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USMCGrunt

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
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I decided to go for Eyefinity and in the process priced out a whole new computer build basically. I was looking for some input as to what ya'll thought...trying to keep it somewhere near the lower end while "futureproofing" hence why im not going Core I7 territory. If you think I can do better for about the same price suggest away...

ASUS M489GTD mobo $140
Phenom X4 965 125watt (Is the 145w version better?...costs more) $185
Corsair H-50 $80
8GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600 (8-8-8-24) $278
x2 XFX Radeon 5870 $839
OCZ Agility 60GB SSD $190
150GB Velociraptor HDD (Dont need a ton of space, cant fill 150GB right now) $160
ASUS VW266H $619

Total: $2491

Eyefinity add-on costs:
Triple monitor mount (chief KTA325B) $341
Pretty Desk $250
File Cabinet $50

Total: $641

Total Total: $3132
 
Xfire 5870's with a phenom? /facepalm

If you are spending 3 grand on a pc you go with an i7 920 at the LEAST.
 
What PSU will you be using?

Also, I concur with lt_shiro and Shadowssong so far. In gaming, in many multi-GPU setups, Intel Core i7/X58 setups tends to provide significantly better performance than many AMD setups.
 
Xfire 5870's with a phenom? /facepalm
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From a quick glance around the net at the various reviews of the two processors, they trade punchs with Phenom beating the i7 is some places and the i7 beating the Phenom in other places and the Phenom is about 50 bucks cheaper on the motherboard-cpu combo...contrary to what it looks like im not trying to spend a fortune :D

2x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Retail
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I see the Dominators are rated at 8-8-8-24 while the G_Skill is 9-9-9-24, how much of a differance is that gonna make...anything noticable...and I would be going with half as much memory with the G_Skill though...thoughts on that?
 
Danny Bui said:
What PSU will you be using?

Also, I concur with lt_shiro and Shadowssong so far. In gaming, in many multi-GPU setups, Intel Core i7/X58 setups tends to provide significantly better performance than many AMD setups.
Click to expand...

Ive got a BFGTech 1000w EX PSU I just got recently. As I was saying in the above comment, it appears that they (965 vs i7920) are really just kind of back and forth between one beating the other....am I missing something?
 
USMCGrunt said:
I see the Dominators are rated at 8-8-8-24 while the G_Skill is 9-9-9-24, how much of a differance is that gonna make...anything noticable...and I would be going with half as much memory with the G_Skill though...thoughts on that?
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Can you tell the difference between two cars going at 65MPH and 65.001MPH? That's how small of a difference it is when it comes to lower timings RAMs. In addition, there's little to no gaming performance increase or decrease from an extra 4GB of RAM.

USMCGrunt said:
Ive got a BFGTech 1000w EX PSU I just got recently. As I was saying in the above comment, it appears that they (965 vs i7920) are really just kind of back and forth between one beating the other....am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Check out this review:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/05/19/real_world_gameplay_cpu_scaling/1

In that review, a i7 920 OC'd to 3.6Ghz provided more performance than a highly OC'd AMD CPU. In addition, the 890GX chipset only supports a max of x8/x8 Crossfire. Recent tests shows that there is a 5% performance between between x16/x16 and x8/x8 Crossfire.
 
Danny Bui said:
Can you tell the difference between two cars going at 65MPH and 65.001MPH? That's how small of a difference it is when it comes to lower timings RAMs. In addition, there's little to no gaming performance increase or decrease from an extra 4GB of RAM.



Check out this review:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/05/19/real_world_gameplay_cpu_scaling/1

In that review, a i7 920 OC'd to 3.6Ghz provided more performance than a highly OC'd AMD CPU. In addition, the 890GX chipset only supports a max of x8/x8 Crossfire. Recent tests shows that there is a 5% performance between between x16/x16 and x8/x8 Crossfire.
Click to expand...

I read through that article and the conclusions seemed to lack clarification. The statement that the i7 provided more performance than a highly oc'd amd should be put into context. Apart from flight sim the difference in gaming performance was while trackable, virtually unoticable. I mean really 86 fps - 78 fps, really? No one will ever see that difference, and in most of the other games they traded blows as the op commented. No one even mentioned that the AMD cpu's beat the i7 by quite a bit in Left 4dead (137-126) by the X3.

Also why are you phrasing the comparison as the i7 920 oc'd to 3.6 vs a highly oc'd amd? They are both oc'd so whats the difference?
 
I'm not looking to OC anything so while an oc'ed part may be massively faster, there is that chance of reducing is lifespan and stability and all that jazz. I know if done properly those things are of minimal concern but...I'm lazy, I just wanna plug it in maybe do some minor bios tweaking and be done. Don't have the patience to stress test for stability...nor do I really have the proper knowledge on how to OC all this new fangled stuffs.

