ATI 5970 and Phenom ii x4 965 Build -- Less than $1500

[oldsoulrevival]

Ok, I know I have posted a lot this week... it is simply because I am trying to sort through the biases, pick and choose the products, etc.

So this is what I have come up with.

CPU - AMD Phenom ii x4 965
GPU - ATI Sapphire HD5970
Case - Antex Twelve Hundred
PSU - Antec cp-850 850W
Ram - Gskills 4 gb (2x2gb) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel
Mobo - MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
HD - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
DVD - TE-ON Black 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support
Heatsink - ZALMAN CNPS 9700

Total = 1498.80 (shipping included)

Now I only have a couple questions really...

1) could some check over, and make sure everything is compatible? From what I have seen, everything should work, but I want another set of eyes.
2) The 5970, that is going to fit in that board, correct?
3 That heatsink will fit in that case right?
4) What do you think? Note: any changes would have to keep it below 1500

 

[tecmo34]

Comments:
■1) Drop down to the II X4 955... Not much difference between the two and will save some additional cash.
■2) Switch the HSF to the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. A better performing HSF for less money and will fit the Antec 1200 just fine.
■3) The 5970 will work on the board and in fit in the case. My question is do you need that much power?? If you are not gaming at 1920x1200 or higher, I would go with the ATI 5870 and you'll still max out pretty much every game at 1920x1080.
■4) Just make sure your RAM is the Cas7 version of the G.SKILLS at DDR3 1600 or drop down to the DDR3 1333 for similar performance. I'm a fan of the G.SKILL ECO RAM, so you might want to look at them, as well.

Everything else looks good (not a fan of MSI boards but that is from a bad personal experience with them but many people like them.)

Also... I would still take your i5 750 build concept from your other post of the II X4 955/965 build. The cost should be pretty similar but the i5 750 is the better overall CPU.

 

[oldsoulrevival]

Comments:
■1) Drop down to the II X4 955... Not much difference between the two and will save some additional cash.
■2) Switch the HSF to the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. A better performing HSF for less money and will fit the Antec 1200 just fine.
■3) The 5970 will work on the board and in fit in the case. My question is do you need that much power?? If you are not gaming at 1920x1200 or higher, I would go with the ATI 5870 and you'll still max out pretty much every game at 1920x1080.
■4) Just make sure your RAM is the Cas7 version of the G.SKILLS at DDR3 1600 or drop down to the DDR3 1333 for similar performance. I'm a fan of the G.SKILL ECO RAM, so you might want to look at them, as well.

Everything else looks good (not a fan of MSI boards but that is from a bad personal experience with them but many people like them.)

Also... I would still take your i5 750 build concept from your other post of the II X4 955/965 build. The cost should be pretty similar but the i5 750 is the better overall CPU.

I am personally a fan of Asus boards. Now that I looked, I have found a few cheaper deals with the 955 in bundles. Any ideas which you would go with out of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131595
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131618

I have heard good things about gigabyte, but I have never used them. All of those are bundles with the 955 (which I can just overclock, apparently very easily, to the 965 speed)

--
I do not NEED that much power... but I do WANT that much power lol. I would like to just keep one board for the next couple years, and then double it in crossfire way down the road.

--
I actually found that heatsink for 10 bucks (instead of the original 50) which is why i went with it instead.

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As for the ram, non of the ones i looked at hadathe CAS 7, so I searched for their Eco and found these two.
Which of these would you choose with whatever board out of the 5 choices I gave?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231321&cm_re=G.SKILL_eco-_-20-231-321-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231318&cm_re=G.SKILL_eco-_-20-231-318-_-Product

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I know the i5 is technically better, but I would have to really overclock it to get up to par with the x4 955 wouldnt i? I have never OCed anything

THANKS!

 

[tecmo34]

■MOBO: I would go with the GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 AMD 790X as your first option or the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X, as the second option out of the four you've listed.
■RAM: I would go with the G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 for a few extra dollars.

Check out the AnandTech Bench (beta): Comparison between the i5 750 and II X4 955, the i5 750 beats the II x955 both at stock speeds, even though the x4 955 has the higher clock speed. You will not need to overclock the i5 750 to match the II X4 955.

 

[anonymousdude]

■MOBO: I would go with the GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 AMD 790X as your first option or the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X, as the second option out of the four you've listed.
■RAM: I would go with the G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 for a few extra dollars.

Check out the AnandTech Bench (beta): Comparison between the i5 750 and II X4 955, the i5 750 beats the II x955 both at stock speeds, even though the x4 955 has the higher clock speed. You will not need to overclock the i5 750 to match the II X4 955.

Agreed, but of he is going to get a HSF I would assume that he is going to overclock

 

[oldsoulrevival]

■MOBO: I would go with the GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 AMD 790X as your first option or the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X, as the second option out of the four you've listed.
■RAM: I would go with the G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 for a few extra dollars.

Check out the AnandTech Bench (beta): Comparison between the i5 750 and II X4 955, the i5 750 beats the II x955 both at stock speeds, even though the x4 955 has the higher clock speed. You will not need to overclock the i5 750 to match the II X4 955.

I would like to Overclock eventually... will an OC 965 be faster than an OC 750?

The only problem is finding a deal on newegg that gives me the i5 around the same price.

I found this board though
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130248&cm_re=msi_1156-_-13-130-248-_-Product

Thoughts? It also has OC Genie which means I wouldn't have to do much in the way of OCing myself

 

[anonymousdude]

If they are overclocked to the same level then the 750 will be faster.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

An i5 would be faster now. But if you do crossfire down the line with that, AMD will have 8-core CPU's for that motherboard, so that will be a cheap upgrade. The i5 socket will never see more than 4 cores.

