$2200 Budget for Brother's New Build

For that price range you should be going for a i7, with a 5870 or even 5970, first I will begin with the monitor, really do not spend 670 dollars on a monitor, mainly when you can get 3 dell monitors with displayport for eyefinity. What about save money and get this monitor?
Take the SSD out of your build, the main use of it by what I see if you don't spend thousands on it is a boot drive which is just going to make the boot process faster, so what, save money and get a better system which he would be a lot happier with.

The case you chose is fine, though I like the antec 902 better, so I would suggest it.

Get TWO (2) ATI 5870 instead

The processor a i7 920

The optical drive if he is going to use blu-ray is fine, if not just save money and go with a normal dvd burner
The operating system is also fine.

For the PSU get something better so it will be able to handle the crossfire of 5870'sCorsair 850w

As I changed the processor you will need to change the motherboard too, I would suggest the ASUS P6T LGA 1366

And as changed the platform for a triple channel platform get 3 sticks of ram like this ocz 6gb (3x2gb)


The total is 2213 after rebates and shipping, though if you want to make it under 2200 just lower your os to a windows 7 home premium 64

My brother lives alone in a little studio so he needs this to be his TV also. He also really likes LED-LCD, says anything else just sucks lol. So keeping the monitor, what do you recommend?

What is he going to be using this for? I ask mainly because in a lot of cases 8GB of RAM is overkill and unnecessary.

It looks like from the motherboard that he will want to crossfire at some point, which the OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W can't do without using adapters. Also if you are in the US and using Newegg then the OCZ is sold out.

I would get either of these: Antec TruePower New TP-650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC $99.95 with $5.99 shipping. OR SILVERSTONE ELEMENT ST60EF 600W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC $89.99 with $10.18 shipping.

I think you should look to see if you can get a Blu-Ray reader and DVD burner separately for cheaper.

Now, i like the PSU he has. It's cheaper, and has higher wattage output. And the seggestion about BLu ray reader and Dvd burner seperatly is stupid. You lose the ability to write blu rays, wich is the point of a blu ray RW. But i agree about cutting the ssd out, use money save towards a 5970, or save some cash.

It has higher wattage output because it has far too many Amps on the 3.3 and 5 volt rails which aren't that useful. In modern PSUs you want the amps to be on the 12V rails. Also the OCZ 700W is sold out on newegg atm.
Blu-ray burners aren't worth the price yet. And can the one he has in mind actually burn blu-rays?
I would appreciate you calling me stupid a bit more if your spelling was any good.

1. Lies, in stock.

2. Yes, it can. That's what rw stands for.

3. I didn't call you stupid, just the moronic things you were typing.

Get a smaller SSD(60GB should be fine for a boot drive) and 4GB of RAM instead of 8GB, and put the money towards a i7 920 and x58 mobo.
Also, stick with the CM 690 II, because the only thing the 902 can claim over it is size, and the 690 II will easily fit a 5850 anyway. It offers more features such as a mobo tray cutout, radiator mounts on top and bottom, an SSD mounting bay, a HDD dock, etc.
700W does not complement a 5850 well. 550-650W is fine for one 5850, 800-900W for two, if you plan of CrossFiring in the future. A 700W is more for a CF 5770 setup or something like that.
Last thing, get a Samsung Spinpoint F3 or Seagate 7200.12 1TB drive; because they use 500GB-per-platter drives, they're faster and run cooler. They're not any more expensive either.

EDIT: Oh, and since the max res on TVs including the one you listed is generally 1920x1080, the 5850 is perfectly fine. A 5970 would be a waste of money.

That Blu-Ray drive is a combo drive, guys, so no, it can't burn Blu-Ray discs, only DVDs and CDs.
There are multiple OCZ 700W models. The one VigVoodoo referred to is currently sold out at newegg.com.
builderbob, do your research before criticizing others.

Well, if you won't change the monitor the only thing I would change from the build i made up there is just get 1 5870 instead of 2

Okay, a 32"+ LED-LCD TV is a must, so 1080P resolution Max is a must by default. Staying within the $2,200 budget, before rebates, is also a must. Keep in mind Newegg charges us 9.25% tax.

