Discussion Forums > Technology
Help with building a tower
kyubixmunky:
Ok I'll swap out the PSU for a corsair.
And datora, Amd phenom 3.2 Ghz can overclock to 3.8 on the stock fan?
kitamesume:
(click to show/hide)
--- Quote from: kitamesume on June 05, 2011, 09:38:04 PM ---
--- Quote from: datora on June 05, 2011, 06:20:15 PM ---.
The remaining question is: which games you intend to play/are interested in? I'm not a gamer, but if you list five of the most resource-intensive games you're interested in, I'm sure other folks can jump in on the video card you'll want to match to them.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: kitamesume on June 05, 2011, 12:30:08 PM ---for some decent reference:
i3-2100 (is in between AMD phenom II x4 840 and AMD phenom II x4 955 so yea 955 is faster)
HD6670 (is in between HD5670 and HD5750. is in between GT240 and GTS250)
4gb ram 1600mhz CL9
crysis : 1920x1080p med 0xAA settings = 40fps stable(dips to 25fps at some occasion)
metro 2033 : 1920x1080p low 0xAA settings = 30fps stable(dips to 20fps on some occasion)[this monster of a game eats too much fps]
WoW : 1920x1080p med 2xAA settings = 60fps stable(dips to 30fps on some occasion)[i hated wow for being a pay to play game -,-]
CoD4 : 1920x1080p med 2xAA settings = 60fps stable(dips to 40fps on some occasion)
HoN : 1920x1080p med 0xAA settings = 60fps stable(dips to 30fps on some occasion)[say hello to open beta on Garena :D]
--- End quote ---
i listed some games and their settings that ran on my HD6670 and listed their fps, for the most part you could fine tune the settings more to get an acceptable 60fps.
[Prices are from newegg]
[115$] AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
[105$] ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3
[85$] Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CL9 (the G.Skill that i thought was the cheaper was only DDR3 1066)
[100$] MSI R6670-MD1GD5 Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
[70$] HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 2TB - baredrive (HDD)
[125$] OCZ Vertex 2 60GB (SSD)
[70$] CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W
[60$] Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
SUM : 730$ without rebates.
[Prices are from newegg]
[125$] intel i3-2100
[85$] MSI PH67S-C43 (B3) -OR- [85$]ASRock H67M (B3)
[85$] Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CL9 (the G.Skill that i thought was the cheaper was only DDR3 1066)
[100$] MSI R6670-MD1GD5 Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
[70$] HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 2TB - baredrive (HDD)
[125$] OCZ Vertex 2 60GB (SSD)
[70$] CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W
[60$] Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
SUM : 720$ without rebates.
[Prices are from newegg]
[190$] intel i5-2400
[120$] ASRock P67 PRO3 (B3) -OR- [115$]MSI P67A-C43 (B3)
[85$] Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CL9
[100$] MSI R6670-MD1GD5 Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
[70$] HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 2TB - baredrive (HDD)
[120$] OCZ Vertex 2 60GB (SSD)
[70$] CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W
[60$] Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
SUM : 815$ without rebates.
i dont like the reviews about Hitachi. a better choice though more expensive [150$] Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB - baredrive (HDD).
ouch, its the hard drives that made it expensive -,- theres some other HDD 2TB for something like 70$ so that would drop down the sum to 760$ then bump the processor to i3-2400 and you get a 825$ rig.
note: the motherboard is expensive because its a p67, the h67 would mostly cost about 80ish$, the hdd is weee expensive plus the ssd and the ram is an 8gb(2x4gb) for 85$.
PS: the whole thing uses less than 400watts, even if you put in the i5 instead.
for reference point, an i3-2100 is in between AMD phenom II x4 840 and AMD phenom II x4 955, an i5-2400(this can be overclocked via turbo mode by up to 3.8ghz) is just right in between AMD Phenom II X6 1075T and AMD Phenom II X6 1090T cpubenchmark - high end cpus.
REWORKED: changed some products. separated i3 and i5 and added a phenom II X4.
--- End quote ---
bump for the rework.
Tatsujin:
--- Quote from: mgz on June 05, 2011, 07:45:59 PM ---i didnt read the whole thread but i would avoid ocz psu only psu i have ever had die on me was a ocz. I personally have stuck with corsair for years since that happened
--- End quote ---
I bought this what I got. 2K reviews on this one. My last PSU was a Cooler Master and it was amazing but ... the noise was high on it.
