~~~~~See bottom of page for revised specs

Hello everybody,

This build is meant to be budget (+/- $1000) , overclockable, decent gaming and good multitasking PC. I don't expect to be able to play something as demanding as crysis 2 at max settings, but at least COD BO at max. I am a QA analyst and do graphics design on the side, so frameworks such as RFT and apps like photoshop are expected to be run concurrently.
------------------------------
MOBO - ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 - 137.99
CPU - AMD PHENOM II X6 1055T - 169.99
RAM - Kingston HyperX 2X4GB DDR3-1600 - 99.99
GPU - XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB - 259.99
Case - Azza Hurrican 2000 Black ATX Full Tower - 107.99
PSU - Corsair TX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A - 89.99

(HDD's and monitor already purchased and being used see 'Remarks' for their specs)

Total: $865.94
w/ tax: $969.85

optional:
CPU cooler - Zalman CNPS10X Performa CPU Cooler - 34.69
GPU cooler - Arctic Cooling Accelero TWIN TURBO - 42.99

Extra: $77.68

Total w/ extras and tax: $1056.85 CND


-------------------------------
Remarks:
- As far as I can tell, everything should be compatible, and the large case should allow for the option of any cooler(s) I choose.
- I plan to upgrade the CPU and possibly even the mobo in about a year or 2 depending upon bulldozer's performance, so i didn't want splurge for a crosshair IV forumla mobo or 1100t CPU
- The PSU should be sufficient for this rig overclocked, but I am not positive.
- I already have a dell ultrashark u2311H 23" monitor, and an old 20" samsung
- Current HD: WD 1TB 7200 caviar black and 2TB caviar green
- Current SSD: Intel X25-M 80GB
- I may or may not OC the RAM, so i don't think a RAM cooler is needed.

This is my first build ever so I expect to have made some errors
-------------------------------

Questions:

1. What do you think? Any serious issues or conflicts between parts? Do you have any personal preferences over the parts chosen?
2. It is worthwhile buying a 1090 cpu or even downgrading to an x4 965?
3. Because I am planning on overclocking the system, are the CPU and GPU coolers essential? (kind of a loaded question because it depends on how much i OC them.)
4. Is this the best Ram for my purposes?


Thanks for reading,

Edited: 04/28/2011 at 09:05 PM by airboren

My first thoughts were to ditch the GPU cooler and swap your CPU cooler for an H50 from Corsair.

QB

-------------------------

---

The MONSTER HTPC

---

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 C2 (140W).||.Cooler: Corsair H80i
MB: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7.||.RAM: 8 GB Mushkin Blackline DDR3 2000MHz (7-10-8-27-1T)
Case: CoolerMaster HAF 932.||.PSU: Corsair HX750
GPU:HIS IceQ 5 Radeon HD 5770 Turbo 1GB.||.Audio: Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro w/ Logitech Z-5300e (5.1, 280W-RMS)
Drive: 2xKingston SSD 40GB RAID0.||.Storage: 6TB (4x500GB Caviar Black RAID0, 2TB Hitachi & 2TB Caviar Green)

cool thnxs you would still go with the H50 and not the H70?

I was just going by your budget. I personally would get the H70 But the H50 is still great

QB

-------------------------

---

The MONSTER HTPC

---

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 C2 (140W).||.Cooler: Corsair H80i
MB: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7.||.RAM: 8 GB Mushkin Blackline DDR3 2000MHz (7-10-8-27-1T)
Case: CoolerMaster HAF 932.||.PSU: Corsair HX750
GPU:HIS IceQ 5 Radeon HD 5770 Turbo 1GB.||.Audio: Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro w/ Logitech Z-5300e (5.1, 280W-RMS)
Drive: 2xKingston SSD 40GB RAID0.||.Storage: 6TB (4x500GB Caviar Black RAID0, 2TB Hitachi & 2TB Caviar Green)

It is, it is..

And I would keep that GPU cooler in mind, that fan on that 6950 will sound like a hair dryer past 50% fan speed.

