How does this setup look?

D

Deathwish238

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 11, 2006
Messages
313
Any last minute comments/suggestions or things you'ld do differently? I'm probably going to place this today.


  • AMD Phenom II X4 920
  • Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
  • ASUS M3A78-T
  • SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB
  • Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB
  • COOLER MASTER 690
  • Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
  • Crucial Ballistix (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Model BL2KIT25664AA80A

$926 shipped


I am most concerned about my video card, RAM, and Case.



1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, Programming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1000ish total

3) Where do you live?
TX

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
OCZ 600W PSU, don't have it with me and don't remember model number

6) Will you be overclocking?
Lightly...hoping for 10% OC of cpu. No OC of gpu

7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
17" for now, eventually 22"

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This month

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Crossfire

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes
 
Some OC'ing...nothing crazy. Probably a modest 10% OC of the cpu, no gpu OCing. Gaming and programming.
 
G.skill ram
6400AAKS or 6401AALS hard drive

And answer the STICKY when seeking build help.
 
Why the 640GB HDDs? Are the faster?

Why G.skill RAM? I thought the Ballistix was the best.

I added the stick to my original post.
 
Deathwish238 said:
Why the 640GB HDDs? Are the faster?

Why G.skill RAM? I thought the Ballistix was the best.

I added the stick to my original post.
Click to expand...

Hmmm not too sure about the Black 750GB being any slower than the Black or Blue 640GB drives.

As for the RAM, the Ballistix series has a lot of problems hence why I've stopped recommending them a long time ago. In addition, for just $7 less, you can get higher speed RAM:
G.Skill F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 1000 RAM - $50

Yes G.Skill makes very good RAM and after at a lower price than others.

Found out which OCZ 600W PSU you have. OCZ has made quite a few different 600W PSUs. At least two of those PSU (StealthXStream and GameXStream) are off the FSP Episilon PSU design which has out of spec ripple, or voltage fluctuations, at high loads that can damage or kill your system. Another, the ModXStream Pro series, is based off some crap Sirtec platform.

So find out which OCZ 600W PSU you have.

Also, HD4850X2 is complete overkill for a 22" monitor. You need at least a 24" monitor to actually take advantage of the HD4850X2. In addition, when are you planning on getting this new monitor?
 
Man that's sad to hear about Crucial. I noticed Toms Hardware used G.Skill for their budget and midrange setups so I did look into their RAM...but they also showed the Ballistix to be great OCers so I ended up choosing that. Regardless, I will get the G.Skill instead.

I'ld get the monitor in a few months probably.

Since the 4850x2 is overkill, should I drop back down to a 4870? If so...which? Is 1GB worth spending more on?

Thanks for the help guys
 
Yeah, but on memory intensive games couldn't the 4850x2 1GB be limited by the lack of RAM and end up performing less than a 4870 1GB? Or will that not matter at 1280x1024...

Updated:
  • AMD Phenom II X4 920
  • Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
  • ASUS M3A78-T
  • SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 1GB
  • Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB WD6401AALS
  • COOLER MASTER 690
  • Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
  • G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2 8000 F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ

I'm also debating CM 690 or LianLi A05...
Still debating 640GB or 750GB WD Black HDD
 
Any opinions of:
XIGMATEK XLF-F1453 140mm 4 white LED Case Fan
XIGMATEK XLF-F1253 120mm 4 white LED Case Fan

Are there better alternatives? I don't want anything louder than 20 dB.
 
4850x2 will have no problems with overpowering a 4870 on a 22", only when you have 24" and start raising the AA to all. Will 4850x2 start to fall behind.
 
Crap, turns out I will need a PSU after all.

Anything better than the Corsair 650TX for around $100?
 
Deathwish238 said:
Is it better because it has more power? I don't think my setup will need 650W as it is.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. Yes the 750W PSU would be a tiny bit overkill for your rig. However, it doesn't make much sense to get a 650W PSU when there's an equal quality 750W PSU for the same price. Not very effective use of your money.

Oh and both the 650TX and PC P&C PSU are made by Seasonic. So their quality are roughly the same.
 
Well if they're comparable...then why not...


Another change....what's the quietest DVD-RW to get?
 
Danny Bui said:
Pretty much. Yes the 750W PSU would be a tiny bit overkill for your rig. However, it doesn't make much sense to get a 650W PSU when there's an equal quality 750W PSU for the same price. Not very effective use of your money.

Oh and both the 650TX and PC P&C PSU are made by Seasonic. So their quality are roughly the same.
Click to expand...

I agree quality are the same but the cabling on P&C looks bad. Bare cables spoil its looks.
 
Hopefully The Last Update:
  • AMD Phenom II X4 940
  • Swiftech H20-220 Compact Water Cooling Kit
  • ASUS M3A78-T
  • SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 X2 1GB
  • Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB WD6401AALS
  • COOLER MASTER 690
  • G.SKILL 2 x 2GB PC2 8000 F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ
  • PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W EPS12V
  • ASUS 22X DVD Burner with LightScribe
 
Deathwish238 said:
No Intel because it costs more. I'll spend $200-$300 more on the mobo and cpu. Plus, I'm a fan of AMD. ...
Click to expand...

A Q6600 and P45 will not cost $200-$300 more. Rather, it would actually cost less and would perform on par with the X4.920, OC'd or not. ...or am I missing something?
 
why water cooling? If your target overclock is 10% on air people are getting to 3.8 GHz
 
I want to watercool because it's something I've wanted to do for almost 10 years now. Completely unnecessary but it will be fun and I'll probably end up OC'ing more since I can.

Think I can hit 4.0 GHz on water?

enginurd said:
A Q6600 and P45 will not cost $200-$300 more. Rather, it would actually cost less and would perform on par with the X4.920, OC'd or not. ...or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Ah, I should have clarified. I did not want to get anything other than a Phenom II or Core i7. If I were to get older technology, I'm sure I would want to upgrade sooner.
 
Deathwish238 said:
Ah, I should have clarified. I did not want to get anything other than a Phenom II or Core i7. If I were to get older technology, I'm sure I would want to upgrade sooner.
Click to expand...

Ok, but you're buying new tech thats only as fast as old tech, which is confusing to most people, but whatever floats your boat. ;)

Have fun with the WC'ing... post some pics and let us know how high you can get.
 
Deathwish238 said:
haha...Phenom II is a little bit above their quad core...not equal.
Click to expand...

Yah, that "slightly above" doesn't quite justify its higher price premium over the Q6600, IMO. But hey, thats just me.

Your build looks good, though, so don't forget to post some pics. ;)
 
Bah....I guess I should take a look...

Quickly, what's a good mobo for a quad core cpu

Edit:

Phenom II X4 940 is $229.

The 9550 and 9650 are both more expensive. The Q6700 isn't on newegg, and the Q6600 is $197.

No the 940 isn't a lot faster, but it can be a bit faster. They'ld both be just fine, but for $30 I would rather support AMD.
 
Yeah, I was sad that they basically fell of the charts when the Core Duos came out. It's odd too...AMD was doing so well that Intel imitated their implementation of 64 bit processors.
 
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