- Joined
- Nov 18, 2003
- Location
- Kansas City, KS USA
[EDIT: Prices below are from zipzoomfly on 12/28/2009. Links have been added to each item mentioned as a manner of showing how to best present what you're considering, and will likely become dead over time. ~chixo]
[EDIT: Thanks to both EarthDog and Xtreme Barton for your timely assistance!]
...Well, not a complete build, but the parts I need ! I'm at that point-of-purchase, and as always I like to share and subject my hours of research/fretting/number-crunching to be ripped apart by your collective cold criticisms...
(masochistic? perhaps... ) (j/k)
I've included my justifications for each component after the summary. Please do bring up anything I may not be clearly considering or wherever I may go awry!
Overall Price Summary:
My latent concern is the motherboard actually... it seems ideal in every respect except the second GPU slot is x4... how much of a hit would that be in fps for a future crossfire?
Is there anything here you'd suggest re-visiting? Any give-and-take between components to keep everything under the $600 mark?
PS: I tried to make this post exemplary regarding clarity - This drive is in the interest of suggesting a template for "advise my build" type posts to assist others with formatting... any thoughts? mods?
[EDIT: Thanks to both EarthDog and Xtreme Barton for your timely assistance!]
...Well, not a complete build, but the parts I need ! I'm at that point-of-purchase, and as always I like to share and subject my hours of research/fretting/number-crunching to be ripped apart by your collective cold criticisms...
(masochistic? perhaps... ) (j/k)
I've included my justifications for each component after the summary. Please do bring up anything I may not be clearly considering or wherever I may go awry!
Overall Price Summary:
Component Breakdown:
- PSU - 80 (w/ rebate - Expires 12/31/09)
- MBD - 94
- GPU - 160
- CPU - 180
- RAM - 74 (w/ rebate - Expires 12/31/09)
- 587 total after rebates
(Budget: 600 max)
(563 total with the combo alternative discussed below)
I know the CPU is approaching i5 territory in price (~$200), but this CPU-splurge (from an intial CPU budget of ~$130) is more a result of not having the funds to make the next logical GPU step (5850). I gather both the i5 and X4 965 are in "overkill" territory regarding today's games at 1900x1200 and below.(PSU) ENERMAX ELT620AWT-ECO - $79.99 (Link)
(MBD) GIGABYTE GA-MA785GT-UD3H - $98.99 (Link)
- Quiet
- Modular
- 620W is nearly double the capacity this build requires, but crossfire and possibly 6core AM3 upgrades are future expected upgrades.
- VERY favorable review at jonnyguru: (Link)
- $79.99 after $50 rebate
(GPU) SAPPHIRE HD 5770 - $159.99 (Link)
- AM3/DDR3 board
- Great onboard sound
- PATA means I can reuse my disc drive and recover friends' old drives easily.
- Crossfire potential, though with whatever performance hit 16x/4x might entail (?)
- Reviews are favorable for overclocking/value: (Link)
(CPU) Phenom II X4 965 (3.4GHz) Black Edition - $179.99 (Link)
- Plays today's game very well at 1900x1200.
- I'm making DX11 a futureproofing priority for this build, unfortunately currently knocking nVidia out of the running.
- I know the 5850 is a better futureproof option but I can't justify today's inflated prices from availability.
- 5770's are happily dropping in price post-Christmas!
(RAM) OCZ Gold Kit (2x2Gb) - $73.99 (Link)
- New C3 stepping - 125W instead of 140W - great for overclocking thermal headroom
- 3.40 GHz
- 4 cores
- (Limited Time AMD deal) Game Freebies: Operation Flash Point, Grid, Dirt (Link)
- At MSRP, I reckoned the 965 to be a red herring with dissappointing performance, but at ~$180 this is much more attractive. Here's a review showing at stock it's in the same ballpark as the i7 series: (Link)
- EarthDog graciously pointed out the 955, which is the same thing @ 3.2Ghz stock, should be considered, but I reckon the +$15 difference is worth the free games and 200Mhz (plus I'm still under budget).
- DDR3
- PC1600
- 2x2Gb
- Simply the cheapest kit I could find with the above 3 credentials.
- Between 1066/1333/1600 speeds, 1333 is generally the best performance:dollar ratio for those not overclocking, but 1600 is a headroom prerequisite for overclocking Phenoms (thanks Earthdog!).
- $73.99 after $30 rebate
My latent concern is the motherboard actually... it seems ideal in every respect except the second GPU slot is x4... how much of a hit would that be in fps for a future crossfire?
Is there anything here you'd suggest re-visiting? Any give-and-take between components to keep everything under the $600 mark?
PS: I tried to make this post exemplary regarding clarity - This drive is in the interest of suggesting a template for "advise my build" type posts to assist others with formatting... any thoughts? mods?
Last edited: