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MSI 990FXA-GD80 BUILD

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MSIINOZ

MSIINOZ

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Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Location
Coffs Harbour
Im looking at upgrading from my old K9N DIAMOND setup, Please let me know any opinions on each item?

Im pretty well set on starting off with the
MSI 990FXA-GD80

x6 1100T or x6 1090T?
The 1090T seems more popular, Any reason?

MSI GTX SLI?

CORSAIR Vengeance 2x4Gb / 4x4Gb later?

SSD? +1.5TB SATAII INT & 2TB USB SEAGATE

Bluray drive

OCZ 650W PSU

Going put it into my NZXT DUET case, Bit lairy for a HTPC?
Will be used for some gaming though

Need a low profile CPU cooler> Coolermaster Vortex Plus
Great price but... Not sure if it will cool an 1100T enough under load?

Windows 7 ultimate 64bit
 
I personally prefer gigabyte motherboards but that MSI 990FX should do quite nicely.
The 1090T is more popular because its cheaper, and overclocks pretty much the same.
Dont worry about SLI unless you game ALOT especially in space limited installs, a single 560ti or 570 should be plenty for what most people could want.
2x4GB DDR3 ram is more than enough for any normal computer user. Most people still dont utilize 4GB.
I would go for 60GB SSD the crucial M4s are very popular right now for their reliability and lack of issues that some of the sata3 Sanforce drives have. Ill note though that my OCZ solid 3 has not caused me any trouble yet so I cant say I would avoid the Sanforce drives myself. I dont think I would bother with the USB HDD unless you really need to be able to transport your data easily.
Blueray drive sure especially if you actually watch BD movies.
That PSU is pretty good, Corsair is highly recommended around here, there is a sticky over in the PSU forums with links to recommended PSUs and reviews.
You probably only need windows 7 64bit home premium unless you are running an enterprise grade network.

Good luck.
 
MSIINOZ said:
Im looking at upgrading from my old K9N DIAMOND setup, Please let me know any opinions on each item?

Im pretty well set on starting off with the
MSI 990FXA-GD80

x6 1100T or x6 1090T?
The 1090T seems more popular, Any reason?

MSI GTX SLI?

CORSAIR Vengeance 2x4Gb / 4x4Gb later?

SSD? +1.5TB SATAII INT & 2TB USB SEAGATE

Bluray drive

OCZ 650W PSU

Going put it into my NZXT DUET case, Bit lairy for a HTPC?
Will be used for some gaming though

Need a low profile CPU cooler> Coolermaster Vortex Plus
Great price but... Not sure if it will cool an 1100T enough under load?

Windows 7 ultimate 64bit
Click to expand...

I suggest that you get an 8120P if you want an AMD system. They will be in stock again soon. It is a faster CPU overall than the 6 core. Uses the same motherboard you have there (Am3+)

The 1090T is more popular than the 1100T because it is the same CPU.
The 1055/1090/1100 are identical physically. The difference is that the 1055 has a limited multiplier range while 1090 and 1100 are unlocked and have an unlimited multiplier range. In theory. Obviously nobody's cpu will do 42,000Ghz. The only difference between the 1090 and the 1100 is that the 1100 comes out of the box a bit faster. You can turn a 1090 into an 1100 equivalent in about 100 seconds of tweaking :bday:. Same goes for a 1055.

It's been like this for a long time. Intel's 920,930,940,950,960,965 are all the same cpu :sly::shrug:. The point of overclocking is you buy the cheap ugly duck on the back of the shelf and overclock it into a swan :)
 
Thanks for all the info so far
With the CPU, Wouldnt the FX-8170 be the better or fastest?/best choice if a budget was not a concern?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldozer_(processor)
Im sure the 8120p or 8150 or even smaller ones would be plenty enough for what I need
How much are the bulldozer CPU's going for, Cant find many for sale yet?

Also the MSI 990FXA-GD80 CPU support page does not list the 8170? Will that be updated possibly?
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/990FXA-GD80.html#/?div=CPUSupport

I watch mostly bluray movies and HD TV from my 2Tb USB, LED TV's are way better to watch even old TV shows
The bluray drive is handy if a friend has a bluray I want

Would there be many advantages going to Win7 64bit Home Premium
I imagine it may have less features than Ultimate I dont need and could help speed things up?
 
