Looking to build a new PC

Colgere

Well, I figured since the experts are here, I'd ask for some advice. I'm looking to build a new system, with a price point between $600-$1200. The system will primarily be used for gaming. However, I haven't followed specific hardware brands for awhile, so I'm not sure what the best motherboard, processor, RAM, video card, etc, for this price range is, so I was wondering if anyone could suggest a build (including a new case) for me? Thanks for your help!

BuddyJ

Our $600 PC is a good starting place as it'll get you gaming with minimal expense, and we've listed possible upgrades you could get if you wanted to go with a bit bigger budget. It's an Intel rig and you can't really go wrong with it.

With the release of the new AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition, there's a case to be made for building an AMD rig now too.

I think a DFI Lanparty DK 790GX-M2RS, Phenom II X3 720, Xigmatek HDT-1283, 4GB of OCZ ReaperX DDR2-1066, a OCZ StealthXStream 600W and an Radeon HD 4850 would be fine. Get an Antec Nine Hundred case and the drives of your choice and you should rock the world. That should all fit within your budget.

There are a lot of options here depending on what you want to do.
-Will you overclock?
-Does it need to be quiet?
-Are you looking to carry over existing hardware?
-What games are you playing?

Komete

If I was going to build a pc right now it would be a tripple core like Buddy j is bringing up. Infact when I read this page I was sold on the Idea.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-810-and-x3-720be-review-am3/9

BuddyJ

I like Icrontic's review better Komete :P

Komete

I like icrontic better but I didn't see any overclocking results. But I have to give it Lemonlime, he did one heck of a thorough review.

Leonardo

He's going for gaming primarily, Komete. I don't know if he's interested in overclocking at all. If he is, for the moment, at least, it's an Intel world for OC.

Colgere, although it doesn't make much difference in gaming, I'd go for a quad core processor. Something like a Q9550 or one the new Phenoms. (Wow, I haven't recommended AMD in loonnnng time. This is nice!) You just don't know what will crop up in the next couple years. Hedge your bets with a quad core processor. They are bulldozers at anything you throw at them.

Concerning AMD, you might want to wait another month for the AMD3 motherboards to hit the market. I have good expectations of them. Scuttlebut is that they will have dandy price/performance ratios. If you can wait a little bit, AMD3/Phenom 920/940 would make an excellent platform for a moderate price. But that's just the base.

What intensity level of gaming do you enjoy? Anti-aliasing at what level? Monitor size? We could recommend a video card ranging from $100 to $500. It depends on your gaming ambitions. Need more information, please.

Colgere

@Buddy J - Yea, I looked at the $600 PC as a starting point before posting. I ordered from Newegg for my last build and want to do so again (love their service ). I don't plan on overclocking, it doesn't have to be too quiet (below the sound level of a jet engine would be sufficient ), I'm not looking to carry over existing hardware (going to continue using my current rig for folding and as a file server), and as far as games go, I currently play C&C 3, Oblivion, Dungeon Siege II, and I am looking to get Left 4 Dead and SC2 (when it comes out), among others. I really started to notice that my rig was getting outdated when I played C&C 3. It still played fine, just noticed I had to make some setting changes. Besides, my rig is over 4 years old.

@Leonardo - I was thinking of going to a quad core as well, but I'm not sure exactly which board and processor to go with. As far as intensity level of gaming, on a scale of 1-10 (10 being most intense), I'd say I'm an 8-9. Anti-aliasing is pretty important for me, so I definitely need a card that handles it well. I'm also looking to get a new monitor for this system (currently have a 17" LCD), probably a 22" widescreen. Keep in mind that the price range I gave does not included a new monitor, I'm planning on buying that separately. I'd say overall my gaming ambitions are fairly high.

Thanks for all your help everyone, I appreciate it.

BuddyJ

You can go with either AMD or Intel right now and do just fine. Pick a processor that'll make you happy first and we can round out the hardware to support it.

