First system help :)

[whoisme555]

Hello, I'm working on planning out what parts I'm going to put into the first computer that I build and I have several questions. First of all, here's what I plan on putting in my computer so far (I intend to use it for gaming and movie watching purposes):

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two

Power supply: Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750-Watt TX Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply compatible with Intel Core i7 and Core i5

Video card: EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB DDR3 or XFX Radeon HD 4890 Graphics adapter - 1 GB - GDDR5 SDRAM

Processor: Intel Core i5 750 Processor 2.66 GHz 8 MB LGA1156 CPU I5-750BOX

Motherboard: Intel Core i7/i5 LGA1156 4DDR3-2200 CrossFireX/GBE/Raid/SATA3/USB3.0/7.1-CH ATX Motherboard GA-P55A-UD3

RAM: Corsair XMS3 4 GB PC3-12800 1600Mhz Dual Channel Core i3 i5 i7 DDR3 Memory Kit CMX4GX3M2A1600C9

Harddrive: Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Black SATA 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD1002FAEX

CD Rom drive: Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD/CD Rewritable Drive - OEM

Flat panel monitor: ASUS VH222H 21.5-in 1080p HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor

As for the questions:
1) Would a 4890 work with this system? I'm rather new and am not entirely sure when graphics cards are compatible
2) From what I can tell, the 4890 out performs the gtx 260 c216, is it worth it?
3) Does anyone have any other suggestions about any of the other parts that I should change?
4) Would the stock cooling system that comes with the case be fine or should I get a better one?

Thanks

 

[dmcfc]

what is your budget?
I think waht would perform better is a AMD Phenom II x4 955 with a 5770, or a AMD Phenom II x3 720 with 5850 if it fits your budget... if that fits your budget I think it's a more than worth change.
This case is a really good case, no need to change anything. But if you want to o.c. you should get a good heatsink for your cpu.

 

[GullMoli]

But I think it's a pretty solid build.

If you're going with that motherboard then you're better off going with the 4890 card, since the motherboard supports crossfire. So in the future you can add another 4890 card to the mix

 

[dmcfc]

Well, it's really not a very good idea going with a old version video card with directx 10. You can get better performance on a gaming computer for the same price.

 

[GullMoli]

Perhaps he doesn't care about dx11. The 260 is also a dx10 card, but if the becomes a must then i guess a 5770 or 5830 would be the better.

5770 is cheaper and isn't as good as the 4890.
5830 is more expensive and performs about the same as the 4980.

 

[whoisme555]

Wow, thanks for the quick responses, guys.

I'll look into the AMD processors

As for the budget issues, I'm a college student, but my major is computer science, so I want one that will work well for any application, I was hoping to keep it around $1000, but with the monitor/keyboard/OS it ends up being $1200 with the current build. So I'd like to keep it relatively similarly priced.

As for the dx11, it'd be nice to have future support for dx11, but from what I heard the 5770 is a rather weak card in terms of dx11 support and it is clearly less powerful than both the 260c216 and 4890. I want a card that I can rely on to work like a boss for anything, but it has to be less than 300, preferably less than 200. I can get either the 260c216 or 4890 for around 180-220.

So the 5830 is on amazon for 230, which is fine, I'm willing to shell out that much, but is that gonna work for anything that could potentially come out for years to come?

EDIT: Only $200 bucks after $20 mail in rebate on newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102878&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-Sapphire+Tech-_-14102878

I'm thinking 5830 might be my best bet, any opinions?

 

[whoisme555]

what is your budget?
I think waht would perform better is a AMD Phenom II x4 955 with a 5770, or a AMD Phenom II x3 720 with 5850 if it fits your budget... if that fits your budget I think it's a more than worth change.
This case is a really good case, no need to change anything. But if you want to o.c. you should get a good heatsink for your cpu.

Oh, and one more thing, what kind of heat sink do you suggest? I was reading a guide and it said that if you're going to make your own computer, you might as well overclock it, so I figured I might as well do that, but I wanna make sure I have an affordable, yet reliable cooling system. Any suggestions?

 

[dirtmountain]

Go to http://www.frostytech.com/ for the best review of coolers. If i was going to spend $230 on a graphic card, i'd hold my nose and pay the other $60 for a 5850.

 

[whoisme555]

Go to http://www.frostytech.com/ for the best review of coolers. If i was going to spend $230 on a graphic card, i'd hold my nose and pay the other $60 for a 5850.

