# Building my own computer for the first time - Parts list



## Desmond (Oct 19, 2009)

Hi, this is my first post on the forum. 

My friends convinced me that I should build my own computer because I'm on a tight budget and can't afford an expensive gaming rig that is already prebuilt.

I need to know if this partslist is a good one, if all the hardware are compatible with each other, and whether or not I am getting a good deal on the hardware (cost/performance).

I basically want a better computer to replace my emachines that I brought almost 3 years ago for 300 bucks. I can't spend any more than $1350 and I basically want a computer that can perform well for the next few years.

I'm going to be using it for gaming (StarCraft II, Crysis, EvE Online, games like that. Preferably on full settings ^^) and photoshopping. I also want to be able to run a lot of applications at the same time without it slowing down (It happens all the time on my machine with 512MB ram), so I got 4GB ram. I had 8GB, but I had to cut down to 4GB to stay in my budget. 

The processor, graphics card, ram, motherboard, harddrive, and pretty much everything on the parts list were picked by my friends, so I want to ask the community if it is a good parts list and *recommend any changes to it*.

By the way, all the parts are being brought from newegg, so if you want details about them just look them up at http://newegg.com.

```
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM 
$31.99
 	 	
IN WIN Maelstrom Black SECC(0.8~1.0mm) ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail 
$109.99
 	 	
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive 
$74.99
 	 	
Foxconn A7DA-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail 
$124.99
 	 	
XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail 
$149.99
 	 	
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail 
$119.99
 	 	
RAZER DeathAdder RZ01-00150100-R3M1 Black 5 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Optical High Precision Gaming Mouse - Retail 
$49.99
 	 	
AMC CC5E-B25B 25 ft. Cat 5E Blue Network Cable - OEM 
$3.99
 	 	
AMC CC5E-B50G 50 ft. Cat 5E Gray Cat 5E 350 MHz UTP Gray Network Cable - OEM 
$6.99
 	 	
Rosewill RTK-002 Anti-Static Wrist Strap - Retail 
$3.49
 	 	
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail 
$79.99
 	 	
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX - Retail 
$169.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM 
$109.99
```

The cost currently is around $1000. It would be higher if I decided to add a second hard drive (for a total of 1.2TB instead of 640GB) and if I were to buy another set of RAM (for a total of 8GB), if so, then the price will be around $1300.

If the cost stays at $1000, then I would want to buy a new monitor. Right now my monitor is a 15 inch or so LCD monitor. I want a higher definition monitor with a wider screen, so if anyone were to know of a good monitor that is 19" or bigger for under $200USD, please tell me. 

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!


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## theonedub (Oct 19, 2009)

I don't have all the time to go through each list, but just glancing at it makes me think $1k is too much. 

Never hurts to check out the Buy/Sell/Trade forum if you want to save some cash and do not mind second hand items


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## angelkiller (Oct 19, 2009)

I think the 1K figure sounds high, because the OP has included some accessories like the mouse and Cat 5 cable. Not an issue, but it the price for just the box is a bit less.

@ the OP,
I think you can do better than that. I really think you should go the Core i7 or i5 route and pair it with an ATI 5850 or 5870. Give me a few minutes and I'll throw a something together.

If you don't want to go the Core route, I would at least get an AM3 CPU. (PII 945 instead of 940) IIRC, the 945 will work with DDR2 and DDR3. Someone else needs to confirm/deny this.


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## BraveSoul (Oct 19, 2009)

Ati 5850 is a must for your 3 year plan, im with angelkiller on Phenom II 945(get the 95w model), and there is DDR3 2x2gb for same price as DDR2
GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD looks like a fine Motherboard for those parts
LG W2353V-PF Black 23" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 50000:1     looks really good, oh man its too good, now i want it, k k  calm down,ahh so good,so colorfull,no no,,, no more spending o jeeez  ,, think bills bills  , bills to pay ,, errrrr   ,,     im drulling now


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## Desmond (Oct 19, 2009)

Thanks for the quick responses!
Guys, I'm a total noob when it comes to hardware, and I have no idea what any of those things you mentioned are. 

Angelfire: You want me to get the Core i7, which I know is a processor, but then I'll need to pick a different motherboard, and I've never heard of ATI 5850. It's a graphics card, right?

