$ 1600 budget for new pc

Is this a good build for a noob to get into high performance PC with on his first try

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • NOOB GO HOME (No)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Not bad but there is better you can do with $1600, give or take. (please post those options)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .
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mogrim665

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I was just wondering what a good setup for my new(ish) pc should be i have a good wish list of stuff from new egg but i don't know if it is that great.

Motherboard: MSI 790FX-GD70

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE

Hard Drives: OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30GXXX 2.5" 30gb SATA II SSD (two of these raid 1, stripping, together, said in description that it was a good boot drive and good for raiding opinions on raiding SSD very welcome and if I should get a different brand, also got 2 SSD Adaptor bays so I could put them in the 3.5" area right in front of the intake fans)

CPU Cooling: Corsair cooling hydro series CWCH50-1 High Performance CPU Cooler (I also got two GOOD 120mm fans to replace the one crappy one that comes with the radiator end, my friend did this and said that it worked very well once it had two good fans to pull/push air through it)

Case: AZZA Solano 1000 Black/Black Japnese SECC Steel/Metal mesh ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Optical Drive: Lite-On Black BD-Combo SATA Drive (ok i really don't care to much about the cd/dvd/bd drive, i just got this so I could actually play a Blu-Ray disk and still burn a dvd when needed)

PSU: Thermaltake TR2 TRX-750M 750W ATX 12V v2.3/EPS 12V v2.91 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Ram: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) (Also got 2 of these so I could have 8gb total ram, is corsair good? is another brand better?)

and the clincher (please don't kill me)

Video Cards: 2 x HIS H577FM1GD Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX support Video Card
(plan on CrossFire set up between them, I also run my PC on a 32" 1080P HD Television through a HDMI cable so the HDMI outputed video card is needed and since it is a large monitor the 1GB card is what I was told by someone I needed but didn't decide to crossfire until after so i don't know if 2x****** 512MB cards would suffice)

Ok, that is everything I put together and yes I want to push the Phenom II 965 x4 BE to over clock to about 3.9ghz or so. This is where you guys that have brains and experience at over clocking can help too. I don't want the over all life decimated since I intend to have this PC for at least 3 years if not longer but I do want a 'little more' since I am going black edition and AMD. I don't have the money to get a good i7 core set up since the processor alone will cost about $100 more than the AMD Phenom II x4 965 BE. I don't know much about what is out right now but I did do research a little bit and man everyone has their own opinion based off of the idea the if it isn't ASUS then it isn't good. So I mean ASUS is very good don't get me wrong but are they value vs dollar best you can do? And by the way thank to everyone who even bothers to read this thread whether you help or just tell me I am a ******* you at least wanted to give me your opinion and they all seem to help one way or the other. :)

Edit: Ok if a good i7 build is good/possible then shoot. By all means I was told my best bet would be the Phenom II x4. And I think I will be waiting for the x6 if all I have to do is wait a month for that. But i7 interests me too so either way is good on my end, any comments are appreciated and thanks to those of you who posted and let me know about the x6, I thought it would be 6+ months away not just till summer.

Edit: Is one 5870 better than 2 - 5770's crossfired? or is the idea of buy one really big one now and then buy another one later and crossfire those two when i get the money the idea?
 
Get a Phenom II X4 955 instead of the 965.
They're the same exact CPU except the 965 comes with a slightly higher multiplier stock. (Easily manipulatable in BIOS)
Essentially the 955 and 965 will overclock the same, and thus perform the same to an enthusiast or overclocker.
The 955 is better to get because you save $20-30 for the same exact performance, basically.

I don't recommend the Corsair H50 to anybody.
It's crap for the money.
You could spend the same amount and get a Megahalems or w/e
I recommend a 650w Antec Earthwatts, Corsair, Antec Truepower New, Seventeam, Silverstone, or 600w+ OCZ PSU, over that Thermaltake, to save some money and get equal performance.

