50 month old PC's mobo is dead, building new PC for under $600 (parts ordered)

[FluxCap]

1. PC will be used for gaming (WoW, Starcraft 2, TF2), HD video editing and digital picture editing/viewing.
2. My budget is $500 to $600
3. Would like all parts from USA.
4. No brand preference, just want best quality/performance for the money.
5. Will use my 21" LCD, KB, mouse, 750gb HD, Lian Li 6070 case, DVD drive, dual boot with Windows 7 and WinXP
6. I have been reading all the upgrade threads I can and doing my best to get caught back up on current hardware.
7. Never want to overclock, just run it stock speeds/cooling for the life of the machine.
8. I game at 1680x1050
9. Would like to build this in the next 3 to 5 weeks.

I don’t plan on ever going SLI/Crossfire either. As for the video card, going to use my old 7900 GT for now because I don't have any games that require much more. As I stated in the title, my motherboard will no longer detect my old hard drive or even a new hard drive, etc. I have tried 3 SATA cables and all 4 SATA ports with no luck.

I have been considering these parts:

Processor ($160): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3332167&SID=
Mobo ($100): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3332167&SID=
Ram ($98): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3332167&SID=
PSU ($90): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3332167&SID=

However, a friend of mine at work mentioned cyberpowerpc and I put this together:

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1CK7UY



• Case: CyberPower CX-9959 (See-Thru Window)
• CPU: AMD Phenom™II X4 955 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
• Freebies: FREE 4GB MP3 Audio Player
• Cooling Fan: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
• Motherboard: GigaByte GA-770T-USB3 AMD 770 Chipset Support DDR3 Ultra Durable™3 Socket AM3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-II, RAID, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 4 PCIe X1, & 2 PCI
• Memory: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
• Video Card: None, or Onboard ATI Radeon 2100 based Integrated Graphics
• Power Supply Upgrade: 600 Watts - XtremeGear Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
• Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
• Optical Drive: Sony 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
• Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
• Speakers: 600Watts PMPO Subwoofer Stereo Speakers
• Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
• Keyboard: Xtreme Gear (Black Color) Multimedia/Internet USB Keyboard
• Mouse: Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse
• Flash Media Reader/Writer: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
• Operating System: None - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY
• Service: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
• Rush Service: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS




I know that using cyberpowerpc will give me a hard drive, case, kb, mouse, etc that I don't really need but it does come with some decent freebies and extras I don't have.

Overall, I really like the processor and ram I have chosen. I have read good things on the mobo as well. Should I go lower on the PSU to save a little bit? All suggestions welcome.

 

[jaydee]

Couple thoughts. With your budget, I would stick with an 8xx series AMD chipset (I'm looking at that prebuilt). Two, are you interested in an SSD? Three, wasn't the 9700 GT only a mobile chip?

 

[FluxCap]

Couple thoughts. With your budget, I would stick with an 8xx series AMD chipset (I'm looking at that prebuilt). Two, are you interested in an SSD? Three, wasn't the 9700 GT only a mobile chip?

OK, 8xx is the better option?
Not sure I have even thought about an SSD because I have a new drive sitting on my desk that was given to me.
Yes, the 9700 is mobile, that was a typo....I have a 7900GT.

 

[jaydee]

7900GT... gotcha. In that case, I think you'd be ok with a Corsair 400W for ~$30 after rebate usually. Not sure of the exact deals this moment.

And yes, for minimal amount more, the 8xx series chipsets have USB3 and SATA 6GBs as well as better forward compatibility for future CPU's.

 

[FluxCap]

7900GT... gotcha. In that case, I think you'd be ok with a Corsair 400W for ~$30 after rebate usually. Not sure of the exact deals this moment.

And yes, for minimal amount more, the 8xx series chipsets have USB3 and SATA 6GBs as well as better forward compatibility for future CPU's.

Good information, thank you. What if I was to put a single 5750 or similar in this machine in a couple of months? Would I need 500w or more?

 

[mfenn]

I concur with jaydee. Just do the build like you had planned with the 400CX instead of the 650TX. There is no point in paying an extra $179 for some extra stuff you don't need.

 

[mfenn]

Good information, thank you. What if I was to put a single 5750 or similar in this machine in a couple of months? Would I need 500w or more?

No. The 57xx are very power efficient chips. A 5750 is only an 86W TDP chip (probably less than your old 7900GT!)

 

[darkewaffle]

SSDs are fun, but given his budget and criterion, it doesn't really help address any of what he's looking for.

The 400w Corsair is an excellent choice and you'll be in great shape with a 5750 or 5770 at 1680 x 1050, if you do upgrade your GPU now that is.

As far as gaming goes, I know the L3 cache in Phenom IIs usually has a pretty minor impact; but I can't say I know off the top of my head how it impacts encoding. If it's a significant change, then I'd stick with the PII but if it's not, you could certainly consider going with an Athlon II x4 and save some cash.

RAM looks fine, and the 870 chipset is a good choice for your needs in a mobo.

You sound like someone who keeps systems for quite a while, so you may want to consider the warranty offered from various companies when choosing parts as well. Hopefully you won't need it, but no harm preparing for it.

 

[FluxCap]

Thank you all for the informative responses. So, 650w is overkill if I only plan to have a single GPU for the life of this PC? This is the better choice?

400CX

As for the L3 cache on the Phenom II, I was figuring it wasn't an issue based on benchmarks I have read. It showed the 955 as high as i7 chips in a few games. I also see it highly recommended on the forums here. I was hoping it was the best choice for performance (gaming,spreadsheets, editing) for the $160 price range. However, which Athlon II x4 chips would you recommend for similar performance and savings?

Looking at this, I wonder if saving the extra $20 for the 945 would be worth it.

I definitely keep my PC's for a long time and I plan to do the same with this one. This PC will be the only want I plan to buy for at least 5+ years.

Edit: I am sorry to add a graphics card discussion into this on general hardware, but is it the majority opinion the 5770 is currently the best GPU for the $160ish price range?

 

[darkewaffle]

I think an Athlon II x4 635 is worth looking at, as far as value is concerned at least.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103882

Of course, the Phenom II chips outperform the Athlon IIs in almost every case, but a 635 will also only cost you about $100, versus 50-80 more for the Phenom IIs.

It's really a matter of what your priorities are; the Athlons are a better value, the Phenoms provide more raw power and better (or at least easier) overclocking headroom.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=122 Can give you an idea of what kind of performance difference you may see between a 635 and a 955, as those seem the best candidates for you.

Edit: And yes, that is the correct Corsair PSU. Shame it's back up to 30, every now and then they offer it for 20 + FS/AR.

 

[heyheybooboo]

If you have DDR2 you could reuse it with the Asus M4A785-M 785G: $65 w/code EMCYVNP38 through 07/29/2010

'Down the road' you may purchase a controller card when you are ready for SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.

The extra cash (cache? - ) will pay for your video card upgrade and/or a bump to the 1055T Thuban hex core (the 95w version should be arriving soon). Here is the Anand bench comparison with a AthlonII quad.

It won't help you much with WoW but the Thuban smokes the AthlonII in your video and spreadsheet work.




--

 

[FluxCap]

My old ram is just DDR PC3200. I looked at the 6 cores yesterday and it would be nice to have. Based on the feedback here so far this is what I would currently consider for purchase:

Mobo
Processor
Ram
PSU
Video Card

Just over $500 total. Should be a nice performance boost over this:

ASUS A8N-E
BFG 7900 GT
Athlon 64 4000
OCZ DDR PC-3200 (2x1gb)

 

[GregMal]

If it's your SATA's that are the problem, why not try a PCI/SATA card for less than $20 at Newegg?

 

[FluxCap]

If it's your SATA's that are the problem, why not try a PCI/SATA card for less than $20 at Newegg?

I am willing to try it, even though I would still like an upgrade.

I think I might check some local retailers today to see what I can find.

 

[airdata]

Flux,

Are you going for a budget build?

One of the posters above suggest looking at the Athlon II 635...

I've been using the athlon II 620 since it came out and it's been great. Not sure on exact pricing but the 620's are going for around 80or so, and the 635 for 100 or so.

Also, was following up on some of the posts above and learned that AMD, both athlon II and Phenom II's only support up to DDR3-1333 so, the 1600 ram won't even run @ 1600.