Bravesoul: What's the difference between the Phenom II 945 95w model and the 125w model? They cost the same.

and DDR3 ram, I heard that it's pretty expensive, but I guess I should get a motherboard that can support it if I plan to upgrade in the future. But I have no idea how any of this works, or if it's even possible to use DDR3 with DDR2. 

Anyway, It would be more helpful if you guys could just simply post a link to a product on newegg that you recommend and explain why I should use that one instead.


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## angelkiller (Oct 19, 2009)

Yes, if you go the Core i7 route, you will need a different motherboard. In my recommendation (below) I've changed my mind and picked a Core i5 processor. And yes the ATI 5850 is a graphics card that was released about 2 weeks ago.

I'm not sure of the difference between the 95W and the 125W models, but I would probably guess that the 95W model is a later revision of that CPU that uses less power. That's the one you want.

You can't use DDR2 and DDR3 at the same time. DDR3 is more expensive than DDR2, but DDR2 is on it's way out. Not in the next 2 months, but I doubt it'll be mainstream in 2 years. DDR3 is more future proof.

Ok have a look at this. Box only:

*Case -* Whatever - $120
*PSU -* Corsair TX650 - $100
*Mobo -* Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 - $110
*CPU -* Core i5 860 - $290
*Heatsink -* Unsure - $50
*RAM -* Crucial 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1066 - $120
*Graphics -* Radeon 5850 - $260
*HDD -* 640GB WD Black (WD6401AALS) - $75
*Opticial -* Whatever - $35

*Total: $1160*

And that price is before rebates and before shipping. (which will likely offset each other) Add ~$200 for that other stuff you wanted. (OS, mouse, etc) I dropped the PSU down to 650W because it's $30 cheaper and you'll never need 650W unless you drop some serious cash on some high end gear. The RAM I picked out looks whimpy, but a well established member here (Fitseries3) says they can clock to insane frequencies. (1600MHz+) And yes, I know I've picked out a 6GB kit. You simply won't use 1 of the sticks. I would pick the 4GB version but I don't know if they use the same chips or not. If you ever get a platform with a tri-channel mem controller, you'll have the extra stick. I don't know what kind of case you like so get what you want. As for CPU cooling, I've been a bit out of the loop on a good heatsink. I know of a few great coolers, but I don't know of their compatability on the LGA 1156 platform. Speaking of which, I chose the LGA 1156 platform over the LGA 1366 one because overall it's a bit cheaper. Mostly on the mobo side. I'm getting a midrange mobo for ~$50 less than the cheapest LGA1366 boards. A midrange board will add to that figure. Plus the Ci5 runs much cooler. If you wanna save more cash, you could drop down to a Ci5 750. You loose hyper threading, but you still have a wickidly fast CPU. And I assume you'll be overclocking the CPU. If you wern't planning on doing so, I'm going to strongly recommend it. You don't need to push it to it's limit, but you can easily get 20-30% more performance for free. Overall, I think that's a solid upper midrange gaming rig. CPU, mobo and graphics have all be released in the last few months, so you'll experience their full life cycle of them. Cases and PSUs don't really get outdated. (ie they have a really advancement rate) So there you go.


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## Desmond (Oct 19, 2009)

angelkiller said:


> The RAM I picked out looks whimpy, but a well established member here (Fitseries3) says they can clock to insane frequencies. (1600MHz+) And yes, I know I've picked out a 6GB kit. You simply won't use 1 of the sticks.


The ram (Crucial 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1066 - $120) has 3 sticks, while the mobo you picked has 4 slots, so I could use all the sticks, could I?

About the heatsink, I did not have one in the first budget I posted. I thought they came with the processor, so do I really need to buy one?

Thanks for all the post and detail! I really appreciate it. And no, I wasn't really planning to overclock, but mostly because I had no idea how to. 

edit


> As for CPU cooling, I've been a bit out of the loop on a good heatsink. I know of a few great coolers, but I don't know of their compatability on the LGA 1156 platform. Speaking of which, I chose the LGA 1156 platform over the LGA 1366 one because overall it's a bit cheaper. Mostly on the mobo side. I'm getting a midrange mobo for ~$50 less than the cheapest LGA1366 boards. A midrange board will add to that figure. Plus the Ci5 runs much cooler. If you wanna save more cash, you could drop down to a Ci5 750. You loose hyper threading, but you still have a wickidly fast CPU. And I assume you'll be overclocking the CPU.


Sorry but what does that mean? I don't know what any of the things you mentioned are (LGA 1156, Ci5 750).

