Help with build...

I havent built a computer in a long time and i figure it is a good time to start lookin around. Im wanting to go with AMD, as they have in the past, have been the best bang for the buck. I plan on doing photo editing as i am a photo student in school right now. I also plan to do a little gaming on the side, but nothing too hardcore, maybe pick up starcraft 2 whenever they release it. So yea, could you guys give me a place to start, so I can go from there? help is very much appreciated. thanks.

as far as budget goes btw. under $1000 would be nice

Man, for $1000 you can have a pretty nice system nowadays!
Does that include the monitor? (If so how big do you want it?)
How about the case? (Monster, compact, noise?)
Keyboard and mouse? ($20-$100+)
Hard-drives? (500 Gb - 2 Tb RAID array?)


A 965 BE (190), high-end 790FX motherboard (190), great 2x2Gb DDR3-1600CL7 RAM (< 120), and a $200 video card doesn't run $1000. Not trying to be a pain here, just clearing up the question. Care to be more specific ...?

Yeah, a $1000 system definitely warrants a Radeon HD 5870 as the GPU. The rest would be what QuietIce recommended.

Ritwik7 said:

Yeah, a $1000 system definitely warrants a Radeon HD 5870 as the GPU. The rest would be what QuietIce recommended.

Click to expand...

Good luck finding one in stock before Christmas. That goes for the 5850 as well.

And to add more to QI's suggestions.. PSU, after-market cooling, optical drives.. but for $1,000 you will have a pretty sweet setup.

not including monitor, keyboard, cd drive, dvd drive, extra cables and such.

also, i know nothing of the tech out today. would $500 get me anything worthy? exclude the case in the price as well, i forgot i have an old lian li i could dust off -_-

You might be able to put together a decent PC for everyday use for $500.

965 BE $190
high-end 790FX motherboard $190
2x2Gb DDR3-1600CL7 RAM < $120
video card ($200???)

Best AMD system you can buy:
Total = $500 + video card

There are less expensive options that are still very good. A $110 790X board is all you really need except for extreme OC'ing and $95 RAM (still 2x2Gb) will also be plenty. Those changes alone brings the total below $400 + video.

I'll edit tonight with specifics ...

im just weighing my options. i mean $500 would be nice but $1000 is plausible as well. thank you for the help guys. it is fun to get back into this stuff

For an AMD setup for a grand u can make a pretty nasty little system now, if u go high end on the mobo ram and cpu it is about 500 bucks, u say u do photo editing si i would recomend MORE then 4 gb of ram, also if u dont plan on heavy gaming (even if u did this is still a more then respectable card) a single 5770 is plenty and cheap at that, R u wanting a raid setup? (for photo chop it would really help, along with the more then 4 gigs of ram, but u can start getting pretty pricey for high density ram kits) If u dont plan on over clocking u can save urself about 50-75 bucks on the mobo by going to a lower end version,

Also go to newegg.com (or zipzoomfly.com), u can start looking at some of your options, i would make a parts list and post it here with the specifics, and we can take a look at it for ya, and recommend changes

Duke

Good AMD system:
Phenom II 955BE - $166
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P - $115
OCZ Platinum DDR3-1333CL7-LV RAM - $90
$371 + video card

Great AMD system:
Phenom II 965BE - $186

ASUS M4A79T Deluxe - $189
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P - $175
MSI 790FX-GD70 - $160

GSkill Ripjaws 2x2GB DDR3-1600CL7-LV RAM - $125
OCZ Platinum 2x2GB DDR3-1600CL7-LV RAM - $123
$469-500 + video depending on your taste in boards and RAM


If you're looking for an average OC without extreme voltage and a lot of tweaking then the 955BE will do as well as the 965BE.

DDR3-1600 RAM doesn't get you much extra in performance above DDR3-1333 RAM but it is easier to set DDR3-1600 RAM to DDR3-1333 speeds and OC it using the clock.

The motherboards are a matter of taste. The 790X board (the first one) will clock as well as the others but may have voltage fluctuations on the high end - the 790FX boards tend to be more stable in that area. Also, the add-ons for the 790FX boards vary between manufacturers as do people's taste so I listed the three most popular. Biostar also makes good 790 boards but I haven't seen enough data on any one model to say, long-term, how well they'll work out.

All those components are mix-n-match so you can vary the cost a lot depending on your preferences.

I left video cards out completely because the price and performance range of those is so large and is very dependent on the games you play and what else you might intend for it. Best to check-in at the Video Section to find your answers for that.


Good luck with whatever you decide ...!

Also i take it this is going 2 b your 24/7 rig? (along with your photo editing). What OS r u planing on getting/using (just wondering) and also do we need to factor in a new OS with this build?

Duke

PS, if your a student (assuming u r) i think u can get RIDICULOUS discounts threw your school on software including os's (i got auto cad for about $$150 from my friend (he was in a tech collage at that time) and it normally costs over 2 grand....so lol u can get some killer deals like that

gonna be using windows 7. i already have a copy from my dad's business. Thanks for the help guys, ive been doin some readin. Will post my supposed setup soon.