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Best $800 to $1200 AMD Phenom II x4 BE Crossfire Gaming Build?

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This build leans towards getting top end performance and future proofing for best bang for buck in mind. The build must include the following: AMD Phenom II x4 Black Edition Processor, AM3 DDR3 2- PCI-e 2.0 16x(2@16x) 790FX/SB750 Crossfire ATX Motherboard, & Two Directx 11 256bit+ PCI-e 2.0 Video Cards.

Tell me your thoughts on this build.

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Two Weeks.

MAX BUDGET RANGE: $1200.00 Before Rebates.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Video/Photo Editing, DVD Ripping/Burning, Movies, Music, Publishing, and more.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Wireless Logitech 310x Keyboard & Laser Mouse Combo, Altec Lansing Speakers(for now), HDD wd2500jb-57gvc0 250GB IDE Western Digital, DVDrw IDE 16x ATA.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com, TierDirrect.com, or any other.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.S.A.

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition, Crossfire w/ Two PCI-e 2.0 16x slots.

OVERCLOCKING: Yes, I want to O.C.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Crossfire.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: currently 1024x768 on Dell E152FP, but was considering the AOC F22 1920x1080 30000:1 LCD(can buy one for $150.)

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CPU

$189.99 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W

CPU Cooler

$29.99 COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve CPU Cooler

Motherboard

$184.99 GIGABYTE GA-790FXTA-UD5 AM3 AMD 790FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

4-8GB RAM

$136.99 Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996657

2 - Video Cards

$159.99 XFX Radeon HD 5750 XXX Edition Video Card - 1GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, CrossFireX Ready, Dual DVI, Dipslay Port, HDMI

WIFI Card

name here

Optical Drive

name here

HDD

$89.98 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Front Bay

name here

PSU

$139.99 CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

Case

$89.98 Thermaltake V9 Black Edition Blk Mid-Tower Case VJ400G1N2Z - ATX, mATX

Extra Case Fans

name here

Display

$144.88 AOC 22 inch LCD 1920X1080 30000:1 F22 DVI Piano Black DCR HDCP

189.99 CPU
$29.99 CPU Cooler
184.99 Mobo
136.99 RAM
159.99 Video
159.99 Video
$00.00 WIFI Card
$00.00 OpticalDrive
$89.99 HDD
$00.00 Front Bay
137.99 PSU
$89.99 Case
$00.00 Extra Case Fans
149.99 Display
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Total-->$1329.90

More about : 800 1200 amd phenom crossfire gaming build

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hunter315 said:
Get the 955, and a 790X board, there is at most 5% loss from 8x/8x vs 16x/16x CF. 2 4850s also isnt the best choice, a single 5850, while costing you more, will perform better and give you an upgrade option in the future.

Also i would swap the 1TB Caviar green for the 1TB F3, it will be significantly faster
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



Ok, swapping out the HDD. But I'm pretty happy with the Mobo. CPU is a different story, I will consider buying the 955 on the day i actually buy it depending on price difference.
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Nice build.. but I would recommend to stay away from that monitor because they usually have a buzzing noisy that come from the back. Try to get a Hannspree (perhaps Samsung although its a little more expensive) they mostly have good quality monitor for the same price and better warranty.

xvtsx said:
Nice build.. but I would recommend to stay away from that monitor because they usually have a buzzing noisy that come from the back. Try to get a Hannspree (perhaps Samsung although its a little more expensive) they mostly have good quality monitor for the same price and better warranty.



We just bought about 500 of these for work and haven't noticed any humming? I do wish they had HDMI though!Please leave a link or model number for a model you do recommend in that price range. TY!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
if you were to go for a 955 and a 790X you could save $118, is that a big enough price difference to justify the switch? I have a 790FX board, but unless you intend to do a 3 or 4 card setup i found that its just not worth it, especially with the recent review by toms on GPU scaling on 8x/8x vs 16x/16x, the price difference for the slightly better performance in some games isnt justified. The 965 certainly isnt worth $27 more since you can just increase the multiplier on the 955 and have an identical chip for free. I like AMD stuff, but the 965 is a fairly useless part for the consumer.

hunter315 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
if you were to go for a 955 and a 790X you could save $118, is that a big enough price difference to justify the switch? I have a 790FX board, but unless you intend to do a 3 or 4 card setup i found that its just not worth it, especially with the recent review by toms on GPU scaling on 8x/8x vs 16x/16x, the price difference for the slightly better performance in some games isnt justified. The 965 certainly isnt worth $27 more since you can just increase the multiplier on the 955 and have an identical chip for free. I like AMD stuff, but the 965 is a fairly useless part for the consumer.




You are right about the processor, I have read that it can be OC'ed to the 965 speed, but then doesn't that mean the 965 can be OC'ed to an even faster speed? I have no problem buying the 955 over the 965 because I have read they are the same processor. I have also heard the same thing about the 3 core cpu they have out can be unlocked to 4 cores.

The Mobo is another story since i like having future options, I like the gigabyte boards for the 2oz's of copper, the heavy duty feel to them, the 6gb sata, usb 3.0, and for having Two - PCI-e 2.0 x16 speed slots. There may not be any difference in speed now for the 8x 8x vs 16x 16x, but there will be in the future and some future proofing is important to me. I see the $185.00 as a good investment on a good solid base for a system that should carry me a few years.

Legion said:
You are right about the processor, I have read that it can be OC'ed to the 965 speed, but then doesn't that mean the 965 can be OC'ed to an even faster speed? I have no problem buying the 955 over the 965 because I have read they are the same processor. I have also heard the same thing about the 3 core cpu they have out can be unlocked to 4 cores.

The Mobo is another story since i like having future options, I like the gigabyte boards for the 2oz's of copper, the heavy duty feel to them, the 6gb sata, usb 3.0, and for having Two - PCI-e 2.0 x16 speed slots. There may not be any difference in speed now for the 8x 8x vs 16x 16x, but there will be in the future and some future proofing is important to me. I see the $185.00 as a good investment on a good solid base for a system that should carry me a few years.




The 965 is just a higher binned part, but it doesn't necessarily mean it can overclock higher than a 955. Quite honestly it depends how lucky you are with your particular chip. I agree with hunter315 on the motherboard as I feel that right now it isn't worth it to pay the premium for 16x 16x as the gains are minimal. The usb 3.0 and SATA 6GB is up to you. I feel that it is a good investment if you plan to keep this system for a few years, but it is worth the extra money. It comes down to whether you feel that it is worth it.

anonymousdude said:
The 965 is just a higher binned part, but it doesn't necessarily mean it can overclock higher than a 955. Quite honestly it depends how lucky you are with your particular chip. I agree with hunter315 on the motherboard as I feel that right now it isn't worth it to pay the premium for 16x 16x as the gains are minimal. The usb 3.0 and SATA 6GB is up to you. I feel that it is a good investment if you plan to keep this system for a few years, but it is worth the extra money. It comes down to whether you feel that it is worth it.





After all the talk I am going to go with the 955, but the mobo GA-790FXTA-UD5 I do feel it is worth it. Honestly it is the one part I feel solid about, the one thing it doesn't seem to have is that new fast booting Express Gate. While writing this I looked at alot of info on USB 3.0 and the 6gbs sata and read they are not up to date themselves as no standards have been set yet and they steal bandwidth from the graphics slots? So maybe I am not as sure as I would like about the Mobo.........
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