And also, the CPU you listed (Core i5 860 - $290) had a link that linked to a Core i7 860, so I think you either linked to the wrong product or said the wrong thing.


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## angelkiller (Oct 19, 2009)

Ok so there's this thing (for lack of a better word) called dual channel memory. The idea is that if you use the same sized capacity in both memory channels, you double the _effective_ bandwidth. Core i5 has 2 memeory channels, so having a 2GB stick in each channel doubles the effective bandwidth. Does it help? Maybe. So yes, you could use all three sticks, but by doing so you lose the ability to run the RAM in dual channel mode. Will such a config hurt performance? I doubt it. (less than 5% tops) But it's pretty traditional to have sticks in dual channel mode. So there's not a good reason really why not. Just that people have been doing the dual channel thing for so long.

A heatsink does come with this (and every) retail CPU. However, it's a cheap and dinky little thing. Performance is very average. (ie low performance at a higher noise level) It'll handle the CPU just fine, it's just that you can do better. You could do a modest overclock on the stock cooler. If you wanna save the cash, that's fine. The only advantage that you'd get with an aftermarket is the ability to hit higher frequencies. So no, you don't really need to buy one. In fact, keep things simple and don't get an aftermarket one.

Overclocking is really easy. You won't be going for a record-breaker here, so you'll only neeed to adjust a few settings. Once you read how, you can do it in literally 10 minutes. And it's not like learning is difficult. We can help you with that after you get everything built.

Yes, I meant to write Core i*7* 860. The link is correct.

Ok. This could be an extremely long and in depth explanation of Intel's current offerings, but I'm going to make this as basic as posisble. Intel has 3 CPU sockets, LGA 775, LGA1156 and LGA 1366. Your CPU must fit in the CPU socket on the motherboard. And for each CPU socket there are different CPU's that go in that socket. For example, the Core i5 860 is a LGA 1156 CPU. That means that it fits in motherboards that have a LGA 1156 socket. None of Intel's CPU socket are compatible with each other. So a LGA 1156 CPU will not fit in a LGA  1366 socket. 

So your mobo socket and CPU type must match. What really makes things confusing is Intel's naming scheme. You would think that all the Core i5 or Core i7 processors would belong to one socket right? Wrong. Some Core i7 processors fit the LGA 1366 socket while others fit the LGA 1156 socket. It makes no sense for people that know what they're doing. So don't worry about the name, worry about the socket. 

If that didn't make sense, please ask questions. I'm pretty sure that wasn't a great explanation.


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## Desmond (Oct 19, 2009)

Alright, thanks a lot for all your help! 
I have 1 thing that I want to ask about though.

The graphics card, it's more than $100 more than the one I originally picked, so how come? My friends told me that the Graphics card I had was good enough to run all the graphics-intensive games. I'm assuming that the one you picked for me would be a *lot* better, right? The only problems are the cost and the fact that there aren't any in stock right now.


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## mosheen (Oct 19, 2009)

i5 750 + hd 5850


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## Desmond (Oct 19, 2009)

Here's my build so far. I don't know if this link will work or not:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=8112449


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## kurosagi01 (Oct 19, 2009)

this is all about planning ahead for you correct? if you want your system to last you for like 2-3years or whatever you will need to look at ATI new HD 5000 series..and the 5850 is the key to keep your rig running for couple years as it is the NEW generation.
Does that make sense,the 5850 will run all your games perfectly and it draws less power than the 4000 series.
Again this is all about looking ahead for you in future,if you want your system to last you then get the 5850,Direct X11 games will soon hit market and your prepared for them.


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## Deleted member 67555 (Oct 19, 2009)

I think Since This is HIS first build....
You might be Better off with an AMD setup such as...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674
which puts you $30 above your original setup with about 15% more performance and more HD space you could easily save that with a different case and psu and mouse and keyboard...
here are a few suggestions
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175103
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826100010 
case with PSU (antec earth watts 500 good PSU) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024
and that saves you quite a bit and leaves you with a pretty good system too


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## Soylent Joe (Oct 19, 2009)

Hey man, take your time getting your stuff. Do your research and make sure you're getting good quality and compatible items. I'd throw a list together but I'm about to walk out the door. These guys here will help out a lot and don't be afraid to ask "noobish" questions, that's how we learn.


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## angelkiller (Oct 19, 2009)

jmcslob said:


> I think Since This is HIS first build....
> You might be Better off with an AMD setup such as...
> <snip>


Ok, don't take this the wrong way. No hostile intentions here. 

