First Build Last Request

[Mr Subs]

RAM & MoBo: OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 AMD 790X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX

GPU & CPU: SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core

PSU & HDD: CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Case: NZXT TEMPEST EVO Crafted Series TEVO-001BK Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower

Speakers: LOGISYS Computer SP6006CL 40 Watts RMS 2.1 Multimedia Clear Speakers w/Blue LEDs[/url]

Monitor: ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor

Surge Protector: BELKIN BP112230-08 8 Feet 12 Outlets 4320 Joules Pivot-Plug

Glasses: Gunnar G001-C001 Catalyst Metal Weezer Onyx Digital Performance Eyewear

Total= $1232.88 + $49.56 S&H

Using it for WoW mostly I think. Not crossfiring. Might buy Hyper 212 heatsink to overclock some in the future.

 

[Mr Subs]

Or

Monitor: Hanns·G HH-231HPB Black 23" 5ms HDMI Widescreen Full HD LCD

Is that better?

 

[antisyzygy]

It looks like a good setup.

From the previous forum we were talking about Samsung VS WD. Basically, the Samsung f3 has certain things its better at than WD, and WD has certain things it better at then Samsung. Basically, the main thing is cost and this being the factor, Samsung is better. I just have a long history with WD and I trust their brand. I have never had one DOA, and I have had only one fail after I used it for 3 years. The first Samsung drive I ever bought was DOA. Im willing to give them another chance, but my instinct was to go WD since I used them frequently before.

Also, OCZ ram I am also unfamiliar with other than the recent OCZ obsidian ram I purchased did not run at full speed and made my system unstable. Corsair and GSkill are known for a better quality product, however Corsair usually charges a premium. I have not heard any worthwhile complaints about the OCZ Platinum ram.

With Monitor and OS and other peripherals that is decent price for good hardware. You may be able to shave off some more if you get certain combo deals. Be sure to check out more combo deals and DIY kits on Newegg to minimize cost.

If you want to overclock, consider getting a Black Edition processor. Otherwise your overclocking capability is limited.

Dont forget a disc drive, a good one is only 25 bucks.

 

[Mr Subs]

So, still that question about choosing the Hanns G over the ASUS monitor, and also I was thinking if one these combos wouldn't be a bad idea instead.

MoBo & CPU: GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core

or

MoBo & CPU: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX
AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core

then with

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) "7 Latency"

GPU: SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100283VXL Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5

I just like those last two blue parts a lot cuz they are blue (vapor-X even has a blue LED) and my case has a clear side panel and lots of blue glowy parts. Also, I heard WoW somehow runs better on a triple-core. That triple-core combo would save $77, but I'm not sure how much performance that would take off.

Got any WoW CPU benchmarks?

O, thanks for reminding me about the ODD.
ODD: Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe -OEM

 

[arthurh]

Hello Evan,

Well I'll give you this....., you certainly do your homework.

Just finished reading your first post of 1/26/'10 and ending 2/3/'10. You really received some great advice going from one platform to another. High end and all in between to low end.

I would like to add one thing to your research list. You said you want this PC to last. I know this was talked about in your earlier thread. Do not cut back on the PSU! As electronic components age they tend to use more power. You might OC, that adds to the power requirements. Your taste in games may change and you up grade your GPU, again using more power.

In 1 year you might wish you had bought a PSU way over-rated for your current proposed build to handle your then newly discovered needs.

I'm not saying a 1000W PSU. However you might consider something in the 550W ~ 700W just for that added safety margin they would give you by not having to deliver any where near their rated "Wattage" rating.

Good luck to you and happy PC building.

 

[Mr Subs]

K I'll think about 500 W and maybe 550 W, but I don't care how many PSU's I buy when or where. I just want to save energy in the long run as much as I can. Maybe I'll go with the 450 W for 6 months- a year or two, and then buy a 550 W and a new part or two and maybe overclock it. I thought ocing didn't use that much more power though. My last thread talked about it only adding a few volts equaling just a few more watts of power consumption I would assume. My build only requires about 250 W or so, I believe, so I should be fine with 450 W for awhile, I think.

 

[arthurh]

The only reason I bring this up is in my experience you can not reasonably have too much power. You may never use it but if at some point you do have a problem with your PC and you chose a good PSU it won't take out your M/BD, CPU and possibly your GPU.

That 450 you picked out may last you for ever...., but I have seen PCs that had they been built with a stronger PSU they would not have needed a new M/BD, CPU and GPU.

Just my opinion mind ya.

 

[Mr Subs]

Ok, this benchmark doesn't have the X3 Rana or the X4 Propus, but it does show and even talk about the Phenom 945.

