New rig build need advice!

[CrazedAutomaton]

So I'm putting together a new gaming rig and I wanted to run ideas by you guys and get some feedback on my hardware choices. I'm pulling some of my components out of my current comp now cuz I don't think I have to replace everything. But I could be wrong...

The parts I'm salvaging are as follows:

Processor: 2.4G Intel Core2 Quad Q6600
HD - 320GB
Sound Card: M-Audio 7.1 Revolution
PSU: I'm pretty sure its 600W
Mobo: ASUS P5B

(I forget what brand the HDD is or the PSU, and I'll probly just pop my case cover off at some point to find out.)


And the parts I need/want are:

Vid Card: I'm looking at the Radeon HD 5870, I know the 5970 is the absolute flagship but I *really* don't wanna shell out $600-800 just on the vid card

RAM: 4GB dual channel Kingston HyperX KHX6400D (the mobo can fit 8GB I think but I don't think I need it yet?)

Second (and primary) HDD - Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
I'm planning on using the slower and smaller HDD I already have for like music and other media, the primary'll be for games.

Case - Antec 902

Monitor - Dell SP2309W


At this point I'm looking for feedback on these choices and I'm also wondering if I should be considering upgrading my mobo. I think the processor should be fine even though at 2.4G it'll bottleneck the vid card slightly, but I can OC that (another thing I need to learn how to do lol). I'm also wondering if I should go with a cpu cooler to be safe, I've been looking at the Zalman 9500 and 9700, leaning toward the 9500 for size/fit reasons. I wanna keep this build under $1000 if possible, monitor included.

Anyway, lemme know what you guys think!

 

[synergy]

I would honestly upgrade your mobo. The 5870 is a PCI-e 2.0 capable card, but your board doesn't have 2.0. The card will still run, but at a slower bandwidth. Your FSB is also slower. It's really up to you as your board will still work, you just won't get the maximum potential of your other components.

Also, for a primary HDD I would get something faster and smaller, then get a 1TB for storage. I would also stick with Western Digital or Seagate. You also want to stay away from "green" drives as they reduce speed to conserve power.

The memory looks good.

Finally, case and monitor are really your preference, but they look good. Dell makes great monitors.

 

[aliasaid]

I think if you're willing to make adjustments to your plans, you could have a nice gaming rig for $1000. I would recommend you sell your computer AS-IS, and you'll get maybe 250-400 dollars for it, depending on your other components.

Add the money that you get from selling to your $1000 and do something like this:

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Desktop Memory
Newegg.com - ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

I know dell makes nice monitors, but they're really expensive... get something like this:

Newegg.com - ASUS VH232H Glossy Black 23" 5ms Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 w/Speakers & HDMI - LCD Monitors

that comes out to $1100. Add the case of your choice, an optical drive, and OS maybe, and you should be under budget (after selling your current computer).

Good Luck.

Oh, and if you do sell your computer, keep your sound card and put it with the new computer.

 

[CrazedAutomaton]

Thanks for the advice, I think selling the current comp sounds like a pretty good idea. The Q6600 is aging a little bit at this point and I don't really like the idea of shelling out almost a grand on brand new components but keeping a 4 year old processor and mobo that won't be able to benefit from DDR3 or USB 3. The i5 750 sounds like a great processor, especially at its current price and I was thinking about going with a Gigabyte mobo, all of their p55 mobos seem to be getting great reviews, more or less. I'm wondering if it's as silly as I think it is to shell out much more than, say, $150 on a mobo alone (I think their UD7 is up to like $260) so maybe the UD3?

plus, with the specs as I'm listing them for this build I'm wondering about my PSU wattage. I was looking at the Antec 750 (or whatever it's called), I think 750W should be fine?

 

[aliasaid]

For $150 you can get a very decent motherboard. It shouldn't take up more than 15% of your total budget; and it depends on whether you think you'll one day go for a multi-gpu setup and other features you may need, but for your budget, $150 is the ideal price to pay (give or take a few $). $260 for a motherboard is too much, unless you have a very high budget, and in that case socket 1156 is not the socket to go for.

750watts is more than enough. You could even go with less, but it depends on in the end on the other components.

 

[orihS ‪‪‪Shiro]

I would honestly upgrade your mobo. The 5870 is a PCI-e 2.0 capable card, but your board doesn't have 2.0. The card will still run, but at a slower bandwidth. Your FSB is also slower. It's really up to you as your board will still work, you just won't get the maximum potential of your other components.

Also, for a primary HDD I would get something faster and smaller, then get a 1TB for storage. I would also stick with Western Digital or Seagate. You also want to stay away from "green" drives as they reduce speed to conserve power.

The memory looks good.

Finally, case and monitor are really your preference, but they look good. Dell makes great monitors.

techPowerUp :: AMD Radeon HD 5870 PCI-Express Scaling Review :: Page 25 / 26

I want to point out that PCI-E 1.0 16x has the same bandwidth as PCI-E 2.0 8x

The 5870 wouldn't be throttled that badly on his current motherboard.
Losing 1%?
Lol that's within experimental error.

 

[synergy]

^ good to know. Those are certainly acceptable numbers

 

[CrazedAutomaton]

wait... they might have similar bandwidth but I didn't think that the 5870 could even connect to my p5B, the connectors aren't compatible, at least I don't think they are.

 

[Muffin Man]

what do you mean? what connectors?

you need a pci-e x16 slot, and your mobo does have one. besides that, all you need is 2 6 pin pcie cables from your psu and you're good to go.

 

[CrazedAutomaton]

hmmm I guess I had less faith in my mobo than I should have lol On another note, I think I'm gonna go for the radeon 5770 cuz it's like $200 right now and its slightly bigger brother is still at $400. I'll wait maybe til the end of the month to see if the 5870 drops any further, but $200 for the 5770 is a **** nice price.