Field Marshal Melchett

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
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.

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