is this a good gaming computer?

[stein102]

okay, im thinking of building a new computer. and this is what i have so far. let me know what you think.

Thanks
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-SUS M4A89TD PRO AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

-Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

-Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB hard drive

-Kingston HyperX LoVo 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model KHX1333C9D3UK2/4GX

-CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-950TX 950W ATX12V v2.3/EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

-SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

-LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner

 

[Sean W.]

i think that is an AMD mother board... you are using an Intel chip, i could be wrong, but i dont think that mother board will work with that processor...

you picked an awesome processor.

power supply is probably a little bit more power than you need, but thats alright.

What case were you planning on using?

Whats your budget?

and what kind of gaming are you going to be doing? Crysis, call of duty/ battle field, WoW, star craft 2?

 

[stein102]

WOW lol, my bad...it is an AMD mobo and intel chip, the purpose is for WoW and Diablo3 when it comes out.

and the budget is around $1000-$1500

and i haven't decided on a case yet.

 

[Druid]

If you are going to spend the money to go i7, it is my personal opinion that you spend the money on a graphics card to match it. To me, that means a minimum of an HD 5850.

 

[Sean W.]

i would agree with Druid, get a 58xx series graphics card.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

I would recommend an i7 920 or 930, they are both LGA1366 socket CPU's and thus you'll need an LGA1366 motherboard.

A reasonably priced one with tons of features is the Gigabyte X58A-UD3R. The UD5 is quite similar, almost the exact same thing except it has an extra Gigabit Ethernet port (which I see as useless, one Ethernet port is all you need) and different heatsinks, in my opinion not worth the extra $70 or so.

For RAM you'll want triple channel DDR3 (triple channel means you want 3 identical sticks). Look for a 6GB kit which will have 3x2GB instead of 2x2GB. The Intel Core i7 memory controller works best with sets of three. I have the OCZ Gold kit and it performs nicely at DDR3 1600 speeds (though it wasn't properly detected so I had to configure the board manually).

I would say 950W is overkill. My entire build (i7 930, HD5870) is running on a 650W PSU and the PSU runs cool. 750W would be enough overhead to add a second (or maybe even third) card in CrossFire down the road, but 950W seems like it's a waste, save your money and buy a better graphics card like a 5830/5850/5870.

As for case, I got an Antec Nine Hundred, while it is a slightly older design it is a very nice case and I love the looks of it. I really like the side panel window, though cases are really a personal preference. A lot of people like the HAF cases but I didn't care for the looks.

If possible, I really would recommend a 5850 or 5870, the 5870 is an awesome card and it burns through Crysis at very high settings with no problems.

 

[Sean W.]

all very good information Calcprogrammer, also, a 920 is better than a 930, for some reason the 920 is more stable at higher overclocing.

as far as a case, i like the antec Series

300:Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

900:Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

1200:Newegg.com - Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

i have a Radeon 5870, i can handle crysis at highest setting and 1920 x 1080 resolution at 40 - 50 frames a second

 

[Druid]

Yeah, I have the Antec 900. It's nice looking, but the wire management you can do with it isn't the greatest. I suppose it would help if I didn't buy a psu with like the most wires ever!