Quads:
Phenom II X4 920 - $189
Phenom II X4 940 - $230
Core 2 Q6600 - $194
Core 2 Q9400 - $230
Core i7 290 - $290

Dual and Triple:
Phenom II X3 720 - 145
E8400 - $165
E7400 - $120

With Intel stuff, you're looking at the end of Socket 775's life. With AMD, you're looking at AM2+ getting a free pass because Socket AM3 chips will work in AM2 boards. It'll extend their life a bit longer. Your budget should allow for a Core i7 system if you want to build on a tight budget, and that'll leave you with some upgrade room down the line too.

Colgere

Yea, I think I'm going to go with the Phenom II X4 940. I read about the AM3 compatibility with AM2 boards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471

Colgere

Colgere wrote:

Yea, I think I'm going to go with the Phenom II X4 940. I read about the AM3 compatibility with AM2 boards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471

On a side note, the budget is not hard capped at $1200, I'm able to go over if the quality is worth it.

BuddyJ

Cool. How about this for a board? You'll get some sweet Crossfire options for it, and if you ever decide to overclock, it'll rock your world.

I'm a fan of the HD 4850 and HD 4870. You'll be fine with a '50, and I'd have no problem recommending an open box one from Newegg. Their customer service is so awesome, that if it's bad, the cost savings is still worth it. Go for an overclocked one like the ASUS TOP cards or the Sapphire TOXIC. It's your call again. The GeForce 9800GTX+ like the Zotac card we just reviewed is also a nice choice.

The Xigmatek HDT-1283 or a Sunbeamtech Core Contact Freezer, or OCZ Vendetta 2 will be fine for you. Newegg doesn't seem to stock Thermalright stuff currently, so that's probably out of the picture. If you get the Xigmatek, I'd recommend the mount kit for it. It'll net you a bit more performance, and a solid way to attach the heatsink. Bolts > clips in my book. You could also water cool it too. The CoolIT Domino or Swiftech Apogee Drive system would work well and be quiet. Oh, and get some good thermal paste. I like using OCZ Freeze because it's super simple to apply and doesn't get messed up if you re-mount the heatsink.

4GB of the RAM of your choice, a hard drive, PSU, and a combo drive and you're all set.

_k

I just priced out a core i7 for $1,194.92 before shipping.

i7 920 $290
DFI x58 board $250
6GB OCZ Reaper 1866 $210
Corsair 550W $90
MSI 260 896MB $220
Seagate 7200.11 500GB $65
Thermaltake M9 w/window $50
HP DVD-ROM IDE $20

There are mail-in rebates currently on half of that stuff, price listed is the current purchase price. $31.11 for shipping(to my house) which puts it over the $1200 budget but.

Colgere

That board'll definitely do, especially with the sweet Crossfire capabilities. Speaking of Crossfire...
Yea, looking at the video cards, I think I'm a fan of picking up a couple of these: SAPPHIRE 100242TXSR Radeon Toxic HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

For the cooler, I'm going with the Sunbeamtech Core Contact Freezer. Seems to get good reviews, especially in dealing with the 940. And of course, got to get the OCZ Freeze

As far as memory and PSU, I'd still like to get some recommendations on that before I choose those, based on what I've posted so far. Thanks for all your help!

Edit: Didn't see_k_'s post before I posted. I'll have to look at that setup also.

Leonardo

RE: K's list --

For gaming purposes, you could downgrade both the DDR and CPU without noticing any gaming difference. To lower the cost without impacting gaming, I'd recommend one of the new Phenom IIs, *AMD3 motherboard, and moderately priced RAM. Top of line RAM doesn't really accomplish much for you if you won't be doing high-end overclocking. I think you could cut the RAM price down to half of what you've selected and scarcely notice any real world performance loss. The i7 processor is clearly top performance, but again, a mid-grade quad core processor will meet you needs and will still seem powerful probably even two years into the future.

