About to purchase....

[vennumb]

Hey guys whats up!! Heard a lot of good things about tomshardware and thought i would post my new comp spec for some critique. I am finally upgrading from a Pentium 4 3.0Ghz 1GB PC. I did a lot of comparing and brushed up on my computer knowledge. So here is the final outcome.

Case - PSI ArmorX Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Red
Power Supply - 750 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-750TX Power Supply Quad SLI Ready
Processor - AMD Phenom™ II X4 940 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
Processor Cooling - Thermaltake MaxOrb CPU Cooling Fan System Kit Silent & Overclocking Proof = Maximum cooling efficiency for quietness and performance
Motherboard - ( [SLI] Asus M3N72-D NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, IEEE 1394, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E/HDMI MB
Memory - 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module
Video Card - NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT 1GB w/DVI + TV Out Video
Hard Drive - 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache]
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive - LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black
Sound Card - 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Network Card - Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Keyboard - USB Keyboard w/ 18 Internet Hot /Multimedia Keys Black
Mouse - 1600 dpi High Sensitivity Internet Mouse Black
USB 2.0 Accessories - Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
Flash Media Reader/Writer - 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black
Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) 64-Bit )
Software/Game - Halo 2 Free with purchase of Microsoft Windows Vista operating system
Warranty - Warranty Service Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support
Sub Total: $960.00

Regarding the Video Card, I plan on upgrading to a gtx 295 once sc2 comes out, and going SLI with 2xgtx 295's once D3 comes out (i know, overkill, but its D3!! lol)

The reason i went with this rig is because the main game i play is World of Warcraft. My Pentium 4 3.0GHz 1GB ram stock video card ran it fine. So i am guessing just by upgrading to all of this that i can max out all the settings with no problem. Adding the GTX 295s and maybe 2-4GB of ram later should bring up to a beast. Also, i needed to keep the rig under $1k. Any feed back? Thank you in advance and i will be checking this thread regularly.

FOR THE HORDE

 

[vennumb]

EDIT: After further reading i have decided to go with this mobo

Asus M3A78-CM AMD 780V/SB700 Chipset w/Integrated ATI video, 8-channels, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Single PCI-E MB

The more i read about SLI and quad-sli gpu with the gtx 295 the more i realize that no game will ever need such a power. For now a single gtx 295 will run everything to near perfection, and i am sure that if the market ever gets to a game that will need 2xgtx 295s then a single video card with the same power will be released by that time.

Thoughts on this??

This puts the new price of the rig at $882.....$967 with shipping.

FOR THE HORDE

 

[vennumb]

*bump*

 

[effel]

Hey don't buy that yet xD. Give me a minute and I'll edit this post with a better suggestion.


Where are you configuring this? Do you need it pre-built or something?

 

[Outlander_04]

If you are building a Phenom 2 rig you should get a motherboard with a 790 series northbridge and VERY IMPORTANT a 750 series southbridge for best performance and overclocking .

Best bang for buck cheap card is probably the 4830 , and if you want a card thats comparable to a GTX 285 then look at a 4850 x2 which is a way better price .
Even a 4890 would be plenty

 

[vennumb]

Effel - Going to buy it from ibuypower.

Outlander_04 - What if i do not intend to overlock it ? i have never overclocked any of my comps yet and try to buy it as built as possible so i do not have to do much tinkering to it. The choices i have for a motherboard are

SLI
Asus M3N72-D NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, IEEE 1394, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E/HDMI MB
Asus Crosshair II Formula NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, IEEE 1394, USB 2.0, 3-Way SLI PCI-E/HDMI MB 3-Way SLI
MSI K9N2 Diamond Nvidia nForce 780a SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, 3-Way SLI PCI-E MB 3-Way SLI
Crossfire
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AMD 790FX CrossFire Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Quad PCI-E MB
MSI DKA790GX AMD 790GX CrossFire Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB

and the one i chose Asus M3A78-CM AMD 780V/SB700 Chipset w/Integrated ATI video, 8-channels, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Single PCI-E MB .

The reason i did not go with the other mobo's is because i do not see my self ever playing a game or doing anything that would require 2x4890's ir 2x295's in sli or crossfire.

Card wise, i will prolly get the 4890 or the 285+ once christmas comes around.

I just have to keep the comp undeer $1k for now, so im focusing on the main components such as processor and psu, so it can handle the graphic card upgrade later.

Your thoughts?? Thanks again for all the feedback and advice.

 

[vennumb]

WHoa O!

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Could be Arriving on April 20th

Maybe i should wait....either A. the price of the 940 will go down, or B. the 955 will be as cheap and it supports ddr3

 

[Helloworld_98]

the 955 will be a bit more, don't forget it is a 940 with an enabled ddr3 memory controller and a higher clock.

 

[effel]

I'm fairly sure if you buy through mwave.com you can pick out more specific parts, similar to newegg or tigerdirect, and you pay them something like $50 to build and test it before they ship it out to you.

 

[vennumb]

hmm did not know that. I will give it a shot.

 

[welshdragon2005]

I'm building one now and I'm running with
- A455-2888 :: ASUS M4N82 Deluxe Motherboard - Socket AM3, NForce 980a SLI, ATX, RAID, SATA, Gbit LAN, Hybrid SLI, 3-Way SLI

Seems like a good choice with the AM3 option for possible future upgrading.

I'm also going with
- EVGA GeForce GTS 250 Video Card - 1024MB GDDR3
- OCZ Fatal1ty 4GB Dual Channel PC8500 DDR2 1066MHz (2x2048MB)
- Kingwin Mach 1 Modular Power Supply - 600-Watt, ATX, SLI-Ready
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS Hard Drive - 500GB, 7200, 16MB, SATA-300
- AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition

I'm not very good with knowing for sure if a mobo is good or not. It's the most confusing part of a rig if you ask me but all of this can be built along with a copy of 64bit Vista Home for about 800-900. Toss in some extra ram if you want since it supports up to 16GB on the MOBO and maybe some sexy fans and you're still under budget.