Need Help Deciding (4890 vs 5770) - Budget Build

kirxander

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Oct 26, 2009
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Hi All. Getting ready to pull the trigger on an order for my first build.


APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within the next few days
BUDGET RANGE: $500

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming (WoW + some newer games), Internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, optical drive, OS (Win 7 Home Premium 64bit)
[see below for PSU, HardDrive and Case that I already have]

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=N82E16817139006&Tpk=corsair%20750

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218&Tpk=WD6400AAKS

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066&Tpk=antec%20300%20illusion

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes (but not right away)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Current 1440x900 (but upgrading in next 3-4 months; probably 1920x1200)

My rough build proposal:

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402

OCZ Obsidian 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3OB1600LV4GK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227495

COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-LB12-GP 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103040

HIS H577F1GDG Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161306

-versus-

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100269VXLE Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102848

First of all, does all of this go together, and will it all fit in my case? lol

Second, 5770 vs 4890? I will want to Crossfire at some point in the future.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!
 

BohleyK

Distinguished
Oct 8, 2009
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Everything you have listed will fit in the Antec 300 but its going to be cramped.

If you're interested in WoW and games with the same GPU demands you should get the 5770. The 5770 will use DX11, its cheaper, cooler, and consumes much less power. The 4890 is for games that really need the GPU strength like Crysis (ugh) but its more expensive, larger, limited to DX10.1, produces so much more heat, and consumes more power.

5770 is the way to go, in your situation. You can always Crossfire later.

=========================================================================================

I have a few suggestions that should save you money and will no doubt increase overall performance.

First, ditch almost everything you have listed :kaola:

I setup a nice build while keeping your price expectations in mind.

CPU: Keep the 720

HSF: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003&cm_re=s1283-_-35-233-003-_-Product

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231275

Total: $260.61

It will cost you about $15 more to go with my suggested setup and it will yield better performance. [:bohleyk:2]

 
I'm gonna agree with THG which puts the 4870, 5770 and nVidia 260 in a 3 way tie for the $155 price point whereas the 4890 sits all alone as the winner in the $190 price point.

Yes, the 5770 has DX11 and uses less power but it also gives up significant performance compared to both THG and anadtech.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2464-4.html

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3658&p=14

"The value of the 5770 in particular is clearly not going to be in its performance. Compared to AMD’s 4870, it loses well more than it wins, and if we throw out Far Cry 2, it’s around 10% slower overall. It also spends most of its time losing to NVIDIA’s GTX 260, which unfortunately the 4870 didn’t have so much trouble with. AMD clearly has put themselves in to a hole with memory bandwidth, and the 5770 doesn’t have enough of it to reach the performance it needs to be at.......

So here’s the bottom line for the 5770: Unless you absolutely need to take advantage of the lower power requirements of the 40nm process (e.g. you pay a ton for power) or you strongly believe that DirectX 11 will have a developer adoption rate faster than anything we’ve seen before for DirectX, the 1GB 4870 or GTX 260 is still the way to go"