What does it mean by...
"Quite noticeable is the heavily needed bandwidth of WoW: The Phenom II X4 940 BE and Phenom II X4 945 both have a clock rate of 3.0 GHz - the first computes in combination with DDR2-1066 (5-5-5-18), the latter with DDR3-1333 (7-7-7-21). The calculational bandwidth advantage of more than 20 percent results in a better fps rate of 8 percent only."

Based on these benchmark results, can anyone give me better advice for my build? Could I go with one the alternate combos and parts and get better bang for buck?

 

[Mr Subs]

Ok fine, how does 500 W sound?

PSU: Rosewill Stallion Series RD500-2SB 500W ATX12V v2.2

Can't keep my eyes off blue LEDs. ahhh

Or does 550 W means it always uses that much, or could I get a PSU that only uses as much as it is supplying.

How about...

PSU: XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P3 550W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC

or

PSU: Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W ATX12V v2.01 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply

more blue LEDs haha.

 

[DearSX]

I think 450watts is more than enough, unless using crossfire.

Also I dont think rosswill is a good PSU maker. Antec and Corsair seem to be the most trusted.

Also I like the idea of going from the fist set up to the more affordable one. Looking at benchmarks it looks like WoW loves hi powered Cpus though, so overclocking looks impotant.

Also I'd try and get an Hd5850 if I can afford it.

 

[Mr Subs]

Ok, thanks. hmm, what about the cheaper monitor. Still need more help deciding on CPU combo stuff.
Is the Seagate Barracuda the same as the Samsung Spinpoint cuz the Spinpoint is sold out right now.

I dunno if I want to go for the 5850. It is really expensive. All I want is to stay above 30 fps in WoW even when there is a billion people around me using the cheapest most energy saving parts. I just don't want to be stuck staring at a bush in Dalaran for a half an hour like on my old computer. (Dalaran is popular city in WoW) Thats a little exaggeration.

Need help with CPU, monitor, and HDD please.

 

[antisyzygy]

Stick with the Samsung f3. Its the best bang for the buck right now. I.e. you are getting a highly rated hard drive for 15 bucks less than its competitor. If you want to cut off some money, you could get a Athlon II X4 630. If you get an Athlon II X4 635 its almost better to just pay a bit more for a Phenom II core. An Athlon II is basically similar to a Phenom II but it cuts out the L3 cache. There is an article here on Tomshardware about how Athlon II vs Phenom II has similar performance in gaming. Read these articles, decide what you want to spend on a CPU.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-l3-cache,2416.html?xtmc=do_you_need_l3_cache&xtcr=1

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2520.html?xtmc=best_gaming_cpu_for_the_money&xtcr=2

As far as the Graphics cards, you may want to stick with a 4000 series. The 5000 series does give Direct X 11 compatibility, but WoW is an older game so why do you need Direct X 11 right now? You could always upgrade later. Read this article and decide how much you want to spend.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2521.html?xtmc=best_gpu_for_the_money_2010&xtcr=1

Personally, the AMD Phenom II 955 BE and 2 X 5770's is the best deal right now for CPU/GPU in my book.

 

[antisyzygy]

Oh, and heres a good monitor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254045

 

[Mr Subs]

Ok yea so that monitor is better than I guess. The link about CPUs you put up just made me more undecided about what to get. Dunno whether to get L3 or L2 or Quad-core or tri-core.

Now I'm even thinking back to when I was deciding between all this and the i5 750 and a GTS 250, because you asked if I really need DirectX 11. I dunno if the new expansion Cataclysm, that should come out this fall, will use DirectX 11 or not. WoW supposedly runs better on nVidia, and according to the benchmark I put up on this thread, it runs better on the i5 750 as well.

 

[antisyzygy]

Intel makes some good processors right now, but they also charge a premium. AMD competes at a better value, but their best processor is not as good as the best Intel processor.

This being said, the only thing AMD cannot compete against right now is the i5's and i7's, so if you are in the market for something less than that, AMD is a good choice. Typically, AMD cpus and motherboards are cheaper than Intel cpus and Motherboards.

I personally prefer AMD because I have along history with them. They have always offered a very good product at a fair price. Intel is like an evil empire to me, because they do some unfair business practices, so part of it is principal. I am perfectly accepting of other peoples opinions on this matter, so keep in mind this is only my opinion on the subject.

However, I if you strictly go off of best hardware with nothing else considered, Intel i5's and i7's are your choice.

Basically, WoW will do better with a higher clock I believe. If you ONLY play WoW, just tailor your hardware to it by picking what is recommended. Otherwise, go AMD's AM3 platform and you will have a long lasting general purpose gaming computer.

I don't think that a WoW expansion changes the 3D engine, but I am not sure. I believe if a game uses Direct X 11, it has to support it in its 3d engine which is at the core of the game.

