Discussion Forums > Technology
Help with building a tower
kitamesume:
--- Quote from: kyubixmunky on July 04, 2011, 09:35:57 PM ---
--- Quote from: kitamesume on July 02, 2011, 04:50:16 AM ---do note that AMD is getting the upper hand in video playback and picture quality, it looks like they're concentrating on eye candies rather than frame rates which just makes sense, considering they're having a hard time beating Nvidia's FPS mad cards.
do note as well that its hard to find SLI on AMD boards =P and going dual card is not really that good, theres alot of games that doesn't go well with dual cards. though you could save some money in the initial cost and just grab another pair later. the cheapest board i found with SLI starts at 95$...
be careful with the PCI-E x16 setup as well, there are some set at 16,4 and others 8,8. the 16,4 performs worse as the card that sits at the 4 gets seriously crippled, while the 8,8 setup gets a balanced state and a minor performance reduction.
[55$]MSI 760GM-P33 AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - 2×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 1(x16)
[70$]MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - 4×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 2(x16, x4)
[90$]ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - 4×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 2(x16, x0 or x8, x8)
[95$]ASUS M4N75TD AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - 4×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 2(x16, x0 or x8, x8)
--- End quote ---
For the 750a moobo, would I be able to use DDR3 1600 RAM on it? It says I can overclock to 2000, but doesn't list 1600.
--- End quote ---
o.o "does counting from 1 to 2000 includes 1600?" so thats technically a yes.
datora:
.
--- Quote from: kitamesume on July 05, 2011, 04:12:33 AM ---
--- Quote from: kyubixmunky on July 04, 2011, 09:35:57 PM ---
--- Quote from: kitamesume on July 02, 2011, 04:50:16 AM ---[95$]ASUS M4N75TD AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - 4×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 2(x16, x0 or x8, x8)
--- End quote ---
For the 750a moobo, would I be able to use DDR3 1600 RAM on it? It says I can overclock to 2000, but doesn't list 1600.
--- End quote ---
o.o "does counting from 1 to 2000 includes 1600?" so thats technically a yes.
--- End quote ---
In all fairness, the specification skips all steps between 1333 & 2000 ... so, yes, it should support 1600, probably as an overclock setting and yes, the company is being slack by not specifically stating all steppings supported.
On the other hand ... @kyubixmunky - if you are serious about considering a specific board, then it's time to find it on the manufacturer's website and download all the technical specifications. That's part of your research responsibilities before you put your money into it. It will be an educational experience to see how good the support is for the product, like what BIOS updates & such are available, other downloads, what *.pdf's are available ... and in one of those should be a detailed walk-through of the BIOS interface, including CPU and RAM speed settings, multiplier options, etc.
Here's the state of my system build ... just got some of the basics so far, but got solid prices on them:
$49.99 - LIAN LI Lancool PC-K57 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112318
$19.99 - ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
$59.99 - ($39.99 w/ rebate) Antec NEO ECO 620C PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031
$59.99 - G.SKILL Sniper 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231416
----
total:
$189.96 ($169.96 w/ rebate)
The 1600 Sniper OCs solid & stable @1920 MHz @1.5 volts, which is a very Good Sign since I want to try & get a x4 core AMD up to 4.0 or maybe even 4.2. A bit of a push, but should be quite do-able.
Intended is an AMD Deneb Black, hoping to grab a 965 for ~$120 like the deal I posted a couple weeks back. I've found several very promising cooling blocks in the $30-$40 range
I'm considering a mobo very much like one of these two:
- MSI 890FXA-GD70
- GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5
Both have gone for ~$140-$150 on deals in the past couple months, so with new models (990fx, etc.) coming out I'm hoping one of these or one very similar will within the next 2-3 weeks or so.
Apart from that, I'm watching for any 64 GB and up SSD. Again, that SATA III Crucial I posted a couple weeks back went for $90 and would be ideal if something like that comes around again.
Need to research more what video card to go with, but would like to find one for under $120, maybe even ~$80-$90. I don't really do games, but I would like to play Shogun 2 ... I used to have the original and the upgrade for this version looks pretty amazing.
If I shave enough money out on good deals on all this, I may well be able to spring for a Western Digital Caviar Black 500 GB drive (or a 640 or 750) at the end as a large applications drive to compliment the SSD.
