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[Solved] Critique my new PII X3 killer build

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - [Solved] Critique my new PII X3 killer build

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Hi! So, here is the build that I've come up with for my upgrade. All prices are as of 08/03/2009 from Newegg.

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard $110
MSI R4890-T2D1G OC Radeon HD 4890 1GB - 2 Of them for CF $179.99 with MIR X2= $360
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) $55
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black $120
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V $65 after MIR

Reusing from previous build:
ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
Seagate 7200.11 700GB HDD
Optical Drives
Full tower case w/ extra fans
24" LCD monitor 1920X1080 resolution.

Grand total: $710

Thinking to get to 3.2GHz on air, and willing to roll the dice on getting to 3.6Ghz and unlocking the 4th core. Will OC the 4890's to 900Mhz, and if they wouldn't mind to even 1Ghz if I get very lucky.I'm a little unsettled about the power supply. There is an option to upgrade to CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 $120 total ($55 extra) after MIR. And I may need it due to OC'd power hungry cards and cpu.

Also, not sure about PCIe slots on the mobo. Since I will be using 2 of them, they will both be x8 instead of x16. I wonder if performance is going to suffer by a lot because of that.

I sold my old gear (Asus mn2-sli, 6400+, 1GB x4 DDR2, 700W PSU, 8600GT) for $320. Therefore, total cost upgrade will be ~$400. I think there should be some improvement over the old config.

Looking for constructive criticism. Thank you.

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Yeah performance will suffer a bit with 8 X 8 crossfire.A 790FX board would have been better with 16 X 16 crossfire.Also it would have been better if the 790FX board was an AM3 one with DDR3 RAM.

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Yeah performance will suffer a bit with 8 X 8 crossfire.A 790FX board would have been better with 16 X 16 crossfire.Also it would have been better if the 790FX board was an AM3 one with DDR3 RAM.

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Reply to jj463rd

should have gotten the Phenom II 945.....

Reply to josh7331

for crossfire setup i7 would be better. I would have only one 4890 in which case rest would be fine

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to ainarssems

ainarssems wrote :

for crossfire setup i7 would be better. I would have only one 4890 in which case rest would be fine

Oh, really?

Reply to wisecracker

jj463rd wrote :

Yeah performance will suffer a bit with 8 X 8 crossfire.A 790FX board would have been better with 16 X 16 crossfire.Also it would have been better if the 790FX board was an AM3 one with DDR3 RAM.

Thats a 790X chipset. It stays at PCiE 8x 2.0. In terms of bandwidth , 8 2.0 = 16 1.0.

I have a 4850 CF on a similar board and i can say it doesn't feel much compared with benchies all over the web.

Reply to radnor

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[Solved] Critique my new PII X3 killer build

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - [Solved] Critique my new PII X3 killer build