisfied with it's speed, what a difference from my old Pentium D.

[renowilliams]

I guess you are happy going from a Pentium D. Did you buy the Gigabyte board suggested by glc. Just curious as that is the board I have. I built my system a year ago at Christmas and the board has been great.

[babylon5guy]

Hi renowilliams, yes I did, assembled it in no time and it fired right up and has run without a hiccup since. I was a little leary of it when I was reading the reviews on Newegg, but I had faith in glc and the gang here. I suppose a lot of people who write those reviews don't know what they're doing and a lot of the problems are their fault.

[David M]

Originally Posted by babylon5guy Hi renowilliams, yes I did, assembled it in no time and it fired right up and has run without a hiccup since. I was a little leary of it when I was reading the reviews on Newegg, but I had faith in glc and the gang here. I suppose a lot of people who write those reviews don't know what they're doing and a lot of the problems are their fault.

Amen. Do not base your decisions on Newegg reviews.

[glc]

I always recommend Asus boards, but when I have a situation like this where I have to go with another brand I will look at Gigabyte and Biostar.