The 2007 Build of General Melchett, with post-build modifications live here. A promotion from General is Field Marshal. Think Montgomery and a whole bunch of others. Prior to the physical release of the new "Nehalem" Intel Corei7 processors, my previous blog was a little theoretical. Planning the mid-2009 (estimated) build of the successor starts with watching the pricing of the three key components: Processor, Motherboard and Memory:
| 19 Nov 2008 | 25 Nov 2008 | 10 Dec 2008 | 7 Jan 2009 | 9 Mar 2009 | 3 Jul 2009 | 18th Jan 2011 Stage 1 |
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| GA-EX58-Extreme LGA1366 | 549.00 | |||||||
| Gigabyte GA-EX58-DS4 | 401.30 | 367.80 | 339.30 | |||||
| GA-EX58-UD3R | 363.20 | 328.20 | ||||||
| Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME | 473.90 | |||||||
| Gigabyte GA-P67-UD5 SATA3/USB3/DDR3 | 321.90 | |||||||
| Core i7 920 2.66Ghz | 660.00 | 569.95 | 511.17 | 489.02 | 501.20 | 462.70 | ||
| Core i7 950 3.06Ghz | 837.90 | |||||||
| Intel Core i7 2600 3.4Ghz 32nm "Sandy Bridge" | 369.30 | |||||||
| OCZ 6GB DDR3 PC3-12800 Gold Low-Voltage Triple Channel, 3x 2GB (OCZ3G1600LV6GK) | 572.00 | 566.60 | 566.60 | 542.90 | 361.40 | 210.10 | ||
| Corsair 12GB Memory 6x XMS3 2GB Kit, PC3-12800 (HX3X12G1600C9) | 366.30 | |||||||
| G.Skill 16Gb DDR3 memory, 1600Mhz | 301.90 | |||||||
| TOTAL | 1781.00 | 1537.85 | 1445.57 | 1371.22 | 1225.80 | 1001.00 | 1678.10 | 993.10 |
| -6.0% | -5.0% | -10.0% | -18.3% | |||||
January 2011: Updated with the Stage 1 (of two stages) purchase for GENERALMELCHETT upgrade. $993.10 in 2011 vs. $1781 in late 2008. Wow.
I will update the table to track the drift in pricing. These pricings are from AUSPCMarket. I may also be going to the US in July/August 2009, so that also adds another variable. The above prices at AU$ including GST.
- Update 25th November 2008: Changed down the motherboard a model; pricing from Mwave.com.au
- Update 10th December 2008: Waiting for the price of DDR3 memory to drop
- Update 9th March 2009: dramatic downshift of memory pricing makes 12Gb look affordable! The DS4 motherboard is discontinued, with the new UD3R chosen as a replacement in the same price range. I may change this over time. The Intel price has slightly risen, probably due to the exchange rate fluctuations more than market conditions.
Notes:
- Depending on pricing, I may go faster than 2.66GHz in the Core i7.
- I am really happy with the General’s current Gigabyte motherboard: excellent driver support for Vista x64 and rock solid stable.
- Whilst 6Gb is less than the 8Gb now in the General, it is easy to track a 6Gb pack at 1600MHz and see where the pricing tracks over the next 9 months. I may install 12Gb in the Field Marshal. Because I can.
Any other suggestions of online suppliers, or real-world experience with memory – would be great.