$900-$1000 AMD gaming rig

Hi everyone!

Im new to this site and love it. I've been building my own computers for a while now, and am currently setting up a good friend of mine with a gaming rig.

Budget:
He has a the max of about $1000 to spend, he'd like to stay around $900 but im sure i can persuade him to go all out if needed

Usage:
High end gaming. He would like it be able to handle upcoming games such as Star Craft 2.

Preferred Website for parts:
The only site i order parts from anymore is Newegg.com. I've had bad experiences anytime i try to save a few bucks by picking a different site.

Part Preferences:
Id prefer to use an AMD Processor and ATI GPU

Overlocking:
I can handle doing some overclocking for him but i probably wont do an extreme amount of it.

Crossfire:
Im more than happy to do crossfire setups.

What he has:
Keyboard, Mouse, Hard Drive, Monitor.

So far on my own research ive found the following.

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129021

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130223

GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150359

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146777

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103674

What do you guys think? I'm pretty open to suggestions. It was fun picking those parts out because the most ive had for a budget before was $600.

Message edited by vonarx on 08-25-2009 at 09:06:04 PM

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Slight overclock and a copy of HAWX for the same price
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150360

Cant see the case, your shopping cart is stored on your account, if you could link to it that would help.

I would switch the ram out for this, its significantly cheaper and the lower voltages will let you tighten the timings more, timings are more important than speed.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820220278

Also if you are going to be OCing it, pick up an aftermarket cooler as its a BE so its an easy OC.

Reply to hunter315

looks pretty solid to me but the deciding vote goes to the other judges

Reply to obsidian86

I don't know what HD he has, but I wouldn't recommend reusing it unless it's a current model. The current models are considerably faster than drives just a couple years old. This build is similiar to yours, but includes the HD and OS. If he does have a good HD to reuse, I would swap out the 4870 1GB for a 4890.

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119197 $99.99

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103674

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131366

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.239849 $312.98 - $15.00 MIR (CPU + motherboard combo) I haven't had good long-term reliability luck with MSI. I like to stick with either Asus or Gigabyte.

mushkin XP 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996657 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146871 $99.99

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102825 $149.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] wd6401aals

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM (Includes free Windows 7 updrade coupon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116677

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] 22-136-319 $169.98 (HD + OS combo)

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner LightScribe Support - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151188 $30.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] &Tpk=750tx $119.99 - $20.00 MIR

Total - $983.91 - $35.00 MIR's

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to shortstuff_mt

Good call on that Graphics card!
i updated the post with a proper case link, sorry about that. Its an Antec 900.

What kind of aftermarket cooler would you recommend? I'm really just starting on the overclocking stuff, I really enjoy it but I want to make sure i do it right.

I'll have to look more into the memory, im just beginning to understand how important timings are.

Reply to vonarx

This is the old stand by:

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail $36.60 - $10 MIR

The Sunbeam core contact freezer is also a good option, but it interferes with the cooling on more boards than the Xigmatek one does.

Reply to shortstuff_mt

shortstuff_mt wrote :

I don't know what HD he has, but I wouldn't recommend reusing it unless it's a current model. The current models are considerably faster than drives just a couple years old. This build is similiar to yours, but includes the HD and OS. If he does have a good HD to reuse, I would swap out the 4870 1GB for a 4890.

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119197 $99.99

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103674

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131366

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.239849 $312.98 - $15.00 MIR (CPU + motherboard combo) I haven't had good long-term reliability luck with MSI. I like to stick with either Asus or Gigabyte.

mushkin XP 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996657 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146871 $99.99

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102825 $149.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] wd6401aals

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM (Includes free Windows 7 updrade coupon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116677

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] 22-136-319 $169.98 (HD + OS combo)

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner LightScribe Support - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151188 $30.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] &Tpk=750tx $119.99 - $20.00 MIR

Total - $983.91 - $35.00 MIR's

The Hard Drive is only about a year old i replaced it for him when his old one finally died out, ill have to check what model it is later on. I definately like that mobo you selected better. My biggest thing is just staying away from Biostar boards....ive had HORRIBLE luck with them in the past.

As regards to OS, it might be smart for him to pick up vista now and get that free upgrade to 7.

Another question...If in the future he decided to Crossfire(Duh i dont know why i said SLI) another 4890 would that PSU Handle it?

Message edited by vonarx on 08-25-2009 at 09:26:04 PM

Reply to vonarx

Yeah the 750TX will handle 2 4890s in crossfire fine. SLI is for nVidia cards.

Windows is currently available combo'd with just about anything so if you dont get the hard drive just combo it with the ram or power supply or something.

Shortstuff's build is very good.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to hunter315

hunter315 wrote :

Yeah the 750TX will handle 2 4890s in crossfire fine. SLI is for nVidia cards.

Windows is currently available combo'd with just about anything so if you dont get the hard drive just combo it with the ram or power supply or something.

Shortstuff's build is very good.

Sweet ill have to bundle it up then. You guys rock, i wasnt expecting this many replys, especially so fast! I cant tell you how much i aprrecaite it

Message edited by vonarx on 08-25-2009 at 10:02:33 PM

Reply to vonarx

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