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New SFF Gaming Build - AMD+nVidia

S

stalkerte

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
102
Hullo All!

So I've decided that my Asus G50VT-X5 is growing a little too long in the tooth for gaming and have decided to build myself a decentish + cheap SFF PC.

Basic idea is to stick to AMD for proc+mobo & nVidia for the graphics since I need CUDA support for work.

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

Gaming + CUDA based development.

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

Around $550. Not more than $650

3) Where do you live?

Salt Lake City, UT

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.

I need to buy,
Processor
Motherboard
RAM
Power Supply
GPU
Enclosure

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?

I already have a Dell ultrasharp 2209WA. Will be keeping that and don't see myself upgrading to a Full HD display anytime soon. So, I will be gaming at 1680*1050.
Storage is taken care of as well since I have a pair of 500GB 3.5" drives lying around that I could use.
Also have a 6 year old Logitech MX310, going strong, that I absolutely love and a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard.

6) Will you be overclocking?

Not anything heavy to start with. I plan on getting a proper cooler somewhere down the line. But yes, I do plan on OCing.

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

As mentioned previously, I have a Dell 2209WA @ 1680*1050

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

I was planning on starting asap, but might just hold of for a month maybe? Primary reason being the GTX560 release, which will hopefully send GTX460 prices a little more southwards.

When is Bulldozer releasing? Should I consider that as well in my plans?

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

I have a 64GB Vertex2 in my laptop & plan on moving it to this build 4-5 months down the line when I move up to a 128gigger for the laptop. Hence SATA 6Gbps & eSATA are critical to me. USB 3.0 would be nice as well.

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

Yes, I have a Win7 64bit license.

________________________________________________________________________________


I have looked around at a few benches and such. The GTX460 should suffice given my 1680*1050 screen.

The Propus range at around 3.0-3.2GHz is what I'm looking at, I guess. How well do these OC? How difficult would it be to hit 4G on one of these?
My last desktop 4 years ago, ran on a Intel E2160 that used to run at 2.8-3.0GHz.
I would guess 8Gigs of RAM should be cheap enough to fit into my budget, if not I can always settle for 4, just that moar is always nice :)

I want to get a GOOD powersupply. something like a Seasonic I guess.

For the enclosure, I absolute LOVE how the LianLi PC-V352/354 look. Just think that they might be a little too far out of my budget :(

That should cover all the info I have, I guess. Please keep the suggestions coming :)
 
You know the vertex2 isn't a sata III (6gbps) drive.

And the v352 & v354 are different form factors all together (cube vs mini tower).. And a v351 which will hold your hardware fine as well is a bit cheaper.. The v354 is pretty much at-least a 150 dollar case (I haven't seen it cheaper, & if I do I will buy it to replace my v351 since I am out of HDD expansion space without heavy modding since I already have 3x 3.5" hdd's as well as an optical drive installed)..

110 LIAN LI PC-V351B
100 AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz
80 BIOSTAR A880GU3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
78 G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
60 Antec NEO ECO 520C
145 Galaxy 60XMH6HS3HMW GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) GC 768MB

Shipped total of 596.80.. Plus you get 55.00 in MIR back & a free game..
 
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bastage said:
You know the vertex2 isn't a sata III (6gbps) drive.
Click to expand...
Yup, but my new SSD will most probably be. So, I'd like to keep that option open.

bastage said:
And the v352 & v354 are different form factors all together (cube vs mini tower).. And a v351 which will hold your hardware fine as well is a bit cheaper.. The v354 is pretty much at-least a 150 dollar case (I haven't seen it cheaper, & if I do I will buy it to replace my v351 since I am out of HDD expansion space without heavy modding since I already have 3x 3.5" hdd's as well as an optical drive installed)..
Click to expand...

Hmm.. You got me on the 354. Didn't realize it was a mini-tower. Guess I'll stick to the 352/351 and save the extra 40 odd bucks.

bastage said:
110 LIAN LI PC-V351B
100 AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz
80 BIOSTAR A880GU3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
78 G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
60 Antec NEO ECO 520C
145 Galaxy 60XMH6HS3HMW GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) GC 768MB

Shipped total of 596.80.. Plus you get 55.00 in MIR back & a free game..
Click to expand...

