Updated PC Build-Compatible?

[MIK_1st]

CPU: AMD FX-8150 (Waiting till it's buyable)

Graphics: Palit NE5X5600HD02F GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261108

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=10nivjval3w4x

Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=samsung%20f3&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=10a0mdpo4u8wz

DVD Burner: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

PSU: (POSSIBLY) Rosewill LIGHTNING Series LIGHTNING-800 800W Continuous @50°C,80 PLUS GOLD Certified,Pipe-rock Modular Design,Single +12V Rail,ATX12V v2.3/EPS12V v2.92,SLI Ready,CrossFire Ready,Active- PFC ,Fan LED color switch Power Supply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182238

Case: Rosewill ARMOR Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ,Full mesh design front bezel, comes with Six Fans-1x Front 120mm Fan, 2x Top 120mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, 1x 80mm Fan on motherboard tray, 1x Side 200mm Fan, option Fan-1x Bottom 120mm Fan - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147047

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 (oh and if someone could tell me the difference between professional and home premium, that'd be great!)

Wi-fi Adapter: ASUS PCE-N13 Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Express 150/300Mbps Transfer/Receive Rate 64-bit/128-bit WEP, TKIP, and AES WI-Fi alliance WPA, WPA2 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320048



Also, if you have any other parts in mind, I would prefer it to be on Newegg.

 

[cuecuemore]

It looks to be compatible, but terribly inadvisable as well. What are you going to use it for?

 

[MIK_1st]

Mostly gaming, next to that internet browsing, schoolwork, and finally movies.

 

[MIK_1st]

EDIT: Changing the RAM down to 8GB.

 

[Zenthar]

EDIT: Changing the RAM down to 8GB.

Good choice, with the money saved, maybe you can just get an i5-2500K and OC it to 4.0GHz+ with an after-market cooler.

 

[cuecuemore]

Your RAM is still terribly underpowered. One of the surefire advantages of building your own over getting an OEM is good (and fast) RAM. I like the look of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

The Radeon 8570 won't be out for 18 months, did you mean 6570?

Grab the X4 955 and save yourself $50

Here's the cheapest quality SLI mobo I could find:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510

 

[MIK_1st]

Good choice, with the money saved, maybe you can just get an i5-2500K and OC it to 4.0GHz+ with an after-market cooler.

I'm no computer expert, but isn't the AMD CPU faster? I read about the OC speed on Amazon (w/out an after-market cooler) and it was the same as the AMD CPU (which is 3.7Ghz not OC'd). People have been OC'ing the AMD CPU to 4.4Ghz without getting an after-market cooler.

 

[MIK_1st]

Good choice, with the money saved, maybe you can just get an i5-2500K and OC it to 4.0GHz+ with an after-market cooler.

I'm no computer expert, but isn't the AMD CPU faster? I read about the OC speed on Amazon (w/out an after-market cooler) and it was the same as the AMD CPU (which is 3.7Ghz not OC'd). People have been OC'ing the AMD CPU to 4.4Ghz without getting an after-market cooler.

 

[MIK_1st]

Your RAM is still terribly underpowered. One of the surefire advantages of building your own over getting an OEM is good (and fast) RAM. I like the look of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

The Radeon 8570 won't be out for 18 months, did you mean 6570?

Grab the X4 955 and save yourself $50

Here's the cheapest quality SLI mobo I could find:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510

Oops, meant the 6870! I just couldn't remember what the name was, sorry!

 

[cuecuemore]

The 2500k clocked at 3.3GHz is considerably faster than the X4 980 at any speed.

 

[MIK_1st]

The 2500k clocked at 3.3GHz is considerably faster than the X4 980 at any speed.

Hm... well I think I'd rather stick with the CPU I have at the moment. Just my personal choice.

 

[Zenthar]

I'm no computer expert, but isn't the AMD CPU faster? I read about the OC speed on Amazon (w/out an after-market cooler) and it was the same as the AMD CPU (which is 3.7Ghz not OC'd). People have been OC'ing the AMD CPU to 4.4Ghz without getting an after-market cooler.

Right now, clock for clock the Intel Sandy Bridge (like the i5-2500K) is faster (a 3.0 GHZ Intel would feel faster than a 3.0Ghz AMD). That said, yes the AMD stock speed of 3.7 GHz is faster than Intel I5-2500K's 3.3GHz, but the later would still match it in final performance. Moreover, the i5-2500K can easily reach 4GHz (with tools provided my the motherboard manufacturers themselves), can be pushed to 4.5GHz rather easily manually in the BIOS (took no more than 5 min. for me) and with some effort, people have been pushing it to 5GHz (with lots of time and good air coolers).

 

[MIK_1st]

Right now, clock for clock the Intel Sandy Bridge (like the i5-2500K) is faster (a 3.0 GHZ Intel would feel faster than a 3.0Ghz AMD). That said, yes the AMD stock speed of 3.7 GHz is faster than Intel I5-2500K's 3.3GHz, but the later would still match it in final performance. Moreover, the i5-2500K can easily reach 4GHz (with tools provided my the motherboard manufacturers themselves), can be pushed to 4.5GHz rather easily manually in the BIOS (took no more than 5 min. for me) and with some effort, people have been pushing it to 5GHz (with lots of time and good air coolers).

