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$615 Gaming PC Final Component Check

J

jdonahue

Junior Member
This is my first build so I just wanted to make sure you all thought everything looked good before I went ahead and ordered everything.

Video Card:GIGABYTE Radeon HD 5770-$135 after rebate and discount code

Motherboard:GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3-$85 after rebate

Hard Drive:Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB-$55

Case:Thermaltake Element T-$55 after rebate

RAM:G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB-$115

PSU+Optical Drive:OCZ 600W+Lite-On Drive-$44 after rebate

CPU:AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition-$105

CPU Cooler:Thermaltake TR2TT TR2-M12-$20

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Also, if anyone finds somewhere that I can save money I'd really appreciate that too! Thanks!
 
That cooler won't mount to your CPU. Even if it could, it's an old-school top down design and likely no better than the stock. This is cheap and decent.

Paging MisterDonut to recommend the Mugen 2. 😛
 
Thanks you saved me 20 bucks! But can you recommend one that's closer to $20 because I'm already spending more than I really should on this 😛
 
You can buy the same cooler from ewiz for $27.99 here.

or you can buy this which is far better than ac freezer pro.
 
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yasasvy said:
You can buy the same cooler from ewiz for $27.99 here.

or you can buy this which is far better than ac freezer pro.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that second one looks great and I have Amazon Prime so I can get it shipped free. What do you all think about the rest of the build? Everything look good?
 
Think you can swing for a better processor?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103674
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Retail

50 bucks more..I know. Alot more overclocking potential and you can squeeze some more life out of your rig if you decide to keep it over the next upgrade cycle or two and toss in a bigger graphics card.
 
I think you should go with athlon II X4 630 instead of Phenom II X3.

These days most of the games(read:Console ports) are cpu bound and an extra core might me more useful than L3 cache. GPU bound games favor phenom II but the difference is not noticeable.

Both have their +'ves and -'ves but IMO athlon II x4 is better.
 
yasasvy said:
I think you should go with athlon II X4 630 instead of Phenom II X3.

These days most of the games(read:Console ports) are cpu bound and an extra core might me more useful than L3 cache. GPU bound games favor phenom II but the difference is not noticeable.

Both have their +'ves and -'ves but IMO athlon II x4 is better.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about that but according to this they are about equal and the (albeit somewhat small) chance of unlocking the fourth core made me lean towards the 720.
 
The funny thing is, I was in the same situation while I was building my own system. I was fixed on buying a phenom 955 but then a friend of my had a phenom 555 that he wanted to sell. I bought 555 instead(paid much less than the market price) hoping that it will unlock but it turned out to be a dud and I am stuck with a dual core.

My point is don't count on unlocking.

Anyway, you will be happy with your build the way it is. Everything looks good BTW. Happy building.

EDIT: You can save $10 buy choosing this memory instead, but these are CL 9 instead of CL 7 but operate at 1600. You won't notice any difference in real world anyway.
 
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Thanks, I think I will get that RAM. But I know I probably won't get that extra core but it would be great if I got lucky with it. Oh and sorry I didn't see the post about the Phenom X4. I would love to get that but its just out of my price range at this point.
 
mfenn said:
That cooler won't mount to your CPU. Even if it could, it's an old-school top down design and likely no better than the stock. This is cheap and decent.

Paging MisterDonut to recommend the Mugen 2. 😛
Click to expand...

ZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOM HERE I COMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. You should probably get the Mug...no, wait. PLOT TWIST. Hyper 212+ is cheaper if you can't stretch your budget. You COULD go with a Mugen 2, but if you're not doing some bigger overclocking, it won't matter.
 
I have the Hyper 212+ on my oc'ed i3 530, cpu temps are amazing + can't beat the price for such a decent cooler with automatic variable rpm.

44$ for PSU + optical drive? Wow thats low ... