Decisions, decisions

F

forcedinduktion

n00b
Joined
Dec 16, 2010
Messages
27
Thinking of doing a new build so i can finally get rid of the POS in my room. This was the first computer I had, windows 98 in 01' so you can imagine. Everyone got new computers except me of coarse. And im thinking of putting one in my room now. But nonetheless, here is what ive been looking at. My budget is <1000 for everything. And this does not include monitor, mouse,keyboard, speakers. Those items are newer (<1.5yrs old)


Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$99.99

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
$118.99

MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX
$164.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
$109.99

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
$159.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8T-6GBRM
$114.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$79.99

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
$19.99

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler
$34.99

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subtotal: $903.91


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

So please give me your feedback and you can tell me what I should replace. The only thing i think i will replace will be the GPU. Ive been looking on ebay for the ATI 4870x2 which i can get for 200. I have been looking at the card ever since it came out, but never had the $$$. I think that's the best bang for the buck. Btw, I will be upgrading to a 22" HD monitor in the near future.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? A bit of gaming, and photoshop, along with CAD, lot of browsing and watching movies
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? $1000
3) Where do you live? IL
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? Entire computer
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model. none
6) Will you be overclocking? Yes
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? 17" but going to a 22" soon
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Within a month
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc. Not exactly sure myself
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Yes I have Windows 7, 64bit
 
Last edited:
Please answer the questions in the sticky titled "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!" so that we can help you better.

So far, that case is gonna need several improvements to make it a good buy.

Also, what's your definition of "near future"?

Right off the bat, ditch the Corsair and get this higher quality with slightly more power Antec PSU:
$110 - Antec Truepower New TP-750 750W PSU

For $10 less, you can get 2GB more RAM and still the same real world performance:
$100 - G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
 
In addition, that Hyper N is not that good for its $38 shipped price: With two small 92mm fans it performs no better than the Hyper 212+ that sells for a bit less - and two 92mm fans are likely to be noisier/louder than a single 120mm fan.

And I agree with Danny's choice of the RAM: AMD platforms with dual-channel IMCs generally do not like being run with only three sticks of RAM. In fact, some AMD systems will refuse to even POST with three sticks of RAM installed.

Third, ditch that 1TB WD Black in favor of this drive:

$55 - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

This drive is significantly faster (sequential-speed-wise) than most of the samples of that WD1001FALS still in resellers' stock because the Samsung uses 2 x 500GB platters whereas most samples of the WD1001FALS still use 3 x 334GB platters. (Shame on Western Digital for continuing to manufacture both older and newer drive designs under the exact same advertised model number - and often within hours of one another in the exact same assembly plant.) This can result in a rather big difference of up to 40 MB/s in the sequential performance between the two drives. (The Samsung F3 can hit 150 MB/s while most of the WD1001FALS drives couldn't even dent 110 MB/s.)
 
Last edited:
I was actually looking at the HAF I just couldnt decide which, and I meant to change the RAM but it totally slipped my mind. And I plan on getting the monitor maybe 2-3 months after the build. For now I will still be using my 17" Btw i know the 4870x2 is a bit outdated but i think that is the best ill get for 200ish
 
forcedinduktion said:
I was actually looking at the HAF I just couldnt decide which, and I meant to change the RAM but it totally slipped my mind. And I plan on getting the monitor maybe 2-3 months after the build. For now I will still be using my 17" Btw i know the 4870x2 is a bit outdated but i think that is the best ill get for 200ish
Click to expand...

Please answer the stickied questions.
 
Danny Bui said:
But yeah I totally agree with your post: The Antec 900 is a bad case choice at $100.
Click to expand...

As the post above this quote mentioned, the Antec 900 case is embarrassingly cramped on the inside, especially from rear to front. And I would not say that the 900 "has absolutely no cable management"; in fact, it does - but it consists of merely two plastic ties strapped onto the motherboard mounting plate, making this level of cable management very rudimentary.
 
Last edited:
Agree on the 900 ... thumbs down.

The case is a pain to work in. I have been tearing down my current system getting ready for my next build and just being inside the 900 case makes my stomach turn.

Antec totally sold me on the looks when the case first came out. I have one of the 1st gen with the unpainted interior and had to break out the Dremel and hole saw to make my own cable management.

