1800 Ground up Build review and advise

[schitzoflink]

Hello all I’ve been drilling down this build for the last couple of months and now that my tax return is going to be beefy I can finally pull the trigger. I’m looking for any advice or if there is price drop right around the corner I should wait for.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within the next month (just have to wait for the direct deposit)
BUDGET RANGE: Trying to stay around 1800 but if I can keep the sameish build for cheaper of course I’ll go for that Before (preferred!) / After Rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Streaming Video everything else will be easier on the system.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: none completely new build (I even need a chair! Looking for under 150 if anyone can point me in the right direction)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg or Amazon, but I’m not picky…to a point
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD CPU (mainly for the price) Radeon 5000 GPU (DX11 baby!)

OVERCLOCKING: Yes (first time so I’ll probably play it safe)
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes (future upgrade)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: At least 1080p (the current Monitor I’m looking at is an ASUS 23”W) Will also be hooking my Xbox 360 up to Monitor

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I’m looking for quiet and cool, and a clean looking case, but 200 is the limit on my case budget

Here is the current build

Case: CoolerMaster Cosmos 1000 $200

120mm Case Fans: 5 Enermax Magma UC-MA12 to replace the stock fans in case (total) $75

PCI Slot Fan: Evercool SB-F1 (I’m not sure if I even need this but I like the fact that I can put a fan next to
my GPU) $7

HHD: WD Caviar Black 1TB $100 (Should I worry about a heat sink for the HDD?)

MoBo: ASRock M3A770DE $60

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE $165

CPU Fan: Xigmatek HDT-S1283 $37

RAM: OCZ Gold Ed. DDR3 4X2gb Cas 7 $160

GPU: Radeon 5770 1GB (future upgrade x2 for Crossfire) $170

TV Tuner: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 2250 $130

B/R Drive: ASUS Black BR player $105

DVD RW: Sony Optiarc Black DVD $28

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-750TX $120

M&K: MS Wireless Laser DT 5000 (was looking at Logitech's BT M&K but this is $100 less and I think I can
deal will the limited distance) $50

Monitor: ASUS 23” widescreen (didn’t keep the model this is mainly the best I can get with my remaining
budget) $190 Also an HDMI out to a 40" HDTV (but thats not part of this build)

OS: Win 7 pro 64bit

Total: About 1800

I’m also toying with the idea of pulling the Hauppauge and using my old DT (AMD Athlon 64 x2 5400+, 3 gig Ram, Nvidia 9800 GT) as the base for an XBMC but I havn’t researched that at all.

 

[anonymousdude]

Change the HDD to a samsung F3. It's faster and cheaper

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=samsung_f3-_-22-152-185-_-Product

The corsair is a good PSU, but so is this it's just as good if not better and it's cheaper

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151083&Tpk=seasonic


I don't think that you need 8GB of ram so back it down to 4GB and save $80.

The mobo I would get this. SATA 3.0 and usb 3.0.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416&Tpk=790xta

or if you don't care about those this mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402&cm_re=asus_evo-_-13-131-402-_-Product


I don't think you'll need to replace the stock case fans so you'll save $75.

Another case you might consider is the haf 932 or the antec which is slightly cheaper, but this is up to you as the case you have picked is good too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&cm_re=haf-_-11-119-160-_-Product

You could drop the DVD drive as your blu ray drive can write to DVD's, but at a slower rate.

With the money saved from a couple of these parts you could move up to a 5850 for $130 more than the 5770.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150442&cm_re=5850-_-14-150-442-_-Product

 

[gkay09]

^ The mobo doesnt support Crossfire...So you cant have do HD 5770 crossfire...
Here is a build...
CPU + Mobo - Supports Crossfire
X4 965 + ASUS 790X
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.315747

RAM - Why do you need 8GB ? For the tasks that you will do, 4GB would suffice...
GSKillz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

Graphics card + OS
A better card - HD 5850 + WIN 7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.298049

HDD - The Samsung F3s are good
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

CASE + PSU -
Cosmos + CM Silent 850W - Would be good for HD 5850 crossfire...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.324103

Rest are same...Still should be under your budget...

