Originally posted by googlefudge
Ah, I hadn't spotted the new gen i7's went above 4 cores on client facing CPU's...
It's about time Intel started offering more than 4 cores.
However it still won't help woadman as his MOBO wont support gen 5 processors.
Yep, that's correct as far as I can tell, he'll need a new motherboard. I think the new motherboards can support faster memory as well. The last time I bought a machine I got it from Yoyotech (www.yoyotech.co.uk) as you can specify all the components.
I had a look and the quoted prices are for the fastest most expensive components are:
Extreme Edition i7 5960X with 8 cores is £845.99
An Asus Rampage V Extreme Socket 2011 (assuming I'm looking at the right motherboard) costs £344.99
16Gb of DDR4 memory at 3000MHz costs another £249.99 (the board can take 64 Gb but I don't know the price, probably 4x that)
So far £1440.97
Processor fan 49.99 (Air cooled) ~£100 (Water cooled)
Seasonic 1250W power supply £179.08
Box is another £99.99 (Cheapest was about £30 most expensive £150ish)
£320ish
4 Tb Hard drive would be about £109.99
1 Tb SSD £319.01
Graphics cards aren't necessary the processor has an on-chip card, but he can spend
any amount of money. The cheapest is £39.99 and perfectly adequate.
Probably the best one was £2759.99
AMD - 6GB GDDR5 Sapphire Firepro W9000-31004-29-40A, It claims 1Tflop double precision
The most expensive Nvidia one was £3209.99
NVIDIA Quadro 6000 by PNY - Graphics card - Quadro K6000 - 6 GB GDDR5 - PCIe 2.0 x16 - DVI, 2 x DisplayPort - retail VCQ6000-PB, but can only do 500 gigaflops double precision.
Ignoring the graphics card, by the time he's bought the best processor, motherboard, and memory he's spent so much money he may as well buy a new machine.
A mere £2,000 - £5,000. This is why I compromise and don't insist on the absolute fastest. It's also a reason to wait a few more years. You'll get that kind of power from standard components by the time his current machine starts getting long in the tooth.
Obviously, by making do with a normal i7, a not quite top of the range motherboard, a normal hard drive or a smaller SSD, slightly slower memory, and a sane graphics card you can get a really good machine for £700 to £800.
In any case, the machine he has is really good. I'm actually a little envious of it. Woadman just plain does not need a new computer.