Thanks for the response. That same reasoning has already got me to spend an extra $100 on a graphics card :/. I was hoping to keep it under $200

 

[dirtmountain]

I'm too much of a cheap bastard to spend that much on a GPU, i'd go with the 5770, get the XFX model with a double lifetime warranty and further on down the road sell it and update the GPU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150462


Sorry, i'd forgotten how few HSF are 1156 ready.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233039
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233012

 

[whoisme555]

The 5770 is highly recommended, but I'm looking for parts that will last and work well for me for years, so I don't really intend to upgrade any further for some time. That's the main reason I want to get pretty close to top tier stuff, and the 5830 is up pretty high according to a lot of tests that I've seen.

As for the cooler, would that cooler be good enough? I was looking into coolers more and I saw the Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme was very high quality. Assuming I'm overclocking my computer, is it worth investing in the Tuniq or would the one that you suggested be fine?

 

[dirtmountain]

The Tuniq is one of the 5 best (2nd) so it's a better cooler, it's also just a bit quieter when set on high and comes with a fan controller so you can adjust it easily.

Since i build and update systems for family, friends and neighbors i'm pretty much constantly updating and trading parts. The 5830 is a better choice if you don't like updating parts on a regular basis.

 

[whoisme555]

The Tuniq is one of the 5 best (2nd) so it's a better cooler, it's also just a bit quieter when set on high and comes with a fan controller so you can adjust it easily.

Since i build and update systems for family, friends and neighbors i'm pretty much constantly updating and trading parts. The 5830 is a better choice if you don't like updating parts on a regular basis.

Alright. I've been reading more and people have said that the 5830 isn't worth the money, but I've also heard that the 5770 doesn't work very well for high resolutions. I've read suggestions to either crossfire 2 5770s or get a 5850. So once again, I'm reconsidering my graphics card choice Don't wanna blow 300, but don't wanna have a sub par card...

 

[Transmaniacon]

In my opinion, if you want to avoid upgrading for a good while, bite the bullet and get the HD5850. It will run any game out there very well and last you a good while. If I were you, I would drop down to a cheaper case, and then get the HD5850. You can save $30 by going with the Coolermaster HAF922, which is a very highly reviewed case and comparable to the Antec 902. Now your only $30 away from a much better GPU.

 

[whoisme555]

In my opinion, if you want to avoid upgrading for a good while, bite the bullet and get the HD5850. It will run any game out there very well and last you a good while. If I were you, I would drop down to a cheaper case, and then get the HD5850. You can save $30 by going with the Coolermaster HAF922, which is a very highly reviewed case and comparable to the Antec 902. Now your only $30 away from a much better GPU.

Thank you for your input. I guess the overwhelming response makes me want the 5850.

However, with that and the cooling system (I was just going to use the stock system before), the price jumped up quite a bit. With the OS, office, keyboard etc, I'm looking at $1500. $500 more than the ballpark range I was looking at before.

I could cut 30 bucks off the price by going with the cooling fan that dirtmountain suggested and another 30-40 by going with the Coolermaster HAF922 case, but assuming that I'm overclocking, would a 30 dollar fan keep it cool enough?

 

[Transmaniacon]

I would recommend the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ HSF. Its one of the hot items right now and for its price ($39.99 w/ mounting brackets) it is hard to beat.

One option you could look into is just getting a cheap GPU that you can get by with until you can save enough for something like the HD5850. Something like a HD5670 is a solid budget card that could buy you some time.

 

[whoisme555]

I would recommend the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ HSF. Its one of the hot items right now and for its price ($39.99 w/ mounting brackets) it is hard to beat.

One option you could look into is just getting a cheap GPU that you can get by with until you can save enough for something like the HD5850. Something like a HD5670 is a solid budget card that could buy you some time.

Alright. As for getting a budget GPU, that sounds like a waste to me. I have a laptop that works fine, but it's quickly deteriorating. So I can wait for the 5850. Another question about the 5850, does the brand matter? The Sapphire 5850 looks cool and it looks like I can get it from buy.com for $300, but there are several brands to choose from, so I'm unsure if Sapphire is a good choice.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B003D0IS3K/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

 

[dmcfc]

yes, sapphire is a good brand, I'm sure you'll like a 5850, it's a very good card (I have one, also from sapphire, but mine is the reference card as I bought when it was released...)

 

[Transmaniacon]

XFX offers a double lifetime warranty fyi