Computer Tech
So I reconfigured the computer I was going to buy last year. A snappy little Intel four-core 2.4GHz processor operating at 1066MHz front side bus. The motherboard was from eVGA... nVidia SLI-ready, also operating at 1066MHz FSB. The 4GB of RAM was from Kingston, of course, and also certified to be nVidia SLI-ready, meaning that with the nForce chipset, the RAM would manage to operate far more efficiently. It also operated at 1066MHz FSB. This thing was tuned down to the very last detail, and therefore would have absolutely zero performance bottlenecks that can be avoided.
Without the motherboard, processor and 4GB of RAM, everything else (two video cards, two hard drives, a case, a Creative X-Fi card, keyboard, mouse, power supply and brilliant 24" widescreen Dell monitor) would total about $2,261.91. These are the components that I probably won't change. I'm looking to get two nVidia GeForce 8800GTX and two Seagate Barracuda 320GB drives. As far as I can tell, the 8800GTX is about the best there is. The GeForce 9 series, I've read, is nVidia's attempt to break from the biggest and baddest and shoot for more affordable "bang-for-the-buck" cards. Still good, but not the ultimate best. I haven't done any research yet, but that's what I've read at face value. I may upgrade the drives to larger capacities, but, all in all, the base price is $2,261.91... With the equipment I listed that runs at 1066MHz FSB? That price hits $2856.87.
The issue comes from faster front side bus speeds and brand new DDR3 RAM. The current maximum FSB speed for Intel systems is 1600MHz, with 1333MHz stuck in the middle between it and 1066MHz. As far as I can tell, that's the only difference between these new things... The bus speed. DDR3 is overall faster in more ways than just clock speed, but it's same idea. Taking the base price of $2,261.91 for everything but the motherboard, processor and RAM? Configuring a computer for 1333MHz would shoot the price up to a whopping $4,221.87. This is because the only Intel processor running at 1333MHz FSB (that I could find) is part of the Extreme line, which is... Extreme in both price and speed. A new motherboard to support these speeds and DDR3 RAM? Major price increase. Do you even want to hear the price for a 1600MHz FSB system? Taking the base price, it'll all add up to $4931.87. Not much of a price increase over 1333MHz, but this isn't tuned at all for nVidia SLI and certified compatible RAM, which I'm going to consider very important, seeing as how the entire idea of this new computer is to have an nVidia-driven powerhouse.
So my question to all (read: none) of you readers is this: Is there truly a benefit between going from 1066MHz to 1333MHz? What about from 1066MHz to 1600MHz? Would something like this be more like a processor going from 3.0GHz to 3.2GHz and just not make enough difference to justify a nearly $2000 price increase? Would it be worth it to invest in DDR3 RAM? What about 1066MHz DDR3? It would have to be nVidia certified, of course, because I'm obsessive-compulsive like that. The entire point is to run SLI, so... Keep that in mind!