 

[ares1214]

the current WoW will probably run better on nvidia, even though the 5770 is more powerful, so the performance would be about the same. game makers cutomize games to what company is better at the time, so now, most people are going for ati, like dragon age origins, it is newer, and made more towards ati. and also, just like you mentioned, new WoW games are going to be coming soon, and they might be for dx11, and will probably be made more in ati's favor.

@antisyzgy, lol im kinda the same way, intel is more of an evil empire to me as well, amd has normally been nice, fair, and fast, especially my 955...im not a fanboy, as i will still recommend intel in the $1750+ market, but only because amd has no $200+ cpu.

WoW is older, so it would benefit from ther higher clock of the 945, @ 3.0 GHz, so yeah, amd is a good way to go. also, for most games, it is better to have a faster vid card than cpu, since the cpus are so fast, the are mostly bottle necked by the vid card. this is why a 955 with a 5970 is better for gaming than a i7 and a 5850, and even a 620 with a 5970 maybe.

 

[Mr Subs]

Ok I'm just gonna dive in and go for the 945 and get the heatsink. WoW is bottlenecked by the CPU. So, if its not fast enough I'll oc it a little.

Thanks for the help.

 

[antisyzygy]

Good call man.

 

[coldsleep]

Stick with the Samsung f3. Its the best bang for the buck right now. I.e. you are getting a highly rated hard drive for 15 bucks less than its competitor.

The Seagate 7200.12 uses the same size (500 GB) platters, and performs similarly in various benchmarks.

If you can't get the Samsungs, go with the Seagates. WD is not using 500 GB platters on anything smaller than 2 TB right now. (But if you want to buy a 2 TB WD Caviar Black, go for it.)

I'd be surprised if CPU is really a bottleneck for WoW. I mean, anything can potentially be a bottleneck, but I play WoW on a 3-year-old Core 2 Duo with a 2-year-old graphics card, and I still get 20-30 fps in Dalaran. Most of the time, my CPU is at about 30% while playing WoW.

 

[Mr Subs]

hmm well I guess the benchmark would be more helpful if it said what vid cards they were using.

Thanks again, after I'm done building this monster, well, I dunno what I'll do exactly, maybe just have lots of fun. My old computer could use a little work, but it may be pointless since its about 5 years old. Its just that I have my mom's house which is three hours away from my grandma's house where I go to school from, so I sort of need both computers. I don't want to be taking this new desktop back and forth. All that is for another day, though, I suppose.

 

[coldsleep]

hmm well I guess the benchmark would be more helpful if it said what vid cards they were using.

In the chart, they list an nVidia 285 GTX as the card used, which is roughly equivalent to a 5850 according to THG.

The other thing to consider is that the 945 on that chart is averaging over 60 fps at ultra quality (shadows a step down). You are unlikely to be able to determine differences of anything beyond 60fps anyway, so I don't know that it matters much.

The related article about ATI vs. nVidia cards is a little more interesting. They just use an i7-920, but it gives you a clearer picture of what some of the various graphics cards can display at lower resolutions (1680x1050 and below).

 

[ares1214]

a 5850 beats the 285 considerably....

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1451714

but yeah, especially with WoW, most vid cards and cpus can play that easily, as it isnt very demanding, so this should be easily getting 60+fps, at absolute worse dipping down to 45, which is still higher then you can tell...get worried when it drops to 30 or below. also, that 60 number is for ultra quality, and a high resolution, like 1050p or 1080p.

 

[antisyzygy]

a 5850 beats the 285 considerably....

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1451714

but yeah, especially with WoW, most vid cards and cpus can play that easily, as it isnt very demanding, so this should be easily getting 60+fps, at absolute worse dipping down to 45, which is still higher then you can tell...get worried when it drops to 30 or below. also, that 60 number is for ultra quality, and a high resolution, like 1050p or 1080p.

Agreed. I read somewhere a netbook gaming article, I believe it was on gamespot. Anyway, with a netbook that has a dedicated graphics chip, WoW can be played with decent fps on lower settings.

 

[Mr Subs]

Ok, that all sounds good. WoW can be played on a netbook?! Wow, that has to be offensive to blizzard. I suppose there would be some pros to being able to play it anywhere, but I don't really care about that. On another note, this PC should be better than about two Xboxs, correct?

 

[antisyzygy]

Ok, that all sounds good. WoW can be played on a netbook?! Wow, that has to be offensive to blizzard. I suppose there would be some pros to being able to play it anywhere, but I don't really care about that. On another note, this PC should be better than about two Xboxs, correct?

WoW came out quite awhile ago, so hardware was differen't back then. Anyway, that PC should be pretty rock solid.