New gaming system

[shaftymcnasty]

Well, here's what I went with... I figured with the video card that I'm getting (6870) is going to be overclocked it for a little bit and possible go with crossfired 6870s in a couple months, I would need a crossfire board too. The rig came in yesterday and works well. I'm going to have to reseat the heatsink before I overclock. The temps on the CPU when in Prime95 are in the low 50s which I don't like, especially at stock. At least it's a stable CPU. I tried MX-2 as the thermal grease for the first time and I've been an Arctic Silver 5 fan for so long... I know I can get better temps with the AS5. I'm going to run memtest tonight to make sure the RAM is good. I've already ran 3dmark Vantage so I'm sure the new CPU is nice and stable.

Motherboard: ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 (for overclocking and crossfire support)
CPU: AMD Phenom II 955
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 CAS 7 2x2GB (overclocking headroom and better timings at $95)
GPU: Sapphire 6870(on ATI Overdrive it does 990/1090 which seems to be alright without playing with anything else)
PSU: Corsair 650TX (just a great PSU and I love Corsair's PSUs)
Monitor: ASUS VW246H (promo code and instant $40 off, I like it)
Hard drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Heatsink: Cooler Master 212 Plus

Thanks to everyone, especially mfenn, for your help! I know I probably spent more than I should have but I got a new toy and it should last me a good while

 

[shaftymcnasty]

Ran memtest for over 8 hours and no errors, looks like I'm good

 

[Axon]

Low 50s? Hell, my i7 920 goes into high 60s low 70s at stock in Prime. Sounds good to me.

 

[shaftymcnasty]

Low 50s? Hell, my i7 920 goes into high 60s low 70s at stock in Prime. Sounds good to me.

From what I've read about the Phenom II, it's not good to get the temps much over 55. Maybe 60 at the highest. The new Intel chips run much hotter than the AMDs do

 

[Axon]

From what I've read about the Phenom II, it's not good to get the temps much over 55. Maybe 60 at the highest. The new Intel chips run much hotter than the AMDs do

Couple points:

1. Like height, most guys on this and other tech forums totally exaggerate their CPU temps...usually 5-10c lower than they really are.

2. What is the TJMAX for that chip? [edit: looks like 70c]. I used to fret over temps, but as long as you're running stable and well below the TJMAX, you're fine. It does give you something to mess with, though.

 

[shaftymcnasty]

Couple points:

1. Like height, most guys on this and other tech forums totally exaggerate their CPU temps...usually 5-10c lower than they really are.

2. What is the TJMAX for that chip? [edit: looks like 70c]. I used to fret over temps, but as long as you're running stable and well below the TJMAX, you're fine. It does give you something to mess with, though.

I ran Prime again today and was at 50C under load after 10 minutes. It was quite warm in here when I ran it last time, much cooler today. I'm ordering a flash drive tomorrow so I can flash to the new BIOS of my board before I start with the overclocking.

 

[mosox]

Did you order or I shouldn't bother?

 

[shaftymcnasty]

Did you order or I shouldn't bother?

I haven't ordered the flash drive yet, no. Paycheck comes in tomorrow so I'm waiting for that

 

[EJtheK]

Well done on the build! I don't know if you saw my thread after you posted a response at all, but I'm about to wind up with a very similar system! Glad this is working out.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks to everyone, especially mfenn, for your help! I know I probably spent more than I should have but I got a new toy and it should last me a good while

You're welcome!

I think you paid 50% too much for the RAM, but the build is solid. Don't sweat the temps. You're 20C from Tjmax which is plenty safe.