-------------------------
PII 1100T (Extinct)
Asus M4A78T-E (should be Extinct)
4Gb of Corsair XMS3 1600Mhz DDR3 (Going strong)
2x1GB 5850's (On their last lags)
Corsair HX850W (Awsome)
NZXT Phantom case (too ***** big)

Since you're planning to overclock, I would opt for the Black Edition 1090T.

Definitely would recommend the H70 vs. the H50, it has a larger radiator.

-------------------------
Phenom II X6 1100T B.E.@ 4.26GHz
Corsair H70 Core Hydro
ASUS Crosshair V Formula
2x4GB G.Skill RipjawsX@ 1894MHz, 9-10-9-28
SLI: 2x EVGA GTX 570's@ 902/1804/2032
Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Corsair HX850W Modular
Cooler Master HAF 922
2x Win 7 Home Premium (x64)

awsome! thanks for the replies you guys!

It's settled I will get the H70. --> more research has made me decide on the thermalright silver arrow

Edited: 04/27/2011 at 08:20 PM by airboren

Based upon the performance increase between the 1090t and 1055t, you figure it is worth the extra $21 bucks eh? hmm From all the reviews, there is definitely a good sized performance difference. And you can definitely OC 1090t more .... I will have to consider this one a little more, But thanks for the suggestion

The 1090T is the Black Edition which mean it has the unlock multiplier. The 1055 has a lock multiplier so you have to overclock using the fsb which raises everything like the NB,ht link and memory. They both overclock about the same but the 1090T is easier to to overclock. As far as being able to play Crysis 2 on all high settings you should with that setup be able to. You may want to bump that power supply to a 750 or better.

GL man have fun with that rig!! Should be a beast!

-------------------------
Processor: Phenom ll 1090T X6 @ 4.2 1.50v On Water
NB: 2964
HT: 2117
Motherboard: Asus Crosshair Formula IV 890FX
Memory: 8 GB Gskill PI 6-8-6-24@1700
Card: Msi GTX 580 900/1800/2048
HD: 3 WD Caviar Black 500 GB Raid 0

1st do you really think you need a full tower that cost over a $100 a Mid tower CoolerMaster HAF is half the price moves more air

2ed thing air cooled is half the price for better CPU cooling than water read the reviews about H50 CPU cooler I will give you a link for the CPU cooler I bought for all most half the price of the H50

I overclocked my 9850 BE to 2800.14 MHz ran stability test for a hour only got up to 50c at full load - idle at 29c

Last thing is the games that are out now do not use 6 cores so a 4 core with higher MHz is better most people like the 955 BE overclocked but you will have saved from what I said you can lower in your prices that you can get the fastest 4 core then overclock it.


Air Cooler no leaks

-------------------------
AMD Quad 9850BE @ 2800.14 MHz
AMD XFX 4770 x 2 crossfire
MSI K9A2 Platinum FX790 1.8 bios
4 GB 2x2 G.skill Dual Channel running @ 1066 MHz
700W OCZ PS
Windows 7 home 64bit
1 hard drive Samsung 500GB
2 DVD-Rom Drive Optiarc DVD RW

Well if 6 weeks wait is doable i would hold out for the Zambezi 4/6/8 core chips and 900 series mobos to be honest wee~

-------------------------

My El Cheapo move to better PC Audio!
http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=13&threadid=153336&enterthread=y

wow thanks for all the input guys! Sorry been busy with work.

Just readability sake i'll do a separate post for each of the replies:

first @capecod and @ jerr417: OOOooooo so that's the real difference in terms of OC'n and all. Sorry, I am a complete noob when it comes to building and OC'n as the title mentions I've never done this before and am gettn really into it, lots of fun shoppn/moddn/buildn With both of your guys input on the differences between the processors I am finally starting to understand now.

When i first started partn out this build, I couldn't believe how cheap it would end up being. The intel build I had parted out using the i5-2500K was like a $1500 no matter which way i cut it

Also, @CapeCod: thats a crazy rig your rockn man, those specs are ubr nice. Question though, is your rig set up for gaming purposes?? I am just wondering about your monitors, specifically whether or not they are 120hz or if you even believe that 120hz monitors are the 'best' for gaming.

