Jin's new PC - Need advice

So, I finally got seriously around to see those freakin' parts, and I finally found something that fits my wallet, but is still a nice thing. That is, at least, my opinion (which counts a lot for me, by the way). So, I'm gonna post the parts I'm thinking about, along with the price and the specs page, so you can see and give me some feedback *fingers crossed for good feedback*.

CPU - AMD Phenom X4 Quad Core 2.2GhZ - 144€/196$/135£ (best specs page I could find)

Graphics Card - Asus ATI Radeon PCI-E HD4850 Glaciator 512Mb DDR3 - 159€/216$/149£

Motherboard -  Motherboard Asus SktAM2+ M3A78 PRO - 92€/125$/86£

Hard Drive Disk - Seagate SATA-2 500Gb 7.200rpm 32Mb - 63€/86$/59£ (I don't think a specs page is needed, but if you do, tell me)

RAM -  Pack 2x 1024Mb DDR2 Kingston CL5 PC2-8500 (1066) HyperX - 70€/96$/66£

Chassis - Thermaltake WingRS100 VG1000BNS Black - 37€/50$/35£

Well, that's all I'm getting. All in all, it's going to be 565€ (770$/529£).

So, I shoved in the prices, the specs, and all I need now is your opinion. If there's anything wrong with the setup (motherboard compatibility, etc.) tell me please, I really need to know. I'm waiting for some answers.

Please reply.

jin kazama

 

you're going with phenom?! ask loony if that's a good thing.

you won't need 1066mhz memory unless overclocking. knowing that you're going with phenom quad, you won't be doing any overclocking like you would with their dual and like intels processors. people have tried but don't really make a leap.

he can go crossfire as it will support hybrid crossfire. but the performance he'll have is the lowest of the graphic performance, which in this case is based on the integrated graphics card of his motherboard. you'll get the crossfire performance of an ati radeon hd 3200.

power supply should be a 500watt power supply to offer future upgrades. if you decide to have more hard drives as well as getting a new motherboard to support full sli/crossfire in the future. if you do decide to go with a 500watt power supply, see if you can get modular. the reason is more cable which would mean more mess. it may cost you though, so please put consideration. check with loony and the others on what they say.

i'm not certain on the development and support for dx 11. but dx 11 is suppose to be released later this year. again we don't know. so spending such an amount may or may not be justifiable. just check with others.

but if that's what you're aiming for, then it looks good!

 

i just built a new pc and found a much better price on that amd phenom. got mine for 100 us dollars at tigerdirect.com. it only cost 1.99 us dollars for shipping to tennessee.

 

Which results in impeded airflow, which results in higher core temperatures, which results in less ability to safely overclock, which results in decreased theoretical system efficiency compared to a system with the same specifications overclocked to a higher degree.

Oh, and it's ugly if you have a side window on your computer.

 

I won't do Crossfire as of now, if I ever do it, then maybe in three, four years or so. As for the optical drives, my recent computer (my dad's, actually) has two drives, and he'll lend me one, as he only needs one once in a big while. As for the power supply, I am only going to decide now, because I previously didn't knew the total power I needed. As ultra said, I'll be probably getting a 500W OCZ or Coolermaster.

I wasn't thinking about future upgrades, I was thinking of a computer that could last for some time (around 6 years) playing recent games, hence the big specs (big for someone used to a seven year old computer). I won't be playing games on very high resolutions, the resolutions I want won't even get near Full HD (1920x1080), it'll be a bit lower than that.

Yeah, I had been seeing some sites and other forums about their performance, and I also talked a lot with Loony about them. Seems they are quite the thing.

As for the RAM: I was thinking of getting 4x1GB (four of those 1GB pieces above), but as WinXP only supports up to 3.5GB, would he recognize the last 1GB piece? Or should I get 2x1GB + 2x512MB?

 

But the 1GB piece will still work completely? I'll have 3.5GB and not 3GB, right?

 

OK, nice then, 35 more € to the cart.

By the way, I'm going to see another store (I only saw one, it was the only one that had everything I needed). It seems it has better prices, and I'm needing the money for the PS and the monitor. I'll probably update Thursday.

 

What's your budget, I can make a nice set-up if you want

 

Get an Intel E8x00 or E9x00. Or even an Intel Quad.

Just a quick benchmark. The first I could find:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2282398,00.asp

 

you can also reduce cost by checking out local computer stores or pc conventions. i know there is a computer store in china town nyc where the guy has a pile of cases when you walk into the store. he happens to give them away if you're interested. however, they may have missing bay doors or bay slots, etc.... but most of the cases that this guy has were those cheap after market pc cases that typical mom and pop stores use when they sell complete computers to their customers.

 

I have 718€ to spend on the computer, monitor and sound columns. A bit tight, but it should do.

That's a Vista based test, I'll be running XP. Even though the results might be similar, the Phenom X4 will do just fine. Plus, those Intel CPUs are top notch ones, whereas the Phenoms aren't top notch AMD CPUs.

I'm not, it took me a long time to find a decent AMD motherboard that could fit my budget. That's what delayed me.

I am, I'm going to build it probably on Carnival vacations, maybe before, until then I'm going to check out some stores.

As for the graphics card (HD4850): it can run these latest games (Crysis, etc.), right?

 

i would drop the quad for the highest spec amd dual cause it wil run faster (i know loony is sbout to argue with me on this one but unless you use the programmes he does you don't need quad as its not supported by alot)

and with the money you save get the 4870 rather then the 4850

the 4870 runs everything on highest settings, its a great card my mates got one and he only has good things to say about it.

 

Made you something, costs: 699,50 euros

nVidia 9800GT Graphics

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Processor

Cooler Master Real Power M520 Cooler

Asus TA-922 Case


Antec TriCool 120mm Case fan


ASRock P45TurboTwins2000 Motherboard

Samsung HD103UJ 1TB Harddisk

Buffalo 4 GB DDR2-800 Kit DDR2-800 RAM

LG DH-16NS DVD Drive