With that said, I have the following questions:


What PSU is better for $60 shipped with tax, than the OCZ?

Some of you recommend going i7 920, can I switch to LGA1366 and stay within budget?

Others recommend a 5870/5970, will I stay within budget?

Is $217.99 shipped with tax too much for the Intel 80GB X25-M G2 SSD?

Is cutting program/game/boot time by half not worth $217.99?

Why switch to the 60GB Corsair SSD when the 80GB Intel is much faster and only $15 more?

My brother has Netflix with Blu-ray rental so why is the Blu-ray drive not worth it?

And last but not least, why switch the $95 WD Caviar Black when in every review it's the fastest 1TB hard drive?

1. Hard to find a better one for $60.
2. If you drop the SSD, yes, you can switch to LGA 1366 and stay within budget. I would recommend doing this because you can always add an SSD later. Switching from LGA 1156 to LGA 1366 would require a new CPU, new RAM, and a new mobo.
3. A 5850 is perfectly fine for 1920x1080. Don't spend an extra ~$100+ for a 5-10% performance increase.
4. No, $220 for an 80GB is normal. But IMO SSDs in general are overpriced ATM. Wait a year or two to see if prices fall.
5. No, the SSD is probably not worth it with your budget. Since the TV costs $610, the remaining $1500 should be put towards the essential core components like CPU and graphics card. If you find a few combos and have money to spare, shoot for an SSD if you want. Just don't make it a priority.
6. Unless you listed the wrong SSD, that Intel SSD is NOT faster. It has 250MB/s read and 70MB/s write; the Corsair has 250MB/s read and 110MB/s write. Also, it costs $35 more. I'm not sure what you're looking at.
7. The Blu-Ray drive you listed IS worth it. It's a combo drive, basically a Blu-Ray reader and a DVD burner put together. At $100, it's not that bad, though you probably can find a $60 BR reader and $25 DVD burner. Silvune said that BR burners are not worth the price yet; this is true.
8. Every review you've looked at must be pre-500GB-per-platter HDDs. Samsung F3's are the drives to get, and if they're out of stock, Seagate 7200.12s aren't bad either. 500GB-per-platter means 500GB HDDs are single-platter; 1TB, double-platter; etc. This means they run faster and cooler, and are more power efficient. Bottom line: WD is falling behind. That 1TB used to be the fastest.

Newegg charges me taxes so the Corsair would run $202.10 with tax, the X25-M G2 $217.99. That's a $15.89 difference. Also the X25-M G2 is much faster.

Intel X25-M G2 80GB vs Corsair Reactor 60GB




The Intel just kills the Corsair.

Hm, interesting. In that case, if you really want an SSD, just go with the Intel.
Do you mind showing us where you got those benches? I'd like to do some research myself.

Check out the official Corsair forums.

Stay away from SSDs, money is better spent on displays, or graphics.

Drop the SSD get the 5870 and a i7 =D

No, you only need i7 if you want to run multi GPu systems. otherwsie its overpriced/useless.

He will only be running the single 32" LED LCD at 1920x1080. As others here stated, a single HD 5850 is enough. So, if one is enough then I do not need full x16 speed SLI/CrossFire support. No need for full speed Crossfire/SLI kind of renders any i7 LGA-1366 advantages mute.

Ok, so taking SLI/CF out of the picture, the i5 is in fact faster than the i7 920. The only i7 I should even be considering is the $270 LGA-1156 i7 860, which is on par with an i7 950.

So based on Anandtech's i5 750 review I find no reason, for this single GPU build, to go LGA-1366 i7. If I'm wrong please tell me why?


Performance advantages the i5 750 has over the i7 920:

+2.2 FPS Fallout 3
+10.4 FPS Left 4 Dead
+3.7 FPS FarCry 2
+1.6 FPS Crysis

If you want multi gpu, go for AM3. That 4 pcie Quadfire mobo and a 955 would be $330, 30$ more than the price of an i7-920 alone.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Well, yes the 5850 is enough, so is the i5, though are you really going to spend $2200 ($1500 without the monitor) on a build which is i5/5850 when you can get the i7/5870?

Well he purchased the case, SSD, Win7, and TV yesterday. He has $1,080 left, what should he do with that?