Besides that, as far as gaming goes the 955 will easily be able to handle everything maxed now and at least for a year or two (possibly overclocking needed, possibly not). CPU requirements for gaming are very different from everything else. Can the i5 encode faster? Yes, but probably that sort of thing isn't as important to someone who is buying a freakin 5970.

 

[yannickhk]

An i5 would be faster now. But if you do crossfire down the line with that, AMD will have 8-core CPU's for that motherboard, so that will be a cheap upgrade. The i5 socket will never see more than 4 cores.

Besides that, as far as gaming goes the 955 will easily be able to handle everything maxed now and at least for a year or two (possibly overclocking needed, possibly not). CPU requirements for gaming are very different from everything else. Can the i5 encode faster? Yes, but probably that sort of thing isn't as important to someone who is buying a freakin 5970.

Agreed (but i am biased lol). Personally I doubt that the i5 750 (or any i5 for that matter) could outperform a PII 965 for gaming ... But hey, let's not start fussing about intel vs amd again. I finished my first build two weeks ago, never done any overclocking in my life and check out my sig .... not the best but i am quite happy with it.

Anyway, you could also go with a gigabyte motherboard, i am very happy with mine, neat looking, lots of software and user friendly BIOS. Like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378 (be careful though if you want to go crossfire down the line, this board has only one PCI slot running at 16x, the other runs at x8 only. Don't know if it changes much, other users might know more about this...)

And for the CPU, make sure to get the 965 125w, as the PII965 140w is the same CPU as the PII955.

If you can afford the HD5970 then go for it.

The hard drive that you've chosen was my first choice but i couldn't find one in Hong Kong, so I bought a WD RE3 instead. I am quite happy with it but it is a bit more expensive. I believe the samsung to be just as good if not better.

I own the gskill ripjaw DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL, and I am satisfied with them. Plugged them in and fired up the PC without a glitch.

And about fitting, the ANTEC 1200 is a big case, you shouldn't have any problems with space.

 

[MadAdmiral]

The i5 will be better for gaming than the Phenom. It's been shown many, many times that the i5 is the best choice for a gaming computer. That said, if by dropping down to an X4 955 build you can afford the next GPU upgrade, it should be done.

For the Crossfire speeds, both the AM3 and LGA1156 sockets will support 8x/8x Crossfire. However, the 16x/16x LGA1366 doesn't gain that much. I believe it's about 4%, and only noticeable (barely) with dual 5970s, which is just stupid.

The Samsung F3 is the best HDD out right now. Anyone who says different hasn't looked at the benchmarks and reviews.

The RAM should definitely be CAS Latency 7, and right now, the 1333 mhz and 1600 mhz Ripjaws are the same price. So the 1600 mhz is a better choice.

I can't believe no one has mentioned the HAF 932 for a case. It's cheaper than the Antec, it's bigger, has roughly the same cooling abilities and it's a lot bigger.

 

[oldsoulrevival]

The i5 will be better for gaming than the Phenom. It's been shown many, many times that the i5 is the best choice for a gaming computer. That said, if by dropping down to an X4 955 build you can afford the next GPU upgrade, it should be done.

For the Crossfire speeds, both the AM3 and LGA1156 sockets will support 8x/8x Crossfire. However, the 16x/16x LGA1366 doesn't gain that much. I believe it's about 4%, and only noticeable (barely) with dual 5970s, which is just stupid.

The Samsung F3 is the best HDD out right now. Anyone who says different hasn't looked at the benchmarks and reviews.

The RAM should definitely be CAS Latency 7, and right now, the 1333 mhz and 1600 mhz Ripjaws are the same price. So the 1600 mhz is a better choice.

I can't believe no one has mentioned the HAF 932 for a case. It's cheaper than the Antec, it's bigger, has roughly the same cooling abilities and it's a lot bigger.

I am going to be playing with i5 and 965 combos over the next few days to find which deal will be best for me.

As for the HAF 932... I REALLY want that case, but there are no good combo deals. The antec case and PSU combo is cheaper by about 30 or 40 bucks

 

[yannickhk]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the HAF 932 for a case. It's cheaper than the Antec, it's bigger, has roughly the same cooling abilities and it's a lot bigger.

Darn, another thing that i wanted and couldn't find ...

Anyway, I got my PII965 and am playing DIRT II maxed out without a glitch .... I wanted Intel first but I invested in a second video card instead ...

 

[MadAdmiral]

There's this combo: HAF 932 and OCZ StealthXStream 700W for $190 after rebate.

Keep in mind that the HAF 922 isn't much smaller than the 932 and is only $100.

 

[oldsoulrevival]

There's this combo: HAF 932 and OCZ StealthXStream 700W for $190 after rebate.

Keep in mind that the HAF 922 isn't much smaller than the 932 and is only $100.

But is that PSU strong enough to carry a 5970, a x4 964, etc etc etc.?

the 5970 said the bare system requirements was 650W, and the recommend (i think) was 850W

 

[MadAdmiral]

I would find a good wattage calculator to check. I know it's a massive card, but it might be enough. The PSU wasn't a particularly strong suggestion, but something to look into.

The 922 is the more serious suggestion. It's about the same size as the 1200 and much cheaper.

 

[oldsoulrevival]

I would find a good wattage calculator to check. I know it's a massive card, but it might be enough. The PSU wasn't a particularly strong suggestion, but something to look into.

The 922 is the more serious suggestion. It's about the same size as the 1200 and much cheaper.

I know the overall dimensions are similar, but I am worried about the heatsink and the 5970 fitting inside of the 922.

I am keeping my eyes peeled for haf 932 deals.

 

[oldsoulrevival]

Best answer selected by oldsoulrevival.