$700-$800 first time build need suggestions

T

Trotts

Obliviot
OK, I'm going with the 6870. Now, the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition or the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition. There is only a $20 price difference, but is the performance of the 965 $20 better than 955, or should I just go with the 955 and pocket the extra $20.
 
TheCrimsonStar

TheCrimsonStar

Tech Monkey

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T

Trotts

Obliviot
If you have a PCI Express 2.0 x16 motherboard, do you need a PCI Express 2.0 x16 Graphic card, or will a PCI Express 2.1 x16 graphic card work in it also? I ask because I just noticed that my Motherboard is a PCI Express 2.0 x16 while my graphic card is a PCI Express 2.1 x16.

ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

SAPPHIRE 100314SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
 
Optix

Optix

Basket Chassis
Staff member
Pocket the extra or put it into another component. They -should- overclock about the same, chip by chip differences not withstanding. Plus if you decide to overclock, they should plateau at about the same level.
Doomsday said:
C3???????? :confused:
Click to expand...
The C3 stepping is the new revision of chips. They tend to overclock higher than the previous stepping and is similar to D0 vs. G0 Q6600 situation from years ago.
 
TheCrimsonStar

TheCrimsonStar

Tech Monkey
Trotts said:
If you have a PCI Express 2.0 x16 motherboard, do you need a PCI Express 2.0 x16 Graphic card, or will a PCI Express 2.1 x16 graphic card work in it also? I ask because I just noticed that my Motherboard is a PCI Express 2.0 x16 while my graphic card is a PCI Express 2.1 x16.
Click to expand...

It'll work fine. I haven't personally seen any motherboards with PCIe 2.1 yet at least not on NewEgg. My motherboard has 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots and I run a Gigabyte Radeon 6870 which is PCIe 2.1.
 
T

Trotts

Obliviot
OK, maybe we are getting to the end of this adventure. At $920 is a little over my budget but I can swing that if I have to, so is there any changes you would make, cheaper alternatives you know of?

ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

SAPPHIRE 100314SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

Antec Six Hundred Black Computer Case

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7

CyberPower 850 6 Feet 8 Outlets 2400 Joules Home/Office Surge Protection

Logitech G330 3.5mm/ USB Connector Circumaural Gaming Headset

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM


Or would this be a better CPU and GPU combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.593504
 
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Optix

Optix

Basket Chassis
Staff member
Trotts said:
Or would this be a better CPU and GPU combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.593504
Click to expand...
The 5870 is a higher end card and will give you better performance overall in games. AMD simply decided to confuse people by moving their mainstream series (57xx) up a step (68xx). It's a trade off though - performance for power and heat. A good power supply and a fan or two can take care of the power and heat issues so it all comes down to have much cash you have and how future proof you want your system to be.

I don't mean to scare you away from the 5870. The difference in power and heat are pretty negligible but I would think about adding at least one 120mm fan to the front of the Six Hundred to help with air flow.

If you have the money, go for the bigger one!
 
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THUMPer

THUMPer

Coastermaker
I have win 7 Pro x64 Keys from MS. Legit working keys. If you can get a Win 7 pro I can give you a key. Thats $100 less on your complete build.
 
T

Trotts

Obliviot
Well, it's done. The order has been made, now I can just set back and wait for the parts to start rolling in, and hope I can actually put this thing together without messing it up. :) Thank you all for the help you have given me, I couldn't have done it without you. In the end after instant discounts $902, just $100 over intended budget but I can live with that.

Edit:
One thing throughout this process I was meaning to ask but always forgot to was about my CD/DVD burner. Sometime in the future I may want to put a TV Tuner in my computer. If I did and with the CD/DVD burner I chose, could I do the fallowing.

Record a TV shows to my hard drive, burn them to a disc, take it to my mothers (I record a lot of stuff for her to watch), get the disc back, reformat it, and use it again for the same purpose. Could I do all of that with the CD/DVD burner I chose if I ever got a TV Tuner? And what would be a good tuner to get?
 
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Optix

Optix

Basket Chassis
Staff member
It shouldn't be a problem - record a show, burn it on a DVD RW in a format that is supported on the intended DVD player, bring the disk back, erase it and start all over again.

Keep in mind that you may end up needing to convert files if the DVD player does not support DivX.

I have no input on what TV Tuner to go with though. That's well outside of what I use my PC for.
 
T

Trotts

Obliviot
Since you all were so helpful in assisting me in my build, I thought I would let you know I received all the parts and put them together. Now I'm afraid to turn it on for fear of it exploding.:D Nothing had real clear instruction on what goes where (cables and wires) so half of the things I plugged in were based on guess work. Some cables had more that one connector and I could only find a place to hook up one. Like one connector was labeled HD Audio, found its place(I think) but there was about four more inches of wire ending in another connector labeled AC"97, couldn't find a place for that one, hope it doesn't need to be connected.

But it's done and hopefully soon I get up the courage to turn it on. Thanks again for all of the help.
 
TheCrimsonStar

TheCrimsonStar

Tech Monkey
the HD audio and AC'97 audio are 2 different audio types. If your motherboard has hd audio capabilities, you plug in the HD audio plug. if it doesn't, you use the AC'97
 
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