He shouldn't have bought the SSD. Anyways, to late now. I like tohe motherboard buecuase it has lots of PCi-e slots, for sound cards, or quadfire, or whatever at less than 170$. Total comes out to 929$ with a 5850, so im gonna upgrade that to a 5870 and a Hyper 212 for an extra 130$, to 1049$.

Build:

Antec 1200+Cp-1000W antec PSU combo deal
MSI 790FX-GD70 MOBO
X4 955 AMD CPU
Samsung spinpoint f3 1tb drive for DATA storage.
OCZ 4gb ddr3 1600
Radeon 5870, free ship for under 400$
Hyper 212 cooler, great for OC or just stable operation.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I added all the items you posted into my cart for check out and the total came out to $1,542.70 with Windows 7 Pro, that's $462.70 over budget   . Plus he already has a case, the CM690 II he purchased yesterday for $91 shipped w/tax.

Oh, well who auctualy buys OSs? Also, i added the wrong numbers. oops. And you're brother should return the SSD and OS, and maybe he could buy my build. An i don't undestand that choice of Case, when the Antec 1200 combo i posted is much nicer, anbd with combo discount, the same price.

What do you, who buys OSs? Where do I get it free legally?

You say the $321.16 Antec 1200/Antec 1000 PSU combo is the same price, but do the math. $163.86 for the Antec 1000W + $91 he payed for the CM690 II = $254.86, $66.30 cheaper.

Also, CM690 II Advanced for $91 vs Antec 1200 $160.54 after $35 combo discount. The 1200 Is too big for this application, and it has no CPU cutout. Better? A matter of opinion. $69.54 better? No.

Cobo price: "275$"

There's a 35 combo discount.

Yes I took that into account. Re-read my post.

Oh, tax. Nevermind. Also, you can't get OS's free and legaly. You have to pick one.

other than linix which = crap for gaming.

Yeah, I'm not running an illegal copy of Windows.

So, does anyone else have suggestions that are better than the system I came up with for under $1,100 shipped with tax?

New i7 860 system:

$ 86.99 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
$ 299.99 - XFX 5850
$ 262.99 - i7 860
$ 99.99 - LG Blu-Ray Reader DVD Burner
$ 59.99 - OCZ OCZ700MXSP 700W
$ 139.99 - ASRock P55 Extreme
$ 136.55 - Corsair 2x4GB 1600 7-8-7-20
-----------
$1,086.49 - Total w/ Tax & Shipping

Why?

Best answer selected by VigVoodoo.

Yeah, the guy's nuts lol.

I didn't say to use illegal software. I just asked him why he didin't use it. I mean the reason i don't, is buacuse it's illeagal. When i sid free, i meant like Linix, but i said that doesn't run games. So no violation of fourm rules.

Either way, all you accomplished in this thread was to suggest components that completely blew the budget out of the water. That doesn't help the OP at all.

I didn't know he pllaned on buying an expensive SSD and the most expensive OS he could lay his hands on, otherwise my build would be very nice and very within budget.

Yeah. That quote suggests you meant any OS, including Windows which is illegal.

He also asked you why you wouldn't want to run an illegal version of Windows. That's helpful.

Just to add my two cents, you can buy legal product keys off of ebay for like $30. Your post doesn't say, how much did he spend on it? Cause it also doesn't say which version or if it's OEM or not.

They activate just fine, though I already had windows7pro discs from the student deal a bit back. Some of those come with a .iso download, some don't.

I wouldn't have gone for the SSD atm either.

I have the .iso from when I did the $29.99 student thing for my system. I told my brother no SSD but he wanted it bad. He flips out when anything starts loading, be it PC, Xbox, PS3 lol. I didn't get one for my system.

Well if he hasn't used it yet he could return it and get that since you have the discs needed.

They didn't advertise it, but if you called instead of doing the online thing you could get physical copies and that's what I did.

Hey there blackjellognomes, I'm very new to this but have been looking to build (not me though) a new system with about $2,500 w/out monitor.

I read your last question about the benchmark and I found this site today, hope it helps.

www.passmark.com PassMark Software... uh, forgot how to make it a link, then go to Benchmarks.