I NEED HELP, IM A NOOBIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SpecialM]

Ok I am building a new gaming system and I am not the best with computer's... I just need to see your guys opinion on what I put together so far, if its right and if everything goes together... Did I pick the best stuff for that worth of money? My main concern is the MOBO and the CPU if its any good that i had picked out, because i really dont know anything about it.. what is your guys suggestion? What would you change? My budget is somewhere around $1200 w/out monitor. I would really appreciate any help, thank you very much ?

CASE: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068

MOBO: ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131339

VIDEO CARD: EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

POWER SUPPLY: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

CPU/PROCESSOR: AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471

MEMORY: G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209

HARD DRIVE: Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283

CD/DVD BURNER:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152

 

[jyjjy]

For that kind of money go for an i7 system;

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz - $295
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3Rl X58 Motherboard - $200 - $15 rebate = $185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375

OCZ 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 - $155 - $10 rebate = $145
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227375

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB - $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

BFG Tech BFGEGTX2801024E GeForce GTX 280 - $315 - $30 rebate = $285
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143141

Antec Three Hundred Mid Tower Computer Case - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W PSU - $120 - $40 rebate = $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009

LG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - $22
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136149

Total after rebates = $1182

Much better processor, DDR3 instead of DDR2 and 2 more gigs of it, bigger hard drive, better video card, better case, best brand of PSU. If you want to keep it to $1200 before rebates, not after, then go back the the gtx 260 and the 750 gig HD.

 

[dirtmountain]

With your original build since the 790FX is a crossfire motherboard, not SLI i'd go with a HD4870 instead of the GTX260/216. Unless you're a big AMD fan i'd go with the i7 build that jyjjy proposed....except that Gigabyte motherboard is also not SLI capable so i'd go with a HD4870 GPU there also to keep future crossfire alive.

 

[jyjjy]

Going ATI isn't a bad idea. HD 4870 or for a lil more than the gtx 280 I came up with you could even get an HD4850x2

 

[turboflame]

i'd go with the i7 build that jyjjy proposed....except that Gigabyte motherboard is also not SLI capable

Actually X58 supports both SLI and crossfire, so he's good either way.

 

[Outlander_04]

Actually X58 supports both SLI and crossfire, so he's good either way.

Only some x58 boards support sli .


But FWIW stick with Phenom ll and a 790 FX mb . Much better value for money , and very competitive too .
Asus make great motherboards .
Theres some sense in sticking with ATI cards , but if you dont want to crossfire its not a big deal which gfx card you choose .
Mostly by the time you want to add a second card its been replaced by something much more powerful anyway .
Its a nice build .

 

[jyjjy]

How is it better value for the money? An i7 is much better than any Phenom II and what I suggested is only $61 dollars more(cpu+mb)
If you are saying DDR3 isn't worth the money at this point because DDR2 is dirt cheap you have a point but there is a serious performance advantage with i7 + DDR3 and on a $1200 budget it certainly makes sense IMO.

 

[roadrunner197069]

+1 for i7 with the budget. since you can afford the best, why not get it.

 

[jsc]

i7/X58

 

[captaincharisma]

yea thats the problem these days. when you want the best performing gaming system the CPU to go with is Intel these days and if it is just $61 more than the AMD Phenom II then it a no brainer if you want a top system that is futureproof with DDR3 memory. if it was like $100 more i'd stick with the AMD Phenom II

 

[SpecialM]

ok sounds good i guess helps me out a lot. ill get that processor then the i7 but what mother board would be the best one to go with that? and im proly going to be going with a GTX 260 or 280 graphic card, not sure which one yet...

 

[kubes]

I'd say get the antec 900 instead of the 300 noted earlier. the 900 gives you a little bit more room and better airflow. It pays off when you get some of those longer cards and the heat they create.

 

[Cranky1970]

+1 for Kubes suggestion for the 900..

 

[huron]

+1 for the i7 build. You may want to look at the Asus p6t instead as an X58 mobo

Here's $15 off the Asus p6t - EMCABCHFK

Here's $10 off the i7 920 - EMCABCHGG

I also love the Antec 900.

 

[kubes]

Make sure to check for combo deals. I noticed right now at newegg the graphics card that you have selected and evga's x58 mb has a $35 combo deal going for it.

Aslo like huron noted check for the email promitions that are sent out each day. They ussualy have some pretty good parts they offer on there. For example the wd black 1tb is on sale. Just wanted to bring a few of these notes to your attention to save you as much money as possible.

 

[Outlander_04]

How is it better value for the money? An i7 is much better than any Phenom II and what I suggested is only $61 dollars more(cpu+mb)
If you are saying DDR3 isn't worth the money at this point because DDR2 is dirt cheap you have a point but there is a serious performance advantage with i7 + DDR3 and on a $1200 budget it certainly makes sense IMO.

