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Would this be a good gaming build?

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I'm in the process of picking out parts for a new gaming PC. Can you help me in getting the cost down a bit and give advice on how I can improve the build?

Budget range: $1100-1250

System usage: Gaming, photoshop, music/video editing, animations

Parts not required: Mouse

Preferred website: Newegg, tigerdirect, zipzoomfly, amazon.

Parts preference: AMD.

Overclocking: Eventually

SLI/Crossfire: Eventually

Monitor resolution: 1920 x 1080


Additional comments: I don't want to have to re-buy any component for the next 3 years or so, that's the reason for getting a 5850. I want to keep the mobo and case for a long time, so splurging on that. OCing the CPU will come later, so the heatsink isn't in the budget.

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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/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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ASUS Crosshair III Formula AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Xtreme Phase w/ ROG Gaming Performance
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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MSI R5850-PM2D1G Radeon HD 5850 5800 Series 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express x16 (2.0v) Video Card Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?Product...
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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/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRH - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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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/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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Acer P235Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 50000:1(ACM) Built-in Speakers - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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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/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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I'm getting the windows 7 64 bit profession edition for $30 because I'm a college student. Overall it comes out to $1315 after rebates and shipping.

Anything?

More about : good gaming build

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Gaming Expert

I would look to switch out your Hard Drive to the Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB Hard Drive. It is cheaper and faster than the WD 640 Black. I would pick up an aftermarket heat sink to start. It will be better to put one in as your start up versus tearing system a part to add one... IMO.

Everything else looks pretty good... I would still look at a Core i7 920 build, if you truly want to last 3 years, specially at your budget.

tecmo34 said:
I would look to switch out your Hard Drive to the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168..." target="_blank">Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB Hard Drive[\URL]. It is cheaper and faster than the WD 640 Black. I would pick up an aftermarket heat sink to start. It will be better to put one in as your start up versus tearing system a part to add one... IMO.

Everything else looks pretty good... I would still look at a Core i7 920 build, if you truly want to last 3 years, specially at your budget.


I was going to go Samsung, but someone said the Black is better. I did find the Spinpoint 750 gb for $65. More storage for lower price. But I've had WD drives before and their warranty of 5 years suits me.

I was thinking about i7, but that would mean going intel mobo and ATI GPU. Also I can't afford both the 5850 and the i7, and since this is primarily for gaming, I chose to go with the GPU.

Why can't the 955 last me 3 years or so? Games haven't started taking advantage of quad cores yet, other than Crysis. I should be able to breeze by the first 2 years and maybe squeak by with some overclocking. But this is my first build, so I don't know much.

If I get some good deals and the build gets down to $1200, I will pick up an aftermarket heatsink. Do I need to buy a fan to put on top of it or will the stock fan do fine? Also I plan to OC the RAM as well to 1600 mhz. Do I need to buy any cooling solutions for that?
Gaming Expert

Samsung Spinpoint F3 is a good hard drive but you can't go wrong with WD Blacks and the 640 version is the fastest! I'm okay with the WD hard drive.

The AM3 955 will last a few years but I'm not sure for three years. I feel the Core i7 (LGA 1366) gives you the best option to last that long. I guess time will tell but you will be good for a year or two.

Most good HSF's come with a fan, so you won't need to purchase one. The stock cooler will do just fine until you decide to OC, if you don't buy one upfront. Your RAM is rated at 1600, so you won't need special cooling for it.
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Gaming Authority

It's looking like a strong performer.

ASUS Crosshair III Formula $200
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz $189
$389
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 $140
$529 total

For comparison you could get:

Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz
ASUS P7P55D EVO 1156 P55
$445 combo deal
CM RC-690 case $70
$515 total

The 5850 is the one item you might want to upgrade in 18months to 2 year time frame. Or you could add a 2nd 5850.
I think the rest is easily good for 3 years.

WR2 said:
It's looking like a strong performer.

ASUS Crosshair III Formula $200
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz $189
$389
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 $140
$529 total

For comparison you could get:

Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz
ASUS P7P55D EVO 1156 P55
$445 combo deal
CM RC-690 case $70
$515 total

The 5850 is the one item you might want to upgrade in 18months to 2 year time frame. Or you could add a 2nd 5850.
I think the rest is easily good for 3 years.


I have two concerns with an i7 build:

1) I've heard intel plans to slowly phase out one of their two new sockets. So I don't want to look back at my next upgrade and have to get a new mobo. Is this a reasonable concern or am I being stupid?

2) Wouldn't my 5850 perform better in an AMD board or is the difference negligible? Also that mobo is 8x8x CF while the ASUS one is 16x16x. But is that difference negligible too?

I picked that case because it's the easiest component to future proof. A case won't go out of use, so I wanted to get a really good and spacey one. The CM 690 is a smaller one with less cooling. Would it still be fine for my purposes? Would it fit the two 5850s?


Gaming Authority

RC-690 will fit two of the larger 5870s without a problem. It has less cooling than the Haf 932 - but it has all the cooling options you'll need. And you can always more fans later if you see temps in your system higher than you like.
The Haf 932 won't actually add any performance to your system over the RC-690.

(1) It shouldn't matter to you over the useable lifespan of your new system.
(2) I haven't seen anything to suggest AMD GPUs work better in AMD MBs with AMD CPUs.

The 16x16 PCI-e lanes vs 8x8 is shown in this article: X58 vs P55 5870 scaling
I know its showing 5870 but the same general principle applies. The difference is more than negligible but is it a noticeable difference? When you're playing above 60FPS its hard to notice the difference between 60 and 70FPS, etc, etc.
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