FINAL Review Ordering Today: $700 Gaming Rig

[iloqin]

!!!ABOUT TO ORDER TODAY!!!
Updated: 5.5.10

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within a week BUDGET RANGE: ~$700ish After Rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, movies, surfing the net

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg if not tigersdirect COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Sticking with AMD

OVERCLOCKING: Probably SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Hopin' any good resolution on a 20-24inch widescreen

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I want to play games at max settings. WoW/HON/SC2/Diablo3

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Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

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

SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102864

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

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ...
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.387141

ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176

AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor Model ADX440WFGIBOX
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.374231

Subtotal : 636.91

Questions & Concerns:

 

[jbakerlent]

Welcome to the forum.

Remember that to crossfire you are going to need a different motherboard.

But if that is not likely then you could get a cheaper motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

And maybe even be able to upgrade to a Athlon II x4 if you swap out the HDD for this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395&Tpk=7200.12%20500.

This HSF is very nice and quite affordable
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&cm_re=hyper_212%2b-_-35-103-065-_-Product

As for overclocking the RAM, I doubt you could achieve a stable overclock that high, especially not with low latencies. But that set is fine.

 

[iloqin]

Welcome to the forum.

Remember that to crossfire you are going to need a different motherboard.

But if that is not likely then you could get a cheaper motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

And maybe even be able to upgrade to a Athlon II x4 if you swap out the HDD for this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395&Tpk=7200.12%20500.

This HSF is very nice and quite affordable
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&cm_re=hyper_212%2b-_-35-103-065-_-Product

As for overclocking the RAM, I doubt you could achieve a stable overclock that high, especially not with low latencies. But that set is fine.

The cheaper motherboard you recommended has 2 slots for crossfire, is that acceptable incase I decide to run another vid card of the same type?

 

[jbakerlent]

Although it has two physical PCI-e 2.0 x16 slots, the second slot's bandwidth is limited to x4 (1/4)... For a better crossfire board look at the 790X/GX or 890GX boards.

 

[iloqin]

Although it has two physical PCI-e 2.0 x16 slots, the second slot's bandwidth is limited to x4 (1/4)... For a better crossfire board look at the 790X/GX or 890GX boards.

Ooo ok, 1 card is good. Which x4 do you recommend? I see the 955 and the 965, or maybe I'm shooting too high...

 

[jbakerlent]

I recommend this 955
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

But you would probably be happy with a Athlon II x4 as well
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103704&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

See how everything works out with your budget and then make a decision.

Here's a link comparing the two
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/105?vs=88

Be sure to look farther down the chart as well (the Athlon actually outpaces the Phenom in several instances).

 

[iloqin]

Thanks, you've been a big help =)

 

[jbakerlent]

My pleasure. Be sure to ask any further questions that you have as well.

 

[iloqin]

My pleasure. Be sure to ask any further questions that you have as well.

I took a look @ the Mobo, it seems that the board has poor design and it blocks the PCI slot. May you suggest a different board that has good overclocking features that has a better design? Thank you.

 

[jbakerlent]

I'm a bit confused... What exactly is blocking a PCI slot? There are three of them and it's doubtful you'll need two of them, but regardless, I don't see anything blocking them - the layout seems pretty standard. I glanced over the newegg reviews (I assume this is where you saw the complaint?) and did see mention of a "northbridge cooler" blocking access to the PCI-e x4 slot, but this is not an issue at all as I highly doubt you will ever add a northbridge cooler, and also don't think you will even need to use the slot anyways. Maybe I'm missing something, so let me know.

 

[antisyzygy]

You should get a better video card and scale down the processor. Try for a 5850 and maybe supplement a Athlon II X4 or even X3 since the X3 Rana 3.0 ghz is all you need to game.

 

[antisyzygy]

Whoops. I guess you already are shooting for the Rana. You can save 20 bucks right away switching to a Samsung f3.

 

[iloqin]

I'm a bit confused... What exactly is blocking a PCI slot? There are three of them and it's doubtful you'll need two of them, but regardless, I don't see anything blocking them - the layout seems pretty standard. I glanced over the newegg reviews (I assume this is where you saw the complaint?) and did see mention of a "northbridge cooler" blocking access to the PCI-e x4 slot, but this is not an issue at all as I highly doubt you will ever add a northbridge cooler, and also don't think you will even need to use the slot anyways. Maybe I'm missing something, so let me know.

