$1600 Most Bang 4 Buck

[TRIO57]

Hi Tom's Hardware Geniuses,

I wanted to throw this out there... I was just about to pull the trigger and build the system below. But thought I would shoot this out to the community. Being the this is twice the amount of any personal system build previously.

"Key Factors"
$1600
*Bang for buck
*Gaming ability
*Eye Appeal
*Expandability/Durability

Any thoughts, suggestions, changes or revisions?

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Item #: N82E16811119225
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition #: N82E16819103849
ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX ATX AMD Motherboard Item #: N82E16813131655
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Item #: N82E16820231329
A-DATA S599 AS599S-128GM-C 2.5" 128GB SATA II (SSD) Item #: N82E16820211471
MSI R6870-2PM2D1GD5 Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 Item #: N82E16814127530
Rosewill LIGHTNING Series LIGHTNING-800 800W 80 PLUS GOLD Item #: N82E16817182238
ZALMAN CNPS9900ALED 120mm 2 Ball Low-noise Blue LED CPU Cooler Item #: N82E16835118046
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support Item #: N82E16827106335

Thank You!!!

 

[vindictive]

Phenom II X4 is better for just gaming, performs better in games.

Don't get a rosewill PSU. Corsair, XFX, Seasonic, or Antec.

AMD ram does better with lower latencies than higher frequencies. For instance for the same price DDR3 1333mhz Cas 6 or 7 is better than DDR3 1600 Cas 8 or 9

getting a HAF 922 and getting a X4 955BE with the money you save get another Radeon 6870 GPU.

Most games get maxed because of GPU not CPU (usually) and the X4 is not going to hold you back.

 

[coldsleep]

For gaming, I can't recommend the 1090T X6, it's definitely not a "bang for the buck" gaming choice. It's a good deal for an editing rig, but not gaming. Either drop down to the 955 X4 or get an Intel i5-760 (and an appropriate motherboard switch, probably the Asus P7P55D-E).

8 GB RAM isn't really necessary for gaming.

The best deal at 120-128 GB right now is the G.Skill Phoenix 120 GB for $215, or the Agility 2 for $200 after MIR.

I can't find any reviews on that power supply, at that price, I'd prefer something known, even if it's a lower 80+ rating.

 

[mortonww]

For $1600, I think an Intel build is more suited to your needs. Otherwise, you're sacrificing game performance for no reason.

CPU: Intel Core i7 950 ($300)
MOBO: ASUS Sabertooth X58 ($190)
RAM: G.SKILL Pi Series 6 GB (3x2GB), 1600 MHz, CAS 7, 1.5 Volts ($150)
GPU: 2 GTX 460 1 GB ($360 after rebate)
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB ($70)
PSU: XFX 850 W ($130 AR)
CASE: HAF 922 ($90)
BLU-RAY: Samsung drive ($80) comes with software too.
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB ($205 AR)

TOTAL: $1500 AR

If you want, you could make up the missing 100 by adding two of these gtx 470s. That would put you at $1620 but you'd be noticeably faster.

Both builds will be more future-proof and faster than the build in your original post.

 

[TRIO57]

For $1600, I think an Intel build is more suited to your needs. Otherwise, you're sacrificing game performance for no reason.

CPU: Intel Core i7 950 ($300)
MOBO: ASUS Sabertooth X58 ($190)
RAM: G.SKILL Pi Series 6 GB (3x2GB), 1600 MHz, CAS 7, 1.5 Volts ($150)
GPU: 2 GTX 460 1 GB ($360 after rebate)
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB ($70)
PSU: XFX 850 W ($130 AR)
CASE: HAF 922 ($90)
BLU-RAY: Samsung drive ($80) comes with software too.
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB ($205 AR)

TOTAL: $1500 AR

If you want, you could make up the missing 100 by adding two of these gtx 470s. That would put you at $1620 but you'd be noticeably faster.

Both builds will be more future-proof and faster than the build in your original post.

GREAT POSTS... Much to consider now.

 

[coldsleep]

There isn't a lot of real-world gaming difference between an i7-950 build and an i5-760 build. Going with an i5 build would save about $100-150 on CPU/mobo/RAM (since you would only buy 4 GB RAM), either allowing you to outright save that money, or upgrade to the 470s without going over budget. (Or go with 6870s or possibly 1-2 of the upcoming 69xx series cards.)

I do like the rest of mortonww's build, though.

 

[mortonww]

If you end up going with an i5-760 build, you would want to use a motherboard like this:

ASUS P6X58D-E for $150

and this RAM set:

G.SKILL ECO 4 GB, 1600 MHz, CAS 7, 1.35 V for $90

That brings your CPU+MOBO price down by $100, which you could then invest in GPUs like coldsleep said. Or you could remove the blu-ray drive and just get a regular DVD drive like you were planning. That would bring you down to $1600 as well.

You will be sacrificing no gaming peformance by going with the i5-760. You do sacrifice PCIe bandwidth, which I'm not sure has a significant effect on SLId 470s.

My personal feeling on this is that you should lose the blu-ray drive and keep the i7.

EDIT: My mistake. Your CPU+MOBO+RAM would come down by about $200.

 

[TRIO57]

Here it is! Still going to be under $1600 after rebates. Read though that OCZ doesn't play nice with customers and rebates.

 

[vindictive]

Running 8x8x is about a 2-3% loss to 16x16. In otherwards, no biggie

 

[mortonww]

Dude that build will be fu*kin fast. Looks really good. As for x58 versus P55, you should get x58 if you have $1600.

EDIT: wait, where is your storage HDD? Samsung Spinpoint F3 500 GB will add $55 to build cost.

Also, what optical drive?