anyways, thanks for the reply!

@Jerry 417: First off, thanks for the great reply, this is exactly what i was hoping to get in response to my monstrous post.

1. After seeing a few other reviews which question the quality of the fans and also how the mounts are incompatibile with other branded fans i have decided against that case.

Now, as for my new option for a case: IMO a really good case should last several years and so i figured i should get a full tower which has excellent air flow, cable management w/ grommets, mobo backplate cutout, bottom mounted PSU, filters, preferable all black, and ability to fit any size GPU in at least CF/SLI.
Considering
Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 Case $124.99 || Corsair Graphite 600T $129.40 || Corsair Obsidian 650D $157.99 || Cooler Master HAF-X $154.70 || Antec Nine Hundred $102.30 || Fractal Design Define XL Titanium E-ATX $159.99 || Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 Case $124.99

But I am starting to think that I should invest a little more into the case and PSU than anything else, what do you think?

Edited: 04/27/2011 at 08:18 PM by airboren

I think i've narrowed it down to getting the thermalright silver arrow. Seems like the best air cooling option under $100

Edited: 04/27/2011 at 08:14 PM by airboren

I re-though about my purpose for the computer which is gaming. With that said it's pointless for me to get a x6 cpu as I won't be utilizing its potential,, at least for quite a while and by then I can upgrade from x4 to zambezi or dare i say a SB

Edited: 04/27/2011 at 08:17 PM by airboren

@batuchka " Zambezi 4/6/8 core chips and 900 ..." ......... YAY more stuff to research ....wait .... crap MORE stuff to research sigh i haven't even caught up on the current stuff FML!! thanks for the reply

Yep juicy new stuff in 6 weeks wee~ You are welcomed ^^

-------------------------

My El Cheapo move to better PC Audio!
http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=13&threadid=153336&enterthread=y

Sorry for not replying sooner I have the same problem work!!! Hahaha Thanks man for your compliment!!
Yes to answer your question my rig is setup for gaming. Both my monitors are 60Hz. really beyond 50-60 Frames per sec you would really never see the difference. I don't sync my card with my monitor so I can pull higher fps. My monitor has a 5ms response time and that will give you about 150 fps on screen. I have never had any problems with screen lag or anything like that. You need 120Hz on a very large tv more because the response times are like 8-14 depending on the tv itself. Which inturn will give you much lower FPS or known as sports blur.

Hope this helps!

-------------------------
Processor: Phenom ll 1090T X6 @ 4.2 1.50v On Water
NB: 2964
HT: 2117
Motherboard: Asus Crosshair Formula IV 890FX
Memory: 8 GB Gskill PI 6-8-6-24@1700
Card: Msi GTX 580 900/1800/2048
HD: 3 WD Caviar Black 500 GB Raid 0

@capecod o wow okay i didn't even realize you could still get good performance out of your card and monitor without them being synced thats good to know. And ya i figured that your monitors would have to be around the 5ms response rate (as most are). IMO I doubt I would notice a difference between a 60hz and a 120hz for my current monitor which is only 23". Dunno if you watchd this or not, but my interest in the 120hz controversy stems from me watching Linus techtips on youtube where he basically promotes this 120hz benq monitor, it just got me thinking is all, if you haven't watched it here's da link: vid

Okay so I' went back to the drawing board and re-did the whole rig: Now i am looking at this:

PSU: Corsair Professional HX850W - $158.24 @DirectCanada

CPU: AMD 955 BE - $126.84 @BD

CPU Cooler: thermalright silver arrow - $66.86 @DirectCanada

MOBO: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 $137.42 @BestDirect

GPU: Powercolor Radeon HD 6950 800MHZ 1GB 5GHZ $209.99 @NCIX

Case: Coolermaster cm 690 II Basic:$ 69.30@BestDirect

RAM: undecided (assume $100)

---------
973.23

I realize that the PSU is overkill but my thoughts are that I can reuse this one for almost any type of build i want over the next 2-3yrs,