Good arguements but also let me say that if part A is 1-9fps faster then part B then in my eyes they are pretty much equal and the added cost isn't justifiable unless part A has a good feature over part B

ps if I sound ungrateful for the advice I aplogize I know I come off like that a lot but this thread has so proven valuable for me
 
hossdaddy said:
here are some decent deals worth considering,

Antec Nine Hundred $99.99 + free shipping

Combo: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core + GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX + AMD Gift - Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Coupon $274.98 - $15 mir
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I'm gonna reuse my panzerbox, the thing is awesome on cooling, keeps the x3 720 under 45c under load and around 30c idle and the 260s just barely touch 65c under load and sit around 40-45c idle. Fans are a bit load but when your gaming you don't notice them and I'm gonna get a fan controller to use when they aren't needed at full speed

I am looking to somewhat future proof some of this stuff that's why I went with the 890 chipset for the USB 3 and sata 3 support. I also changed the storage hdd over to a 640gb sata 3 WD for only 80 dollars instead of the velociraptor.

I haven't looked at the deals also cause this is just the planning and research phase, waiting for the money from school to come in to pay for all the goodies. Getting paid to goto college is the shit lol. Will def. Check out the deals when the time comes though.

A bit off topic but is there a performance difference between the different tdp processors, I see the ones with the higher tdp cost a bit more then the lower tdp ones...why?
 
antec 900 is not good case for the money, Coolermaster cm690-2/922, Nzxt M59 or Antec 300 would be lot better.
 
hossdaddy said:
Also why are you phrasing the comparison as the i7 920 oc'd to 3.6 vs a highly oc'd amd? They are both oc'd so whats the difference?
Click to expand...

I was merely stating that if you have an OC'd Core i7 920, you will get better performance in Crossfire/SLI setups than an AMD setup, even when the AMD CPU is OC'd

@ OP
Oh and the 145W version of the 965BE is the older version of the 965BE. Since a good majority of AMD motherboards could barely handle a 145W TDP, the 125W version was released for better compatibility. No performance difference.
 
Well I pulled the trigger and the new hardware should be in today. I decided to go for the ripjaw memory that was suggested along with changing the hdd to a wd sata III 1tb hdd. Everything else the same as the original post. Thanks for the suggestions and if you'd like I can post shots of the build, if anyone is interested.
 
Everything from the first post, one UPS delivery brought all, just waiting on desk and chair to get here today. I will post shots in the coming hours.
 
Wait a moment... you asked for suggestions in your first post; you received a few recommendations on some parts changes; and you then decided to say "screw it" and buy the parts you were thinking about buying originally. Why...?

What did lt_shiro, Shadowssong, and Danny Bui say that made you decide to go back to your original choices?
 
Guess I shoulda reiterated that I changed out the hdd for a 1tb sata6 drive(even thigh the performance isn't massively different over sata3) and. Ended up getting the ripjaw memory that was recommended though.

I think the other suggestions were about getting a step lower CPU and overclocking which I don't want to do. Can't remember what the other ones may have been. I'm on my iPhone so that's why I don't just scroll up btw

system is assembled and setup but about ten minutes after I completed that the power in the house went out...won't be up for another hour according to electric company which sucks. I have a few shots of the build here on my phone that I will upload when I'm able to.

I can say though that the ssd is stupid fast...it's friggin sweet worth every penny IMO.
 
where's a good place to upload the files so i can link to them without it being resized? was gonna post some shots but cant find a decent site...im retarded.
 
Apologies ahead of time for crappy photos, Iphone camera isnt world class

Stuff's all chillin
photocsx.jpg


Got the H-50 on
photo4ij.jpg


Fully assembled on Motherboard try
photo3kx.jpg


My little slice of sexy
photo5m.jpg

photo1kw.jpg


I took a couple shots of Eve Online just showing what the extra screen real estate does for that game, wether it be a single account or multiple instances running.
multisession.jpg

windowswindowswindows.jpg


With the Panzerbox, I found out the radiator for the H50 is too big so you have to put the motherboard try in first before you can attach the radiator to the mobo tray...kinda sucks but im ok with that.

Bad Company 2 btw maxed settings with 4x MSAA and 8x AF is a solid 45 fps on most maps dipping into the 30s when there is a lot of heavy explosives and whatnot. Definately a bump up from running GTX260 in SLI.

Still learning to play with Eyefinity, I am a worse player right now actually cause im trying to focus on all 3 screens instead of just using 1&3 for peripheral. I giggle with delight playing games on here though, its just awesome.

For anybody that needs more reassuring the bezels disappear when you start playin.
 
Thanks for the pics. You might want to simply link the desktop screenshots, though, since they're so huge. ;)
 
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