Freedom Kira:
--- Quote from: kitamesume on June 05, 2011, 12:47:35 PM ---nah i was just making fun of it for being too expensive, imho wait till they send in the 6cores, gotta be around 500$ each
--- End quote ---
You obviously haven't heard of Gulftown. It's been out since last year. And yes, their cheapest one is over $500, which was discounted from around $900 earlier this year, March IIRC. But do you seriously need 12 threads? 8 should be enough.
datora:
.
--- Quote from: kyubixmunky on June 05, 2011, 10:43:21 PM ---And datora, Amd phenom 3.2 Ghz can overclock to 3.8 on the stock fan?
--- End quote ---
Yes.
Check the feedback at newegg ... which is an excellent idea for all parts, no matter where you actually buy them. Newegg geeks post back all sorts of useful tidbits, fixes, advice & work-arounds.
A 955 can usually go up to 3.8 GHz on stock cooling; rarely they don't quite make it and you're limited to ~3.6 or ~3.7 ... but lots of folks take them to 4.0 GHz, also. You will see them regularly recommend a good thermal grease (like arctic silver) instead of stock, which is like +$5 or so. Personally, I'd feel more comfortable with an advanced cooling block, both for extra quiet and for lower temps ... but the chip runs at 3.8 GHz within its safe parameters, and folks post regularly it's stable for extended use on the stock cooling block.
It's also why I like that you're looking at G.Skill ... you'll likely be taking that up to 2100 from the rated 1600 to match the overclock on the CPU and get some extra performance. The Ripjaws series has a solid rep for handling that without problems.
As mentioned earlier ... you'll use some extra wattage, but the power supply advice you've been given so far is pretty solid; a 630 or 650 should take care of you quite well.
I'm also glad to be corrected on the price for the 955 ... I think I was mixing it up with the 965 when I posted my estimates.
As far as hard drives go, you can look for/wait for the Hitachi to go on special for $60, which it did over Memorial Day weekend. Some people swear by them, I'm still a little skeptical given some of the reviews I've seen. I am very happy with my Samsung F4 2 TB drives (just got two of them for $70 each) ... but, again, this is using them as they are designed: as mass data storage-archive. NOT intended as your OS install drive.
Western Digital Caviar Black drives come in 2 TB, also. I'd still hesitate to use it as my OS install ... but these are significantly more robust than most other drives and are designed for performance. If you must use a 2 TB for your OS, then seriously look into trying to afford one of these. They were $190 just a month ago, now are $150, and were on special for $130 last weekend.
Now, keep in mind that all hardware has its flukes. It's always possible to get an item that fails upon delivery or during the initial burn-in. Another reason why newegg rocks ... they have pretty much the best RMA policy of anybody right now. You're playing the odds by building your own, but all the recommends you've received here are steering you in Good Directions. Your chances of a component failure are very low ... but not zero. You'll just have to roll with it; it's the same chances we all take.
[ EDIT: missed this deal over the weekend:
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147145
Normally $70, was $54; really great looking case with lots of nice features and copious cooling capacity. Advice: sign up for the newegg email newsletter and keep an eye on their deals in real time. Two to four newsletters each week, sometimes with 24-hour specials that are pretty amazing.
- http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail/latest/index-landing.aspx
is where their newsletter gets posted, but not all of them and sometimes a day later than the email gets sent out. Subscribe as an E-BLAST Insider in the header.
This is quite pricey, but could have been do-able under the different price models that have been posted in the previous comments:
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706
A top-end SSD using SATA III specs, 120 GB for $255. That would be very substantial room for all applications, and they'd run at full available performance of any motherboard out there right now. Tweaking hardware & looking for best prices, you could swing something like this on your $800 budget. But still, a 64 or 80 GB is enough, so you don't really need to get all the way into this price range. By October/November, price structures on these should change substantially, too.
Also, something I forget often, you'll need at least a DVD player/burner. For me, there is only one:
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007589%2050001315&IsNodeId=1&name=ASUS
ASUS. If you can still find a PATA model, get it. A DVD burner cannot use the throughput of a SATA connection, so you can save one SATA connection this way and use it for a hard drive, or maybe a BluRay player/burner if you need/want one. I got a PATA version last year for $18 delivered on special; the SATA version also shows up at about that price pretty regularly. The ASUS DVD burners are a monument to reliable workhorses; can't speak to their BluRay since I don't do that. The only equivalent I consider are the Plextors, and they usually go at a good couple dollars more. ]
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