New build, please comment/critique

L

Lyrids

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 19, 2004
Messages
320
Below is a copy/paste from my shopping cart on newegg, total for the parts below is $618.87.

LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
$18.99


Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$59.95


Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
$89.99


GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD
$149.99


CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power ...
$84.99


G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
$54.99


AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
$129.99


ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler
$29.98

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

Gaming (Battlefield 3, Skyrim), web browsing

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

Trying to keep it sub $1,000, $800 is my benchmark.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Somerville, MA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

Everything above plus video card, case fans if necessary.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

I have an old Sound Blaster X-Fi from my last build, worth using again or should I just use the integrated audio on the motherboard?

6) Will you be overclocking?

Possibly

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

21"

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

Next two months

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.

No preference

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

No

Obviously the build is missing a video card, I wanted some opinions about the benefits/drawbacks of going SLI with two cheaper cards or a more expensive single card. I'm biased to Nvidia but I'm open for changes.
 
I'm putting together a similar priced build right now, and am using this HDD. It supposed to preform better than most sata 6.0 HDD,s and 30$ cheaper.

HDD
59.99
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

May want to get Low profile ram instead because those heat spreaders may get in the way of your CPU cooler.

RAM
52.99
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186
 
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What's the resolution on the 21" monitor? With your budget limit, I recommend against considering a dual-card SLI or CrossFire setup. In addition to the costs of an additional video card (mid-range works better), you also have to buy a higher capacity power supply capable of handling both cards. A dual-card setup by its very nature will generate more heat and noise than a single card, and the setup oftentimes require more maintenance and troubleshooting in comparison.

You also live near the Cambridge Micro Center store, which I recommend that you check out. Micro Center generally sells processors for less than NewEgg. Depending on the store -- call beforehand -- you could also receive price-matching against NewEgg or additional discounts from buying everything you need in-store.
 
Lyrids said:
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Next two months
Click to expand...

Ok, too soon to start planning a build. Whatever parts you choose this month may not be the best part to buy next month let alone two months from now. Unless you can move up your purchase period to this month only, I recommend waiting until 2-3 weeks before you're ready to buy and ask for help then.

If you are buying this month, here's the problems I see with your build:

Lyrids said:
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
$89.99
Click to expand...
As fish8590 pointed out, you can get the similarily performing Samsung F3 1TB drive for $30 less. Only reasons to get that WD drive is A) it also drops to $60 to $65, B) you really hate Samsung and/or really really love WD, and/or C) it's not available.
Lyrids said:
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD
$149.99

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
$129.99
Click to expand...
Right now with current games, the Phenom II 965 isn't that good of a choice considering that the Core i3 2100 actually outperforms it, even in games that scales well with quad-cores. With that said, that may change when BF3 and Skyrim comes out. Or maybe not.

Lyrids said:
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$59.95
Click to expand...
Not a good choice for a single GPU let alone dual GPU setup for the money. I recommend these two cases instead:
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
Lyrids said:
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler
$29.98
Click to expand...
Not a good choice for the money considering that the better performing Coolermaster Hyper 212+ costs the same:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156

Lyrids said:
Obviously the build is missing a video card, I wanted some opinions about the benefits/drawbacks of going SLI with two cheaper cards or a more expensive single card. I'm biased to Nvidia but I'm open for changes.
Click to expand...
Depends on the resolution of your monitor. Though I agree with Tiraides.
 
Basically, the dual-core Intel Core i3-2100 can compete with AMD's high-end quad-cores (read: the X4 965) on many gaming benchmarks. And the Core i5 "mainstream" 2300 and 2400 quad-cores can beat the X4 965 in many instances. In short, unless you're pursuing a low-budget build, a system built around Intel's Sandy Bridge platform will be recommended nine times out of ten. With your budget, I recommend that you consider Sandy Bridge instead.

The GTX 560 Ti and the Radeon HD 6950 1GB will easily max out most games at 1680x1050. However, we don't know how graphically demanding Skyrim and BF3 will be when they arrive in November. We're making our assumptions based on how graphically demanding their predecessors were when they arrived. (In short, BF2 played well on mid-range cards, but Oblivion required a high-end setup just to get decent frame rates.)
 
Lyrids said:
Could someone shed more light on the CPU issue? I didn't quite follow how things could change with the release of BF3 and Skyrim.
Click to expand...

The problem with your chosen CPU is that it's almost completely obsolete, especially with the introduction of the Phenom II's successor this Fall. As such, current AMD CPUs selling for more than about $120 or so deliver a poorer bang for the buck than comparably priced Intel CPUs.
 
Lyrids said:
Could someone shed more light on the CPU issue? I didn't quite follow how things could change with the release of BF3 and Skyrim.
Click to expand...
In addition, to what tiraides and E4g1e said, basically it's like this:

We know now that current games are faster on the Core i3 2100 over the AMD Phenom II X4 CPUs even in games that already scale well with multiple cores. However, BF3 or Skyrim may have an engine that scales far far better with quad-core than previous generations of game engines. As such, it may turn out the AMD Phenom II X4 is the far better choice for those newer games. Then again, those two games may just continue the trend that the Core i3 2100 is better than the AMD Phenom II X4 in games.
 
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