My AMD based Build

AnAngelsDeath

AnAngelsDeath

Gawd
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
813
Got my last PC that I built, stolen recently (long story, that I've told too many times on this forum lol) so I'm looking to build a new one within the next few months, so I'm starting to plan it out, and start getting an idea on what I'm gonna spend. Some of these parts are the same I used in my last build, cause I just built that PC 3 months ago, it was brand friggin new :(

So Let me know what you guys think, and offer up any suggestions you may have on what I should do different, I'm trying to stay under 900$, 950$ at the Most....

So here's the Main specs (CPU,MOBO,GPU,RAM,PSU) -


CPU – AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Quad-Core – $155.00

MOBO – ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - $165.00

GPU – XFX HD-585X-ZABC Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI-E - $244.00

RAM – G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - $75.00

PSU – KINGWIN Lazer LZ-850 850W Modular 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC W/ 3-Way LED Switch and Universal Modular - $125.00

Total (with a case I already picked out but didn't show here) $844.00


These are all prices based off newegg, and I plan on shopping around, but I'm just trying to get a baseline for what I exactly want, and what its gonna cost. I Already Have a HDD, and DVD Burner, and I already Have a really nice Sound Card, from Creative, as well as a M-Audio Recording Interface (I'm a Musician/Guitarist, been doing music since 2nd grade (Choir, Saxophone, Trumpet) and been playing guitar since 8th Grade, and I'm in college for Audio Engineering and Producing/Music) So I didn't add that stuff to the price since I already have it, and Like I said, I already Picked out a case, but I figured that didn't matter in this thread, so thats left to pick out is a CPU HSF, but I'm gonna do some more research on those, and read more reviews, I eventually want to go water-cooled, but for now, I'm just gonna go with Air. But if you guys have any suggesions for a HSF that would work well with this setup, feel free to let me kno.

So yea, there ya go, lets hear it....
 
Why not go for a 6870 instead of 5850? Same performance, more efficient, and kick ass AA.
 
i agree no point of getting the 5850 grab a 6870 or even a 6850


CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=corsair_modular-_-17-139-010-_-Product
$30 off w/ promo code EMCZZZT54 making it Grand Total: $119.99

Heatsink Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...103065&cm_re=hyper_212-_-35-103-065-_-Product
29.99

Gskill Ripjaws: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4&cm_re=gskill_ripjaws-_-20-231-274-_-Product
$61.99

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851
$179.00

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150506
$269.99

ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131655
164.99

COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN3 CM690 II: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=cooler_master_692-_-11-119-215-_-Product
$74.99


Grand Total: $888.57




6850 build

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-010-_-Product
$30 off w/ promo code EMCZZZT54 making it Grand Total: $119.99

Heatsink Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-065-_-Product
29.99

Gskill Ripjaws: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-274-_-Product
$61.99

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103851
$179.00

XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150505
$199.99

ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131655
164.99

COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN3 CM690 II: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-215-_-Product
$74.99


Grand Total:Grand Total: $815.78
 
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Robstar said:
I'd personally go for a 6 core...they aren't that much more.
Click to expand...

I agree with this, especially if you live near a Micro Center. The 1055T Thubans are currently selling for $179 and they overclock extremely well. We have several members on our folding team that are getting 4+ghz out of their 1055T's.
 
amdgamer said:
I agree with this, especially if you live near a Micro Center. The 1055T Thubans are currently selling for $179 and they overclock extremely well. We have several members on our folding team that are getting 4+ghz out of their 1055T's.
Click to expand...

You can also get a free motherboard (no rebates) with the 6 core as well....so that makes it even cheaper!
 
Another vote for 1055T over the X4 and 6870 over the 5850.
 
4LC4PON3 said:
grr no microcenter near me at all.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it sucks for you guys who don't live near a Micro Center. Those of us who do, have enjoyed some pretty awesome deals. They have the best prices on cpus of anyone out there and got especially well known for selling the Core i7 920 and then the 930 for $199 along with the current 950 for $229.
 
If you're gonna go quad core, get a 555 Phenom II BE and unlock cores... they have an extremely high success rate... unlocked multi too..
 
A 6870 is a MUST vs. the 5850. Faster card & lower power consumption. Also....You can go with a -core.....But I say why? Six cores simply doesn't matter if your a gamer. To each his own. Here is my link for my AMD build I finished yesterday. Good Luck!

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1562442

I thought I did pretty well, but keep in mind I bought this piece-meal over time to get the best pricing.
 
So yea, I'm definitely going to go with the 6870 instead, so thanks for that recommendation everyone.

