Desktop Build

[cbrunnem]

i am wanting to build a desktop for school. i play games and would like to be able to play at the highest graphics. I am also in school for engineering so i need a computer the has some strong guts. For this reason i have been looking at the amd x6 2.8 and possibly overclocking it to the mid 3's and am looking at a radeon hd 5770 or higher graphics card.

My main question is what motherboard would i need as my knowledge of them is subpar. i want a mobo that i can overclock with and that will not bottleneck my system. i wanted to use my current laptop as a screen and keyboard etc. is that possible? i also have a 1tb external hd so i wouldnt need a big internal. just something to hold program files and then windows.

Can you point help me get going in the right direction with this?

thanks in advance.

 

[zergesys]

Total ground up build?

Phenom ii x6 BE if you want good OC, the unlocked multiplier helps it quite a bit.

Any good quality AM3 board from a trusted manufacturer like MSI, Gigabyte, and ASUS will work well. The motherboard should never bottleneck you unless its feature-set is so inferior that its forcing parts to 'dowclock' to function, but you'd have to go out of your way to find a bad board that would do that to you.
I personally like MSI's boards.

As for graphics, the Radeon HD 68XXs are both inexpensive (relatively speaking) and solid performers.

Storage wise, an SSD would work wonders for your. Get one of 128Gb or greater capacity and it should hold your OS and many of your programs no problem. They're expensive though.

What are the rest of the specs you're looking at? PSU, memory, case, all that good stuff?

 

[zergesys]

As for the laptop thing, I don't thinks its technically "possible".

The only way you can do it is with a sort of funny work around through remote-desktop access. It would go through your network connection and will probably have some latency between systems.

 

[cbrunnem]

thanks for the quick reply! yes i want to do i complete build up but just the tower. i am going to try and use my laptop as a screen for now as i am a student so every dollar counts. Is the 3.2 ghz that much better is a was planning to just overclock the 1055t to above that. i was informed the only difference was the clock speed. also that graphics card it a bit more than i was looking for but i might just have to snatch it up. i might downgrade the mobo after your advice.

 

[zergesys]

Well, the main difference is the Black Edition part, otherwise yes its just a difference in clock. Black Editions have an unlocked core multiplier, meaning you can tune the CPU without having to mess with the FSB, which affects other parts like your memory.

Its a good idea to take a close look at your feature-sets on your motherboard. You want it to support some degree of 'future-proof' expansion, like SATA3 and USB3. Working on too 'old' a motherboard feature-set may leave you completely stuck when its time to do certain upgrades.

One thing I should note is Intel's SandyBridge is just around the corner (early January). These are the new Intel processors and they'll provide better performance than an X6, heck, they'll outperform any current i7. The issue is they're not going be for the budget minded. The chips are fairly reasonably priced all things considered, but I know their motherboards will be far from cheap compared to AMDs offerings.

 

[cbrunnem]

i would like to keep just the tower price to under 600. mainly used for gaming and programs like autocad, 3ds max, inventor, revit etc.

spec wise i dont care about power supply, case, or that stuff i just want a good mobo and a great cpu and graphics. i will start with 4gb ddr3 ram.

heres the parts i am looking at as of now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131672 mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161348 graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144461 ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851 cpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.567582 power
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.567582 case

havent looked at hd yet though.

if you have a part that might suit me better go ahead and tell me

 

[zergesys]

Motherboard wise:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130275&cm_re=am3_motherboard-_-13-130-275-_-Product
Little more expensive, but better feature-set and room for expansion.

Everything else should work fine. That PSU isn't giving you much head-room though, but it will work with your planned set-up. The PSU is never something you want to cheap out on. A good one will last you a long time and multiple builds.

 

[cbrunnem]

ok thanks! what advantages am i looking at for the mobo? and a 600w psu?

 

[zergesys]

This motherboard is giving you things like USB3.0, SATA3.0, and support for AMD CrossFireX, meaning it can use two graphics cards in tandem, and better speed for devices supporting SATA3.0 and USB3.0.

A 600w PSU gives you some headroom for overclocking and will probably have a better lifetime, though you won't be able to crossfire with it. Just a single 6850 needs a 500w PSU.

Keep in mind, if you're going to over clock the CPU, third party cooling is recommended. Currently the CM Hyper 212+ is about as good bang-for-buck as it gets in that area.

 

[cbrunnem]

ok thanks you have been a HUGE help. i think with that gpu i wouldnt need crossfire for awhile.

 

[cbrunnem]

yes we dou use matlab and thanks for the heads up. could you give me a comparable gpu to the 6850 though? thanks in advance.

 

[zergesys]

At that price range, a GTX 460 will work well.
When it comes to those, I again like MSI. Their Twin Frozr editions are durable cards with good cooling and overclock-ability.

 

[cbrunnem]

What about two
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125342
with this board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130275&cm_re=am3_motherboard-_-13-130-275-_-Product&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

 

[zergesys]

If you want two nVidia cards, you'll need a different board. Look for an nVidia/nForce based AM3 chipset. PSU wise, the 600w should be adequate with dual 450s, I think. They're fairly power efficient.

AMD boards only support crossfire(ATI) or SLI(nVidia) but not both.
Ont that front, this may work.
Doesn't have the same features though, like SATA3 and USB3, but it will work and costs about the same.

 

[cbrunnem]

thanks for the reply but your link goes to the home page.

 

[zergesys]

??? odd. Worked when I tried it at first, but I tried it again and indeed it's broken.

Here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130235&cm_re=msi_sli_amd-_-13-130-235-_-Product

Edit: It appears the Canadian site hates links, so I had to switch to the .com link, now it works...

 

[cbrunnem]

Best answer selected by cbrunnem.