How does this budget build look? AMD/SLI (first build)

[BLAKESD]

need some opinions before i pull the trigger and order it.

does everything look ok? any suggestions or changes i should make?

already have a 64bit 7 OS for it and a monitor, mouse, keyboard, creative surround sound.

this will be my first build

also do you think the power supply will be good enough for this build or should i go with a higher watt one?

i do plan to over clock it slightly but at a later date, this build will be used for lots of gaming, fraps use, video and photo editing, and school work.

my budget is 1200 shipped w/ tax.... this build comes to 1129.00 shipped w/ tax leaving me some money for a game or two to go with it. what do you all think?

 

[raif89]

you can't SLI with an amd chipset, only with intel.

you can crossfire 2 6850's or 6870's and get much better performance

 

[BLAKESD]

from what I've read you can and the board is an AM3 SLI board why would they make it if you can't run it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131636

heres the board

 

[mianmars]

Get a core i7, 6gb ram and a single 6870 or either 470. 4Gb ram is pretty low for games these days plus video and graphics editing needs more ram and a core i7 will handle them smoothly.

 

[BLAKESD]

i plan to upgrade to 8gb ram once i get some more money its just not in the equation right now.

what core i7 would you suggest? what mobo? what ram? for around the same price...

 

[mianmars]

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211

MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131641

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231223

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161350

HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

CASE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

TOTAL: 1,139$

This build is a lot better and faster then the AMD build u were considering. Your future upgrades will be to add another 6870 and 6gb of ram.

 

[raif89]

ahh my bad, didnt read the whole chipset description. yes you can sli with that mobo

what monitor resolution are you using out of curiosity.

i would recommend a power supply from corsair or seasonic instead, 700w will cut it though.

if you arent set on an amd chipset i would recommend going with a core i7. if you can wait about 4-5 weeks then you can see all the newer stuff being offered by intel and amd and make a better decision then.

 

[BLAKESD]

res is 1600x900

@mianmars that build sounds great but its over my budget i have 1200 to spend total including tax and shipping that one is about $75 over my budget (i have 1200 exactly to spend and i'll be living off ramen for the next week or so to afford that )

poor college kid here trying to save some money

i would like to wait but i really can't i'm running on a computer right now from 02 thats been old and dying lol amd athlon xp 3000+ and ati 9550 it has trouble watching youtube videos.....had a xps but it died when my last house got struck by lightning so i really need to get something soon

 

[mianmars]

Alternative Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196

Alternative PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025

Alternative GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550
OR 6870 from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Radeon-GDDR5-EAH6870-2DI2S-1GD5/dp/B0047YISRM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1290900590&sr=8-5

Total Saved: 60$

If u cant even find another 15$ then i suggest to look for exact components at ebay, which will definitely be slightly cheaper. i bought most of my system components from ebay top sellers and didn't had any problems at all. now there is no reason to leave this build.

 

[BLAKESD]

what do you think about this combo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.518975

GTX 470
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550

cd/dvd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

all that fits in my budget then i could add another gtx470 for sli at christmas time

 

[mianmars]

^^ Dats a total of 1,140$ so how can it fit but the ones i selected earlier which came in total of 1,139$ cant fit in. r u getting cheaper shipping rate with this combo deal?

 

[bdcrlsn]

If you're on a budget, then AMD is the way to go. The hardware you have listed is fine, but if you're gaming at 1600x900, then SLI isn't necessary. SLI is intended for resolutions higher than 1920x1080, and you also have to consider CPU overhead, and while I like AMD, they're not the best choice for SLI, because it will bottleneck SLI. (Tom's System Builder Marathon rigs tackled this issue and showed that a 4GHz 6-core AMD with SLI GTX 470's was outperformed by a 4GHz 6-core Intel with SLI GTX 460's.)

Your best bet and easy way to save money is to can the SLI and go for a single GTX 470 or 6870, both which would be plenty sufficient for your resolution.