New machine

[ROCnRoll]

I'm trying to build a gaming rig that can handle alot. I play COD4, BF2, TF2, and WoW. I've done some research and have always been leaning towards AMD. Here is what I put together on Newegg.


 ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #:M3A79-T Deluxe
Item #:N82E16813131339

 EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #:512-P3-N871-AR
Item #:N82E16814130339

 XCLIO DIAMONDPOWER 1080W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
Model #IAMONDPOWER 1080W
Item #:N82E16817189021

 AMD Phenom 9950 BLACK EDITION 2.6GHz Socket AM2+ 140W Quad-Core Processor Model HD995ZFAGHBOX - Retail
Model #:HD995ZFAGHBOX
Item #:N82E16819103273

 CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5 - Retail
Model #:TWIN2X4096-8500C5
Item #:N82E16820145215

 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EACS 1TB 5400 to 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #:WD10EACS
Item #:N82E16822136151

 Creative 70SB046A00000 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series - Retail
Model #:70SB046A00000
Item #:N82E16829102005

Subtotal: $1,362.93

 

[leSLIe]

AMD?? hmm...
ditch that PSU get a Corsair one

get an ATI HD4870 !!

 

[Markyip1]

Assuming you care about performance / price, you'll definitely want to go with an Intel CPU for a gaming rig that can handle a lot.

Before we can give you better advice, please read the sticky on this forum and let us know what your budget is, what your monitor res is, and what else (besides the games mentioned) you wish to do with the machine.

 

[tiraides]

Why AMD?
Which monitor/resolution are you using?
Why did you choose the "green" WD HDD?
Are you planning a major overclock of the processor?

 

[engiNURD]

Judging from the choice of CPU/GPU... and I guess PSU, that we're not trying to be "green" here, are we? If thats the case, ditch that "green" WD HDD -- its slow. Go for the WD1001FALS instead, or either the HD103UJ or ST31000333AS.

If you're not an audiophile, ditch the soundcard and try onboard audio first. You can always add the soundcard later if you don't like onboard, but onboard HD Audio sounds good enough for most people.

You don't need a 1KW PSU for a single GTX and Phenom. Drop down to the 750W Corsair from buy.com for around $85AR.

If you want the best gaming performance, switch to an E8400 or Q9450 and P5Q Pro. If you plan on OC'ing, pickup an HDT-S1283 w/ retention kit.

 

[ROCnRoll]

My monitor is a SAMSUNG 906BW Black-Silver 19" 2 ms (GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor hooked up by DVI set at 1440 x 900. I do a little of digital photo work and I am going through college for web design. I'm looking at a MAC for the webdesign and digital photo work. I just want to build this machine for gaming. My budget is the max of $1500.00. I will use my current speakers (5.1 Logitech), monitor, keyboard (Z Board) and Mouse (Logitech G5). I'm going to use Vista 64 Ultimate for the OS.

 

[engiNURD]

Wow, a $1500 for gaming ONLY while you still need a Mac to do photo/video/web work? FYI, a $1500 gaming system could perform the same or better than a similarly priced mac -- and mac's use the same hw anyways, so all you want is the OS?

 

[tiraides]

Go with an Intel build instead:

$275 - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 & Asus P5Q Pro bundle (free shipping on both)
$44 - Xigmatek HDT-S1283 CPU cooler & ACK-I7751 retention bracket (free shipping on CPU cooler)
$73 - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 1000 dual channel RAM kit (free shipping)
$85 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB SATA HDD (free shipping)
$29 - Asus DRW-2014L1T SATA DVD burner (free shipping)
$185 - VisionTek HD4850 ($20 mail-in rebate)
$70 - Antec Earthwatts EA650 650W PSU (free shipping)
$100 - Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM (free shipping)
=====
$861 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

A few notes:

- Most games aren't optimized to fully utilize quad-core processors, so for a purely gaming machine, you may be better off with a fast dual-core like the E8400. (This entire build was set up on the assumption that you may overclock the processor at some point in the future.) If you still want a quad-core, the "entry level" Q6600 could easily out-perform the Phenom 9550.

