Making a new AMD build

[Tbrown37]

Hey i'm selling my old rig and looking to buy and put together my first PC. I know a decent amount about computers and I haven't yet put my own together but I can take one apart piece by piece and put it back together so
I am a gamer first and foremost i'll be playing games like D3, WoW;MoP, SW;ToR, Guild Wars 2, Mass Effect 1,2,3, etc....I usually don't pick up FPS such as BF3 for my PC and stick to playing such graphically demanding games on my console.

Right now I have decided on

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912

Processor: AMD FX-4170 Zambezi 4.2GHz (4.3GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W

Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 AM3+ AMD 970 (I wanted the sabertooth but I don't xfire/SLI and I also don't OC the CPU)

Memory: Some pro advice for RAM that would be optimal in this mobo?

Hard Drive 1: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Hard Drive 2: I want an SSD for quick booting with 64GB/120GB haven't found a good one.

Power: Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-750 750W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified, Modular Design, Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31/EPS12V v2.92, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active-PFC Power Supply

Any advice on how to make this build cheaper with more or equal performance and any advice on a good SSD and RAM that's goes well with that Mobo.

 

[GI_JONES]

What are you going to do for graphics?

 

[Tbrown37]

Oops forgot to post that the core component for gamers I will be buying the

GPU: MSI N560GTX-Ti 448 Twin Frozr III PE/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 448 Cores (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16

Was considering a 6950 but looking at some benchmarks for 560 TI 448 cores it's beating out 6950/6970 2GB cards on Farcry 2, Mafia 2, AvP

Also it runs much cooler and despite the low core speed of 750 on it I plan to OC it closer to 850-900 if possible.

 

[andystanley]

Hello there!
I highly recommend changing your CPU. an i5 will really out preform a amd!
Lets change the MB&CPU to

a gigabyte z68
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128538

and a i5 2400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074

and a nice video card for a little cheaper
SAPPHIRE 11200-00-20G Radeon HD 7850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102986

some ram...
mushkin enhanced blackline 8gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226099
(if you want you can always buy two more sticks and make that 16gb)

your Hard drive is fine

Here is a top quality ssd
Crucial m4 120gb(if your a gamer you def need 120gb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

your case is also good

a good PSU
XFX Core Edition PRO750W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207015

Also a good dvd drive
ASUS 24x
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135230

That is a very good pc for gaming. if this is over your budget plz let me know and ill shrink it down

 

[g-unit1111]

Here is a top quality ssd
Crucial m4 120gb(if your a gamer you def need 120gb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148442

I wouldn't recommend an SSD on any sort of sub-$1K build. That money goes to the GPU. Any 500GB mechanical drive will do fine. Storage is an afterthought when drives can be added and removed with relative ease.

Try this:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - $59.99 ($10.00 MIR)
PSU: Corsair CX600 V2 - $69.99 ($20.00 MIR)
Motherboard: Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3 - $121.99
CPU: 3.1GHz Intel Core i5-2400 - $189.99
RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaw X 1600MHz 1.5V - $46.99
HD: 500GB Seagate Barracuda ST 7200RPM - $84.99
Optical: Lite On Bulk DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 - $249.99

Total: $841.91 - $30.00 MIR = $811.91

 

[omega21xx]

Here is a top quality ssd
Crucial m4 120gb(if your a gamer you def need 120gb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148442

I wouldn't recommend an SSD on any sort of sub-$1K build. That money goes to the GPU. Any 500GB mechanical drive will do fine. Storage is an afterthought when drives can be added and removed with relative ease.

Try this:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - $59.99 ($10.00 MIR)
PSU: Corsair CX600 V2 - $69.99 ($20.00 MIR)
Motherboard: Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3 - $121.99
CPU: 3.1GHz Intel Core i5-2400 - $189.99
RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaw X 1600MHz 1.5V - $46.99
HD: 500GB Seagate Barracuda ST 7200RPM - $84.99
Optical: Lite On Bulk DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 - $249.99

Total: $841.91 - $30.00 MIR = $811.91

^+1 Highly agree with this build, I was busy putting together a list almost the exact same (different case and HDD)

 

[g-unit1111]

^+1 Highly agree with this build, I was busy putting together almost this exact one (different case and HDD)

Nice. I was busy last night installing my shiny new Silencer PSU. I have to say it's pretty sweet, I will be upgrading my GPU once I get my tax refund.

