Hello everyone,
While trying to build this new system I ran across your website several times and found it to be very useful. Additionally, I have even had a personal recommendation to join and post my build for the community here to check it over. Now that I have finished putting together a build I hope you guys could take a look at it and let me know what you think.
I have built several computers in the past but none of them have been higher-end gaming systems nor have I built any in the past several years (and a lot has changed). The largest areas I had to research were PSUs and memory speed for AMD processors. (Yes, I’m using AMD Phenom X4 as I am trying to build this on a tight budget. I would like to get an Intel i7 but they are simply way too expensive compared to how much I would like to spend.)
My goal is to have a very nice gaming system (right now mostly for SC2 and Left 4 Dead) that I can hook up to my 40” 1080p HDTV and still run everything at high graphics and at full resolution (1920x1080). I already have a (legit) 64-bit Win7 so I don’t need to purchase another, but is what I intend to use for my OS.
Approximate Purchase Date: Within a week or so
Budget Range: ~$550 After Rebates
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, video editing, surfing the Internet, watching movies
Parts Not Required: Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS. (Not re-using a PSU)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Tigerdirect.com, newegg.com
Country of Origin: USA
Parts Preferences: Don’t know a whole lot about brands. But I would like an AMD Phenom X4 processor simply due to the price of Intel i7. I also like NVIDIA cards.
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No / May be
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 (1080p for 40” HDTV)
Additional Comments: I’m not very picky… would like it to not be really noisy though.
This is what I’m looking at:
RAIDMAX Typhoon ATX-312WS Black SECC ATX, with 1x120mm Blue LED Fan, 2x80mm fan ($30 after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156244&Tpk=RAIDMAX typhoon
ECS A785GM-AD3 (V1.0) Motherboard AND
AMD Athlon II X4 635 (2.9GHz) ($150 after rebate)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6498246&CatId=4297
2x2GB DDR3 1333MHz PC3 10600 ($65 after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...83&cm_re=DDR3_1333_4gb-_-20-227-583-_-Product
Corsair 650W PSU ($54 after rebate and coupon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...005&cm_re=Corsair_650w-_-17-139-005-_-Product
Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB ($210 after rebate) (I like the double-fans on this card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5333&cm_re=GTX_460_1gb-_-14-125-333-_-Product
2x WD 500GB HDD (for RAID0: Performance) ($40 x 2 = $80)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2795126&Sku=TSD-500AAKS
Subtotal: ~$590 (a little over my budget but still good enough for me.)
According to Corsair’s website a 550W PSU is sufficient for this system but just to be safe I bumped it up to 650W. Is this good enough? The MB (which supports RAID0) is socket AM3 and supports up to DDR3 1333MHz. I’ve read this is the fastest memory AMD supports. Is this true? Is this overall a good build? Any pointers or suggestions for me? Are there any bottlenecks that I am unaware of? Is everything compatible?
Thank you!
While trying to build this new system I ran across your website several times and found it to be very useful. Additionally, I have even had a personal recommendation to join and post my build for the community here to check it over. Now that I have finished putting together a build I hope you guys could take a look at it and let me know what you think.
I have built several computers in the past but none of them have been higher-end gaming systems nor have I built any in the past several years (and a lot has changed). The largest areas I had to research were PSUs and memory speed for AMD processors. (Yes, I’m using AMD Phenom X4 as I am trying to build this on a tight budget. I would like to get an Intel i7 but they are simply way too expensive compared to how much I would like to spend.)
My goal is to have a very nice gaming system (right now mostly for SC2 and Left 4 Dead) that I can hook up to my 40” 1080p HDTV and still run everything at high graphics and at full resolution (1920x1080). I already have a (legit) 64-bit Win7 so I don’t need to purchase another, but is what I intend to use for my OS.
Approximate Purchase Date: Within a week or so
Budget Range: ~$550 After Rebates
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, video editing, surfing the Internet, watching movies
Parts Not Required: Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS. (Not re-using a PSU)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Tigerdirect.com, newegg.com
Country of Origin: USA
Parts Preferences: Don’t know a whole lot about brands. But I would like an AMD Phenom X4 processor simply due to the price of Intel i7. I also like NVIDIA cards.
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No / May be
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 (1080p for 40” HDTV)
Additional Comments: I’m not very picky… would like it to not be really noisy though.
This is what I’m looking at:
RAIDMAX Typhoon ATX-312WS Black SECC ATX, with 1x120mm Blue LED Fan, 2x80mm fan ($30 after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156244&Tpk=RAIDMAX typhoon
ECS A785GM-AD3 (V1.0) Motherboard AND
AMD Athlon II X4 635 (2.9GHz) ($150 after rebate)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6498246&CatId=4297
2x2GB DDR3 1333MHz PC3 10600 ($65 after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...83&cm_re=DDR3_1333_4gb-_-20-227-583-_-Product
Corsair 650W PSU ($54 after rebate and coupon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...005&cm_re=Corsair_650w-_-17-139-005-_-Product
Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB ($210 after rebate) (I like the double-fans on this card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5333&cm_re=GTX_460_1gb-_-14-125-333-_-Product
2x WD 500GB HDD (for RAID0: Performance) ($40 x 2 = $80)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2795126&Sku=TSD-500AAKS
Subtotal: ~$590 (a little over my budget but still good enough for me.)
According to Corsair’s website a 550W PSU is sufficient for this system but just to be safe I bumped it up to 650W. Is this good enough? The MB (which supports RAID0) is socket AM3 and supports up to DDR3 1333MHz. I’ve read this is the fastest memory AMD supports. Is this true? Is this overall a good build? Any pointers or suggestions for me? Are there any bottlenecks that I am unaware of? Is everything compatible?
Thank you!
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