new machine build

[kmacewan]

currently building a machine... buying parts weekly so it doesn't bankrupt me, planning on starting next week.

got about $1000 +/- a couple if needed. would prefer to stick close to 1k.. here's what i got so far.. all from newegg. looking for a solid gaming rig that'll last a few years and ensure an easy upgrade path in the future should i need it. i game on my 42" LCD TV at 1920x1080 .. preferring high settings. would prefer not to overclock much (definitely no special cooling requirements)

Case: Antec 902 (purchased already.. not factored in cost)

Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T

Mobo: ASUS Crosshair IV

Memory: 8GB (2x4GB DDR3 1333 (PC10666)) G.Skill brand .. i figured 2x4GB is better than 4x2GB so i have the option of going up to 16GB without junking memory down the road?

Video: Using my 9800GT 512MB for now, looking at a XFX (lifetime warranty!) Radeon 5770 also if it can fit in the budget.

Storage: have several drives already.. OS on 32G raptor. SSD some time down the road

Power Supply: Not sure what to do here.. I found an XFX P1-650X-CAG9 for $99 on newegg that was highly reccommended.. may use my current Antec 750w supply for now (should be sufficient i would think?)

Eventually, i want both machines to operate, but i'm totally willing to swap things over for now. From a hardware standpoint, most of it is worthless though.. it's an old Socket 939 nforce4 board

thoughts?

 

[mfenn]

First, I wouldn't buy the parts piecemeal. In general, you're better off just saving the money and buying all at one. Couple of points about the build:

• A Hexacore isn't going to do much for gaming. The 955BE is half the cost and will perform just as well. The next big gaming performance bump on the AMD side is going to be Bulldozer which is coming out late next year and should work in Socket AM3.
• I really don't see the point in getting a super-expensive mobo if you're not going to be doing extreme overclocking or Crossfire. Something like the GA-870A-UD3 is less than half the cost and will perform just as well
• Post the model number of your current PSU. Since it is a 750W Antec, it should be more than sufficient.

With the savings you get by switching out the parts mentioned above, you should be able to easily afford a 5850.

 

[kmacewan]

First, I wouldn't buy the parts piecemeal. In general, you're better off just saving the money and buying all at one. Couple of points about the build:

• A Hexacore isn't going to do much for gaming. The 955BE is half the cost and will perform just as well. The next big gaming performance bump on the AMD side is going to be Bulldozer which is coming out late next year and should work in Socket AM3.
• I really don't see the point in getting a super-expensive mobo if you're not going to be doing extreme overclocking or Crossfire. Something like the GA-870A-UD3 is less than half the cost and will perform just as well
• Post the model number of your current PSU. Since it is a 750W Antec, it should be more than sufficient.

With the savings you get by switching out the parts mentioned above, you should be able to easily afford a 5850.

hrmmm.. that Gigabyte board looks solid.. as does the proc.. appreciate the suggestions! The PSU i'll have to look up when i get home.. i know it's an Antec TruePower and i'm *fairly* certain it's 750.. i remember overbuying big time on it when i got it after my Sparkle 500W crapped out

 

[Reincus]

First, I wouldn't buy the parts piecemeal. In general, you're better off just saving the money and buying all at one. Couple of points about the build:

• A Hexacore isn't going to do much for gaming. The 955BE is half the cost and will perform just as well. The next big gaming performance bump on the AMD side is going to be Bulldozer which is coming out late next year and should work in Socket AM3.
• I really don't see the point in getting a super-expensive mobo if you're not going to be doing extreme overclocking or Crossfire. Something like the GA-870A-UD3 is less than half the cost and will perform just as well
• Post the model number of your current PSU. Since it is a 750W Antec, it should be more than sufficient.

With the savings you get by switching out the parts mentioned above, you should be able to easily afford a 5850.

+1

Get a more reasonable motherboard and CPU, if gaming is your thing. You probably don't need the 8GB of RAM either, go with 4.

750W will do you more than fine. Unless you run Xfire, you really only need a 500W max.

 

[kmacewan]

got it all ordered!

ended up going with the following

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 ...

GPU: XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Drives i'm swapping over from my current machine.. 32gb raptor for OS, couple of 500GB drives for storage.

excited to get this thing put together and check it out!

 

[MisterDonut]

I would've dropped to a 4GB kit and used the money on an SSD, but looks like you have your stuff done . Happy building! You should be able to bump it up to 3.6-3.8 on the stock cooling. Up to you.

 

[mfenn]

:thumbsup: Looks good to me!

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

I would've dropped to a 4GB kit and used the money on an SSD, but looks like you have your stuff done . Happy building! You should be able to bump it up to 3.6-3.8 on the stock cooling. Up to you.

werd up homes.
haven't checked RAM prices recently but 4x2gb is/was cheaper than 2x4gb if you NEED 8gb.
otherwise a 2x2gb is more than enough for anything now. toss in another 2x2gb later if needed.

 

[kmacewan]

4x2 and 2x4 are both ~$200 so that wasn't too big of a deal..figured if i was going 8GB (i do multitask beyond gaming so i figure it will help) i'd rather leave 2 spots open for upgrading beyond than junk 2 sticks later on. i figured i'd wait on the SSD's because i've read on here that there are a few newer models being launched (one by intel iirc) that were pretty slick in previews?

thinking about picking up a Hyper 212+ cooler.. Think i could get it up to 4ghz with that?? (apparently i lied about not oc'ing)

 

[mfenn]

Not sure about 4GHz, try Googling around. Donut may also know.

 

[MisterDonut]

I haven't done too much reading on the Thuban, but I know one of my friends thats hovering around 4.0 using a Tuniq Tower 120 or something like that. Has decent temps, I think. Hyper 212+ is probably equal if not better than a TT. I haven't seen them reviewed together often.