Well, either that or a really premium sound card. I love me my 24-bit *.flacs & would love to get back to recording & editing live music again some day ...
kitamesume:
--- Quote from: datora on July 05, 2011, 04:48:16 AM ---.
Here's the state of my system build ... just got some of the basics so far, but got solid prices on them:
$49.99 - LIAN LI Lancool PC-K57 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112318
$19.99 - ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
$59.99 - ($39.99 w/ rebate) Antec NEO ECO 620C PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031
$59.99 - G.SKILL Sniper 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231416
----
total:
$189.96 ($169.96 w/ rebate)
The 1600 Sniper OCs solid & stable @1920 MHz @1.5 volts, which is a very Good Sign since I want to try & get a x4 core AMD up to 4.0 or maybe even 4.2. A bit of a push, but should be quite do-able.
Intended is an AMD Deneb Black, hoping to grab a 965 for ~$120 like the deal I posted a couple weeks back. I've found several very promising cooling blocks in the $30-$40 range
I'm considering a mobo very much like one of these two:
- MSI 890FXA-GD70
- GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5
Both have gone for ~$140-$150 on deals in the past couple months, so with new models (990fx, etc.) coming out I'm hoping one of these or one very similar will within the next 2-3 weeks or so.
Apart from that, I'm watching for any 64 GB and up SSD. Again, that SATA III Crucial I posted a couple weeks back went for $90 and would be ideal if something like that comes around again.
Need to research more what video card to go with, but would like to find one for under $120, maybe even ~$80-$90. I don't really do games, but I would like to play Shogun 2 ... I used to have the original and the upgrade for this version looks pretty amazing.
If I shave enough money out on good deals on all this, I may well be able to spring for a Western Digital Caviar Black 500 GB drive (or a 640 or 750) at the end as a large applications drive to compliment the SSD.
Well, either that or a really premium sound card. I love me my 24-bit *.flacs & would love to get back to recording & editing live music again some day ...
--- End quote ---
d*mn you lucky guy, wish i could have that kind of sale too. best sale i had on the same item was 95$
try this:
[80$]ASUS EAH6570/DI/1GD3(LP) Radeon HD 6570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
[80$]MSI R6570-MD1GD3/LP Radeon HD 6570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
they're borderline able to play games at decent resolutions and settings.
HD6570(and crossfire) & HD6670 review
datora:
.
--- Quote from: kitamesume on July 05, 2011, 05:35:16 AM ---
--- Quote from: datora on July 05, 2011, 04:48:16 AM ---$59.99 - G.SKILL Sniper 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231416
--- End quote ---
d*mn you lucky guy, wish i could have that kind of sale too. best sale i had on the same item was 95$
--- End quote ---
Well, they are still going for $75 as the "normal" price. I was refreshing myself on current RAM offerings when I ran across this, plus a -$15 promo code. Almost passed it up, too, because I was being a greedy fag about the 1800 and 2133 specs I was looking at. Then I pulled my head out of my ass and reminded myself this is a system on a budget and that the performance gain of 1800 or 2000 over 1600 is completely negligible for all practical experience.
Besides, these will get overclocked a bit just as an incidental effect of pushing the CPU up into the range I want ... and they should be exceptionally stable @1.5 v, or plus a touch. The lifetime warranty on them is a solid bonus, too.
--- Quote from: kitamesume on July 05, 2011, 05:35:16 AM ---try this:
[80$]ASUS EAH6570/DI/1GD3(LP) Radeon HD 6570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
[80$]MSI R6570-MD1GD3/LP Radeon HD 6570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
they're borderline able to play games at decent resolutions and settings.
HD6570(and crossfire) & HD6670 review
--- End quote ---
Thank you very much for that. I walked through all the newegg video cards Sat night & yesterday, up to about $180, just reading specs & feedback to get a feel for what's available right now. Video cards are one area I just haven't spent much time for the last couple years because my needs in that area have been quite modest. The preliminary numbers look very good on those. Having both DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.1 support is one of my criteria for my GPU.