AM2+ motherboard if you want to put the machine together right away.

That board'll definitely do, especially with the sweet Crossfire capabilities.

Depending on what cards you'd want to employ in Crossfire, you'd be well advised to get a PSU with more headroom than a 550W. I ran dual GPU clients ([EMAIL="Folding@Home"]Folding@Home[/EMAIL]), 8800GT and 9800GT on a Corsair 5500W. (I should add that I was also running a quad core CPU at a 1GHz overclock.) It handled the system without any voltage output degradation, but the PSU was just about maxed out and the cooling fan ran at 100%. I'd look for a 600-650W, even higher if you intend dual video card running with an Nvidia 260 or other such high power consumption card. The 650W minimum would

Colgere

Yea, I'm looking at the Antec 900 for the case, and there's a combo deal available for it with this PSU:
Antec Signature SG650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371017

I'm just not sure that this particular PSU would be sufficient.

Also, any other specific recommendations on RAM?

I think I'm going to stick with the AM2+ board, as I would like to get this setup sooner than later, and the 940 should be sufficient for the forseeable future.

Leonardo

I think I'm going to stick with the AM2+ board

Then you can cut your RAM expense in half over even more. Also, unless you will be running a 64 bit OS, you won't benefit with more than 4GB of RAM.

The Antec 900 is very popular with the Icrontic crowd. I have one as well. They are a superbly designed case and very well constructed. Cable management is a pain though. The PSU you selected has two PCI-e 6-pin connectors. Think carefully about what video cards you might want in the future. As you know, some cards require two PCI-e power connectors and/or 8-pin connectors.

Colgere

Leonardo wrote:

Then you can cut your RAM expense in half over even more. Also, unless you will be running a 64 bit OS, you won't benefit with more than 4GB of RAM.

The Antec 900 is very popular with the Icrontic crowd. I have one as well. They are a superbly designed case and very well constructed. Cable management is a pain though. The PSU you selected has two PCI-e 6-pin connectors. Think carefully about what video cards you might want in the future. As you know, some cards require two PCI-e power connectors and/or 8-pin connectors.

Yea, that's one of the reasons I was thinking that PSU may not be sufficient. Any suggestions regarding this?

BuddyJ

From my talks with AMD, they're suggesting the AM3/DDR3 boards will likely have some bugs that need to be worked out with with BIOS updates and revisions. For the sake of stability, AM2+ is my choice.

Colgere

Here's a summary of what I've looked into so far:

DFI LP DK 790FXB-M2RSH AM2+/AM2 AMD Motherboard - $169.99
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz - $229.00 (Free Shipping)
Sunbeam CR-CCTF CPU Cooler - $29.99 (After Rebate, Free Shipping)
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 2GB - $284.99 (After Rebate, Free Shipping)
Antec Nine Hundred + Antec Signature SG650 650W Combo - $249.98

First, I decided to stick with 1 video card for now, but upped it to the 2GB model. It's Crossfire compatible, so I can always get a second one later if need be.

I'm still not sure the power supply in that combo is sufficient. I'd like some advice on this, and if it is not, a recommendation on one that would be.

I've decided 4GB of RAM is sufficent. Is there a particular brand I should go with?

Also, I'm looking at a 1 TB hard drive, any brand recommendations?

Thanks for all your help guys!