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MSIINOZ said:
Thanks for all the info so far
With the CPU, Wouldnt the FX-8170 be the better or fastest?/best choice if a budget was not a concern?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldozer_(processor)
Im sure the 8120p or 8150 or even smaller ones would be plenty enough for what I need
How much are the bulldozer CPU's going for, Cant find many for sale yet?
Click to expand...

8170 doesn't exist yet. 229 for the 8120.
 
8120 and 8150 are by all specifications and all reports, the same CPU.
It is merely a bin jump, like 955 to 965 or 1090 to 1100. Same CPU.

Just remember, while it performs decently for the $ once well overclocked, the 81XX cpus
are
images
seriously voltage vaccuums. Expect a slightly higher power bill (but also, a nice warm house) while using an FX cpu.

BTW I don't know how set you were on the MSI board. I just noticed the Thunderbold CHV is only $300

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131788

That's pretty good. The bundled soundcard is a good Xonar card and you get the E2100 NIC on there too, which (may) provide better network performance. Some say it's a big deal, some say it makes no difference, and all this and more can be yours for $300. If nothing else, much better sound quality. Without the Thunderbolt card (Intel Nic and Realtek audio with EAX software) is about $220.
 
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I might have to make do with an 1100T to get it up and running, With all the x8's being purchased the x6's will surely decrease in price? Maybe not as much at retail but there is always some new ones selling cheap on auction sites
 
MSIINOZ said:
I might have to make do with an 1100T to get it up and running, With all the x8's being purchased the x6's will surely decrease in price? Maybe not as much at retail but there is always some new ones selling cheap on auction sites
Click to expand...

Not really. The X6 Bulldozer is :facepalm:.
Better off with a 1090 or 1100. The pricing structure currently is reflective of actual performance and is not likely to change this year IMO.

If you will 100% be going to the FX 8 core get a 955BE for now. If you will stick with whatever you buy get a 1090T and overclock it.
 
Wait, any reason you're sticking to AMD? Sandy Bridge pretty much has everything else beat hands down right now...
 
There are situations where the 8120 actually is a favorable purchase.

If:
You don't pay your own electrical bill

and:
You live in a cool climate where you need heat anyways

and:
You need to run 6 SATA 6gbps devices

and:
You want to run 3 way Crossfire

then:
An 8120 may not be a bad choice.

If nothing else, the 990FX chipset absolutely annihilates the Z68 chipset for SATA and PCIE connectivity. And sure, perhaps nothing else. :). But that's something.
 
I cant really knock Intel but just have not had much (good) experience with it
In the last 6-7 years I have put together 7 AMD systems (2 for me & 5 for friends/family) all using MSI mobo's and VGA's
6 of these computers are still going, Including the first one I built the MSI K7N2 Delta! The 7th unfortunately was in a house fire (my inlaws)
Guess im just stuck on what little I know, But from good experience with AMD and MSI im sticking with them for now, I know every brand can have troubles too but I guess I have been lucky or have chosen good stuff to use in terms of reliabilty?
 
No.. I've never had a quality component die on me. I have parts from 2002 and 2000 that work just fine. GPUs, drives, etc.

Even have a Geforce 2 GTS clonking around and a 9600 that work.

It's not the brand that makes the product, its the product. I buy the best board I can get for the platform, usually. I don't care who makes it.
Speaking of MSI, it is well known that their stuff over the past couple of years is not as legendary quality as it used to be. MSI used to have some amazing VRM and overall board design but others caught up and passed it. The VRM on the Crosshair V, for example, is better IMO. As is the chipset cooler.
 
MSI 990FXA-GD80 BUILD - RAM?

