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First AMD gaming build suggestions?

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apologize i didn't catch the rules on posting new builds for suggestions!

approx purchase date: within next 2weeks

system usage: Gaming, surfing the net, movies

parts not required: mouse, keyboard

preferred website(s): newegg

overclocking: since i'm so enexperienced with computer builds i'd say no

additionally: I also need a quality monitor, but this i'm unsure of any suggestions would be great!

Alright, well i'm pretty much a newb to building a gaming rig to say the least. I personally won't be building this one but i'm trying to get my feet wet in choosing the correct parts. Who knows maybe after backseating this build i can do my own next time. But so far this is what i was looking into for a fairly high quality gaming rig. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

case: CoolerMaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Gaming Case.

processor: AMD Phenom™ II X4 945 Quad-Core CPU

cooling: XIGMATEK Dark Knight 120mm CPU Cooling Fan System

memory: 8 GB [2 GB X4] DDR3-1333 Memory Module

grafix: NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX+ – 1GB
OR ATI Radeon HD 4870 – 1GB

motherboard: [CrossFire] Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P -- AMD 790X CrossFire Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB

powersupply: 850 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-850TX Power Supply

harddrive: 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 16M Cache, 7200 RPM, 3.0Gb/s

Message edited by civiSI_fa5 on 10-04-2009 at 09:25:03 PM

Add a reply

Whats your budget? That build has a lot of work that needs done to it. For gaming 8GB wont provide any benefit over 4GB but it will take a lot of money that could go into a better GPU and processor.

Reply to hunter315

That motherboard only says it supports crossfire so the NVIDIA graphics card is a poor idea. Are you looking at crossfiring 2 4870s initially, or starting with a single and buying a second later if you need it? For about the price of 2 4870s you could get a 5850, which would be a much better long term plan IMO.

You probably only need 4GB RAM.

That corsair PSU is a top of the line PSU that will handle 3 graphics cards. You motherboard will only handle two so backing down to the corsair 650 or 750 would make sense.

You should consider an i5 build, depending on budget. It would be pretty close to the same price.

Look at the second post in this thread for soem example builds similar to yours.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ost=269162

Reply to dndhatcher

lol see my limited knowledge on the subject is already showing through...

i'd like to keep the build under $1600 w/o the monitor

as far as graphics cards i was reading that there were issues running wow on dual cards so i was looking for maybe one strong card as oposed to dual weaker cards.

to put it simply i want something that will handle wow at full setting with ease and eventually handle Diablo3 with little to no issues at max settings. while still being able to surf the net and possibly watching a quality blu ray from time to time.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to civiSI_fa5

Gamer: $997.90

adding in a monitor
ASUS 23.6" 1920x1200 5ms Monitor
still only bumps the price up to ~$1200, if you want a bigger hard drive you can get a samsung F3 1TB drive for $80

Reply to hunter315

Sticking to the AMD build :

you wont need 8 gig of ram . If you look through the memory scaling articles on this site you will see that theres very little or no improvement in fps when you use more than about 3 gig ... so a 2 x2 gig kit of low latency [ 7-7-7-20 or lower at the lowest voltage possible ] is the best option .

You also wont need the 850 watt psu . A 650 TX will do fine .

Spend the money you save on the RAM and psu to upgrade the gfx card to the new 5850 Radeon .

With that card/ram/processor it will kick gaming sand in the face of hunters i5 build and cost a little less

The i5 will beat it in encoding situations but thats all and you dont mention encoding at all so IMO stick with AMD

Reply to Outlander_04

i don't even know what encoding is so i'm assuming no. But thanks everyone for your help. Thats why i choose to post here. No BS straight answers, no flaming, and you guys no your stuff. I appreciate it. Any inputs on a good quality monitor?

Reply to civiSI_fa5

civiSI_fa5 wrote :

i'd like to keep the build under $1600 w/o the monitor

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2421.html

------------------------------ If a man speaks in the forest and no woman hears him, is he still wrong ?
Reply to JackNaylorPE

Killer Xeno Pro Gaming Network Card - w/ Game Networking Acceleration + Hardware-accelerated Voice

is this something worth looking into? I mean will it offer a noticable increase in performance?