You should save your money and NOT get the 8Gb, but just get the 4Gb for now, and upgrade later as needed.
Nobody usually needs 8Gb of RAM unless they use CAD, Maya, or 3d rendering software as a profession.
Otherwise, there really isn't a need for that much RAM for any enthusiast or gamer.

As far as overclocking goes, I would go with an Asus, Gigabyte, or Biostar motherboard over that MSI board.
Also, you might want to consider getting a board with SATA 6Gb/s support for futureproofing.

Also, on a $1600 budget, you could do yourself good to wait about a month and get a Phenom II X6 instead of an X4. (They're releasing soon.)

Also, to make sure you don't depreciate your processor's lifespan to nothing, just don't raise your vcore too high, or get temps too high.
I'm not sure what the stock vcore on a Phenom II X4 955 or 965 is, but I imagine it's about 1.4v? I wouldn't push mine above 1.425-1.45 personally.

Otherwise you shouldn't have a problem overclocking a Phenom II X4 955/965 to 3.8, 3.9, or possibly even 4.0Ghz.

(Make sure to get C3 stepping.)
 
well first, you should try spacing out your sentences, and i can almost guarantee you that more members will want to read your post.

now, the parts you listed aren't bad, but if your $1,600 budget is just for the tower, then i don't see how you can't fit an i7 build. i think you'd just need some help with parts selections.
 
yes, I will read his post if he makes a list of parts. I'm not reading that block of text. I won't vote as I haven't read your post yet, but I'm going to assume I would probably choose option 3.
 
well first, you should try spacing out your sentences, and i can almost guarantee you that more members will want to read your post.


:tongue: I didn't read it.. Now that I'm going back over it, I'd agree with the first post: Get 4GB instead of 8. I rarely find myself using anything above 4.5ish with a game like GTA IV running with a slew of background programs (Photoshop, iTunes, Firefox, Steam, Digsby, just to name a few)

And I also agree with the first post on the CPU: If you're planning on having this system for 3+ years, definitely wait for the Phenom X6 or get an i7, which is doable on a $1,600 budget.

Also, a 5870 now wouldn't be bad, if you could afford it (possibly coming from the reduction from 8 to 4GB)
 
What is with everyone dogging on the Corsair H50? Im guessing 90% of the people dogging on it have never even used one.

I own one myself and I am very happy with it. Yes you can say its not a "real" water cooling system, but who cares, it still performs well for its price. From the data iv seen it also outperforms about 99% of air coolers, and does so at the price of the average high end air cooler, most real high end air coolers are a bit more expensive. Also take into account that it puts very little weight on the mobo, and takes up much less space, I can actually see the area around my CPU on the mobo (and looks cooler IMO) then the MASSIVE air coolers out there.

The H50 keeps my unlocked, overclocked Phenom II X2 555 BE 4.0GHz on all four cores at very acceptable temps. The highest I have EVER seen was 54c running LinX (LinPack, Intel Burn Test). When gaming it usually only gets around 40c. It usually idles around 28c. This is all with a single fan behind the radiator pulling air out of the case, and an ambient temp around 22-23c. When I set it up with another fan to get the push/pull action going, the temps dropped a good 3c.

You cant beat the thing for the price, personally I much prefer this to a 2lb weight hanging from my motherboard for the same price and performance.

Also to the OP, The MSI 790FX-GD70 is a great board. I would probably go with a single 5870 over dual 5770's. Then later down the road buy a second 5870 if you feel the need. Like others are saying, 8Gb of ram is probably overkill, OCZ and G.Skill also make good RAM, seem to have better price/performance then Corsair many times. If your going to overclock you can get the 955 and get the exact same performance as a 965 and save a few bucks. I would probably look into a Corsair, Silverstone, or OCZ PSU, I dont hear real good things about the thermaltakes, especially for their generally higher price. Newegg has an 80Gb Intel SSD for about $220 right now, may be better deal than the OCZ's, they seem to be expensive. You also might think about a HDD for storage also, 60Gb SSD isnt gona go real far.
 