But why go the AM3 route? If you dropped down to a Core i5 750, the CPU and mobo costs would be pretty much the same. At stock speeds, the Ci5 750 looks to be a little faster. BUT, the Phenom has ~25% advantage in clock speed. So clock for clock, Ci5 is noteably faster. And let's not get into power consumption, where the Ci5 dominates everything.

I don't think AM3 is the way to go here. If you want to save some cash, the CPU can be changed to a Core i5 750 instead of the Core i7 860. You lose hyper-threading, but that's about it really.



Desmond said:


> The graphics card, it's more than $100 more than the one I originally picked, so how come? My friends told me that the Graphics card I had was good enough to run all the graphics-intensive games. I'm assuming that the one you picked for me would be a *lot* better, right? The only problems are the cost and the fact that there aren't any in stock right now.


Yes, the 4890 should max out pretty much everything. But you said that future-proofing is important. The 5850 was literally released  a couple of weeks ago while the 4890 was relased in April. To be quite honest, both cards have a pretty long life ahead of them and won't get old anytime soon. I picked the 5850 for some minute reasons. I've learned from my experiences, that if you're debating between a two parts, one being a small step above the other, you should pick the faster part. Why? In a year and a half when the next gen parts get here, your part will be that much faster than the the other. Kinda like why they say don't get cheap tools. You pay more initially, but you'll get that much more from the tools.

If you want to save cash, again, drop the CPU to a Core i5 750 first. Then drop to a 4890. It's much more important to have GPU power than CPU power, especially if you're gaming. (Not that the Ci5 is 'slow')

And another thing, don't take everything I say as absolute truth. All this is in my own opinion. I write so much because I like to show you the reasoning behind my choices. But other could have better solutions. So yeah.


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## A Cheese Danish (Oct 19, 2009)

No offense here Desmond, but you really don't need an anti-static bracelet. I know you are worried about static shock, but if you are 
going to be working on like cement or hard wood floor, you shouldn't have to worry. As long as you touch the case 
before touching any of the hardware you should be good. Also, I would recommend atleast getting Windows 7 Pro 
if you are going to use 7.


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## kurosagi01 (Oct 19, 2009)

A Cheese Danish said:


> No offense here Desmond, but you really don't need an anti-static bracelet. I know you are worried about static shock, but if you are
> going to be working on like cement or hard wood floor, you shouldn't have to worry. As long as you touch the case
> before touching any of the hardware you should be good. Also, I would recommend atleast getting Windows 7 Pro
> if you are going to use 7.



i agree,when i was putting my build together i didn't have a anti-static bracelet,i've just touch something metal to "un earth" myself so i don't get any statics.
I put some cardboard on my floor to build mine since i got carpet floor lol.


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## [Ion] (Oct 19, 2009)

Desmond said:


> Here's my build so far. I don't know if this link will work or not:
> http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=8112449



Looks pretty good, but I would make a few changes 
Pick up the Centurion 590 case instead, it's a nicer case for $50 cheaper.
Spend the $50 you saved on either a GA-P55M-UD4 or a GA-P55-UD4P.  Both are nicer boards than what you had selected.  Also, as everyone else has said, there is no need to buy a wrist strap, I've assembled dozens of computers and never used a wrist strap and I haven't had any issues.


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## vaiopup (Oct 19, 2009)

Isn't that psu a lil over the top or are the recent GPU's really that greedy?
(It shows that gpu's aren't my thing).


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## Desmond (Oct 19, 2009)

Alright, I'm at school right now, so I'll make this quick. 



jmcslob said:


> case with PSU (antec earth watts 500 good PSU) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024


Who thinks that I should replace my power supply and case with this one? Is it a good idea, and is 500 watts enough?



[Ion] said:


> Spend the $50 you saved on either a GA-P55M-UD4 or a GA-P55-UD4P.  Both are nicer boards than what you had selected.



Why is this motherboard better? Do I need it?


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## [Ion] (Oct 19, 2009)

Desmond said:


> Alright, I'm at school right now, so I'll make this quick.
> 
> 
> Who thinks that I should replace my power supply and case with this one? Is it a good idea, and is 500 watts enough?
> ...



Go with the Corsair, it's a nicer power supply (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article813-page1.html).  And the cables are sleeved.  The two motherboards I listed will allow for crossfire (or SLI) with double slot cards, they also should overclock better.  Only get one of them if either of these matter to you.


