I am trying to build a budget gaming system, for about $850... This is what i have put together and would like some input on it from people who know more about it than I do...This will be my first build, and i wanna make sure everything i pick is good and compatible System: MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 140W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ965FBGIBOX XFX HD-487A-ZHFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3160813AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive I know i'm missing the RAM i haven't picked that out yet, but other than that is it all compatible and good working parts, and am i missing anything? any feedback would be greatly appriciated COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case AZZA Dynamo 850 850W ATX & EPS 12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply
Hey, I am from the UK so I don't work in $ so here goes. IMO if you extended your budget by $57 (I used Newegg.com) you could have yourself an i7 system that could easily be overclocked and can be upgraded in the future. Here is my calculations: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black: $245 + MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3: $168 = $413 -------------------------- Intel I7 920: $280 + MSI EX58 PRO-E: $190 = $470 I would say thats not too bad. Will give you a lot more speed Then again its your hard earned cash and you can spend it however you want. That is just what I would do
Could also drop the 965 for the 955 and save yourself 50 bucks and easily over clock it to the same 3.4ghz of the 965. A friend of mine has just swapped out his 955 for a 965 on the MSI GD70 and it isnt clocking as well as his 955 which he had stable up to 4ghz. I have the 955 and the GD70 and I wouldn't have bothered with the 965 if I was building now.
I know a lot more about AMD systems than i do about Intel, and i like the AMD quad core 3.4 thats the fastest AMD they make i was just concerned about everything being compatible and for that set up if the parts are good quality parts and not junk
the reason i am going with the 965 is because it is the fastest...i'm really new to computer building and i don;t know anything about OC so i wanted the fastest stock clock speed
You said you wanted it for gaming so you will have better games experiance if you dropped down the cost and opted for a Nvidia gtx260/275. You want those physx details in games Here are some of the things you would be missing..
i did some research into the Radeon 4870 and its like one of the best GPU's Radeon makes outside of the 4870 x2 which is way out of my price range
Oc-ing the 955 to the 965 is as simple as knocking the multiplier up by just 1 from 16x to 17x. Job done, fifty bucks saved. My 955 runs at 3.6ghz at stock everything with a multi of 18x and it will go up to 3.9ghz with out too much tweaking as well (I prefer not to run at that level though). Seriously save yourself $50 and we will get a 955 to run as a 965, don't let a very minor over clock put you off, plenty of help here for that.
HD4890.... Oh and why does no one recommend the Q9550 + 750i/P45 combos? They're about $340 and damned good. Oh get the HIS HD4870 1GB ICE-Q, that thing is silent! Or get the Vapor-X.
I would suggest saving $45 and go for the cheaper http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130224. The board you selected is better because of its features and speed, however, this slight downgrade is still a great overclocker at a great price. You could then use that money where it matters more - The GPU. Upgrade to a 4890 or if your an nvidia fan the GTX 275 but on this occasion I think the 4890 is more in your price range for only $45 more on Newegg.
from what i;ve read about overclocking it has to do with messing with the power sent to the parts as well and i don;t want to mess around with that and fry my system
All you do is just bump the multiplier up by one in the BIOS. Imo the 965 is a waste. I still stand by my Q9550 suggestion.
aside from going with the slightly slower processor, is everything else decent, the GPU the Motherboard, power supply, case?
No for that overclock you wont even need any extra volts. As I said mine does 3.6ghz with out changing anything else.
Infact, get this Motherboard. It has excellnet reviews and is only $80. Only thing it doesn't do that the others can is crossfire. It is still great at overclocking if you choose to do that down the line. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130228 More money for GPU goodness. Yay.
The P45 board works with crossfire. Although you'll have to resort to getting a Q9550, which incidentally is almost as fast if not faster than the 965.
HIS H489F1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card so something like that would be a better card?