P ll is better value because the web is full of benchmarks showing how it performs in the real world gaming against Ci7
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=79635

So come down off your intel fanboy high horse and save a few hundred $ on your next build

 

[jyjjy]

The web is full of them so you choose to link to a forum thread with cherry picked benchmarks?
Every major tech website has compared the Phenom IIs with the i7s and the core 2 quads. The results are that over all the Phenom IIs aren't usually quite as good as similarly priced core 2 quads much less i7s.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-940,2114.html
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3492
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-phenom-ii-x4_15.html#sect0
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-920-and-940-review-test/

And by hundreds of dollars you mean $61 right? I like AMD and have always used their chips previous to my last build. One of us is clearly a fanboy but it's not me...

 

[Outlander_04]

The web is full of them so you choose to link to a forum thread with cherry picked benchmarks?
Every major tech website has compared the Phenom IIs with the i7s and the core 2 quads. The results are that over all the Phenom IIs aren't usually quite as good as similarly priced core 2 quads much less i7s.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-940,2114.html
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3492
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-phenom-ii-x4_15.html#sect0
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-920-and-940-review-test/

And by hundreds of dollars you mean $61 right? I like AMD and have always used their chips previous to my last build. One of us is clearly a fanboy but it's not me...

Like this cherry picked benchmark you linked to
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-920-and-940-review-test/21
or
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-920-and-940-review-test/21
where the Pll has the edge over Ci7?

Or
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-phenom-ii-x4_7.html#sect0
where the benchmark is skewed by running at low resolutions so the i7 comes out tops? A creditable bench would have been run on monitors that people actually use on high end gaming machines .

The Ci7 doesnt look invincible . It doesnt even look better .
Your links remember . Did you not bother to read them?

And since you asked I have a C2D computer for gaming , but if i was building a quad core today it would be a P ll

 

[jyjjy]

Yes I read them. They ALL conclude that the i7 is better. ALL of them. Read the conclusions of each of them, they aren't confusing(except for the anandtech one. Their conclusion doesn't even bother mentioning the i7 because I guess they don't consider the pIIs to be in the same class of chip.)
And yes, cherry picked, exactly. I posted the Phenom II reviews of the 4 tech sites I read most frequently. You apparently went through the reviews I posted an found a single benchmark of ONE game where at a high enough resolution the phenom has a 3 FPS advantage on the i7? And another where you have a quibble with the testing methodology for gaming performance? Give me a break.
If you aren't an AMD fanboy then why are you tearing apart articles to find any circumstance in which the Phenom had any minor advantage and massively exaggerating the price difference? On top of that smugly suggesting I didn't read them when they ALL conclude in plain english exactly what I'm saying?
The i7 is faster in almost every situation, often to a large degree. That's simply a fact. It's easily worth an extra $61.

 

[Outlander_04]

Yes I read them. They ALL conclude that the i7 is better. ALL of them. Read the conclusions of each of them, they aren't confusing(except for the anandtech one. Their conclusion doesn't even bother mentioning the i7 because I guess they don't consider the pIIs to be in the same class of chip.)
And yes, cherry picked, exactly. I posted the Phenom II reviews of the 4 tech sites I read most frequently. You apparently went through the reviews I posted an found a single benchmark of ONE game where at a high enough resolution the phenom has a 3 FPS advantage on the i7? And another where you have a quibble with the testing methodology for gaming performance? Give me a break.
If you aren't an AMD fanboy then why are you tearing apart articles to find any circumstance in which the Phenom had any minor advantage and massively exaggerating the price difference? On top of that smugly suggesting I didn't read them when they ALL conclude in plain english exactly what I'm saying?
The i7 is faster in almost every situation, often to a large degree. That's simply a fact. It's easily worth an extra $61.

Maybe you just cant count .
Your list of cpu , mb , ram = $625 IF you get the rebates .

the OP's list of cpu, mb, ram = $466

Been a while since I was at school but that looks more like a difference of $159 . IF you collect the rebates . And thats with the OP buying a very expensive 790 FX mb

No use denying it . You are a fanboy

 

[Liderc]

You're a fanboy if you don't think it's wiser to buy a i7/x58 for the small $ increase.

 

[jyjjy]

Can you please have a discussion of computer parts without you being such a smug ass? thnx
The ram is also much faster and there's more of it. I went with 6 gigs because it fit within his budget. Cut that down to 3 gigs of DDR3 vs 4 gigs of DDR2 and you shave about $70-75 dollars off the price difference.
None of this changes that an i7 build fits with-in what he wants to spend and it's a good bit better than a Phenom II system.
If he had less money to spend sure, go with a Phenom II or a C2Q system. If he had come in with a $1000 budget that's exactly what I would've recommended. He came in with $1200 so I recommended the best system he could buy with that money. What exactly is your problem?

 

[aford10]

Can't we all just play nice??

lol...+1 on the i7!!

 

[xthekidx]

+1 for jyjjy's i7 build

Looking beyond the scope of games...PII doesn't compare to the i7 in anything. For games, its a much closer race but for encoding/editing and that kind of thing i7's take the cake.

 

[captaincharisma]

man these AMD fanboys are savages. guys its just a small $61 difference and DDR3 ram is the future. open your eyes clouded by the AMD logo and you will se what is the logical choice for future proofing a build