Oh ok, nevermind then =). I was reading the complaints, but if I don't have anything to do with the Northbridge this will work fine.

 

[iloqin]

Updated with suggestions =). Main post has the updates.

 

[iloqin]

You should get a better video card and scale down the processor. Try for a 5850 and maybe supplement a Athlon II X4 or even X3 since the X3 Rana 3.0 ghz is all you need to game.

5850 cards are still going for 300+. I think I'll be good with the 5770. I don't play games like Crysis.

 

[antisyzygy]

5850 cards are still going for 300+. I think I'll be good with the 5770. I don't play games like Crysis.

Thats a pretty solid build for 700.

 

[iloqin]

Thats a pretty solid build for 700.

Updated with another combo and a question about OCing RAM (In the question/comment section)

 

[antisyzygy]

Most people will shoot me for recommending this, but maybe you can fit a 5830 in there?

I am having trouble finding the review, but I recently read something about how it does have a pretty decent performance upgrade. Its technically not the best performance/cost ratio compared to the 5850 or 5770 but if it fits your budget then why not go with better performance?

The ram I would stay with what you have already. Its only 10 bucks savings the other way.

 

[jbakerlent]

The RAM really won't make that much of a difference... You could always do a sort of happy-medium and spend $5 extra dollars for lower latencies .

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276

As for the GPU, there's nothing wrong with the 5830, but you probably won't need it if you're primarily going to be playing WoW.

 

[iloqin]

The RAM really won't make that much of a difference... You could always do a sort of happy-medium and spend $5 extra dollars for lower latencies .

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276

As for the GPU, there's nothing wrong with the 5830, but you probably won't need it if you're primarily going to be playing WoW.

Will it matter that the mobo specs have the RAM @ 1600 and this recommendation is running @ 1333? The timings look good on the ripjaw you recommended.

 

[jbakerlent]

Yes, the RAM will work fine on that motherboard.

 

[iloqin]

Bump, updated the RAM and went to the Sapphire VidCard instead of XFX.

 

[jbakerlent]

Looks good. I actually like the XFX a little better, it's got a double lifetime warranty which means even if you sell it the person you sell it to will have a manufacturer's warranty as well. And it's $5 cheaper before shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150462&cm_re=xfx_hd_5770-_-14-150-462-_-Product

 

[iloqin]

Cool, I changed it and ordered! =D

 

[iloqin]

Just wanted to throw the update after building the thing. I went with the XFX 5770 instead of Sapphire's.

Runs great, my timings on RAM are at 8-8-8-24 and I'm OCed modest at 3.4 on 3 cores. The heat stays down around (well HW monitor has it listed at 16c, on load it hits low 20s... but in bios it starts at mid 20's and hits low 30's... so I have no clue) I could have upped the voltages and hit 3.6, but I don't want to go over stock voltages just because I dont have cash to blow on another CPU if mine decides to buckle.

I didn't want to mess around with the timings anymore... because I'd have to take out the GPU to move around the jumper to reset the BIOS if it doesn't boot. I did it a few times then I got tired of it.

The front 2 fans are loud! There are fan speed switches for the top and back fans... but I didn't find the switches for the 2 front fans. Anyone know if these exist? Maybe I have to go through all the wiring I pulled into the corner.

In addition, what size fan would fit on the side panel that sucks in air at the GPU? I think the top and back are 120mm and the 2 fronts are 80mm.

For my future reference or anyone elses... I should have waited on Fry's to come out with a CPU/Mobo combo (as they always come out on Fridays with new deals) that have crazy savings. Recently I saw the X3 440 WITH a motherboard for 60 bux after rebate! I'd just sell the junk mobo and save already with the processor!

They have tons of deals like this all the time! Recently had an X4 630 /w mobo for 80 bux! 10 cheaper, ebay the mobo and you get another 20 back! In any case, my brother wants to rebuild his computer in the summer and most likely it'll be around the price range, so if I can save on the processor and/or get a mobo with it and/or use it/sell it I might be able to fit in a phenom II or better yet, a 58xx card!