I need advice, since this is a large investment (for me) and I don't want to botch it up. I'm considering buying a new gaming rig, keeping it below or around $1,400 including monitor and vista. Here's the list:
The plan is to overclock to 3.8 which seems safe since THG did an article about it a little while ago. I have little (or no) overclocking experience so tell me if you see anything wrong.
My primary concerns are that I'm not sure of a good power supply. The hard drive sounds like it has a consistent error for many reviewers (something about making a grinding noise). The temperature created by the 4850 and if the cooler will fit in the mobo/case.
If you see anything else weird or wrong please comment. I appreciate all the advice!
Corsair 750TX is a great choice for that setup, assuming you intend to add a second video card at some point. Same for the MB you picked.
I'd change the cooler to something that doesn't become noisy under load. For example the Xigmatek HDT-S1283. Add this bracket too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233020 The Freezer is a good cooler for mild overclocks, but you're looking for something more serious. The Xigmatek is a high-performance cooler.
Change the HDD to WD6400AAKS if you're not comfortable with Seagate. Don't buy the WD 500GB (WD5000AAKS).
+1 for that mushkin RAM blyn mentioned.
The rest is beautiful.
This case has a lot more fans, which makes it good for an overclocked CPu and two video cards:
@gamecrazy chris: I wasn't sure about getting th 8400. Are you saying it's just as stable as the 8500? If so I guess that's fine, though there's no OEM version so I'll have that extra heat sink. Seems sort of a waste.
I also wasn't sure about the 4870, since it didn't seem to give that much better performance than the 4850. Only a couple of fps higher, though it's probably worth it if I go down to the 8400.
Also, with that RAM, it says its CAS 5. Does that really make much of a difference?
Edit:Actually CAS 5 is fine considering its 4GB. I've used 2 GB for so long I forgot the differences.
Also, that P/S is pretty pricey, at least 2x as much as I already have on the list. Is 600 not enough for 2 4870s (I might get a second in the future).
Message edited by Anonymous on 07-08-2008 at 08:20:09 PM
I think I'll keep with the 4850, I just don't think the 4870 is worth another $100+. Using the 100 I'll switch to the Corsair P/S mentioned earlier.
I'm still sorta sketchy with the processor. I'm really going to be pressing the CPU on gaming and not much else so I'm not entirely sure the 8400 will make it to 3.8 with stability (it's my goal).
I hear you need large voltage increases to get there. Not being an expert on OCing how does this affect the lifetime/stability of the CPU?
Message edited by Anonymous on 07-08-2008 at 08:51:04 PM
I'm still deciding on a cooler (more suggestions please on which is best!), though the Freezer 7 is just a stand in now.
The price as is now is $1389.89.
Message edited by Anonymous on 07-08-2008 at 08:59:20 PM
Case is fine if you prefer the look and size.
E8400 save $40 over E8500
G-Skill 4GB save $10 over Giel
use the $ saved to get that Corsair 750w someone mentioned from above. and if you still have $100 budget go for a ASUS Xonar sound card.
The Xigmatek and its bracket together cost $37 cooler +8 shipping+7 bracket+7 shipping = $59
The Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme/SFF21F combo costs $68+(no idea how much to ship a cooler and a fan), maybe $90
The Noctua is $110, probably, after shipping.
The last two combinations are better than the Xigmatek, i.e. lower temps and dBA, but the differences are small and the price difference is not justified IMO. Of course, this depends on how much money you have and how much you care about noise and so on. You decide.
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In a world without walls and fences, who needs windows and gates?
Yeah i suppose the xigmatek is really good, I just read a lot of a reviews claiming breakage with the pins and difficult installation, but I suppose that's fine. I guess the retention bracket helps with that?
I have yet to install a LGA socket CPU so I'm not sure about the difficulty (I've had a lot of simple budget builds thusfar so...AMD, but I haven't built something for myself in 5 years). I'll change it for now unless someone else give me a better arguement for something else.
Not sure what a sound card adds, I'd guess it's like blu-ray dvd. You can live without a soundcard fine, but once you get a sound card, you miss it when it's gone. Something like that?
Message edited by Anonymous on 07-08-2008 at 10:43:15 PM
Yeah, the bracket helps with the installation and also makes it safer to move the PC around.
I think it's a bit easier to install AMD CPUs these days. Obviously this is not a major issue, otherwise AMD would do much better in the stock market.
I don't think you need a sound card. You are getting a very good motherboard and its onboard audio is not bad at all. Try without a sound card for a while. If you've got very good ears and very good speakers and you listen to music in uncompressed WAV format or from CDs (not MP3) then it may be worth buying a sound card. Just my opinion, of course.
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In a world without walls and fences, who needs windows and gates?
The vga card is more important to gaming than the cpu. Cut back to a E8400 if you must and gat a 4870 card.
You will not buy a monitor often, so get a good one. Look for a good 24" monitor. I saw some glowing reviews of the Soyo 26" monitor. $379.99 @ officeMax. http://www.pocketdeal.com/deal-Off [...] 46231.aspx
The vga card is more important to gaming than the cpu. Cut back to a E8400 if you must and gat a 4870 card.
You will not buy a monitor often, so get a good one. Look for a good 24" monitor. I saw some glowing reviews of the Soyo 26" monitor. $379.99 @ officeMax. http://www.pocketdeal.com/deal-Off [...] 46231.aspx
Yeah I suppose that's a good point about the VGA card's importance to gaming. I may consider just spending more to get a better card.
The power supply responses have been mixed, would 610 be enough for future crossfire with another 4870/4850? Right now I'm with that 750 which is plenty.
As to the monitor, it's a nice suggestion, but I think that mine is sufficient. After living off a 15.4'' laptop monitor, even a 17'' widescreen seems quite large enough. I suspect going from 15.4'' to 22'' will impress me enough. I'm also in college, I think the 22'' maxing the size for the small space I'll be in.
Also, I'm seeing various GTX260s around selling for 300 bucks. Shady, or really good deal? Would it be better going for the 260 than the 4870 if it were $300? I'm more concerned about temperature and noise than performance since they're pretty close to each other in benchmarks (I think). What I haven't seen is comparisons between the noise and temps of a "fixed" fan controller 4870 against the 260.
Define "best" then.