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## brandonwh64 (Oct 19, 2009)

OK this first build im gonna post a pretty much top of the line computer now it may be over your budget but this is to show you if you can add alittle more money you can get ALOT more ok, SO here is the first build

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4950609&Sku=A79-0965

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Quad Core Processor - 3.40GHz, Socket AM3, 6MB Cache, 2000MHz (4000 MT/s) FSB, Retail, Processor with Fan
http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/A79-0955-Main-JH.jpg

Price=249.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4540506&CatId=4296

MSI 790FX-GD70 Motherboard - AMD 790FX, Socket AM3, ATX, Audio, CrossFireX, PCI Express 2.0, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0, SATA, RAID
http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/M452-6060-Main-JH.jpg

Price=179.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3345975&CatId=3473

2x OCZ Dual Channel Platinum 2048MB PC12800 DDR3 1600MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)
http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/O261-8070-main.jpg

Price=90.00

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5214197&CatId=3585

BFG GeForce GTX 285 OC Video Card - 1GB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, FREE Batman: Arkham Asylum Game Download
http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/B52-02852_main_image001_im.jpg

Price=299.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4975140&CatId=1483

OCZ 600W StealthXStream Power Supply - 600 Watts, 120mm Fan, ATX, (Refurbished)
http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/O261-2038_main_001_im.jpg

Price=49.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4306125&CatId=2459

Hitachi 7K1000.B Hard Drive - 1TB, 7200RPM, 16MB, SATA-300, OEM
http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/TSD-1000H4-Main02-jl.jpg

Price=79.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail 
http://www.hardware.info/images/news/antec_900_overview_goed.jpg

Price=99.99


TOTAL PRICE= 1049.94$ Before shipping
on tiger you get bundled shipping for 1.90 in the US but on newegg the shipping cost of the antec case will probly be like 15$ or more but you can just scrap the antec case and order one with the rest of the parts from tiger to get that discount shipping its up to you

this build is the fastest AMD build out there and is 50$ over the 1K mark and faster than what you have purchased


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## angelkiller (Oct 19, 2009)

Desmond said:


> Who thinks that I should replace my power supply and case with this one? Is it a good idea, and is 500 watts enough?


Doesn't matter. Case is personal preference. 500W is enough. The Earthwatts (PSU) is a solid unit. Pick whichever.



Desmond said:


> Why is this motherboard better? Do I need it?


IMO, I wouldn't spend the extra cash on either of those motherboards. Read Anandtech's Review of the UD2. He speaks very highly of the UD2 board, and if that board is really that good, then I see no reason to 'upgrade'.



brandonwh64 said:


> OK this first build im gonna post a pretty much top of the line computer now it may be over your budget but this is to show you if you can add alittle more money you can get ALOT more ok, SO here is the first build
> 
> <snip>
> 
> this build is the fastest AMD build out there and is 50$ over the 1K mark and faster than what you have purchased


Ooook.  What's up with everyone suggesting AM3 builds? I understand that such a build will improve on the OP's build, but you can do a Ci5 build for a tad more. The Ci5 is a bit faster than the Phenom 965 at stock speeds, but once overclocked, the Ci5 has the advantage. (Because both CPU's hit about the same frequency, and clock for clock Ci5 is faster.) Please list some reasons to pick AM3 over Ci5. Thanks.


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## brandonwh64 (Oct 19, 2009)

angelkiller said:


> Ooook.  What's up with everyone suggesting AM3 builds? I understand that such a build will improve on the OP's build, but you can do a Ci5 build for a tad more. The Ci5 is a bit faster than the Phenom 965 at stock speeds, but once overclocked, the Ci5 has the advantage. (Because both CPU's hit about the same frequency, and clock for clock Ci5 is faster.) Please list some reasons to pick AM3 over Ci5. Thanks.



Cause i am a AMD fan? just helping?


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## Soylent Joe (Oct 19, 2009)

Don't cheap out on a PSU.


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## angelkiller (Oct 19, 2009)

brandonwh64 said:


> Cause i am a AMD fan? just helping?


Hm. I'm not tryna be an ass here. It's just that I don't think an AM3 build is the best choice here... But I've already made my point. I'm gonna back off this thread.