- The "green" Western Digital HDD slows down to 5400RPM when idle, and it (reportedly, but correct me if I'm wrong) takes a while to get back up to 7200RPM. If the sole focus of this build is on (overall) gaming performance, then go with the much faster WD6400AAKS. (If you need the additional storage capacity, buy another one.)

- For most people, Vista Home Premium has all of the features that they need. That is, unless you need the additional security and networking tools from Vista Business and/or the BitLocker drive encryption.

- The HD4850 and the Earthwatts EA650 PSU are overkill for your needs, but they're good additions for their prices. The HD4850 will ensure that you get maximum performance from most (if not all) of your games, while the EA650 gives you plenty of headrooms for future upgrades.

Do you have a case already for this build? (If so, what?)

 

[ROCnRoll]

That is kind of funny, I just got done rebuilding using Intel and came close to that same build. I do have a case:

APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK/420 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 420W Power Supply

with an upgraded powersupply:

APEVIA Chameleon ATX-AS550W-BL 550W ATX12V v2.03 Power Supply

And I have added a 120mm fan to the back, 1 80mm to the sidepanel and front panel.

Here is a question I have, why is everyone down on NVidia? I have had SLI with 2 GeForce 6800GT's for 2 years and only COD4 taxes it. IS ATI that far ahead of NVidia?


Would the 550W be enough for the suggested build?
T

 

[tiraides]

Don't use the Apevia PSU, as Apevia has a long history of producing bad power supplies. (Bad as in "burst into flame" and "destroy your entire computer" bad... but I'll let Danny Bui elaborate on that point.) Stick with the Antec EA650 I referred to earlier. (To answer your question though, 550 watts is more than enough for your build.)

AMD/ATI has produced the better cards this generation in the HD 4850 and HD 4870. They are two of the best "bang for your buck" cards around, as NVIDIA had to lower the price of its video cards (the 9800GTX+ and the GTX 260) in order to compete with them. Additionally, the motherboards that we're recommending also support CrossFire -- not that you really need it -- which only works with AMD/ATI video cards.

If you can, I recommend modding the front of your case so that it supports a 120mm case fan. If you can't, a cheap alternative for a case is the Antec Three Hundred.

 

[Markyip1]

Tiraides build suggestion is spot on, as usual. With a $1500 budget you can build a very powerful general purpose machine.

What software are you planning to use on your Mac? (not MAC, btw, which means something else entirely in computers.) Most digital photo and web design software is available cross platform, including the Adobe Creative Suite. In fact, if you're planning on using CS4, which is due out by the end of the month, you may actually benefit from choosing the Windows version over the Mac version for the simple fact that only the Windows version of CS4 will come in a 64-bit flavor. Regardless of whatever environment advantages may come from using the Mac platform, Adobe's CS products are very much platform neutral these days -- they operate the exact same way regardless of underlying OS, and having a 64-bit version of Photoshop can be a big deal.

With the money saved on an iMac or Macbook Pro, you can get yourself a 30 inch display and a better graphics card. Nothing will aide your design and photo work more than a high end, properly calibrated 30 inch display.

 

[Dangman]

APEVIA Chameleon ATX-AS550W-BL 550W ATX12V v2.03 Power Supply

Don't use the Apevia PSU, as Apevia has a long history of producing bad power supplies. (Bad as in "burst into flame" and "destroy your entire computer" bad... but I'll let Danny Bui elaborate on that point.)

Correct. Unless you want a DEAD paperweight for a PC, NEVER go with an Apevia PSU. They're overrated (As in their 500W PSUs are really 150W PSUs), overpriced, and built with the absolute cheapest components available. In other words, they're pieces of shit. In fact, they might be even worse than shit. That's how bad they are.

And if you need further proof of Apevia' worse than shitty production quality, take a look at these PSUs (Apevia use to be called Aspire in the past):
Apevia ATX-AS500W-BL
Apevia Warlock Power 900W
XQPack's Included 420W PSU
Aspire Beast 680W Power Supply

So go with another PSU. The EA650 that Tiraides recommended is a good choice. However, a good quality 550W PSU like the Corsair 550VX is enough for that rig.

Oh and there is a way to add a 120mm to the front of an Apevia case:

And a shot of the case to show that the layout of my X-Dreamer II case is the same as that X-Cruiser case: