Another Please Check my Build thread - Gaming PC

[deshende]

Below are the pieces I'm planning on ordering for my new gaming machine build. I could use extra eyes looking at my build to see if I'm making any compatibility mistakes or just flat out over paying for something. (I'll also include justifications for why I picked certain pieces).

Purpose of this system: Decent gaming system that will last me several years without having to upgrade.

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 140W Quad-Core Processor – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...AMD-_-19103692
$195.99

I have a friend refer this one to me. It’s not the top performer in any category (top 5 to top 10 usually) but the price for performance ratio is very hard to ignore.


Video card:
Hightech Information System Ltd. H577F1GDG Desktop Graphics / Video Cards Customer Reviews for HIS H577F1GDG Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card – Retail x 2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ords%29&Page=2

$349.98 for two of them.

One of the things I wanted for sure in a video card was Directx 11 support. I realize that there’s nothing that even uses Directx 11 out there but on my current (old) system the reason I can’t play new games now is because my card doesn’t support a high enough Directx level. So that’s something on my radar when building a system that I want to last a few years.
I was originally looking at some of the 58xx series but couldn’t find any of the cards I wanted actually for sale anywhere. After looking at some of the performance charts, this card, when crossfired, had a performance above some of the single cards that I wasn’t able to find for purchase (at about the same price or cheaper).
I’ve never messed with crossfiring before, so the geek in me kind of wants to play with it.

Motherboard:
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131363
$188.99

A little pricey compared to a lot of motherboards, but motherboards is one of the areas that I don’t have a high comfort level with. I wanted something able to support the full speed of crossfiring with the space to hold the 2 massive cards as well. This one had good reviews so I decided on it.

Memory:
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996657 x2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...871&Tpk=996657
$239.98 – to get up to 8 gb

When reading the reviews on the motherboards, one thing that was a huge caution was to make sure to buy motherboard supported memory. So going from the list of memory to choose from on the above motherboard, this was the best reviewed/best priced option. 8GB may be a bit much for now, but I undershot my current (old) system so want to start with an adequate amount this time.

Hard drive:
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-322-_-Product

$199.99

I contemplated trying out a SSD for an OS drive, but the cost to performance ratio just doesn’t seem worth it on there yet. This drive had a lot of good reviews. I also have a 1.5 TB external drive I can use with this system for random music/movie/picture storage, so the 300 GB should be big enough to hold most of my programs.


Optical drive:
Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe LightScribe Support - OEM Optical Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118032

$33.99

Eh whatever. Just needed an optical drive. Not willing to pay for a blu-ray burner yet so just wanted something that would get the job done.


Case:
Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129043
$149.99

Lots of good reviews. Lots of space. No complaints about over heating. It also has a built in dust filter (I was originally considering buying additional filters for whatever case I purchased). Plus lots of blue glowing is appealing to me.


Power supply:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply – Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

I needed something beefy enough to make sure I could handle the two crossfired video cards. This power supply had a lot of good reviews and a good warranty (power supply was the only thing to ever die on my current (old) system).

OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116762 $174.99

I’ve wanted to play around with Windows 7. This version of it seems most applicable for my usage level.

Total price: $1,643.89 (which may vary after rebates and shipping/tax)


Thoughts?

[kyamei]

Hard drive:
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-322-_-Product

$199.99

I contemplated trying out a SSD for an OS drive, but the cost to performance ratio just doesn’t seem worth it on there yet. This drive had a lot of good reviews. I also have a 1.5 TB external drive I can use with this system for random music/movie/picture storage, so the 300 GB should be big enough to hold most of my programs.


Thoughts?

I'd dump that V-Raptor for a Samsung Spinpoint F3 or some other 500gb platter drive. The Raptor is only marginally, if at all, faster and costs a whole lot more per GB.

On the note of SSDs, the cost/performance ratio on those are actually pretty good. They have pretty much non-existent access times and read speeds about 2x faster than the VelociRaptor. The cheap 40GB Kingston/Intel SSD I just picked up for my netbook gets an average read of around 200mb/s in HDTune, making everything much more responsive.


For your RAM, I'd say just pick up 4GBs for now. RAM prices are rather high at the moment, probably due to the transition between DDR2 to DDR3. They should settle down to more reasonable prices soon. For comparison, I bought 6GB of quality DDR3 for only $90 a few months ago (and a cheap set for someone else for only $50).

[Mala]

For $100 more on the HDD you can get a western digital caviar black 2tb drive. Its new and is said to outperform raptors. However, good luck finding one, they were up on newegg and amazon last week but now I can't seem to find them for $300 anywhere anymore. Amazon has some for $315 though.

Review here (has benches vs various storage devices including raptor): http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...ve-review.html

Also, I'm not quite up to date on AMD's cpu line, but I know you can get an i5 750 & a mobo for about the same price (or less if you don't get a super expensive mobo) and you should be able to OC the 750 to 4.0ghz with a decent air cooler.

Also for GPU...maybe get one 5850 or 5870, the 50s are $300~$320 and the 70s are $400~$420, but you have to not mind waiting about 10 days for places to get them back in stock. There were a couple of 5850s for sale earlier today on newegg but they sold out quick. Also getting one of the 58xxs will a PCIE16x slot open if you ever want to get another later down the road.

[Kurokikaze]

If you decide to go Intel instead. Microcenter has i7 920s for 199: http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0302727

Thats lowest price you'll find that processor for at the moment. Definitely worth it if there is one near you for in-store pickup.

[Omniyoji]

Oh sh... bloomfield for $199.99 @_@

good lookin' out Kuro

[Mala]

If you decide to go Intel instead. Microcenter has i7 920s for 199: http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0302727

Thats lowest price you'll find that processor for at the moment. Definitely worth it if there is one near you for in-store pickup.

On the off chance you don't live around one, someone on some other board i frequent said the microcenter in Houston, Texas will ship them out to you. I'd imagine this would consist of calling up the specific store and asking them. Can't verify for certain though as I don't have the money for a 1366 build atm

[fishstix]

yea, they also have the i5 for $150, $50 less than other places. I think if you're trying to save money with an AMD build, at this point, the only good price/performance would be with the lower end x2, x3 Phenom IIs unless you get a DDR2 version board. The top end Phenoms are priced similarly to the i5 now and although the boards only support a max of 8x on crossfire/sli, I think the performance of an i5 would trump dual 16x pci-e. It's up to you though, personally I use the Phenom II x4 940, but I built my pc earlier this year. I'd definitely go with an i5 if I built a new computer though.

Also yeah, I hear dual 32mb cache 7200rpm drives in Raid 0 > raptor

[deshende]

I do live about an hour from a Microcenter so that's definitely something to keep in mind. Thanks for the suggestion.