Hi folks,

I have been out of the computer building world for about 7+ years I also was in no way able to access the internet till now. It seems many things have evolved since my era, I have been reading much over this last week, trying to play catch up.

I was wondering if I could get some advice, im looking at an aray of computer component's and need to know if my list is compatible. I don't want anything more than maybe a bios flash/update, im hoping that the gear I selected is compatible. Another set of eyes would help.

I thank you all in advance for your time.

1x AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition Quad Core Processor Socket AM2 2.5GHZ 4MB Cache 125W
- http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=29153
Price: $265.62 CAD

1x DFI LP UT 790FX-M2R AMD790FX ATX AM2+ DDR2 2PCI-E CrossFire SATA2 RAID Sound GBLAN 1394
- http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27484
Price: $275.00 CAD

1x Tagan TG900-BZ 900W High Performance LED Modular Power Supplier W/POUCH and Tool
- http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27436
Price: $259.99 CAD

1x Corsair XMS2 Dominator TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF 4GB 2X2GB PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN Memory Kit
- http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=28709
Price: $184.99 CAD

3x His Radeon HD 3870 ICEQ3 775MHZ 512MB 256BIT GDDR4 PCI-E 2XDVI HDTV Out Video Card
- http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27743
Price: $254.99 ea CAD

1x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive
- http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] omoid=1008
Price: $87.98 CAD

Well im going to order these component's today. I will keep you guys updated. I will take pictures and video of assembly. Check back at a later date.

That will be fine.

what os are you going to use? I think you'll need vista for 3way crossfireX...

Vista 64 bit

I looked at the this DFI board before buying my 790FX board. People had problems with the BIOS, of course those could have been addressed by now. Then I looked at the MSI board and almost went with it till a review on hardOCP told of how they literally blew up the thing trying to overclock it. Then I looked at the four slot Gigabyte board and didn't want to have to spend the big bucks on a new case with 10 slots so I could use four cards. I went with my Gigabyte DS5 and figured when the new 4000 series cards come out in a couple months I would just run two of the new X2's for CrossfireX and thats still the plan. I can's see spending the money your talking about for three 3870's at this time, not when the price on those cards will drop when the new ones come out. Or just buying the newer card for what your gonna pay now for those. What are those Canadian prices for the video cards, just wondering since the card is much cheaper at NewEgg.

Well the cards are 250 each roughly. Besides the cards do you think the setup will work well together?

Why the AMD... and why the 790FX?

A good P35 motherboard and a Q6600 would be better (and cheaper)

also why the 900W psu? 500w is more than enough

Well, I want the AMD im a firm supporter of thier product.

I fully acknowledge that intel is a fine setup, I have some already. This is more of a toy than anything else, it will be my first AMD. What sparked my intrest was this:

A fellow named Tony that is employed by OCZ has got his OC'd at 3.5ghz. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=183025

I want to build something similar to see what I can bench with it against my perfectly fine intel system.

that is all.

Edit: forgot the response for the PSU, becuase I got lots of devices, lights, special cooling...etc. I assure you the power will not go to waste or forgotten, im sure my wallet will feel lighter.

Q6600 better than BE9850 for what?. Man asks is this a good choice (and it is), and someone always must cure their frustrations with "which CPU is better?". Did you tried BE9850 and did you compared it with Q6600, so you can teach him something he doesn't know? Go to the store, buy 100 000 pieces of Q6600, go home and be happy. Don't start another flame here.
Knock, i wouldn't choose better myself. Very nice.

Thank you sir, I feel much relief as I wait in anticipation.

Over the last week there was so many good reviews I wanted to pull my hair out and just scream "WHICH MOTHERBOARD!" All the reviews showed Asus, gigabyte, MSI, DFI, and a couple others all doing well. Was a tough decision but I thank you for your response.

^Considering the 9850 is ~$70 more than a more capable CPU... It was a good thing that I asked.

@knock - So your getting the 790fx just for OCing then?

My first choice is ABIT, but since they didn't release any motherboard with 790FX chipset, second choice is DFI. Much, much, ahead than Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI.

He wants to run 3x 3870s in CrossFire. The P35 boards have one PCIe 1.1 x16 slot with 16 lanes and about four lanes left over. Sometimes those four lanes are in an x4 slot, sometimes in a few x1 slots, and sometimes in an x16 slot with 4 lanes. Only the boards with the last configuration can even do CrossFire, and even then it's only with two cards. Anyway, the scaling with two cards will suck due to the 4 PCIe lanes in the second x16 slot being a bottleneck. The X38 would be more appropriate as it is both PCIe 2.0 and has more lanes, but X38 motherboards cost way more than P35 boards do.

The 9850BE and Q6600 are chips that are fairly close in performance at stock speeds. The only advantage to the Q6600 is that you can usually get a little more of an overclock out of it compared to the 9850BE. But the 9850BE has an unlocked multiplier, making it easier to overclock than the Q6600. Intel quads with unlocked multipliers run north of $1000. If I were the OP, I'd pick out a motherboard I like and then get a CPU that fits it, be it an LGA775 Q6600 or a socket AM2+ 9850BE.

I am beginning to think that you missed the part about him running 3 3870s in CrossFire. A 500-watt PSU and a P35 motherboard with one PCIe x16 slot with 16 lanes would have made sense in that case. But it does not with the OP wanting to use 3 3870s and a CPU drawing 125 watts. AMD recommends a >=450-watt PSU for a single 3870, a >=550 W PSU for two 3870s or a single 3870 X2 and a >=750-watt PSU for two 3870 X2s. This looks like the power consumption is 100 watts/card, so the minimum recommended PSU would be 650 watts. A 900-watt PSU may be a bit overkill, but a 650-700 W unit would not be.

I believe it is a fine choice in build also, and what Tony and other's are getting on there 9850's is awsome. I have looked at a JetWay H204 extreme I think is the model, amd shows it as a supported board for the 9850. Anybody have knowledge on this board?? DFI is the better over clocking board from what I have heard. With investing into water cooling i just didn't want to spend $249 on a DFI. LOL, as my wallet is already getting lighter from the 6400+be I just built about 3 and a half months ago.