Next build will be in a Cooler Master HAF 912. Im excited to start building, such a great case for the $$
 
Please re-read and answer question 8 again: It's asking WHEN you're builing the PC, not whether or not if you are.

Also, the Phenom II 965, 970, 1075T, and 1090T CPUs are not worth the extra cash. The Phenom II 1055T, however, is worth the extra cash in you situation.

And yes the 4870X2 is a tad outdated. As time goes one and one, support for that card is gonna be less and less. So you're better off just buying a new card.
 
forcedinduktion said:
but the 1055T appears to have the lowest clock speeds of the bunch....
Click to expand...

Yes but the problem is that the higher costs of the those higher clocked CPUs are not justified besides synthetic benchmarks and minute differences in real world performances.

The 1090T costs $230 yet is only 400Mhz faster than the $180 Phenomm II 1055T. Considering that it's just as easy to OC the 1055T to the same levels as the 1090T and the fact that 400Mhz will not provide that much of a real world performance difference, the extra $50 for the 1090T is a waste. The 1075T is 200Mhz faster than the 1055T but still costs $20 more. Again, considering the even 400Mhz doesn't make that much of a noticeable difference, what makes you think 200Mhz will make that much of a noticeable difference to justify the extra $20?

In fact, for a mainly gaming PC with overclocking mind, once you hit that $200 price mark for a CPU, you're better off just going with an Intel Core i5 750/760 CPU since those CPUs will outperform both Phenom II X6 CPUs even when they're at stock speeds and will OC significantly higher. The Phenom II 1055T is priced at the right price to make it a viable choice for a gaming PC without having to go to Intel for the better price to performance. In addition, the newegg combo deals for the 1055T are better than the newegg combo deals for the 1075T, 1090T, and Core i5 750/760 CPUs.

So yeah, the 1075T and 1090T are both poor purchases considering that there are faster CPUs for the same or lower price and they do not provide enough of a performance increase over their lower clocked brother to justify the costs.

Prelim build for now:
$250 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU + Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870A ATX Motherboard Combo
$120 - 2 x G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9S-4GBRL 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$240 - XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$70 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$18 - Samsung SH-S223L SATA DVD Burner
$110 - Antec Truepower New TP-750 750W PSU
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
---
Total: $928 plus tax and shipping

$30 more than your planned setup but with key improvements:
- Faster video card
- Faster hard drive
- 2GB more RAM
- Better cooling HSF
- Better case
- CPU more suitable for CAD

Yes that HD 6870 is complete overkil for a 17" and kind of overkill for a 22" but you had room in the budget so might as well. And no I do not recommend getting a USED HD 4870X2 card.
 
So how does the 1055T compare to my original plan of going with the 965 or 760? The ram you recommended is only 4GB. Btw thanks for all the help
 
forcedinduktion said:
So how does the 1055T compare to my original plan of going with the 965 or 760? The ram you recommended is only 4GB. Btw thanks for all the help
Click to expand...

The 1055T performs about the same as the 965 in games. In CAD work, I think the 1055T should be ahead of the 965 here.

Also, look at how I posted the RAM dude: I did type "2 x G.Skill". That means 8GB of RAM man.
 
ahh gottcha i was looking at it and wasnt sure what you meant. well i got my christmas bonus today so the build is gonna happen soon than i thought
 
Just a small suggestion about the CPU, if you have the time. According to Intel the new "Sandy Bridge" CPU will be released on Jan 5.
I am in the market for a new CPU to match my new AMD 6970, but am holding until I can read the [H]ardocp reviews and find out the local prices (in Thailand) etc for the new line of CPU. I would like to buy now but a 2 or 3 week wait may make me much happier in the long run.
 
Last edited:
motherboard. i guess that will do. idk how one can differ from one another, other than number of expandable slots and cooling properties
 
forcedinduktion said:
motherboard. i guess that will do. idk how one can differ from one another, other than number of expandable slots and cooling properties
Click to expand...

You look at the features set as well. Like RAID, Firewire, Crossfire or SLI suppor, USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, etc.
 
Danny's build on the previous page looks good, except I dont like the CM690 @ 90 bucks over the HAF912. Unless your planning to have a bunch of hard drives (3+ without dipping into the 5.25's) the HAF 912 has more room inside (pulling the center drive bays)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top