Leonardo

• Heatsink - awesome! Outstanding price.
• Antec 900 - solid choice
• PSU - I have not read a review on that model, but I assume the quality would be sufficient. The power rating is no problem for your stated needs. My only concern is that it only has two PCI-e 6-pin connectors. I don't see it as being that good of a deal, given the combined cost of the case-PSU combo, unless the price you posted is the total, shipped price. I'd look around for OCZ and Corsair models with more PCI-e options, such as the addition of 8-pin connectors. Check out Amazon and Buy.com. The latter sometimes has excellent deals on Corsair. From my experience purchasing from Buy.com, I can highly recommend them. Amazon has treated me well, too.
• RAM. Just stick with the major brands and you should be fine: OCZ, Patriot, Corsair, G.SKill, Kingston. Unless you plan on very high memory overclocking, I don't think the exotic memory cooling amounts to a hill of beans. It's mainly eye candy. If that's your gig though, go for it. Just get something middle of the road. Most of the time there will be no discernable difference in performance between the mid-grade stuff and the ultra expensive.
• Video card. I wouldn't be surprised if that 2GB memory model you are considering doesn't perform much better than the less expensive model with less GDDR. See if you can find a review or comparison. I think that's way too much money for a 4850, money that won't translate to improved gaming performance.

BuddyJ

That's a HD 4850 X2 he's picked out. Double your pleasure, double your fun.

Leonardo

That's a HD 4850 X2 he's picked out.

Ohhhh! well that very definately changes my assessment

Colgere

I ultimately decided to go down to the SAPPHIRE 100258-1GL Radeon HD 4850 1GB, as it shaved about $100 off, and should still be suitable for my needs for the forseeable future. Plus it's still Crossfire compatible (though I would upgrade the PSU in this case), so I think it'll be a good value overall for what I want.

_k

+12V1@22A,+12V2@22A,+12V3@25A
That power supply is enough to run two of whatever. 69 amps total on the 12v which will give you most likely around 50-55ish(a bit of a guess) actual. Here is a PCP&C that is pretty sweet.

Mt_Goat

I have become a solid believer in the Corsair PSU's. They are all top notch and have received many awards. I haven't heard of anyone using one as a paperweight yet!

Colgere

Well, I went ahead and ordered all the parts last night. A big thanks to everyone for their suggestions, and a special thank you to BuddyJ for his help with the final details! I figure I may as well post a breakdown of what I ordered and what the final tab was, for those interested (Prices quoted are after any mail-in rebates, just an FYI).

Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120mm "Core Contact Freezer" CPU Cooler - $29.99

Link Depot 6 ft. DVI-D male to DVI-D male dual link Cable Model DVI-6-DD - $9.99

OCZ OCZTFRZTC Freeze Extreme Thermal Conductivity Compound - $5.99

Antec Signature SG650 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
&
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (Combo Price) - $149.98

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $129.99

DFI LP DK 790FXB-M2RSH AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - $169.99

OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $45.99

SAPPHIRE 100258-1GL Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - $166.99

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor - $229.00

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - $26.99

Total price (with rebates)before shipping and without new monitor: $964.90

Since I know someone will be curious, here's the monitor I went with:

LG L227WTG-PF Black 22" 2ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 10000:1DCR with HDCP Support - $309.99

Total shipping (including monitor) - $51.25


Final total amount: $1326.14

Again, thanks to everyone for their help!

BuddyJ

Let us know when you get the parts and take pix of the build! And when you get it running, be sure to hit the SuperPi thread.

Thrax

Whoa, you're paying way too much for that case and power supply, and Antec PSUs aren't that good.

Colgere

That would be because I put in the wrong price (I was copying\pasting from the site here at work, and not from my final order sheet, which is at home). That's the stated Newegg price, but it's not what I got the combo for (I made a phone call and did some haggling, got another $100 off). I've updated the list above with the price I actually ended up paying. Sorry for the confusion.

Leonardo

Antec PSUs aren't that good

Whoa, a little bit of a blanket statement, there Thrax. I would agree that as a group, Antec PSUs are not in the top tier of performance or reliablity, but there are individual models of Antec PSUs that are very good, but others that are rather mediocre. That's why I stated in my post above that I assumed it would be a good PSU but had not seen a review. Let me revise that comment: Colgere (or anyone), I would find a reputable reviewer with good marks for that PSU before I would consider purchasing it.

Thrax

Given that every single model that Antec makes is trumped in jitter by another manufacturer in the same price range, I would venture to say that it isn't much of a blanket statement.