Rebuild: all-purpose rig

[src1425]

Thanks in advance for any advice!

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: last week of May BUDGET RANGE: approx $800

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Moderate gaming, surfing the internet, general productivity, occasional video encoding

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, Viewsonic VX910, 2 x HD 4850, 1 x 150 GB Velociraptor, 1 x 250 GB Hitachi Deskstar, 1 x NEC ND-3540A DVD Burner

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com, MicroCenter COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.S.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1280x1024

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COOLER MASTER CM690 II Advanced Black Steel body / Plastic + Mesh bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...849&cm_re=phenom_ii_x6-_-19-103-849-_-Product

Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V version 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167023

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116758

 

[gkay09]

^ The component selection is pretty good...but do you think you would need a 6-core?
You should know that in terms of gaming performance, it doenst offer any significant increase in gaming performance but does well in productivity and encoding though...but doest it warrant the $130 over the Phenom II X4 955/ 965 ??
But its you call though...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-890fx,2613-5.html

For rest of the parts,
1. PSU - IMO this is better...Has more than enough power, even if you plan to upgrade to 2x HD 5870s...
SILVERSTONE DA700 700W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256035

But an Antec EA 650W would easily suffice...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

RAM option - Cheaper but is easily overclockable...So you can easily set those speeds with this RAM...
Corsair XMS3 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145198

Nice CASE and SSD...

 

[Lmeow]

^+1. A Phenom II X4 955/965 would save you cash and performs very closely to the 1090T, and IIRC, beating it in a few games. Also, I suggest that you get the Corsair TX750W - a very reliable power supply, $99.99 after rebate with free shipping, and has enough connectors for two HD 4850s, and enough power for two HD 5870s in the future.

 

[Moshu78]

I am playing on something really similar:

Case: CM 690 II Advance
MB: Asus M4A89GTD Pro
CPU: Phenom II X4 955 BE
Video: 2 x 4870 512 MB DDR5
PSU: Corsair TX-850 (the TX-750 is ok for 2x4850 but a bit limited for 2x4870 or 2x4890)

As others said before me: don't buy a 6-core Phenom, it brings nothing to games.
I would suggest you to buy an aftermarket CPU cooler like CM Hyper 212 Plus or Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B which bring amazing value and cooling for the cash and Overclock the CPU to at least 3.6 GHz.

This way you'll beat the X4 965 BE with less money... personally I keep my 955 @ 3.8 GHz.

The motherboard is amazing, the PSU is amazing... really solid choice both of them.
As for the CPU... well it's the best gaming CPU from AMD until next year so no other option atm.

Good luck with your rig, I'm sure you'll enjoy it once it's ready!

 

[src1425]

Have been mulling over the CPU choice for a while, and I wish the 960T would drop so I could compare it. Was initially leaning towards a 955/965, but I can get $50 off the 1090T from MicroCenter, so the price differential isn't as significant. Was hoping it might last a bit longer if more games come out with multi-core support in a few years.

 

[gkay09]

^ Well +1 for the 955 over 965...with an after market cooler, you can overclock it to higher speeds without any issues...
But as for the PSU, A Corsair 750TX provides more than adequate power even for 2x HD 4890s...
Here @ TOMs, they tested a CyberPower PC which was running an overclocked 955 with 2x HD 4870s on a Corsair 650TX...
And recently they built and reviews a PC which was running 2x HD 4870s with the Antec EA 650...

So the only thing still not decided here is the CPU selection, that is upto you...You know the facts, its your decision to make...

 

[Moshu78]

@gkay09 I would normally agree on the PSU with you but what you (and probably those reviews) didn't bring into the equation is the overclocked CPU.

At stock frequence it feeds on 125W, overclocked it can pass 200W easily.
The 4870 eats 250W at full load so 2 of them are 500W
Add some hard disks, USB devices etc and you'll notice that 750W is not that much. It works, but it's limited.
That's why I went for 850.

For his config, 750W is more than enough and a solid choice

 

[gkay09]

^ Well as for the PSU, I would say the 650W is not much when taken into consideration an overclocked CPU and 2x HD 4870s...
I highly doubt the CPU would hit 200W...Even with an voltage increase to say 1.45V, you can easily overclock the X4 955 to higher levels - even 3.8GHz easy with an aftermarket cooler...And that would translate to around 170-175W TDP...

And as for the graphics card, I think you are talking about the GTX 480's TDP levels
I have not seen or heard that a HD 4870s would consume about 250W, even at full load...
And am just clearing out things here

Here is a good tool to calculate the required power...It would certainly be of help...
http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine

 

[src1425]

Best answer selected by src1425.