System on a Budget

So I am a fairly avid gamer, but for the most parts I stick to mmos. Obviously anything I build can handle wow, but the games out that I would like to experience are looking like Aeion, SWtor, Dragon Age, for the most part the super realism GPU benders like crysis aren't my style, but I am not wanting a system that can likely handle most of what is due out for the next year or two.



So the first system I put together and ran by my wife for approval, judging by the eye twitches I gathered that she didn't approve. I came up with this, hoping to assuage her some. Here it is:

1 x Antec - Three Hundred Versatile Mini Tower Gamer Case ($69.99)
1 x AMD - Phenom™ II X4 945 Quad-Core 3.0GHz w/ 8MB Cache (Retail Box, Socket AM3) ($199.99)
1 x Western Digital - 500GB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA II w/ 32MB Cache ($64.99)
1 x Microsoft - Windows Vista Home Premium x64 (64-bit) DVD w/ SP1, OEM, 1-Pack ($119.99)
1 x Antec - EarthWatts EA 650W Power Supply w/ Triple +12V ($89.99)
1 x Gigabyte - GA-MA790X-UD4P w/ DualDDR2 1066, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, PCI-E 2.0, CrossFireX ($129.99)
1 x Corsair - 4GB XMS2-6400 TWIN2X Dual Channel DDR2 Kit (2 x 2GB) ($79.99)

couple questions,

For video card I planned on going with :

2 X Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 512MB DDR5 PCI-E w/ DVI-I, HDMI
which come in at about 260.

Theoretically I could get a 5850 for 60 dollars more, but no one has them seemingly anywhere in Canada.

I am also curious how this system would far vs the same setup but with:
Asus M4A78T-E w/ Radeon HD 3300, DualDDR3 1333, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, Hybrid CrossFireX, HDMI
with ddr3.


I might be able to afford the better motherboard, and memory OR the better graphics card that MIGHT be available in the next couple weeks, but not really both. Thanks in advance for suggestions.

PS I am in Canada which is contributing to my availabilty problems, and all prices are cdn

The 5850s are hard to get everywhere. I got an available notice email from newegg (US) tuesday afternoon and 4 hours later when I checked they were sold out again.

I would think getting an AM3 motherboard with DDR3 RAM would be a really good idea for future expandability.

I'm seconding the comment about the i5-750. It runs a lot cooler than the Phenoms... and sure 3.0 sounds better than 2.66... but those are two entirely different architectures so that's not really a fair comparison.

Here, have a relevant link!

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid [...] /Practice/

And I think it's worth mentioning that they disabled the turbo mode of the i5 and i7 processors... so I imagine that ultimately lowered the score of the Intel processors. An i5-750's stock speed is 2.66, but the chip automatically ramps up to 3.2 Ghz if it's hit with a non-multi-threaded task. Mine stays cool enough that under full load on all 4 cores it still manages to stay 1 level of above stock (~2.8 Ghz) When I actually get around to overclocking it, there really wouldn't be any competition between it and a Phenom. Sorry AMD Hey, you got my $259 for a Radeon 5850!

I've got some money saving ideas for you...
Video...
2X 4870 for $222
http://www.eworldsale.com/powercol [...] 29335.html

CPU...
This is the same one for $30 less
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?nam [...] e9c609a185

FYI, the prices I gave you are from newegg.ca