Budget Crysis Rig

[DarkEgo]

Okay first of all i would like to give a thanks in advance for reading my thread and helping me out.
Now to the point i am building a new computer because mine current one is a little outdated.
I was thinking of going AMD based but Intel is an option. I have an $840 budget ( minus the video card, i would like to keep my recently purchased HD 3870) and crossfire is an option. I do need a new monitor because my 15 inch LCD is not cutting it anymore.
Now for what i was thinking...
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194

Motherboard: DFI LANPARTY DK 790FX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136044

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 320 GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098

Monitor: ACER 19" 1680 by 1050 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009127 or
Hanns-G 19" 1440 by 900 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254001

RAM: Mushkin 2 GB (2 x 1 GB) DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146764

PSU: Antec NeoPower 650 (Recommendations are really need here.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371010

Speakers: Logitech X-530 5.1 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121126

Mouse: Logitech MX518 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104178

Cooling:

HSF: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003

Video Card: Thermaltake DuOrb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106112

Thermal Compound: Arctic Cooling Mx-2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020

Fans: 2x Rosewill 80mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200027

1x Thermaltake 120mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999122

Case: (recycling from last build) http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=13&pPath=250&productID=254

Video Card: I already have this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103050

Anything that you think should be changed please recommend it to me, or if you have another build that falls into this price range that would be faster please let me know.

I want to be able to play games like Crysis, Oblivion, CoD4, CS:S, TF2, and every new game for the next year or so on high sheetings no AA or AF

 

[Onus]

With a budget of $840 that doesn't have to include the video card, I would think you could get a much faster Intel system.

 

[DarkEgo]

Thank you very much for the quick reply, do you have any suggestions?

 

[Shadow703793]

My recommendations:
E2160/2180
P35-DS3L

Everything else the same. When both the X2 and the E21x0s are OCed the E21x0s will perform much better.

 

[DarkEgo]

I was looking at getting a P35 mother board, but the only things i did not like were the 1st generation Pci-e slots. Will this be a larger hit in performance now or in the future.
Edit: Also aren't Intel Cpu's harder to overclock, overclocking is new to me and i really liked the idea of just increasing a multiplier instead of increasing the fsb and stressing the whole system.

 

[DarkEgo]

Which monitor do you guy's recommend , i know 1440 by 900 is the default 19" resolution but having 1680 by 1050 doesn't sound like a bad idea. And is 5.1 surround-sound that much better then a 2.1 like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121014

 

[DarkEgo]

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jpdykes]

Ok couple of comments:

I would also be in favour of an Intel based system. They are tending to out preform AMD sets. Also Intel are introducing a new design of chip at the end of this year, after that prices for their current design of chips will fall until they dissappear. If you are on your toes you could pick up a much faster processor for not too much in a year or so.

Although you are only spending a few dollars on them and they may seem insignificant now have a look at this thread on case fans:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249858-28-replacement-case-fans-quietness-drive#t1817606
You will really regret having a massively noisy system every time you switch it on. Check it out and shop around for the best deals on the better fans.

If you aren't planning to overclock you can buy a retail processor that will come with an Intel heat sink rather than use an aftermarket one.

Jeremy

 

[uguv]

I'd probably ditch the VGA cooler and spend the $ on a better processor.

 

[Shadow703793]

I was looking at getting a P35 mother board, but the only things i did not like were the 1st generation Pci-e slots. Will this be a larger hit in performance now or in the future.
Edit: Also aren't Intel Cpu's harder to overclock, overclocking is new to me and i really liked the idea of just increasing a multiplier instead of increasing the fsb and stressing the whole system.

There are no current gen GPUs that come close to using PCIe 1.1 bandwidth. PCIe 2.0 is just for future proofing (possibly for the next gen cards with dual GPUs,etc) Also PCIe 2.0 cards are backward compatible.

Intel CPUs (C2D) are much easier to OC now days than their old NetBurst counter parts. If you need help in OCing (providing you got a good OCing motherboard) just PM me or start a new thread.

 

[goonting]

either intel or amd will be great for crossfirex upgrade...
P45 or X38?

 

[y2kgtp]

I also vote Intel Duo chips. You can get a Gigabyte board like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128084
and a E7200 2.53Ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052&Tpk=e7200, and when the Quad cores drop in price, just get a new chip, as the board supports those as well...

 

[Shadow703793]

Who brought this thread from the dead?