Also,

What video cards have you looked at?

If I were doing a budget build / upgrade, the microcenter near me has the athlon II 630 for around $90-100 w\ a biostar mobo, 4gb ram another $100, and then a mid-range max $175 gpu.

 

[FluxCap]

Flux,

Are you going for a budget build?

One of the posters above suggest looking at the Athlon II 635...

I've been using the athlon II 620 since it came out and it's been great. Not sure on exact pricing but the 620's are going for around 80or so, and the 635 for 100 or so.

Also, was following up on some of the posts above and learned that AMD, both athlon II and Phenom II's only support up to DDR3-1333 so, the 1600 ram won't even run @ 1600.

Also,

What video cards have you looked at?

If I were doing a budget build / upgrade, the microcenter near me has the athlon II 630 for around $90-100 w\ a biostar mobo, 4gb ram another $100, and then a mid-range max $175 gpu.

I would definitely say I am doing a budget build...to a point. If you call $500 to $600 a budget build (I do). I just want the best gaming and general every day use PC I can get for that price range.

Good information on the ram, I want to make sure I get a combo that runs at it's full potential.

 

[darkewaffle]

I think your current selections are a good balance of both. Since you aren't playing anything too cutting edge, it ought to be more than enough power, and with AM3 and an x16 pcie slot you should have quite a bit of upgrade headroom should you ever need it.

 

[FluxCap]

So, do I need to pick a slightly slower and less expensive ram set because my combo won't run at 1600 or no?

 

[REC]

I tend to recommend against SSD on video editing machines. For gaming and small-install-file applications it's amazing, but video files are HUGE. You'd be better off spending the money on 2-4 1TB drives and running a RAID 0 or RAID 0+1 to get the same transfer speeds without the 60 GB size.

Keep in mind that a RAID 0 doubles your chances of data loss (1 of the 2 drives fail all the data is toast), so I'd recommend backups to a(n) archive drive(s) for backups if you can't afford the 300$ for the RAID 0+1.

If you had a bigger budget I'd say a RAID 0 of 2 or 3 SSD's and a 1-2 TB's worth of archive drives, but it'd be impossible with the 600$ budget. Unless all you bought was drives lol.

Do you NEED a RAID or an SSD? Not really. Both of those will kill your budget, and although you're saving a lot of parts from the old rig it would still be really tight.

 

[REC]

So, do I need to pick a slightly slower and less expensive ram set because my combo won't run at 1600 or no?

The mobo will automatically underclock the 1600 to 1333. You'd have to OC it to get it back to that speed, but it *would* be stable at that speed.

If you don't intend on doing any overclocking what-so-ever, including memory overclocking, you're wasting money on the 1600's. I'd drop them for 1333 chips/mobo

 

[FluxCap]

So, I guess I can't get a setup for 1600 speeds for under $600? I am at 510 now so probably not.

 

[mfenn]

So, I guess I can't get a setup for 1600 speeds for under $600? I am at 510 now so probably not.

You can manually set DDR3 1600 speeds if you want. FYI, no amount of money will get you a platform that "natively" supports DDR3 1600 so you'd be in the same boat no matter what you get. Setting the speeds to 1600 is a super-easy BIOS change though.

 

[REC]

So, I guess I can't get a setup for 1600 speeds for under $600? I am at 510 now so probably not.

No, you can get 1600, but you HAVE to overclock to get there. There is no way to get there with just using the parts as they are bought.

 

[mfenn]

No, you can get 1600, but you HAVE to overclock to get there. There is no way to get there with just using the parts as they are bought.

By "overclock", I assume you mean overclocking the CPU. If so, your statement is not true. Refer to page 2-15 of the M4A87TD/USB3 manual and you will see that the board offers a "D.O.C.P." feature which allows the user to set a DRAM frequency without overclocking the CPU. Internally, this setting is changing the ratio between the DRAM frequency and the CPU base clock.

 

[REC]

If you don't intend on doing any overclocking what-so-ever, including memory overclocking...

By which I mean running the memory at a higher speed, in this case independent of the processor ;P

Although it's not the most accurate description, I tend to default to overclocking defined as running the computer at a higher speed than it is designed to do so. Hence: Memory Overclocking ^_^