I had two questions tho;

First, I've heard some people say go with the Six-Core, and then others said for gaming Quad-Core is fine, there's no point in going with a Six. So I'm a lil confused on that. I'm not just going to be use this for gaming, but that is one of the main reasons, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge, serious gamer, so I'm trying to build a nice gaming rig, but like I said in my Original Post, I'm a Musician, I Play in a band, and I handle all of our recording; Mixing, Engineering, Mastering, I Do it all, and I also contract out to other local bands to record their bands and do all the mixing, and mastering, etc,. I'm also in college right now for Audio Engineering/Music (midi, sound tech, live sound, digital/analog recording, production etc etc,) so this computer needs to be able to run top notch for that as well. And So I'm wondering if I could benefit from going with a Six-Core, for my Home Studio DAW.

and Second, I like the other PSU that was recommended to me by "4LC4PON3" but I wanted to know what exactly the performance difference between what he recommended and the one I had picked out. I've been building PC's for a few years, but I'm still learning about Amps, and Volts on the PSUs, and about the 12v Rails, and all that stuff.

So here's the stats on the Kingwin I picked:
+5V @ 30A, +12V @ 20A, -12V @ 0.5A

and then the Corsair he picked:
+3.3V@25A, +5V25A, +12V@60A, [email protected], +5VSB@3A

I'm not sure what I'm looking for to tell which was is better, so can someone explain that to me ?
 
Personally I would go with a gtx 470 over a 6870. You can get great deals on the 470 now also. I bought a 6850 at launch while its good the drivers really aren't that great and it performs pretty much the same as a 460 1gb, I wish I would have got the 460 instead because they are cheaper now and now weird drivers.
 
AnAngelsDeath

if your doing audio editing the Hex will be much better. the corsair is a better build quality on the PSU

GFX wise the 6870 is a great choice i use mine daily for gaming(atleast when i have time) with no issues and thats with immature drivers, the 470 has pretty mature drivers and is a good choice as well.....going AMD and if you want to multi GPU later, the 6870 is best choice (assuming your not into driver hacks)
 
I honestly don't think the 6-core will be noticeably faster in audio work with the possible exception of rendering. I run a 965 at 3.8GHz and my most complex projects rarely even approach 50% CPU usage with tons of VSTs, effect automation, samples, etc..
 
AnAngelsDeath said:
So here's the stats on the Kingwin I picked:
+5V @ 30A, +12V @ 20A, -12V @ 0.5A

and then the Corsair he picked:
+3.3V@25A, +5V25A, +12V@60A, [email protected], +5VSB@3A

I'm not sure what I'm looking for to tell which was is better, so can someone explain that to me ?
Click to expand...
while not an expert by any means check out the 12v rails 60a on the corsair compared to 20 on the kingwin.

All I really know is that your psu is the one part you don't skimp on and corsairs are one o the best psu makers out there. Newegg currently has a 750tx from corsair for 94 or 64 after Mir.
 
Link the exact Kingwin that you chose. The key spec you're looking for the is the total amperage or wattage on the +12V rail. Something tells me that the Kingwin you chose has multiple +12V rails rated at 20A.

EDIT: Forgot to read the original post. Stick with the Kingwin PSU you chose. The Kingwin has 68A total on the +12V rail, which is more than the 60A on the +12V rail for the Corsair 750HX. In addition the promo code that 4Calpon3 posted for the Corsair has now expired. The Kingwin Lzer Gold 850W PSU is a good quality PSU.
 
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AnAngelsDeath said:
Got my last PC that I built, stolen recently (long story, that I've told too many times on this forum lol) so I'm looking to build a new one within the next few months, so I'm starting to plan it out, and start getting an idea on what I'm gonna spend. Some of these parts are the same I used in my last build, cause I just built that PC 3 months ago, it was brand friggin new :(

So Let me know what you guys think, and offer up any suggestions you may have on what I should do different, I'm trying to stay under 900$, 950$ at the Most....

So here's the Main specs (CPU,MOBO,GPU,RAM,PSU) -


CPU – AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Quad-Core – $155.00

MOBO – ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - $165.00

GPU – XFX HD-585X-ZABC Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI-E - $244.00

RAM – G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - $75.00

PSU – KINGWIN Lazer LZ-850 850W Modular 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC W/ 3-Way LED Switch and Universal Modular - $125.00

Total (with a case I already picked out but didn't show here) $844.00


These are all prices based off newegg, and I plan on shopping around, but I'm just trying to get a baseline for what I exactly want, and what its gonna cost. I Already Have a HDD, and DVD Burner, and I already Have a really nice Sound Card, from Creative, as well as a M-Audio Recording Interface (I'm a Musician/Guitarist, been doing music since 2nd grade (Choir, Saxophone, Trumpet) and been playing guitar since 8th Grade, and I'm in college for Audio Engineering and Producing/Music) So I didn't add that stuff to the price since I already have it, and Like I said, I already Picked out a case, but I figured that didn't matter in this thread, so thats left to pick out is a CPU HSF, but I'm gonna do some more research on those, and read more reviews, I eventually want to go water-cooled, but for now, I'm just gonna go with Air. But if you guys have any suggesions for a HSF that would work well with this setup, feel free to let me kno.

