New gaming build

[Gelock]

Primary Use: Gaming MMO'S,FPS,RTS and some web surfing and movie's but 90% of time spent in mmo's

Objective: Trying to lower cost some and lower the PSU/PS demand trying not to downgrade the gpu or cpu but i can if it is a must.

Other: I just built a system last year and i need complete system for my 2nd house but i dont want to eat the electric up like my current system. I like the antec 1200 case but i can change it to another. The biggest thing with case that i have is at the place this pc will be it can get really dusty in the summer because its wide open country with no tree's so dust/dirt blows around like crazy.



Case&PSU: Antec 1200&850W http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.335367

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128419

CPU:AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGIBOX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674

Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

RAM:G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

GPU: XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150443

HD:Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

Monitor:ASUS VH226H Black 21.5" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236051

Media: Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD/CD Rewritable Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

Sound: Creative 70SB073A00000 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102006

OS:Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

 

[MadAdmiral]

It all looks good, except for the sound card. They are entirely unnecessary. I highly recommend getting everything else working and seeing if you don't like how it sounds. I you don't like it, buy the sound card later.

Some changes though:

Case: HAF 922 $90 after rebate. Cheaper, and one of the best. Don't be fooled by the "mid-tower" description. It's large enough to be a full tower.
PSU: Silverstone 850W 80+ Silver Certified $150.

I absolutely hate the Antec CP-850. It will only work in 3 cases, which means it either locks you into a future case or you can't reuse it in another build. It also isn't very efficient for the size. The Silverstone above will draw a whole lot less power. For example, if you need 425W (exactly 50% of load) to power the PC, the Antec requires 532W from the wall. The Silverstone only requires 472W. This means a lower electric bill, less heat in the system and a longer life for the PSU.

 

[Gelock]

The other thing i forgot i normal go ASUS but i been reading about the bio's problems and the Phenx4 cpu's not working together without a update. any idea on a asus board that wont be a roll of the dice?

 

[MadAdmiral]

I wouldn't go with Asus anyway. That Gigabyte board is a very good board at a very good price. The boards I typically recommend are that one, the Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 (USB 3/SATA III w/ Crossfire), or the Asus M4A79XTD EVO (Crossfire, no USB 3/SATA III).

I'm using the Asus above right now with the X4 955 and have had no problems.

 

[Alvin Smith]

*** DUSTY ***
I also have a dusty ranch and it is that fine, red, clay dust ... the wind blows it right into the cabin and it even settles on the walls.

So, just a random thot ... Take 5 large washable A/C (HVAC) air filters and hot-glue them into a 5-sided cube .... do a notch-out, for the rear cables and just set it over the sys-unit ... Like a toaster "cozy".

... And so stylish, too!

= Al =

 

[MadAdmiral]

The HAF already has dust filters. And that sounds like a completely retarded idea.

 

[builderbobftw]

Admiral might be on to something here....

Also, Great MOBO for Xfire. It lacks USB 3.0, and SATA 6.0gbs, but it has 4 way xfire, in case you want to xfire later.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130223&cm_re=790FX-_-13-130-223-_-Product

 

[MadAdmiral]

Quadfire is a waste of money for the premium on the board and the cards themselves. You lose a lot of power after the second card in Crossfire.

 

[builderbobftw]

Trifireing a 4870x2 and a 4870 worked well with the last generation cards. I don't know about the new ones, and the board he has doesn't even support xfire at all.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Which isn't that bad. OP's got an HD 5870 in the build. By the time he'll need to Crossfire, there will likely be better options than Crossfire for an upgrade.

 

[Gelock]

Xfire isnt important on this machine i dont plan on putting a 2nd card in.

 

[builderbobftw]

Meh, it will get outdated quickly. 2 years max.

 

[Alvin Smith]

PCIe 3.x is due out in 2011 ... It should almost double the bandwidth/lane.


PCI Express 3.0
In August 2007, PCI-SIG announced that PCI Express 3.0 will carry a bit rate of 8 gigatransfers per second. The final specification is due in the second quarter of 2010 and will be backwards compatible with existing PCIe implementations.[15] New features for PCIe 3.0 specification include a number of optimizations for enhanced signaling and data integrity, including transmitter and receiver equalization, PLL improvements, clock data recovery, and channel enhancements for currently supported topologies.[16]

Following a six-month technical analysis of the feasibility of scaling the PCIe interconnect bandwidth, PCI-SIG's analysis found out that 8 gigatransfers per second can be manufactured in mainstream silicon process technology, and can be deployed with existing low-cost materials and infrastructure, while maintaining full compatibility (with negligible impact) to the PCIe protocol stack.

PCIe 2.0 delivers 5 GT/s but employed an 8b/10b encoding scheme which took 20 percent overhead on the overall raw bit rate. By removing the requirement for the 8b/10b encoding scheme, and replacing it with a 128b/130b encoding scheme with only ~1.5 percent overhead,[17] PCIe 3.0's 8 GT/s bit rate effectively delivers double PCIe 2.0 bandwidth. According to an official press release by PCI-SIG on 8 August 2007:

"The final PCIe 3.0 specifications, including form factor specification updates, may be available by late 2009, and could be seen in products starting in 2010 and beyond."[18]

As of January 2010[update], the release of the final specifications has been delayed until Q2 2010.[19] PCI-SIG expects the PCIe 3.0 specifications to undergo rigorous technical vetting and validation before being released to the industry. This process, which was followed in the development of prior generations of the PCIe Base and various form factor specifications, includes the corroboration of the final electrical parameters with data derived from test silicon and other simulations conducted by multiple members of the PCI-SIG.

= Wikipedia =

 

[Gelock]

Best answer selected by Gelock.