500$ Gaming AMD Build? Advices/Suggestions Please

Approximate Purchase Date: Whenever

Budget Range: 500$ USD Before Rebate/Tax

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming > Browsing

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon only

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: Any

Overclocking: No/Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: Medium (1024x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900)

Additional Comments: Not really in a rush; can wait if there is going to be a sale on other AMD processors when BD come out.


Here's what I have to far.

Case: GAMMA Classic Series ATX Mid Tower - 35$
Mobo: ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 - 90$
CPU: Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - 112$
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 6790 1 GB - 130$
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX V2 430w - 45$
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 4gb Blue - 29$
HHD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB - 40$
DVD: Asus 24x DVD±RW - 20$

Your build seems just fine, you can just consider an AM3+ motherboard for bulldozer upgradability.

hows this 970 chipset mobo its $85 after rebates:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130608

and currently the phenom 965 is only $115 after $15 voucher code: ($15 off with promo code EMCKBJB25):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103727

i wouldn't reccommend the 6790 its like a repeat of the 5830 hows this 6850 for $140 after rebates?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150516

Hacker, rebates don't mean money guarenteed. The 6790 is also far from the 5830 repeat. It puts it into the spot of the 550 Ti with pricing, however beats the 550 Ti out in performance. The 6790 is like a 460 GTX in performance and is far from the fail of a 5830.

As for the MB, that would give him 16x/4x in dual card, of course, that depends if OP wants to go CF/SLI

@Christoj, great suggestion.

You are in good shape. My thoughts are below.

MB => As 008Rohit said, an AM3+ board is a welcome change so you can upgrade to a Bulldozer CPU down the road.
ASUS => http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131734
GIGABYTE => http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128490
ASROCK => http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157262

HD - The Samsung F3 1Tb is $20 and gives you double the storage. It's also a fast and reliable drive..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=f3%201tb

According to the ACTUAL performance output, it's performs better than the more "valid" 550 Ti.
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 917-5.html

Although it performs less than the 460 768mb. And it shows similar performance to the 5830. The pricing is what makes it key. The 5830 was priced more than the 460 for less performance. However the 6790 is priced at $130 and it performs better than the Nvidia competitor 550 Ti. The 460 768mb was a valid suggestion before when the supply was plentiful. But now, the cheapest 460 768mb is $160-170, priced at the 6850's range.

Oh, yeah MIR's are hassles and unassured. I although received my $20 rebate from Cooler Master, fine print states that it could be anywhere from 2-4 months. And even then, some people don't receive it.

that '500W Power Supply' is due to crappy Logisys and Diablotek power supplies that are actually fireworks with an uncertain fuse.

what matters is the amperage. a 6790 needs about 20-22 amps on teh 12v line (including powering the CPU & RAM), the 430 suggested has 34A on the 12v, so its fine.