Oh >_>. Well, could you link me to the parts required for an Intel build, and the parts to OC it with ease? I don't know much about what kind of motherboard and RAM is required for it. If the prices are low enough on Black Friday, I might switch over to that CPU.

 

[Zenthar]

CPU: Intel i5-2500K
MB: Gigabyte Z68X-UD3P

All other parts should work just fine. If you want 3rd party cooler to OC decently, the Hyper 212 is usually the one recommended. although I prefer the (pricier) Xigmatek coolers (SDT-1283 + ACK-I5361).

 

[jonnycatz1990]

The Nvidia 560 is basically very comparable to the AMD 6870. I personally would get the Phenom II 965 and just slightly overclock to same specs as your 980. Its an unlocked "Black Edition" so it will easily overclock. A bus overclock from 200 to 220-230 would be ideal and just leave the multiplier at default. You'll be overclocking your northbridge as well which is quite beneficial up to 2200-2400Mhz. Remember to drop hypertransport to 9x multi or u may get problems. They are practically the same CPU's anyways, just clocked different from factory. The 6-core 1090T or 1100T are very attractive options and closely priced. I would truly wait just a bit longer for the AMD Bulldozer release, as your motherboard is compatible.

 

[MIK_1st]

The Nvidia 560 is basically very comparable to the AMD 6870. I personally would get the Phenom II 965 and just slightly overclock to same specs as your 980. Its an unlocked "Black Edition" so it will easily overclock. A bus overclock from 200 to 220-230 would be ideal and just leave the multiplier at default. You'll be overclocking your northbridge as well which is quite beneficial up to 2200-2400Mhz. Remember to drop hypertransport to 9x multi or u may get problems. They are practically the same CPU's anyways, just clocked different from factory. The 6-core 1090T or 1100T are very attractive options and closely priced. I would truly wait just a bit longer for the AMD Bulldozer release, as your motherboard is compatible.

Yes, I was considering the Bulldozer when it came out. It's just that it might go a bit higher than my budget is.

 

[MIK_1st]

CPU: Intel i5-2500K
MB: Gigabyte Z68X-UD3P

All other parts should work just fine. If you want 3rd party cooler to OC decently, the Hyper 212 is usually the one recommended. although I prefer the (pricier) Xigmatek coolers (SDT-1283 + ACK-I5361).

Ok, thanks. But if I decide to NOT overclock, would the AMD be faster?

 

[Zenthar]

Ok, thanks. But if I decide to NOT overclock, would the AMD be faster?

Based on this chart, yes, even at stock speeds the i5-2500K (3.3Ghz) is faster than even the X4 9800 (3.7 GHz).

 

[Zenthar]

If you really don't want to OC (which I find would be a shame on SB given how easy it is to do) and want to save money, you could consider getting something like an i5-2300 or an i5-2400 and an H67/H61 motherboard; yes even those perform as well or better than the X4 980. But you have to understand that you completely forfeit OC with this choice (like in zero/nada/nil, not "not as good").

 

[MIK_1st]

If you really don't want to OC (which I find would be a shame on SB given how easy it is to do) and want to save money, you could consider getting something like an i5-2300 or an i5-2400 and an H67/H61 motherboard; yes even those perform as well or better than the X4 980. But you have to understand that you completely forfeit OC with this choice (like in zero/nada/nil, not "not as good").

Wow, I geuss Intel really is as good as they say. I just don't understand how Intel is faster than the AMD one... Oh well, I'll just go with it I geuss. If I come up with the money by the time I buy my parts, I'll DEFINETLY go with Intel!

 

[Zenthar]

One thing to understand about the "speed" of a processor when expressed in Mhz or Ghz (applies to RAM also BTW) is that is is barely the "electrical frequency"; the true performance of a CPU lies in the number or operations it can do per seconds (ex: MFLOPS = 1000 FLoating Operations Per Seconds). For example, if a CPU runs at 3Ghz and each operation takes 10 cycles to complete, you get 300 operations/seconds, but take another processor running at 2Ghz that takes only 5 cycles per operations and it get 400 operations per second which would feel much faster.

As you might guess, it isn't actually THAT simple, a CPU supports hundreds (if not more, you can always count them here) and each can take a different amount of cycles to complete depending on the architecture of the CPU (which can vary from one generation to another, not just the brand, the old Intel Pentium 4 used to be one of the worst to the point where they basically went back to something closer to Pentium 3 when they created the Core processors). Other factors can also influence the performance such as cache and how it is managed.

For RAM it is a bit more simple as the number of cycles it takes to complete an operation is the CAS rating.

 

[MIK_1st]

EDIT: After getting some advice, I'm changing the PSU to a different brand as well as to 650W

 

[MIK_1st]

Can anyone recommend decent speakers? Just a pair that will last me a while, and has good enough sound quality.

 

[MIK_1st]

EDIT: Changing the PSU and the Case

 

[MIK_1st]

EDIT: Changing the CPU, Motherboard, and RAM Brand