 

[Tbrown37]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115073 i5 2500 if affordable for that extra clock speed only 20$

And gigabyte boards I believe usually come pre loaded with norton which is a program I will not have on my PC lol. No bloatware

I have been pretty set on getting a twin frozr series card looking at this; http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2235671

GTX sucks more power but has better drivers and is on par < in terms of FPS.

 

[Tbrown37]

Here is a top quality ssd
Crucial m4 120gb(if your a gamer you def need 120gb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148442

I wouldn't recommend an SSD on any sort of sub-$1K build. That money goes to the GPU. Any 500GB mechanical drive will do fine. Storage is an afterthought when drives can be added and removed with relative ease.

Try this:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - $59.99 ($10.00 MIR)
PSU: Corsair CX600 V2 - $69.99 ($20.00 MIR)
Motherboard: Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3 - $121.99
CPU: 3.1GHz Intel Core i5-2400 - $189.99
RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaw X 1600MHz 1.5V - $46.99
HD: 500GB Seagate Barracuda ST 7200RPM - $84.99
Optical: Lite On Bulk DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 - $249.99

Total: $841.91 - $30.00 MIR = $811.91

Perfect build except I am set on a twin frozr series card. I can drop the SSD the boot times don't help my frame rates and my budget can fit in an SSD later down the road.
I haven't dealt with an asrock mobo before are they solid?

Right now my current rig is; http://sacramento.craigslist.org/sys/2937445581.html

And i'm looking to upgrade just to get the newer generation of components.

I have someone who is willing to trade

CPU: AMD FX-4100 Black Edition Unlocked Zambezi (Bulldozer) 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor FD4100WMGUSBX (3 year warranty)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper N520 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible RR-920-N520-GP
Motherboard: Gigabyte AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard GA-970A-D3 (3 year warranty)
Memory: XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 (Lifetime Warranty) (16gb Max)
Hard Drive 1: Patriot Pyro 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC 6.0 Gb/s Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) PP60GS25SSDR (3 year warranty)
Hard Drive 2: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Retail Internal Hard Drive WDBAAZ0010HNC-NRSN (WD10000LSRTL WD1001FALS) (5 year warranty)
Optical Drive: LG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Forever M-Disc Millenniata Support GH24NS70
Video: Gigabyte GeForce 210 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Silent Video Card GV-N210SL-1GI (Dual PCI-E x16 available) (3 year warranty)

The above assembled PC for my current rig the i7 940 etc....though I would need to add a GPU and upgrade the PSU.

Or I could sell my current rig for the 675 minus one of my 500GB HDDs and get all new parts for 741. I5, Asrock, Twin frozr, Haf case etc...

 

[omega21xx]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115073 i5 2500 if affordable for that extra clock speed only 20$

And gigabyte boards I believe usually come pre loaded with norton which is a program I will not have on my PC lol. No bloatware

I have been pretty set on getting a twin frozr series card looking at this; http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2235671

GTX sucks more power but has better drivers and is on par < in terms of FPS.

Just to comment on the norton thing, this is on the driver CD much like ASRock has media expresso and other stuff on their driver CD. Just don't click "install all" and you will be fine doing individual driver and utility installs.

 

[g-unit1111]

And gigabyte boards I believe usually come pre loaded with norton which is a program I will not have on my PC lol. No bloatware

Yeah it's on the driver CD but you don't have to install it if you don't want to - I almost had to wipe my HD because it came with that awful Splashtop Connect "utility" which consumes both IE and Firefox and makes them almost unusable. I like both of my Gigabyte boards but I'm never clicking "install all" again.

And I agree Norton sucks.

The above assembled PC for my current rig the i7 940 etc....though I would need to add a GPU and upgrade the PSU.

You're running an i7-940? You don't really need to build a new PC - you could just add a 680 and you're good to go. You'd be seriously cheated if you traded that PC for an FX due to all the problems it's been having.

 

[Tbrown37]

Well my rig was bought custom built from a 3rd party off CL. The v9 case has none of the tool free components, the extra modular cables weren't included, cosmetic damage, no manual/boxes, the power button wire shorted so it has to be booted directly from the mobo, my cpu gets hotter than it should because the third party owner used to OC the crap outta this thing before I got it. I know I would be cheated so after this thread i'm heavily leaning towards selling my rig because I want a fresh start with a PC that I can build, have all the boxes for etc..

