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Decided on AMD for build, need help!

X

xtremerunnerars

n00b
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Messages
19
Well I think I'm definitely going AMD, and my ceiling is $2,000.

2+ IPS monitors at 1920x1200 both with Displayport native
surfing, gaming (FPS, RTS, etc), little bit of photoshopping and media work

Only things I'm (maybe) bringing from my current PC: 2TB in sata storage (WD greens), 1TB in external/IDE, 1 MSI r5770 Hawk. And software+OS is covered "for free" via school.

I'm a college student and will be living in a dorm for the next 2 or so years so I want something somewhat quiet. That's got me thinking watercooling, plus I've always wanted to try it. That obviously means full tower since I want it internal..and I'm liking the Cosmos series of cases (and not liking the HAF!)

Parts wise, I'm looking at:
CFing 5770s
955 vs 1055t (leaning 955?..)
Ripjaws 6GB DDR3?
Crosshair IV mobo
Corsair 650w PSU

Value wise, do you guys think I should just stay 955 and push it with water? Maybe WC the 5770s too? Eventually I guess it makes sense to CF 5850s and go 1090t, but right now that just doesn't make much sense $$$ wise, especially to someone like me. I'm practical in that I'll get more value out of good monitors/peripherals than going 1090t vs 955 and things like that. I think I could maybe spare the extra cash, keep the good Crosshair mobo and PSU (maybe get the 750) for the decent future (dam Bulldozer..grr) and WC the rig. Maybe even spend some of the extra money on a NICE pair of bookshelf speakers + vintage receiver and buy my second IPS monitor?


Thoughts appreciated :)
 
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700d and 800d by corsair are awesome looking and great for water cooling.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...er=BESTMATCH&Description=corsair+case&x=0&y=0

am3 is dual channel not tripple so 2x2gb sticks would be best. 3x2gb is for 1336 socket. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1321&cm_re=g.skill_eco-_-20-231-321-_-Product awesome ram.

gigabyte 890x is also a good board and you will save a bit.

i dont think you should crossfire 5770's. think you should be looking at a sapphire vapor x 5850 then just oc to 5870 stats. and later you could buy another.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102886&cm_re=vapor_x-_-14-102-886-_-Product

as for psu, id get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207003 (if you can deal with the color) and use the 15% off promo code, if not then http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256059
 
One question: When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

$2000 AMD build? Just doesn't seem like a smart idea IMO, especially considering that you're planning on overclocking. Right now, your entire parts setup really doesn't make sense $$ money wise:
- IMO, spending more than $160 on an AMD motherboard is simply waay too much money for very very little gain. AMD is clearly the mid-range king, not a high-end king like Intel. As such, that Crosshair IV mobo really doesn't make sense since it's trying to market itself as a high-end platform when AMD clearly isn't. For that much cash, you're better off wiht a Core i5 750/760 + P55 motherboard route

- 6GB will not work with any AMD mobo since apparently AMD does not have a provision to run 3 sticks of RAM like Intel does. So either get a 4GB or 8GB set of RAM

- HD 5770 1GB Crossfire may not be a good choice even if it'll only cost you $145 to $160 to do so considering the poor Crossfire scaling. You might be better off with GTX 460 1GB SLI

Value wise, you're better off with a Core i5 750 + P55 mobo than an AMD Phenom II build for $2000.
 
I hate to agree cause I love me some AMD but the Dannys right. If you can afford $2000 for a rig, Crossfired 5770's and Phenom II certainly doesnt suck but the performance per dollar ratio does. Kinda like putting $50,000 into a Honda Civic. Yeah it would be a great Civic but for that money you could have a BMW 5 series!

For that kind of money you could do an X58 board with any i7 with triple channel RAM and something along the lines if GTX460's or better in SLI. That would give you considerably better performance.
 
You guys make some pretty strong points :)

As far as the build; I don't really have an official time to build. I've got the money now, but I'm moving 1400 miles in a few months and don't really know if i'll have room to bring a full tower with me. Plus everything will be at least somewhat cheaper then. If the parts presented themselves used in the meantime and at prices too low to miss, I could always do that.


That being said, I'm rolling with an old 2.21GHz, 2gb ram, and 5770 right now and while that Frankenstein works, it's not great. If I wanted to spend no more than, say, 1500, is Intel that much better? Keep in mind that would only leave me with around 1200 for parts because of WC and case. I've always been an AMD person largely because of budget reasons so I know little about Intel other than it seems to be more expensive and benchmark friendly, which is something I never got into. That's largely the fanboy propaganda, though. I'm not against Intel though and will do my reading if necessary.

Whatever I decide to build, I would like it to clobber today's stuff and leave me strong for at least two years. After that it's okay for some small upgrades. I don't want to need a complete overhaul for at least 4-5 years.
 
xtremerunnerars said:
That being said, I'm rolling with an old 2.21GHz, 2gb ram, and 5770 right now and while that Frankenstein works, it's not great. If I wanted to spend no more than, say, 1500, is Intel that much better? Keep in mind that would only leave me with around 1200 for parts because of WC and case. I've always been an AMD person largely because of budget reasons so I know little about Intel other than it seems to be more expensive and benchmark friendly, which is something I never got into. That's largely the fanboy propaganda, though. I'm not against Intel though and will do my reading if necessary.
Click to expand...

Intel is really that much better to justify the slightly higher costs, especially for an overclocker:

$200 - Intel Core i5 750 CPU
$140 - Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 Intel P55 ATX Motherboard
$95 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$145 - Sapphire 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$100 - XFX P1-650X-CAG9 650W Modular PSU
---
Total: $680 plus tax and shipping.

So you can easily get a solid Intel build for under $1200.
 
Arg. It sucks that not many of the good-great Intel boards support i5 and i7. If I could go i5 and then jump to i7 later, then poof I'm sold I think.

Triple channel ram would also be nice, and the idea of 3x sli/CF would be cool too. For the forseeable future though, I'd be dual at the max so that's the least important feature IMO.
 
xtremerunnerars said:
Arg. It sucks that not many of the good-great Intel boards support i5 and i7. If I could go i5 and then jump to i7 later, then poof I'm sold I think.

Triple channel ram would also be nice, and the idea of 3x sli/CF would be cool too. For the forseeable future though, I'd be dual at the max so that's the least important feature IMO.
Click to expand...

First of all, there are two sockets that Intel uses now - the 1156 (like the Core i5 750 that Danny Bui used above) and the 1366. The 1156 has i3, i5, and the i7 860/870 CPUs. If you have $2000, you might want to consider a 1366 setup, unless someone here says otherwise.
 
Yeah, I was just looking through the specs on newegg boards and what they said was supported.


It looks like solid i7s can be had pretty cheaply with some searching and buying used from people who took good care of them. This has got me leaning slightly Intel atm, especially since I'm looking long term.

Spending 2000 would probably bum me out because it'll decrease pretty quickly in terms of value, whereas something stable for 1200 or so will be close enough IMO. Intel seems to have a higher tolerance/affinity for overclocking, which I'd be doing if I went WC.
 
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