Reply to civiSI_fa5

nope, not at all. It will provide no FPS increase and even if you have a bad internet connection it wont really help you out. The motherboard already provides gigabit ethernet so card adds no added functionality, maybe 15ms less ping and a tiny bit less loss but for most people those are already pretty low.

Reply to hunter315

and does anyone have experience with:
ACER® (ACRH243HBMID) 24" Widescreen TFT LCD Monitor
and would it work well with my application?

Reply to civiSI_fa5

if sticking with AMD +1 on

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2421.html

although for 1200-1500 without a monitor you should consider Intel.

this is my list:

Cpu & mobo combo:MSI P55-GD80 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.245499

HSF:XIGMATEK Intel Core i7 compatible Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233029

memory:G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231193

GPU: ASUS EAH4890/HTDI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121308

HDD: 2x SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152181

PSU:CORSAIR CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139010

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

DVD: 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

Thermal Grease:Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835100007
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and you also throw this good monitor LG W2242T-BF Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 8000:1(700:1)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824005132

without monitor is all $1,256.32

with that monitor $1,406.31

you say $1,600, and you still have $200 to spare, i would go for Intel and a bigger monitor with the 200 left.

Message edited by snakej on 10-05-2009 at 01:38:31 AM

------------------------------ X4 955 @ 3.752 1.47v 14.0x268
Xigmatek Dark Knight
OCZReaper 2x2gb 1078/5-5-5-12@2.2v
HIS 4890 turbo
Reply to snakej

With his budget there is no reason to go with less than a 5850 graphics card. I am sure he wants this machine to be useful when DX11 matters in a year or two.

I would go with something like hunters build but replace the 4890 with a 5850. A Phenom II x4 build would be fine also, but pair it with a 5850 graphics cards.

I would not go for one of the Toms Marathon builds. Those are designed for the best bang per buck TODAY with no consideration for long term. Quad cheap GPUs is great for maximizing todays dollars but buying a single strong card uses less power, heat and noise and gives you the option to add additional strong GPUs later to further boost performance if you need it.

Message edited by dndhatcher on 10-05-2009 at 05:15:40 AM

Reply to dndhatcher

with the intel build he still has $200 left, he could fit in a 5870 if wanted to. but will that be ok?? I mean he is going to be gaming on a 23.1" monitor as the biggest size, if not a 22'', but i guess you right direct x 11 is something to look at.

Message edited by snakej on 10-05-2009 at 06:02:46 AM

------------------------------ X4 955 @ 3.752 1.47v 14.0x268
Xigmatek Dark Knight
OCZReaper 2x2gb 1078/5-5-5-12@2.2v
HIS 4890 turbo
Reply to snakej

what about this:
Case: CoolerMaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Gaming Case
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 860 Processor (4x 2.80GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD5 -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-E MB
Memory: 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR3-1333 Memory Module
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5850 - 1GB
Power Supply: 750 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-750TX Power Supply
Processor Cooling: Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ 120mm Radiator [SOCKET-1156]
Primary Hard Drive: 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 16M Cache, 7200 RPM, 3.0Gb/s

Message edited by civiSI_fa5 on 10-05-2009 at 09:15:52 AM

Reply to civiSI_fa5

That looks good, although i havent hear any review on that gigabyte, I think you should go with the combo i posted, it can save from 20-30 depending on how much that UD5 const, i think is around the $200 mark, I'll recomend asus or the new improved MSI with DRmoS, because its really good for over clocking, but P55 chipset offer you a wide variety of range between prices, not like x58, so u can chose something between 140 to 200 depending on your budget

------------------------------ X4 955 @ 3.752 1.47v 14.0x268
Xigmatek Dark Knight
OCZReaper 2x2gb 1078/5-5-5-12@2.2v
HIS 4890 turbo
Reply to snakej

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