Need some advice on MB/CPU/RAM combo please :)

[KiLLerCloWn]

Hi all,

so my system packed in and I want to do an upgrade. Power for gaming of course, also to watch HD movie/sports streams - the usual.

What I have:

1) Asus EAH4870 DarkNight 1GB - bought a few months ago but never had the time to install. Does this still push the pixels?

2) Antec 550 Watts power supply still in the box

(specs: http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MTU3NQ==)
(manual with specs in english: http://www.antec.com/pdf/manuals/BP550_ ... manual.pdf)

Does this provide enough humph for the card and the new combo?
It does have the dual PCIe connectors I need for the GFX card.

I need:

Motherboard, CPU, RAM.

The guy in the shop downstairs said good bang for the buck would be:

ASUSP7P55D
Intel Core i5 750 2.66
4GB Ram PC1333

Questions:

1)Is the board good to go with the GFX card and power supply I already have?
2) Is the processor really a good bang for the buck? ( the guy is no really a gamer so I'm not sure he's talking about the same bang category I do
3) Is it worth gettin an i5 with the i7s just slipping out the door (here) but stilll very expensive.
4) What about AMD?
5) the ram will be brand ram but I'm not sure which. Kinsgton on Corsair I assume - anything I need to look out for?

I don't need an uber gaming rig, but if I upgrade I do want one which will play the latest games at decent and res and good framerate without trouble.

(I have a 24" widescreen monitor at 1920x1200, although it's fine if I run games at a little less)

Thanks for passing on your knowledge and suggestions what to watch out for

Cheers

Chris

[eGoCeNTRoNiX]

That motherboard would be fine and it supports crossfire should you want to go dual cards later. Looks like the trio you have picked out, using corsair memory, would run about $450, if you were to buy it from newegg and have it shipped to an APO/FPO. But I'm not sure that's an option for you. The i7 CPUs are running around $100 more than the i5.

As for your AMD alternatives.
Motherboard : ASUS M4A87TD EVO
CPU : AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8ghz
Memory : Corsair 4GB PC1333

Total cost shipped to APO/FPO : $405

From what I'm seeing though, the i5 the guy picked out for you is actually a decent CPU. When comparing what he suggested to what I found, most people actually find the i5 has better performance for gaming. While if you're going to be doing other computer related tasks then the X6 is a good choice.

GL in your decisions!

eGo

[KiLLerCloWn]

Thanks a lot for that. That price range is about right. The advantage with what he picked is that takes care of everything and I just have to pick up the box all set up - I have too much work (and kids) these days to be building a new system myself.

While it may cost me a few bucks more it saves me tons in time...

So what you're saying is good news

Cheers

Chris

[Err]

You're power supply should be sufficient for this card. It looks like it's pushing 22A across each of 3 x 12V rails.

I recently put together a new computer for my father-in-law. His dell finally died. I used the following components.

AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX635WFGIBOX

ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMV4GX3M2A1333C9

CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

XFX HD-567X-YNFC Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card ...
Item #: N82E16814150466

Thermaltake Matrix VX VD3000SNA Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

The above came to $558.43 less shipping. I was able to re-use his hard drives. The system thus far has been stable.

Since you're building, now is a good time to upgrade to Windows 7-64 bit. If you want XP mode, you'll need the professional edition.

For a hard drive, I recommend Western Digital's RE3 Series. I have the 500G and the 1TB from this series. They've been very reliable so far and are relatively quiet. I don't recommend any other of Western Digital drives at this time. They are hit or miss. However the RE3 drives are an enterprise class HD and have been working fine for me.

By the way, if anyone's looking for a good mid-tower, I highly recommend the Thermaltake listed above. It's all aluminum and the lightest case I've ever used. The 3.5 and 5.25 bays all use rails the snap into the drives. The case also includes front and rear fans.

[normalicy]

The video card is still very reputable. No need to replace it until you start seeing frames dropping.

The i series processors are all very good & any would be good for games (no real need to do an i7 unless you get a great deal on one), but it's also kind of hard to ignore the Phenom II's (the four core 965 can be had for about $160 & the six core 1055T can be had for under $200). Even the highest end ones are comparable in price to the i5's. And they compete well especially if you're not overclocking. But if that's all the guy's offering (Intel) it's not really a big deal. In the end, the video card is far more important than the processor, so if you can save a bit up for the next gen card, you'll be set if they release some new killer games.

I can't say enough about the Samsung F3 series of hard drives if you need one (price is good too at about $60 for 1TB).

[KiLLerCloWn]

Excellent, thanks for those tips! That actually already answerd another question I had.

He offered me an i7 for around $80 more and I wasn't sure if that's worth the money. You're probably right, save that for the next gen GFX card

(the i7 would be around $230, the i5 is $150 - prices may not be comparable to US prices, I think here things are a little more expensive)

He didn't exclude AMDs at all, he just gave me a list of components he could have by tomorrow because he just ordered the same for another customer who was looking pretty much for the same thing I was. So he gave me the other guys order for me to verify if I would be happy with that...

Cheers

Chris

[normalicy]

Here's a bit of info on the Phenom II 965:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2819/7

Direct competition for the i7's.

[KiLLerCloWn]

Hmm, and where would the i5 rank in there?



cHRIS

[normalicy]

The i7's are only about 10% faster than the i5's in most games, so there isn't a huge difference.

[KiLLerCloWn]

Thanks again for that and for pushing me in the rifght direction everyone

This is a really good read for those who want to go in depth i5 vs i7:

http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hard ... 65861.aspx

Looks like i7 will be worth it on 64 bit apps when it hits the turbo mode and uses 4 cores, plus makes use of the extra ram above 4 gig. In gaming it makes less of a difference because rarely are all 4 cores used - at least that's how I understood it

I'll go with the i5.

Cheers

Chris

[normalicy]

Yeah, i7's excel in apps like video encoding & stuff that can really use all 4 cores to the max. Maybe in 5 years we'll finally see some games that make good use of all the cores (they haven't exactly been rushing to use them yet).

[Err]

Yeah, i7's excel in apps like video encoding & stuff that can really use all 4 cores to the max. Maybe in 5 years we'll finally see some games that make good use of all the cores (they haven't exactly been rushing to use them yet).

On top of the core usage, many games don't access more than 2 gig of ram.

KiLLerCloWn

Post pics once you get it together!

[KiLLerCloWn]

Yeah, I was tempted to get more than 4GB RAM as i will follow your advice and go 64bit now.

But then I thought: let's see if it ever gets maxed out first and then I can still get a couple of sticks later.

Will post pics

Cheers

Chris