I'll admit I am prejudiced toward nvidea because I want the somewhat smoother support under linux. One of the primary reasons for this build is to play with virtualization: I want to get WinXP and Win7 running under linux. I want it on my resume, and I want to see how well they perform; this is one reason I'm justifying/attempting a system with this much horsepower.
kitamesume:
i meant the same ram (sniper 8gb kit) is selling for 95$ worth here on my country, shipping in is out of my league, it adds a hefty 100$ even for a gram of sand, its the shipping fees and taxes.
well yes, actually theres only 4 GPUs in mind that fits borderline playable which are:
[68$]ECS NGT240-512QI-F GeForce GT 240 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 bad news, they're starting to clear this one out, theres only two items left on their list.
[100$]ASUS ENGT440/DI/1GD5 GeForce GT 440 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
[80$]MSI R6570-MD1GD3/LP Radeon HD 6570 1GB 128-bit DDR3
[100$] MSI R6670-MD1GD5 Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
some notes: the GT440 and HD6570 (if both are using GDDR5) have the same performace.
if they ever plan to release the GT540 then that would be your best bet for the "minimum", next stop is GTX550 Ti or HD6790.
some more notes: HD6750 and HD6770 are rebranded HD5750 and HD5770. the HD6790 is a cutdown HD6870, using the same barts chip.
Edit: if you plan to buy a sound card, try to consider buying a decent S/PDIF decoder as well, also known as a D/A(digital to analog) converter, DAC for short.
Edit: [120$] Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Edit2:
@datora
considering you already have a case,burner,psu and ram for about 190$ without rebate.
add this:
(click to show/hide)[120$] AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz
[90$]ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - 4×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 2(x16, x0 or x8, x8)
[145$]XFX HD-679X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6790 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
[120$] Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
SUM : 475$ without rebates.
so thats about 665$ in total, OR grab an HD6670 or maybe a GTS450? for 100$ and save another 45$ and that would be 620$
[100$](70$ after rebate)ZOTAC ZT-40503-10L GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 - nastiest deal i`ve seen so far, but their rebate is bad.
@OP
(click to show/hide)[190$] Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core
[110$] ASRock P67 PRO3 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
[75$] G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CL9
[250$](220$ after rebate) XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 -OR- [250$] ZOTAC ZT-50301-10M GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
[70$](50$ after rebate) Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
[120$] Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
[150$] Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
[50$](40$ after rebate) COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1
SUM : 1,015$ without rebates. 955$ after rebates.considering you already bought some of the stuffs you wanted, i.e. phenom II X4 970,case and sniper 8gb kit, you get something like this.
(click to show/hide)[150$] AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz
[90$]ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - 4×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 2(x16, x0 or x8, x8)
[75$] G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CL9
[250$] XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 -OR- [250$] ZOTAC ZT-50301-10M GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
[70$] Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
[120$] Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
[150$] Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
[100$] COOLER MASTER HAF 922
SUM : 1,005$ without rebates.
this is where you're heading.
note: you can still take your costs down to 900ish by just getting a GPU under 150$ like the HD6790 or GTX 460.
this is how you should've went to be cost effective.
(click to show/hide)[120$] AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz
[90$] ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - 4×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 2(x16, x0 or x8, x8)
[75$] G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CL9
[145$] XFX HD-679X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6790 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
[100$] Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-750 750W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
[120$] Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
[150$] Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
[50$] COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1
SUM : 850$ without rebates.
SUM : 995$ with another [145$]XFX HD-679X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6790 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
you could buy a single HD6790 first so it would cost roughly 765$ and later pick up another one.
or
[120$] AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz
[90$] ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - 4×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 2(x16, x0 or x8, x8)
[75$] G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CL9
[250$] XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
[100$] Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-750 750W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
[120$] Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
[150$] Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
[50$] COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1
SUM : 955$ without rebates.
EDIT3: FM1 CPU are out:
[140$] AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz 4MB L2 Cache Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU
[120$] AMD A6-3650 Llano 2.6GHz 4MB L2 Cache Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU
Llano build i've come up so far:
(click to show/hide)[120$] AMD A6-3650 Llano 2.6GHz 4MB L2 Cache Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU
[120$] ASUS F1A75-M PRO FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX - 4×240pin | PCI Express 2.0 x16 2(x16, x4)
[75$] G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CL9
[100$] Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-750 750W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
[120$] Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
[65$] SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
[50$] COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1
SUM : 650$ without rebates.
SUM : 795$ with [145$]XFX HD-679X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6790 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
or
SUM : 900$ with [250$] XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
btw these Llano are slower than the phenoms XD thats why AMD failed big time, nice HTPC though.
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