I'm almost decided on exactly what you have listed here.. except, I might just splurge a bit and grab a Seasonic X series power supply. Just to stoke my ego a little :)
Also, I'm guessing that waiting for a couple of weeks should bring the 1gigger GTX460s down to this price range as well.
 
Keep in mind that mother board does bout have sata 3. But I would not spend the extra 30 bucks on the mobo to get it.
 
NZXT Vulcan might work. Cheap and easily fits full length cards. The question is whether there are good mATX SB motherboards.
 
I might just skip a cabinet for now and shove it all into a shoebox for a couple of months.
 
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The asus p8p67m-pro would be my 1st choice from any I have seen anywhere and the egg has it so.......
 
yeah, it has seen some nicish reviews, but I would've just been a lot happier if there was a little more choice on that front. I might just wait for a month to see how that works out.

Would you have any idea on RAM clocks & the P67/AM3 scenario? I've been out of the desktop hardware scene for more than 2 years now. I've been hearing people talk about there being no IRL difference to using 1600MHz RAM to anything faster. But how does it affect OCing. Will I be held back much if I were on a 1333MHz kit (assuming that I can get it up to atleast 1600MHz)?
 
stalkerte said:
Would you have any idea on RAM clocks & the P67/AM3 scenario? I've been out of the desktop hardware scene for more than 2 years now. I've been hearing people talk about there being no IRL difference to using 1600MHz RAM to anything faster. But how does it affect OCing. Will I be held back much if I were on a 1333MHz kit (assuming that I can get it up to atleast 1600MHz)?
Click to expand...

With the Sandy Bridge CPUs, it has pretty much made RAM overclocking unnecessary as overclocking the Sandy Bridge CPU doesn't have a direct effect on the RAM speed.
 
Danny Bui said:
Hmm, a bit of a waste of money since there's not much of a real world difference between DDR3 1600 and DDR3 1333 RAM.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the 15% off :)

possibly 15-20 bucks compared to what I'd have paid for a 1333kit. + I did mention moderate ocing + most importantly, it looks freaking cool :p

I still haven't decided on my platform.. So thats just going to give me a little more time to maybe add 100-150 bucks to my overall budget and push it to say 800/-.

Now to cross my fingers and hope for more motherboard launches :)
 
stalkerte said:
Don't forget the 15% off :)

possibly 15-20 bucks compared to what I'd have paid for a 1333kit. + I did mention moderate ocing + most importantly, it looks freaking cool :p

I still haven't decided on my platform.. So thats just going to give me a little more time to maybe add 100-150 bucks to my overall budget and push it to say 800/-.

Now to cross my fingers and hope for more motherboard launches :)
Click to expand...

Doesn't that 15% off apply to DDR3 1333 RAM as well? You did mention moderate OCing but as I said earlier: "With the Sandy Bridge CPUs, it has pretty much made RAM overclocking unnecessary as overclocking the Sandy Bridge CPU doesn't have a direct effect on the RAM speed." So the only way to make your DDR3 1600 RAM actually worthwhile is to get the older and overpriced Core i5 7xx or 8xx series based CPUs where RAM speed did matter for overclocking.
 
So much for saving money on stuff that would be enough for me :p

Ordered
Asus P8P67-M Pro - 149.99
Galaxy GTX570 - 349.99 - 30 off coupon (-40.00 MIR)
Core i5 2500K - 219.99 - 25 off coupon
Seasonic X750 - 159.99 - 30 off coupon
 
Yeah, but think about how sweet its going to be with that line up you have going. Gaming Goodness at its best. :D
 
Skott said:
Yeah, but think about how sweet its going to be with that line up you have going. Gaming Goodness at its best. :D
Click to expand...

Hahaaa... tell me about it!
No buyers remorse here :)

This is the first time I'm getting a rig that isn't entry leve/barely there.. plus this is the first rig I'm paying for out of my own pocket. Feels super sweet :D
 
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