February 3rd, 2009
Building an Intel Core i7 system just got cheaper
Building a system based on Intel’s new Core i7 silicon powerhouse is going to cost you and in this climate if you really don’t need the power, you can get a lot of horsepower for a lot less money. But if you’re working in an industry where time is money then investing in a Core i7 platform can save you time and pay for itself.
Going Core i7 is expensive. The CPUs start off at around $300 and go all the way to $1,000. Along with the CPU you’ll also need DDR3 RAM and a Socket 1366 motherboard. The pennies quickly add up.
MSI has made building a Core i7 cheaper by introducing the MSI X58 Pro motherboard.
The MSI X58 Pro is a fully-featured Core i7 motherboard. It supports 24GB of DDR3-1333, two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots supporting Crossfire, six SATA ports, 12 USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port and two gigabit Ethernet ports.
This is the first sub-$200 Socket 1366 motherboards I’ve seen, and ZipZoomFly has it listed for $190.
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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