What is with everyone dogging on the Corsair H50? Im guessing 90% of the people dogging on it have never even used one.

I own one myself and I am very happy with it. Yes you can say its not a "real" water cooling system, but who cares, it still performs well for its price. From the data iv seen it also outperforms about 99% of air coolers, and does so at the price of the average high end air cooler, most real high end air coolers are a bit more expensive. Also take into account that it puts very little weight on the mobo, and takes up much less space, I can actually see the area around my CPU on the mobo (and looks cooler IMO) then the MASSIVE air coolers out there.

The H50 keeps my unlocked, overclocked Phenom II X2 555 BE 4.0GHz on all four cores at very acceptable temps. The highest I have EVER seen was 54c running LinX (LinPack, Intel Burn Test). When gaming it usually only gets around 40c. It usually idles around 28c. This is all with a single fan behind the radiator pulling air out of the case, and an ambient temp around 22-23c. When I set it up with another fan to get the push/pull action going, the temps dropped a good 3c.

You cant beat the thing for the price, personally I much prefer this to a 2lb weight hanging from my motherboard for the same price and performance.

Also to the OP, The MSI 790FX-GD70 is a great board. I would probably go with a single 5870 over dual 5770's. Then later down the road buy a second 5870 if you feel the need. Like others are saying, 8Gb of ram is probably overkill, OCZ and G.Skill also make good RAM, seem to have better price/performance then Corsair many times. If your going to overclock you can get the 955 and get the exact same performance as a 965 and save a few bucks. I would probably look into a Corsair, Silverstone, or OCZ PSU, I dont hear real good things about the thermaltakes, especially for their generally higher price. Newegg has an 80Gb Intel SSD for about $220 right now, may be better deal than the OCZ's, they seem to be expensive. You also might think about a HDD for storage also, 60Gb SSD isnt gona go real far.



Reasons I dog the Corsair H50:

Pros: Cools very well when working correctly

Cons: Leaks

Other Thoughts: I installed this easily as per instructions. My i920 stayed at 35C when at 4Ghz. After about a week, I started to keep the computer on longer and in a few hours it would shut down. My GPU collected the liquid that must have dripped form the H50 tubes. Now after an hour of cooling, the bios will startup and show the CPU temp rising 1C/sec. and its not overclocked.

I contacted Corsair today and will see what happens. I'm worried about my other pc components--- what happened to them??

Heatsinks and fans don't do that.
Ever.

Even if that guy is a rare case... To me, taking that risk isn't worth it.
Ever.
 
It's not so much the leak part for me. It's all internal, and you don't really have control over it. Plus it blocks your rear exhaust fan, which can kill airflow. With a solid heatsink (TRUE, Megahalems, Noctua 14, core contact, hyper 212,) you're paying less, (minus the megahalems, but they perform better so) and you get about the same cooling. You also get something that can't really fail, and something that doesn't lose value much.

Plus a lot of us just like hands on the stuff, a premade water cooler is just lame. I'd never buy one out of principle alone, even if it was 2-3c better and costs only slightly more. Though to people who don't know much about computers, hearing "water cooling" automatically means 1337 leetness computer...
 
I agree with Puddle, Raiding is a bad idea. Just run a backup program every now and then to backup your files.

I agree with everyone else on the Corsair H50, another bad idea. Either spend $200-$300 on a "Good" water cooling setup (which I don't recommend for novices) or stick with a heatsink and fan.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010
And (2) 5770's in a Crossfire setup is also a poor choice. For roughly the same price you should get a single 5870, then if you need more power later you still have an available slot for another 5870.

I would go with this power supply over the Thermaltake.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

And I would definitely go with a i7 920/930 or a i5 750 over the AMD :D
 
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