Need some advice for the new system i will be building(hopefully)

blindartist · July 6th, 2009, 04:23 PM

Hey guys,

well hopefully within the next couple of week's I will be able to start building a new system, ive got it mostly planed out but could use some input/advice.

Most of my choices are within bugetary contraints, i have to keep it under about 900CAD, what im going for with this system is future upgradability which is why ive chosen to go AM3, hopefully amd will keep this is their mainstream socket for a couple of years still.

alright so here are the components ive chosen so far, if you have any thoughts or better suggestions then id really appriciate the input

the motherboard i was thinking is the Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index...188&cid=MB.486
or
Asus M4A78T-E
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index...508&cid=MB.486

the 790fx boards are a little out of my price range and from what i can gather 790x is better then 790gx thought if im wrong then let me konw

I was gonna get the phenom II 810 cpu, i wish it had a black edition version but what can you do, probably gonna pair that with this ram
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index...id=RAM.346.983
there's also a love voltage kit, does it make a difference?

I dont think its worth blowing alot pf money on one of amd's top cpu's right now their not really worth it, i figured in a year or so when amd has something more serious on the market i would upgrade

was probably just gonna pop in a 4870, was hoping for a 4890 but just a little out of my price range

what do you guys think for a psu? I was thinking of just getting a decent 650w, dont have one picked out yet but want to keep it around 100$

for HDD i was probably gonna grab a wd caviar, i havent gone HDD shopping in a while so i dont even know what the difference between the blue green and black is, maybe i should read the specs lol

well thats all of the important stuff, if you guys have any thoughts or better suggestions then let me know

Thnaks!

IModIntel · July 6th, 2009, 07:00 PM

Well, if I can give my opinion. I think both boards you chose are good, I would take both of them. Actually, I guess I would go for the less expensive option, because the difference between a 790X and GX is minimal. Might I also suggest to look at Foxconn board, I've always had good experience with them in the past, and customer systems in which I used Foxconn boards I've had no complaints at all. Try to stay away from MSI, ECS, Biostar, and Intel boards (although you're going AMD, so that's not a problem).

The CPU and RAM combo is pretty good I find. No more to say there.

Good graphics card choice, I'm not too sure what's the price differential between a 4870 and 4890, but if it's not too big I'd go with a 4890.

As for the PSU, speaking from personal experience, best brands IMO are Antec, high-end Cooler Master, PCP&C, Sliverstone and Enermax.

Finally for HD's, I think the best are Western Digitals. Definitely try to stay away from Seagate and Samsung, I've had major problems. Hitachi... I've heard from colleagues that they are pretty good but I've had no experience with then at all.

I'm just giving my personal opinion here and not reflect the general reality in any way. Hope it helped.

blindartist · July 6th, 2009, 08:15 PM

thanks for your advice Imod, im at a bit of a draw between the gigabyte and asus board, im leaning towards the asus only because it has 2 16x pcie 2.0 sots while the gigabyte only has 1 16x and 1 8x and it looks like if you go crossfire then both slots turn into 8x.

im really not sure if i want to just get the less expensive 4870 or go for the 4890, only think that is making me go for the cheaper card is DX11 being on the horizon so I would be buying a new card in a year or so anyways.

I really like enermax psu's, i had a coolermaster one that i was looking at as well, do you think 650w will be enough or should I go higher for future expansion?

also do you think i should get the 1333 ddr3 or should i spend the extra 15$ and get the 1600 for future cpu's?

witek · July 6th, 2009, 08:51 PM

I think your choices are good. I'd take the MB that has 2 PCI-E 16x slots or look for a Gigabyte that has 2 of these. I have OCZ Platinum DDR3 1333Mhz and they are really good. I don't know how much for you is 15$ but if you can you definitely should go for the faster ones. With the GPU I'd buy a 4850 and wait for DX11 cards. I know that at the beginning there will be none DX11 games but in my opinion it good to have it as soon as possible. Be sure to pick a PSU with 6 and 8 pin PCI-E connectors. My Chieftec has 2x6 pin while most of the other PSU have 6 and 8 . Better to have those for the future.

blindartist · July 6th, 2009, 10:19 PM

hmm i may consider the 4850 for the time being, may enable me to get a little better in other things.

How many watt's do you think will be enough for a psu? 600? 700? theres a couple in my price range i was looking at
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index...479&cid=PS.830
looks good but only 1 8pin pcie the other is 6, why would they do that?
then there is this one but it doesnt say how many pin the pci-e conectors are, havent bothered looking it up yet
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index...075&cid=PS.532

one last thing I forgot, what do you guys think is the best bang for the buck cpu cooler? definetly need to keep it under 50$

dzap · July 7th, 2009, 12:22 AM

Im using titan fenrir, ultimate for its price here in Lithuania.

blindartist · July 7th, 2009, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dzap

Im using titan fenrir, ultimate for its price here in Lithuania.

that titan cooler actually looks great but i cant seem to find anywhere that sells it, also will it mount to AM3? or do you need a bracket kit?

edit: well according to their site it does support am3 which is great, still no clue where to buy them though maybe ill shoot them an email

also i wonder if it would clear that big blue heatsink on the asus board...hmm

blindartist · July 7th, 2009, 05:06 AM

what do you guys think, should i get the 810 or save 20$ and get the 720 b.e? i figured if i get the 720 and a 4850 then i can get a 790fx board which will give me the opertunity to really upgrade a year down the road or so.

Im conflicted though, the 810 is faster in some cases and the 720 is faster in others (actually the 720 seems faster in more cases then the 810) plus the 720 is black edition so its got some overclocking potential, thoughts?

dzap · July 7th, 2009, 01:26 PM

cant help u decide with the choice of cpu, still cant imagine the three cores utilization properly...
about the cooler - its future proof, got all mounting brackets even the for the 1366 socket

using it myself, and my e8400 at 4ghz load temps are hardly breaking the 50C line.

blindartist · July 7th, 2009, 02:43 PM

it looks like a really cool cooler, ive emailed titan to see how exacatly i can go about buying one

theres no issues with the 3 cores really, infact most things dont utilizie all 4 cores of the cpu and the 720 seems to get even better performence in gaming then the 4 core 810, plus it has larger cache and it will oc to 3.8ghz/core

i dont konw, i owuld love to get one of the x4 am3 chips but their just a little out of my price range and its a bit of a waste seeing as there isnt that great of a performence increase for the money