 

[Tbrown37]

Other mobo considerations; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131773 ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 132.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131707 SUS P8P67-M PRO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 129.99

 

[g-unit1111]

Well my rig was bought custom built from a 3rd party off CL. The v9 case has none of the tool free components, the extra modular cables weren't included, cosmetic damage, no manual/boxes, the power button wire shorted so it has to be booted directly from the mobo, my cpu gets hotter than it should because the third party owner used to OC the crap outta this thing before I got it. I know I would be cheated so after this thread i'm heavily leaning towards selling my rig because I want a fresh start with a PC that I can build, have all the boxes for etc..

Ah, that makes more sense why you want to get rid of it - I was using a well-worn 4 year old Apple laptop before I decided to build my i7 desktop a few years ago.

Perfect build except I am set on a twin frozr series card. I can drop the SSD the boot times don't help my frame rates and my budget can fit in an SSD later down the road.

The Sapphire has the same dual fan configuration of the Twin Frozr - any reason why you'd prefer MSI?

I know I would be cheated so after this thread i'm heavily leaning towards selling my rig because I want a fresh start with a PC that I can build, have all the boxes for etc..

That would be the better way to go - FX certainly isn't.

 

[Tbrown37]

Ah, that makes more sense why you want to get rid of it - I was using a well-worn 4 year old Apple laptop before I decided to build my i7 desktop a few years ago.

Perfect build except I am set on a twin frozr series card. I can drop the SSD the boot times don't help my frame rates and my budget can fit in an SSD later down the road.

The Sapphire has the same dual fan configuration of the Twin Frozr - any reason why you'd prefer MSI?

I know I would be cheated so after this thread i'm heavily leaning towards selling my rig because I want a fresh start with a PC that I can build, have all the boxes for etc..

That would be the better way to go - FX certainly isn't.

The twin frozr has the heatpipes and I believe they are aluminum and not plastic on the top of the card. So mainly set on the MSI because of the cooling.

I have got one offer on my rig but they wanted me to remove the HDDs and said my price of 675 is quote "Its not a great deal in fact it is rather a shitty deal. There is no SSD, the ram is not triple channel (making it slower, crippling the computer), 4gb of ram is nothing, an i7 940 is from 2008, there is no graphics card, no Sata 3, or USB 3. You could find a buyer at 450 to 500 with the hard drives"

What do you believe is a fair price range for all of my components? I looked them up used between ebay/amazon and without the HDDs my price averaged to 778$. I was even rounding down choosing the lower priced used components.

 

[azeem40]

MSI has a better cooling system.

 

[shell shocke]

LOL, If you're going to toss out those 550 TI's give me them

 

[g-unit1111]

LOL, If you're going to toss out those 550 TI's give me them

Well I'm not going to exactly toss them out - I reuse and recycle components frequently (my work computer is made up of about 1/2 new, 1/2 recycled components), I'm keeping one to put in my HTPC and then the other I'll probably use as a spare in case something goes wrong.

 

[Tbrown37]

How does this have to do with how much you think my PC is worth? Lol

 

[Soda-88]

zambezi is dogshit for gaming, period.

i3/i5/i7 or bust

 

[Tbrown37]

Okay once again lol I am planning on getting the i5 2500 but your opinion has nothing to do with my last question!? :S

Appraisal on said rig below?


Processor: Intel Core i7-940 Bloomfield 2.93GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601940
Motherboard: EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard
Memory: Patriot Gamer Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PGS34G1600ELKC
Hard Drive 1: Seagate DB35.2 Series ST3160212SCE 160GB 7200 RPM 2MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Hard Drive 2:Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Hard Drive 3:Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Hard Drive 4:Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Hard Drive 5:Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Optical Drive: Pioneer Black 5X BD-ROM 12X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-Ray Reader and 12X DVD±R DVD Burner Model BDC-2202B
Power: ZALMAN ZM850-HP 850W Continuous @ 45°C (Maximum Continuous Peak: 1050W) ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Modular Heatpipe-Cooled SLI Power Supply
Case: Thermaltake V9 Black Edition ATX Computer Gaming Chassis with Dual Oversized 230mm Ultra-Silent Cooling Fans VJ400G1N2Z Mid Tower
Cooling: 1 x 120mm front Red LED fan
1 x 120mm rear fan
1 x 230mm top fan
1 x 230mm side fan
Expansion
External 5.25" Drive Bays: 4
External 3.5" Drive Bays: 2
Internal 3.5" Drive Bays: 5
Expansion Slots: 7
Dimensions: 18.70" x 7.50" x 16.90"