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## JCP21 (Oct 19, 2009)

Looks good


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## 3volvedcombat (Oct 19, 2009)

Ok im looking at the list here and what a experience this guy is having XD

I Actually SAW A gtx 285 IN A LIST= FAIL SORRY. Its a pointless money scrounger now get with the ati 5000 serious now  

I say get a Phenom II AMD 945 processor 
grab some ddr3 sticks at 1600 Mhz and at least 2gb of it
grab a HD 4870-4890 or ati HD 5850-5870 now the HD 5770 is dx11 but you need to overclock to hit HD 4870-4890 performance. and the HD 5850 blows everything away, and HD 5870 is just silly for 20inch monitors. 
Get a 1tb lets not get in gb right now 1tb is like 5-20 bucks more expensive then a 640gb plz???
Grab a case with air filters, if you like looks a side window, and at least 2 120mm fans in front. 
Wire Management is also great to(its holes precut around the motherboard for easy wire cleanup and threw put making it looks dam sexy and perform excellent.
If you get a p55 i do understand your choice because new motherboards with sata 3gb's and usb 3.0 are coming out and i don't blame you i would rather get that.  
 Find the prices for your self but i can get a rig like that for 900-800 dollars without mouse or keyboard and monitor and Operating system(i torrent my 2 copy's of vista and XP and windows 7 beta and eventually windows 7).


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## Soylent Joe (Oct 19, 2009)

3volvedcombat said:


> Ok im looking at the list here and what a experience this guy is having XD
> 
> I Actually SAW A gtx 285 IN A LIST= FAIL SORRY. Its a pointless money scrounger now get with the ati 5000 serious now
> 
> ...



The 640AALS is faster than the 750 or 1TB. Getting a power munching PII 945 or 955 seems silly now that the i5's are out. I say that if you're not going with the build I suggested, still try to go i5 + P55 + 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 along with a 58XX series card or the 5770 like I suggested. The 5770 performs somewhere between or above the 4870 and 4890, but uses a lot less power and is more quiet. Just because it has the performance of an older card, doesn't mean that it's no good. A 4870 would be fine for what you're doing, so a 5770 would be even better.


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## Desmond (Oct 19, 2009)

Alright, I have replaced my $150ish Corsair 650M power supply and my expensive $100ish case with this case that has the Earthwatts 500W power supply in it. 

500W is enough, right? Well I think it is, but I don't really know for sure.
Now, one of the features of the Corsair power supply (the one I'm replacing) is "Compatible with Core i7," so, will the Earthwatts processor also be compatible with the i5? (I am also replacing the i7 with the i5, by the way.) Why does the Corsair power supply even say "compatible with core i7" anyway? Do some power supplies not work with some processors?

And my budget is now under $1000. Here is my wishlist if anyone wants to see it: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=8112449
Now I have enough money to buy a new keyboard/mouse/monitor.  I don't really need the accessories, but replacing my old mouse/monitor and getting a better keyboard would be nice.

And also, is this the same as this?

EDIT:
I looked at my mobo's reviews on Newegg, and apparently the exact RAM that I am getting does not work with the motherboard.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rk=&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&Keywords=
Now I'm looking for a different RAM stick to use.

EDIT 2:
Is this good ram? and will the motherboard support it?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231282
edit3: here's another ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231278


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## Desmond (Oct 20, 2009)

Ok guys, I'm considering getting the Radeon HD 4890 GPU instead of the Radeon HD 5850. 
The 5850 is being sold for $280 on Newegg, but it's out of stock. Everywhere else it is being sold at the mid 300's, and I can't easily afford that.

According to what angelkiller said, the 4890 is still a good graphics card that will "last me a long time," and it is cheaper too, at only $200.

SO, is it a good idea to get the 4890? Apparently it won't be able to max out everything, but neither will the 5850.


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## MT Alex (Oct 20, 2009)

I bought this monitor last month, and it has been great, for an TN panel (don't get Wile E started)  No dead pixels.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052

$20.00 cheaper than the one you speced, also free shipping, which makes a big difference.  And it has HDMI which the AOC doesn't.  ASUS makes some decent stuff, not sure about AOC.

Edit:  I moved up to this from a 15" Sylvania, and it seems like heaven, or at least like getting peed in the eyes by an angel.


