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Boris_nei   10-02-2009 at 12:50:35 AM

I have never built a computer before, although I have taken some classes in computer engineering. But for the past 3 months or so I have been lurking and searching the internet, comparing and contrasting. I basically want a build that his great performance and looks beautiful too. The parts I have picked below are what I have found to look the best and perform the best for my needs and beyond. I am just curious about bottlenecks and compatibility issues it could possible have? I would love feedback and criticism, or even other suggestions. Bare in mind I know I am probably sacrificing some performance for aesthetics. My build is themed with blue in mind.

  

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Mid October
BUDGET RANGE: $1200 before rebates
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:
1. Photoshop Image Editing, etc
2. Indesign Editing, Page Layouts, etc
3. Illustrator
4. High End Gaming: L4D, GTA4, WoW, Prototype, Sims3 etc
5. Movies
6. Internet Surfing
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor.
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
PARTS PREFERENCES: Whatever is the best for the price (see comments)
OVERCLOCKING: Maybe, I have never overclocked or built a system by myself. I am a little hesitant about it.
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe, I can not afford two gpu's atm but I want new newest with DirextX 11; so Maybe next year I will buy another to crossfire with.
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1360 x 768, I know tis a weird resoltuion. I have my currecnt computer hooked up to my Samsung 32" 720p LCD HDTV. I eventually plan On getting dual 22' lcd Monitors at 1920x1200.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Essentially I want a powerful pc with good aesthetics. I am willing to sacrifice some performance to get a different color, etc. My Build is theme blue.

 

CPU: 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
Graphics Card: XFX HD-585A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Retail
Motherboard: MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Power Supply: KINGWIN Mach 1 ABT-800MA1S 800W ATX / BTX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply - Retail
Ram: 2xCrucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (with LEDs) Model BL25664TB1608 - Retail
Case: LOGISYS Computer CS888CL Transparent Clear Acrylic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Pre-Assembled - Retail
OS Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
CPU Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
Storage Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
CD/DVD Burner: HP Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA 24X Multiformat DVD Burner LightScribe Support - Retail


Message edited by Boris_nei on 10-02-2009 at 12:57:51 AM
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skora   10-02-2009 at 02:49:49 AM

How soon are you upgrading your monitors? If its more than a few months, don't get the 5850 right now. The prices will come down especially once Nvidia figures out how to answer the cypress cards. But until then, you're paying a new product premium for a whole lot of power you can't even come close to using. I'm guessing you'd save over $40 by the time you buy a 19x12 monitor and so this would be a very effective temp card that should still give you great settings at 1360x768:
Asus 9600GSO $40 amir http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121320
If you have doubts, don't worry about spending any more than for a 4850 1gb, but that's near $100 and you still won't use all the power in that GPU.

That kingwin has to go. Get this instead, more powerful where it counts and a ton more reliable and higher quality. The PSU isn't something to skimp on for the sake of aetstetics.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371022

For the HDDs, any reason for running 2 instead of one? If you're up for one, this performs better than the cav blacks.
Spinpoint F3 1tb $85 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152185

If you want 2 drives, I'd get two of the 500gb spinpoint F3s for $100 total. $50 each: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152181

Interesting case. I'd be a little cautious if you plan to move it semi regularly. Logisys isn't known for paying attention to quality. Read the reviews to make sure you know what you're getting. Hows this Antec 300 Illusion look to you for the same price? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129066

Not the biggest fan of that Zalman. You can do better for the cost, but if you do get a clear case, its more of a style question than effectiveness question. If thats the HSF you want, then get it with this combo for just a tiny bit more: AS5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.228055

Otherwise, look at this site and see whatelse you like that might be a better performer than a 81% on their rating scale.
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm


Message edited by skora on 10-02-2009 at 02:55:24 AM
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Boris_nei   10-02-2009 at 05:00:01 AM

I plan on upgrading around Christmas. Getting one monitor then getting another a little after tax time. I had just though it would be more cost affective to go ahead and get the 5850 now. that 40$ savings on willing to give up. Because if I were to buy that hold me over gpu then it would be the same difference...?

as for the HDDs I was going to run a 160gb STRICTLY for OS and program installs. and use the 640gb for music/photo's or w/e else I would need to store stuff with.

and the fan I actually have a combo dealed with the cpu.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.243042

The power supply I was having questions with. I'm not exactly sure how much power all of my components will need I used acouple of the online calculators and they ranged from 500w to 900w... so I was confused.

The case I am dead set on. it must be clear acrylic. and I don't plan on moving it very much if at all.

Reply to Boris_nei
skora   10-02-2009 at 05:45:11 AM

With the CPU/HSF combo, the price issue is a little better. But there's still better performers out there. But for the same price, this zalman is a better performer. Comes back to the performance vs looks debate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.243150

For the HDDs, more drives = more cables in a clear case. But if you really want 2, I'd still go with the 2x 500gb spinpoint f3s. Performance will blow that cav blue out of the water for the OS and apps. If you feel like treading untested waters, you could try this on the OS drive: http://www.techwarelabs.com/seagate_1-5tb-mod/

If you're thinking of CF 5850s, then that antec I listed with the blue led will get the trick done and it already has 4 pcie connectors, so no adapters needed.

The other option is, get a 790gx board instead of the FX. In the review of the 5850 here, they tested cf on both a X58 and P55 setup to see if there was any noticable performance hit from x16/x16 to an x8/x8 setup. There wasn't. See here: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 33-14.html

So you could wait to buy the 5850 until you buy the monitor, and just use the onboard graphics until Dec. They should be playable, (won't be pretty, but playable) at the 1360x768 resolution. But if you can't wait, buy now, its' your money.


Message edited by skora on 10-02-2009 at 05:46:36 AM
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Boris_nei   10-03-2009 at 12:29:39 AM

I'll take your idea for the GX into consideration. but for now I think I'll stick with the 5850 and the fx. I could possible sell my samsung and get a monitor right away is necessary.

as for the cooler. if it does indeed perform better I might choose that combo. the reviews for the black zalman concern me though. there are a lot of them saying to stear clear if you are using it for an AM3 build.

The HDD idea seems sound, I had actually forgot about cable clutter. And I suppose I could always just partition off 300gb for the apps and use the remain for storage etc etc.

For the power supply if I eventually wanted to crossfire with 5850's would it support it? would I have to upgrade anything in my system to even see a performance difference? cpu, ram, etc?

and it seems I might be abelt o get the monitor this month afterall. seeing as I refuse to by monitors online I was thinking about this. LG - 23" Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD HD Monitor - Glossy Black I might even be able to grab two of them if I sell my tv. which I really only use for a monitor anyways.

taking all of that into consideration I updated my build a little. tell me what you think.

CPU: 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
Graphics Card: XFX HD-585A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Retail
Motherboard: MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
HDD: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
Power Supply: Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7" Power Supply - Retail
Ram: 2x Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (with LEDs) Model BL25664TB1608 - Retail
Case: LOGISYS Computer CS888CL Transparent Clear Acrylic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Pre-Assembled - Retail
CPU Cooler: Combo'd with CPU for $22 Discount ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
CD/DVD Burner: HP Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA 24X Multiformat DVD Burner LightScribe Support - Retail


Message edited by Boris_nei on 10-03-2009 at 01:58:40 AM
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