Need help with build

S

SteveOOOsw

n00b
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
19
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming (TF2, HoN, L4D 2)
Development (Visual Studio 2008)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I am hoping to spend less than $800 shipped.

3) Where do you live?
I reside in O Fallon, MO.

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

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
OCZ ModXStream 600W Power Supply
LG DVD Drive
X-Fi Platinum Sound Card
WD 250G HD

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
20" Widescreen Dell

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

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I would like Crossfire or SLI support for the possibility of purchasing a second card later.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
I have a legit copy of XP Pro but plan on taking advantage of the Windows 7 student deal.

Here is what I have come up with so far:

Intel Core i5 750 $189.99
MSI P55-GD65 $149.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $93.99
XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 $179.99

...For a grand total of roughly $613.96. I still have to pick out a case and I was leaning towards the Lian Li PC-7B for roughly $80.
 
Looks good there, but I would recommend this motherboard instead.

Why? Because it's $10 cheaper, has the same CrossFire support, but also has USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps. This could be really beneficial if you plan on keeping you machine more than a year, and especially if you upgrade to an SSD or add an external USB drive.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5521713&CatId=4720

Here is the product page, since the TigerDirect specs are so terrible

http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Mot...w.aspx?ProductID=3254&ProductName=GA-P55A-UD3

The Core i5 is a perfect processor for the person who doesn't want to overclock, because the thing overclocks itself based on the load :)
 
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If you aren't dead set on an Intel build, you could go with something like this to upgrade your hard drive for better speed and your PSU for something more reliable. I'll use newegg just for ease:

Corsair 550VX w/ Samsung 7200.12 500GB HDD $125.

1. AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core with ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX - $15 MIR. $245. That's actually a killer deal.

Keep the 5770 card you have in your original along with the DDR3 RAM you had.

That will get you to a grand total of $656.48.
 
I'm not necessarily dead set on Intel, I've just never owned anything but Intel.

How does the Phenom II X4 945 compare to the i5?
 
Well I can't find an Apples to Apples comparison of the i5 850 vs. the Phenon x4 945. But I would assume by looking at these benchmark they are most likely very close considering the CPU's that surround each other: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3619&p=7

As far as gaming speeds anyways, I don't think you would notice any difference at all between the two. You can see from the benchmarks it's very close to the very popular i7 920.
 
The downside of Phenom II x4 is it absolutely craves power. I assume that since you are not overclocking, you will appreciate a nice quiet system. The first mistake in making a system quiet is buying power-hungry components.

The Intel chip uses less power at both idle and load. It also will give you better single-threaded performance than the Phenom II can offer because of Turbo Boost (multi-threaded performance is similar between the two).

With Turbo Boost, you get all the benefits of overclocking without lifting a finger: faster performance when you need it, depending on the type of load. Also, the processor still falls-back to a low-power state when idle, something which is difficult to accomplish with an overclocked system.
 
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Well, after doing quite a bit of reading, and discovering that I have a Microcenter within driving distance, I'm going to go with the Core i5 750.

Are there any other motherboard's I should check out besides the MSI P55-GD65 and Gigabyte P55A-UD3.

Also, I may reuse my current case, a Lian Li PC-65B, to save money. Should I worry about the poor airflow in the case affecting my performance?
 
SteveOOOsw said:
Also, I may reuse my current case, a Lian Li PC-65B, to save money. Should I worry about the poor airflow in the case affecting my performance?
Click to expand...

It would affect performance per se but it would affect temperatures and possibly stability. But with that case, all you have to do is cut out a hole big enough for a 120mm fan and it should be good enough.
 
IIRC, the GD65 will do CF @ 8x/8x while the UD3 will only do 16x/4x. Then again, you don't even need CF for a 20" monitor. :p So I'd suggest dropping down to the cheapest P55 board from MSI, Gigabyte, or Asus that fits your needs.

I agree, get a new HDD. At the very least, pickup a Samsung F3 500GB when they get back in stock. It should be MUCH faster than an old WD 250GB. Other good/fast choices would be the 640GB Caviar Blue or Black from WD.

Since you already have the MXS 600W, just use that for now and don't load it up too much. I'd suggest running no more than 500W worth of hardware off of it. ;)
 
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