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## Deleted member 67555 (Oct 20, 2009)

angelkiller said:


> Doesn't matter. Case is personal preference. 500W is enough. The Earthwatts (PSU) is a solid unit. Pick whichever.
> 
> 
> IMO, I wouldn't spend the extra cash on either of those motherboards. Read Anandtech's Review of the UD2. He speaks very highly of the UD2 board, and if that board is really that good, then I see no reason to 'upgrade'.
> ...


because he wants a gaming RIG the I5 is limited due to the PCI-E being limited to x16 lanes The I5 does not in any way offer any advantages over the AM3 and by being limited your also going to effect all PCI-E including your audio and Hard drive access time.. When it comes to gaming,The I7 is different but it costs to much to give any advantages in Gaming Unless your budget is over $1800. GAMES like higher clock speeds period... that has been proven on this forum and all over the web countless times...If you want to save power stick with the 945 but get the 95watt version..Being his first build He might want higher clock speeds without OC'ing


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## angelkiller (Oct 20, 2009)

jmcslob said:


> because he wants a gaming RIG the I5 is limited due to the PCI-E being limited to x16 lanes The I5 does not in any way offer any advantages over the AM3 and by being limited your also going to effect all PCI-E including your audio and Hard drive access time.. When it comes to gaming,The I7 is different but it costs to much to give any advantages in Gaming Unless your budget is over $1800. GAMES like higher clock speeds period... that has been proven on this forum and all over the web countless times...If you want to save power stick with the 945 but get the 95watt version..Being his first build He might want higher clock speeds without OC'ing


I do not think the Ci5 platform is limited in this situation. Yes. P55 doesn't have the PCI-E lanes that X58 has. But that only becomes an issue on the high end. Most notably in situations with CF/SLI with high end cards. (eg 5850 CF and higher) The OP has no intension of spending that kind of cash. Based on the budget, OP wants a single graphics rig, and CF down the road never works anyway. Here's an excerpt from an Anandtech article:


			
				Anandtech in [url=http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3649&p=7]this article[/url] said:
			
		

> For those of us who are interested in power consumption, heat, noise, and not all that worried about a 2% to 7% difference in the benchmarks, then the Lynnfield platform is an attractive alternative with the latest generation GPUs.



Your claim about hurting audio performance is unsupported. Sata devices connect directly to P55, which connects to the CPU via a DMI. No PCI-E there.

You say that games like higher clock speed. This is true, but only in certain situations. You can make that statement when comparing CPUs from the same architecture. For example a Phenom II X2 550 will probably beat a Phenom II 720 is alot of games due to clock speed. HOWEVER, you can't apply that statement across different platforms. When comparing platforms, you have to consider performance per clock, not purely clockspeed. In other words, you can only compare performance at the same clock speed due to differences in performance per clock. THIS has been proven many times. Most notably when the Conroe archetitcue was introduced. How about this, I'll let you have a 3.4GHz Pentium D. I'll take a 1.8GHz Conroe. Which is faster in games? Ah yes, the 1.8 Conroe whups up on the PD because it's performance per clock is sooo much higher. Clockspeed isn't everything. However, _all things equal_, clockspeed will certainly make a huge difference. Comparing different arcitectures at different clock speeds proves nothing becuse there are 2 variables in the experiment.

Clock for clock, Ci5 is faster. That means that if the Phenom II 965 and Ci5 were both clocked at the same speed, Ci5 would be faster. How do I know this? Look at any review. Ci5 beats PII 965 even though the 965 has 25% more clock speed. Why not get an AM3 platform you ask? 
Ci5 has more potential. Even at stock clocks, Ci5 is a tad faster. Both CPU's only get to ~3.9GHz, but like I just said, at the same frequency, Ci5 wins.
The Ci5 CPU + mobo costs pretty much the same as a AM3 CPU + mobo. You could say that this makes this point moot. But once overclocked, the Ci5 will be faster. So you get more potential performance with Ci5. If you don't plan to OC, than it is a moot point.
Ci5 draws alot less power. You can say that that's not really important, but why pick a hotter CPU?


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## BraveSoul (Oct 20, 2009)

That last wishlist looks really good Desmond, just 1 thing, i strongly advise 5850 even if u have to wait a week
---------------------------------------
share your 5xxx results here
whats your favorite 4x4 offroad racing game


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## Desmond (Oct 20, 2009)

Alright, thanks for all your help, guys. ^^
Everything's good so far (I hope) and the only thing left is the power supply and the case.
First of all, here is the case and the power supply that comes with it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024 
Someone on this thread told me the power supply was good, so I went with it.

And here's the motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128405

Is my case large enough to hold the motherboard? And my graphics card, too (my gpu will either be a 4890 or a 5850.

And is the power supply good enough to handle all my hardware? It's 500w.


