Was Hardcore AMD, Nvidia need advice:)

[zerkerdude]

Hi all my first time posting on this forum it's been a while since my last build. I always liked AMD and nvidia but all the researching I have done shows everything pointing the other direction. I am going to try ATI because its a pain to find a good SLI board baa I have a build that I think I like but maybe I can get some advice and maybe an Intel build. I know I wasted a lot of money on case and PS but I want something that will last and the cooling is awesome.

Here is what I have come up with as a build:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
2x crossfire XFX HD-585A-ZNBC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB Black Edition
Antec TPQ-1200 1200W
Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower
Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2XXX 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
ICY DOCK MB882SP-1S-1B 2.5" to 3.5" SSD & SATA Hard Drive Converter - Black
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard
PLEXTOR 24X DVD/CD Writer
Arctic Silver AA-1.75G Thermal Compound

This build is $2200 I can get it down to $1200 by losing the HD, SSD and a vid card( I have several HDs floating around). Is my plan actually but this is the build I want eventually. I selected the AMD 955 because it's been out for a few and is comparible to the 965. I selected the ASUS M4A79T because of the dual x16 crossfire(this is another subject just because it says 2x16 occupied does the xfire actually improve over other boards that drop to 2x8?) I selected the G.skills because they have great reviews and a good price, 2x4 because I want to go 16 GB if I need to. I love the antec 900 and 1200 cases selected the 12 because of all the crap I have to shove in there. selected the 1200 PS because of discount combo and the need for more power in future. SSD it's fast but I have no idea if it's really worth it. Hyper212 Plus great reviews and I figure I'll cause a lot of heat. windows 7 pro because it supports 16gb+ memory.

Any advice would be great I am going to continue researching until I have no dought I am making the right desicion.

Thanks in advance

 

[tserich]

What do you plan on using this for?

 

[Truhls]

THat looks like a great build, and you have done some good research. but for gaming that is way way overkill. So if you have a business use for it, like rendering/encoding and such then it might be worth it.

 

[zerkerdude]

Sorry not following guidelines here it is

Approximate Purchase Date: 2 week - 2 months
Sytem Usage: High End Gaming
Parts not Required: HD, Monitor, Keyboard, mouse, dvd drive
Preferred website: New Egg
Parts Preference: ASUS, AMD (am leaning to Intel?)
Over Clocking: yes
SLI /CROSSFIRE: yes
Monitor Res: 1920x1080, 1366x768

 

[batuchka]

Hmm for gaming and for what it's worth for an AMD-ATI rig if i were to do up strictly monster frames for the $$ it would look like this.

Next round just upgrade GPU or heck just overhaul and do up the next gen monster frames for the $$ config hehe MultiGPU options/SSD for me not worth it ...the former has the 2nd GPU becoming outdated and/or E.O.L once u do want to CF/SLI and superior single GPU options would be right around the corner at the rate tech moves while the latter has to drop in GB/$$ but now is not the time IMO

 

[zerkerdude]

Ya figured a little over Kill were should I skimp and or improve? want to be able to game 2 years from now

 

[batuchka]

Perhaps a 770 chipset and whack a HD 5870?

 

[zerkerdude]

wow you guys are awesome You post before I can reply lol

 

[yannickhk]

n/a

 

[zerkerdude]

that looks like a great build as well my wife would love me saving the bones.

 

[duk3]

This is another slightly cheaper PSU that is compatible with the antec 1200.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371024&cm_re=antec_850w-_-17-371-024-_-Product

 

[zerkerdude]

ya the only reason I went for deluxe was the 16X2 I would like the option to crossfire but not sure if thats how it works it says it wont scale down to 8x2

 

[yannickhk]

Ya figured a little over Kill were should I skimp and or improve? want to be able to game 2 years from now

The build is really nice. And yeah, you will most certainly be able to play 2 years form now.

I would change 2 components though.

The PSU, you don't need 1200W. 850W is more than enough like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009, it should do just fine.

For the MB, I would rather get the ASUS Crosshair III or Gigabyte 790FXTA. With this kind of budget you should get the highest end possible.

Good luck

 

[Truhls]

You also dont need 8 gigs of ram to game, 4 is more then enough. But it would be nice for future proofing i guess

 

[zerkerdude]

ya my luck the entire technology will change and I'll be out like I was with my AGP build

 

[yannickhk]

Doubtful. AMD's new CPU, the six core, will still be using the AM3 socket so you'll be able to upgrade the CPU if you wish to do so.

The MB that I've mentioned above support USB 3.0 and SATA III.

 

[zerkerdude]

ya they are nice boards but I selected the deluxe because of the dual x16 is this a huge factor in crossfire?

 

[batuchka]

Doubtful. AMD's new CPU, the six core, will still be using the AM3 socket so you'll be able to upgrade the CPU if you wish to do so.

The MB that I've mentioned above support USB 3.0 and SATA III.

Yep the 890GX which is socket AM3 is already pictured at CeBIT 2010 with an X6 chip ^^
http://forums.vr-zone.com/news-around-the-web/571993-phenom-ii-x6-system-pictured.html
Actually the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) of Thuban X6 is just like Deneb/Heka AM3 i.e able to talk to both DDR3/DDR2 so AM2+ mobos with a BIOS update would be good to go as well

 

[yannickhk]

ya they are nice boards but I selected the deluxe because of the dual x16 is this a huge factor in crossfire?

Both of the MB that I have selected have dual x16

 

[zerkerdude]

The build is really nice. And yeah, you will most certainly be able to play 2 years form now.

I would change 2 components though.

The PSU, you don't need 1200W. 850W is more than enough like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009, it should do just fine.

For the MB, I would rather get the ASUS Crosshair III or Gigabyte 790FXTA. With this kind of budget you should get the highest end possible.

Good luck

wow sorry they do can't believe I missed that like the crosshair so dual x16 does matter

 

[zerkerdude]

I can skimp on ram and hope it goes down$, 2x2 for now, lose the ssd, and a gpu, new ps get the croshair and have a kick ass very upgradable comp. thanks for the help everyone.

 

[yannickhk]

wow sorry they do can't believe I missed that like the crosshair so dual x16 does matter

Well, I don't know if you'd see a huge difference between dual x8 and dual x16, but it'd be a shame not to have the best with this kind of budget, wouldn't it?

 

[zerkerdude]

ya I just figure $400 extra dollars is worth a build if it will last you a while. Most budget builds I have came up with are 600-800 and I have been fighting a loosing battle with my current comp. but then again I could make 2 comps that rock for now for the same price still a bit torn lol.

But you all have answered a lot of questions for me thanks and I will get back to you for some CMOS help lol