So yea, there ya go, lets hear it....
Click to expand...

Not a bad build...But, I think I did a tad better. See my thread here:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1562442
 
Danny Bui said:
Link the exact Kingwin that you chose. The key spec you're looking for the is the total amperage or wattage on the +12V rail. Something tells me that the Kingwin you chose has multiple +12V rails rated at 20A.

EDIT: Forgot to read the original post. Stick with the Kingwin PSU you chose. The Kingwin has 68A total on the +12V rail, which is more than the 60A on the +12V rail for the Corsair 750HX. In addition the promo code that 4Calpon3 posted for the Corsair has now expired. The Kingwin Lzer Gold 850W PSU is a good quality PSU.
Click to expand...

well now I"m getting mixed signals lol Obviously, everyone has there own opinion, but I personally Liked the kingwin better just based on the look and style, but obviously thats not a good reason for picking a PSU, and Like i said, I know quite a bit about building PC's, been doing it for awhile, but I never really learned that much about PSU's and all the Rails, and what amount of volts in good, and all that. So honestly, who thinks the kingwin would be better since it has 68A total on the 12v rail ? and also if you guys have any other recommendations, My only requirements are that its modular, and that its within the price range of the kingwin or corsair, and obviously that it has enough watts to power everything I listed, and would have enough power to also add a 2nd GPU at some point in the future.
 
I am not sure I wouldn't wait for the am3+ boards to be released before I built anything on the AMD side.
 
If I was building another AMD machine now I would hunt for a quad with 2 locked cores :D
 
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My thoughts on waiting for AM3+ vs. building one now are just go ahead and buy. You can always upgrade to an AM3+ mobo and keep the 955 from what I understand. Then you can get a new processor.
 
Yea that's my thought process too. So maybe if I end up needing usb3 I will get a mobo that supports it and an new am3+ cpu later.
 
what are you guys talking about, I didn't ask about waiting for AM3+ lol where'd that come from ?

I asked if the Kingwin PSU would actually be better to go with instead of the corsair, since it has a total of 68a on the 12v rails, as opposed to the 60a the corsair has ?

I wasn't even thinking about waiting for AM3+, and like I said, I not only use my PC's for Gaming, I use them for my music and recording, and the M-Audio recording interface I use is firewire, which i really like, and my MIDI controller is just USB 2.0, so I'm not too worried about having USB 3.0 as of yet, in the future it would nice, but right now, its just not that important.
 
well, I don't know where you implied all you cared about was the PSU.

And you said in the next few months you intended to build, so the AM3+ comment was along those lines, seeing as how in the next few months am3+ should come to market. and spending 900 bucks on a pc with limited upgrade potential seem a bit silly to me and my way of doing stuff.

whatever, I hate when people ask for advice then say they didn't ask for advice or that the advice they got wasn't about what they asked.

If all you cared about was the psu then you have a really bad way of expressing that.

good luck regardless.
 
Hey AnAngelsDeath,
First of all, not to impune Kingwin in any way (I've used their products in the past without any issue whatsoever), but just pick up the Corsair if you have the choice; their reputation and quality are impeccable.

Next, get the 1055T: what wasn't mentioned in the discussion so far (that I noticed, apologies if I misspeak) is the TurboCore feature. I have the same Asus you propose, and the moment I popped it in and flipped the onboard switch, I was at 3.36 GHz. The X6 betters Intel in encoding, or so I've read. You can google it and see if I'm mistaken.

My last comment is about the Asus M4A89TD PRO/USB3. I have the board, and since I first booted up I have experienced not a single issue in any regard. I flashed to latest BIOS (1006) at first opportunity, and eventually flipped that TurboCore-Enable switch I mentioned. BIOS took, switch gave me an additional 'painless' 450MHz, since tweaked higher.

The board/cpu work flawlessly together; nothing hiccups, and an obscene amount of programs can run smoothly opened at the same time. I would recommend the Asus + 1055T as an eminently robust, solid, agile configuration that will get any reasonable task, and a lot more, done while saving you a bit.

I moved to the configuration in my sig after 5 months using an Intel DP55SB/i7860 and have to say this is much more reliable. with the latter I was always 'aware' of processes, but with the current rig, I am free to just compute. Anyway, my 2 cents worth. Good luck with the build and let us know how it goes, good or bad: it'll benefit others. ;)
 
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