 

[dimmzeta73]

Hey man, I don't see why you are getting such a nice/big case for that build. If the cosmos gives you happy dreams at night, by all means get what you want...but check this case out...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137&cm_re=cooler_master_rc-_-11-119-137-_-Product

you will notice it has somewhat of a "cosmos" look to it, it has great features for a midtower and even better is that this case is 70 bucks.

With the 130 dollar difference you can put that money towards your graphics card 170(ati 5770)+130= ATI 5850. You will love the 5850 becasuse it will be a true champ at your screen's resolutions for the nicer games that are out now, and those that will be coming out in the future. Crossfire 5850's scale well too and you can overclock a 5850 to have 5870 performance. 5850's are quiet too.

 

[schitzoflink]

anonymousdude and gkay09

Thanks for all the help! I don't know how I missed that board not doing crossfire, I did add it at the last min...

So here is what I changed

I got rid of the 5 case fans (i can get them later if it's too loud)
Switched to the 5850
Cut back to 4 gigs (but I kept the OCZ for the lower cas latency)
Switched to the F3
switched the MoBo to the ASUS M4A79XTD
And finally switched to SeaSonic S12D 850 Silver 850W

Total still at 1800!

dimmzeta73 Im going with the Coolermaster for the air movement and the room to upgrade later

 

[anonymousdude]

Almost forgot. If you plan to overclock then you'll need a HSF like the hyper 212+

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&cm_re=hyper_212%2b-_-35-103-065-_-Product

You could add another 120mm fan for a push pull configuration allowing for better cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103063&cm_re=hyper_212%2b-_-35-103-063-_-Product

The memory you may want to go up to a 1333 or 1600. Slightly more expensive, but you might want to think about it. I'm personally a fan of the eco series.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231318&cm_re=g_skill_ddr3_eco-_-20-231-318-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231321&cm_re=g_skill_ddr3-_-20-231-321-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303&cm_re=g_skill_ddr3-_-20-231-303-_-Product

Also if you haven't ordered yet the seasonic deal just ended so you may want to go back to the corsair.

 

[schitzoflink]

anonymousdude all of the specs (at least on the newegg link) say they are designed for i7/i5 will that make a difference? Also about the fans what do you mean push pull? I'm planning on pulling cool air from the bottom and having A pci fan blowing out, plus 3 120mm exausting up through the top and top rear of the case...I guess I just answered my own question?

 

[anonymousdude]

They're marketing gimmicks as intel has the largest market share, but ddr3 memory will work any compatible mobo. The concept is the same, except it is on the actual heatsink. On fan blows, while one fan is an exhaust is the short and simple answer.

 

[schitzoflink]

Thanks! I was wondering (since you've been such help) if you could take a look at this forum post I'm thinking of building my wife a new comp too, but the most she does is edit photos in PSP 9

 

[JackNaylorPE]

anonymousdude and gkay09

So here is what I changed

I got rid of the 5 case fans (i can get them later if it's too loud)
Switched to the 5850
Cut back to 4 gigs (but I kept the OCZ for the lower cas latency)
Switched to the F3
switched the MoBo to the ASUS M4A79XTD
And finally switched to SeaSonic S12D 850 Silver 850W

Total still at 1800!

Hard Drives - Check out the performance charts and pick whatever 500 GB per platter drive performs best under your usage patterns. The WD Black 2 TB is a good choice but at smaller capacities, you are limited to the Seagate 7200.12 or the Spinpoint F3. The 7200.12 excels in gaming, multimedia and pictures whereas the F3 wins at music and movie maker. See the comparisons here (copy past link in manually, link won't work in forum):

(http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1006.html?prod[2371]=on&prod[2770]=on)

The Enermax Magma's are great fans, but I wouldn't throw away 5 good fans to use them.

There are four PSU's that get a 10.0 performance rating on jonnyguru.com, the 1st three make Editor's Choice at www.silentpcreview.com and you did say quiet was an important criteria. Nothing can touch the CP-850 on that front.

Antec SG-850
Antec CP-850
Seasonic MD12-850
Corsair HX-850

Suggest you read the reviews on both sites before purchasing.

I'd suggest looking at the CP-850 in one of it's 3 compatible cases.....Antec P193, P183 and 1200. The CP-850 was $109 on newegg yesterday....$139 today.....unless it drops down again, shop somewhere else....mwave has it for $118.

A 57xx can't do DX11 at 30 fps at 1920 x 1080