Thanks for all the help so far, I figure while im saving up & waiting for prices for the major stuff to drop :shrug: I might look into the RAM a bit more, I started out using OCZ gold & SLI RAM but have had some die, I was told Corsair RAM is pretty decent so thought I would give it a go
Running Corsair gaming ram 2gb sticks in my MSI K9N DIAMOND (previously had OCZ 1gb SLI sticks) and it seems much better ofcourse with 2gb sticks


Can anyone tell me which of these 2 would be better?>

Vengeance™ — 4GB Single Module DDR3 Memory Kit (CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9)
http://www.corsair.com/memory-by-pr...-module-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz4gx3m1a1600c9.html

Vengeance™ — 4GB Single Module DDR3 Memory Kit (CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9B)
http://www.corsair.com/vengeance-16gb-single-module-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz4gx3m1a1600c9.html

The specs all seem the same except the blue (B) RAM states dual channel even though it is a single stick and the black RAM says single channel
I would like to get 1x4gb stick to start with then (2x4gb) eventually have 4x4gb sticks which should be quite sufficient for what I need

Not that it is a major factor but either of these will look snazzy on the MSI 990-FXA-GD80 mobo too
 
Brand loyalty is something I personally think is extremely stupid, no offense. MSI makes good boards, but IMO, Gigabyte makes better boards and ASUS for SURE makes better boards.

With Bulldozer, if you're not running multithreaded apps, then it's going to perform slightly worse then Sandy Bridge. But that comes at the cost of TONS more heat production and TONS more power draw. And Sandy Bridge murders it at anything floating point.

Again, unless you're running crazy production software that takes more then four cores, there's no reason not to go Intel. AMD just doesn't match the performance.
 
Thanks for the advice
A little tempting but looked into it a bit, The intel 2700K is near $400 (here in OZ)
+ a later upgrade to the new Intel 6 core is 130W, Surely that would have to get warm, Not to mention the extra 5w of power consumption compared and the price? WHOA>
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core i7 Extreme Edition i7-3960X.html
For now I will go with an 1100T hopefully for around $100 new, They will surely drop in price soon and may pick one up cheaper, Will go zambezi x8 later on
The cheaper price for the AMD will make up the difference for probably a years worth of power atleast if not 2 and I cant stand cold weather/winter so if the CPU puts out more heat I may run my heater less and in turn save even more money
Im looking at running a very efficient PSU also, Certainly not planning on building the fastest PC so the little difference between AMD vs Intel performance wont matter, When it comes to value for money well.......
 
"In terms of price"?
At nearly twice the price compared to the AMD X6 CPU's, It would want to go better?
The average online price I found for the 2500K here in OZ is $220+ (& add postage?) As usual local shops would probably want way more?

When you say the Intel out does AMD are you talking overclocked or not?
I just cant see the point in spending nearly double the money overall for a few Hz
In the end they will both do the job I need them to do and one is half the price of the other so it makes it an easy choice

Also the equivilent Mobo which I think would be the Z68-GD80 is also an extra $100
I can buy the 990FXA-GD80 for around $200 and the Z68 average price is $300
An extra $200 to go Intel just doesnt work out, At this stage the extra ($200 worth) of performance is not needed, Im not much of a gamer but It will be used for some light gaming nothing too demanding, I just got DIRT 3 + Logitech driving force GT wheel which would be the most demanding game I have
My 9 year old son has a few games but they certainly wont need a super computer to run (till he gets older and wants the better games)
Dirt 3 actually runs pretty good on my old K9N DIAMOND and it should not run it without issues according to what I have read? I have played a few days worth (in the game stats, Not nonstop ofcourse) and it has never had any issues

Maybe one day or next time? I will build an Intel setup
With the Intel vs AMD debate aside (finished) any advice or opinions on better RAM would be great, What 8gb sticks are available/recommended?

I am also looking into a decent CPU cooling setup, I only have about 80mm-85mm of room for the CPU cooler, Any suggestions?
The Coolermaster vortex plus is a damn good price but I also like the new geminII M4
With the 120mm PWM fan starting at 8dBA iI think I will go with the M4>
http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6738
They can be bought for around $45 - $50 here in OZ which is very reasonable
 
Key word: here in the US. Prices are different outside of our borders and therefore change the situtation. The 1100T costs $190 new in the US, while the 2500K is the same price. That being said, there's no real reason to get the 1100T over the 1090T as they're basically the same chip.

RAM is RAM, people usually get whatever the specified speed and timings are. Usually G.SKILL and Corsair are the cheapest, DDR3-1600 CL9 is what most people go with.
 
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