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## Soylent Joe (Oct 20, 2009)

Desmond said:


> Alright, thanks for all your help, guys. ^^
> Everything's good so far (I hope) and the only thing left is the power supply and the case.
> First of all, here is the case and the power supply that comes with it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024
> Someone on this thread told me the power supply was good, so I went with it.
> ...



PSU is fine, case will deff. hold the mobo, it takes microATX and ATX and that's a microATX board. You seem to be forgetting all about the 57XX series cards. I'd get a 5770 before a 4890.


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## Kantastic (Oct 21, 2009)

I built a fine rig for 1020, check my sig for reference.


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## erocker (Oct 21, 2009)

Desmond said:


> SO, is it a good idea to get the 4890? Apparently it won't be able to max out everything, but neither will the 5850.



I max out everything with my 4890 at 1920x1200 resolution just fine.  A 5850 is even more powerful than a 4890. If you can find a 5850 at a good price, go for it as it includes DX11, which will be important soon, especially if you plan to keep the card a couple years. Actually, in my opinion you should definitely get a DX11 card if you don't plan on upgrading for a couple years.


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## Desmond (Oct 23, 2009)

Alright, I am almost ready to order.
Here is my [almost] final parts list.
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=15662408

I would appreciate it if someone on this forum made sure that all the parts go together and I wouldn't have to reorder or RMA anything. After all, it is my first build. 

One problem is the motherboard. A lot of reviewers mentioned that their RAM did not work with it. If anyone has used the same motherboard as the one I'm getting (Gigabyte P55M-UD2) please tell me what RAM worked with it. I'm not entirely confident that the RAM I picked (G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB) will work with the CPU.


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## MT Alex (Oct 23, 2009)

Looks like that RAM would work with that board:  http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/MemorySupport/mb_memory_ga-p55m-ud2.pdf
The last few letters of the model number are different, but that usually doesn't make a difference.

Glad to see you took my advice on the monitor.  Too bad there aren't any HD 5850s in stock, but I'm sure your 4890 will work just fine.  You could always use the onboard video (blah!) until a 5850 came in.


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## angelkiller (Oct 23, 2009)

Or maybe someone could suggest another P55 board in the $110-130 range. There are very few reviews for the lower-end stuff.


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## Desmond (Oct 29, 2009)

Awesome news!
All my parts have arrived today. I spent about 5 hours putting all the stuff together. It was VERY confusing, but I got it to work eventually!

Well, at first the heatsink was put in wrong, so when I turned it on, a series of beeps was heard. Then I got it working, but it was like 51C, and rose to 58C by the time i cut the power. Something was wrong, and after an hour of endless fustration towards Intel I found out that it was ME who instaled the CPU heatsink wrong, so I did it right this time, but it still wouldn't boot. Then I found out that the memory got out of place while messing with the heatsink, so I had to take out the GPU and put the memory back in, then put the GPU back in.

Now it is idling at around 20-38C, which is good for a stock CPU says my friend.

Oh, and Windows 7 is amazing. I actually do not feel like installing Linux anymore. =O!!

And the specs: This computer is about 100 times faster than my old one. Even though it does not have an overclocked CPU or the 5xxx GPU, it is still unbelievably fast compared to my old computer, and you can see my specs now.

Thank you to all who helped me.  Your help was absolutely priceless.

And to anybody wanting to build a computer, my advice to you is to be 1. patient and 2. not let yourself get overwhelmed. It WILL probably work unless a part is dead or you somehow broke it.


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## Soylent Joe (Oct 29, 2009)

Nice dude  Building your first rig is always an experience


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## Desmond (Oct 29, 2009)

Thanks. ^^
And another piece of advice, this is pretty important - TAKE A BREAK!
Oh man, I couldn't sleep tonight. My forearms were in excruciating pain! I pretty much sprinted home from school, and the first thing I did was open the box and start putting it together... from 5PM till like 9PM (It took so long because I didn't notice that the case had a manual so I tried to figure out how to mount the drives and the motherboard myself. :/)

But yeah, if you don't want to be in huge pain, take a break once an hour. >_>


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## angelkiller (Oct 29, 2009)

Soylent Joe said:


> Nice dude  Building your first rig is always an experience


QFT.


Desmond said:


> I pretty much sprinted home from school, and the first thing I did was open the box and start putting it together.


Best. Feeling. Ever. 

Glad everything worked out. Enjoy!


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