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My Phenom 2 X4 945 Build: Originally an i5 p55 Build

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I'm going to order this Phenom 2 X4 945 build almost entirely dedicated to gaming, my main point of interest however is longevity of up to 5 years with viable upgrade paths and system wide compatibility, also keep in mind that although I look forward to playing direct X11 games my focus will be on upcoming titles such as Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, and also old titles such as Diablo 2 Starcraft 1 and Counter Strike Source, I appreciate any advice and suggestions, here goes.

Case: Antec 1200 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

Mobo: ASUS Crosshair III Formula AM3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131392

Cpu: AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

Gpu: DIAMOND Radeon HD 5770 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814103086

Psu: Antec TruePower 750W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371025

HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 32mb 7200 RPM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152185

CD/Dvd Drive: LITE-ON Black 24X http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231189

Heatsink/Fan: Stock

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116754

Monitor: Hanns·G Black 28" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

Keyboard: Logitech Ultra-thin Illuminated http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6823126043

Mouse: Logitech MX518 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6826104178

Mouse Pad: RAZER Goliathus Fragged http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6826999069

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver CMQ-22G http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835100012

Total Cost: (Including Tax and Shipping)= $1734.15

Well that about covers it all I think, I realize it is quite an exhaustive list but that's just a product of my personality, the Keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, thermal compound and heatsink/fan are added purely for the opinions and experiences of those who have owned them and used them in the past.
Thanks in advance for all your technical advice and thoughts in helping me with my build.

Regards, Daniel.

Message edited by dreammachine2010 on 11-16-2009 at 06:11:38 AM

------------------------------ when you only spend money on what you love, you end up saving A lot of money.

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Welcome to the forum.

Looks pretty good. For future upgrades (crossfire) you'll need this PSU
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371025

Also get this HSF instead
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-GP 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835103065

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Reply to jbakerlent

Thanks for replying to quickly JB, mind if I ask what your reasoning is for choosing cooler master over my HSF?

Thank you.

Reply to dreammachine2010

Sure, questions are good.
This should help.
http://www.frostytech.com/articlev [...] 419&page=5

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Reply to jbakerlent

Thanks, that was useful.

------------------------------ when you only spend money on what you love, you end up saving A lot of money.
Reply to dreammachine2010

Ohh, the CPU I'm getting comes with a stock cooler, and the CM hyper 212 is out of stock on newegg, would the stock cooler be efficient enough until I could order the new one?

Daniel

------------------------------ when you only spend money on what you love, you end up saving A lot of money.
Reply to dreammachine2010

If you want long-term use then you should consider an ATI HD5850 1GB.

I would wait for the NVidia DX11 cards and see what they have (which will also lower HD5850 prices).

DX11 offers (among other things):
- Tesselation
- DirectCompute

It will take a while but DX11 is going to be a really big deal. I'd read up on it. A lot of applications will use DirectCompute but not for a while.

Having said that, prices on graphics cards drop fast and you can easily swap out your HD4890 later on, whereas your CPU and other components will be just fine.

Gaming with your current design is very good.

*Definitely get a Crossfire/SLI setup. In the future you should keep an eye on Intel's Larrabee. Options may include adding it as a second card, the only card or along with a newer DX11 card. Performance is uncertain but I think this card will be a success though it may serve better as a secondary card to enhance the Graphics or CPU when needed (it does both through a software layer).

Reply to photonboy

@OP, ignore the larrabee comment ^. :sarcastic: Larrabee will not even come close to competing with ATI/Nvidia cards

Message edited by jbakerlent on 11-11-2009 at 10:42:35 PM

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Reply to jbakerlent

The stock HSF is fine if you're not doing much overclocking.

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Reply to jbakerlent

As always Jb, logical and straight to the point, thanks.

Ps. Why aren't my links usable like everyone else? I did the add link thing and C/P'ed them into the external Link table..

------------------------------ when you only spend money on what you love, you end up saving A lot of money.
Reply to dreammachine2010

nvm I got it now.

------------------------------ when you only spend money on what you love, you end up saving A lot of money.
Reply to dreammachine2010

Paste the label between the brackets ][/url]

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Reply to jbakerlent

Please don't jump past photonboy's comments.
A 58xx card is the way to go.
Larrabee is not a gamer's world. It is untested and without drivers for DX11 or Open GL not to mention it's unobtanium. It may be an improvement on an AMD 785 in due time...

Reply to Newf

Lol Unobtanium.. I thought I was the only one who used that word since hearing it in (the core)

------------------------------ when you only spend money on what you love, you end up saving A lot of money.
Reply to dreammachine2010

I use the 22 inch version of that monitor (looks identical, just mine is smaller) and have been quite impressed with it for the price. I kind of went out on a limb, as Asus certainly isn't a normal LCD maker, but it turned out excellent as well as I can tell.

------------------------------ New Build : Intel Core i5 750 > Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P > 2x2GB GSkill 1600MHz CL7 1.65V > Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB >
Antec 300 Illusion > Asus 4850 512MB w/AM Cooler > Corsair 650HX > CM Hyper 212 Plus > Other: PII 940/Gigabyte 790GX/4850 1G
Reply to EXT64

Thanks for that EXT64 I was wondering about my choice ^^

------------------------------ when you only spend money on what you love, you end up saving A lot of money.
Reply to dreammachine2010

I'm thinking of changing from an i5 to a phenom 2 X4 945 and using an AM3 board, still considering all my options as far as price vs performance.

------------------------------ when you only spend money on what you love, you end up saving A lot of money.
Reply to dreammachine2010

You pay a very significant premium for the i5's performance increases. The difference in processor cost is negligible; it's the board where you end up spending big with Intel. Unless you're going to SLI/Crossfire, a 790X will do just fine. Those can be had at about half the price of the sort of Intel board you need to O/C an i5 to realize its full potential.

My advice would be to either go whole hog and put an i7 in there, or go AM3 with an X4 955. The 125W (NOT the 140W) 965 is also a good choice.

I would buy a 5850 rather than a 4890 for the long term, unless you're willing to Crossfire your 4890 as the price comes down and risk DirectX 11 becoming the standard. If adding another 4890 is the plan, you need a 790FX board to go AMD...and that means you should stay Intel.

Reply to Martin Alvito

Martin I swear I've heard that exact response in someone elses thread... and anyways It's already bought, too godly to talk about.

------------------------------ when you only spend money on what you love, you end up saving A lot of money.
Reply to dreammachine2010

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Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - My Phenom 2 X4 945 Build: Originally an i5 p55 Build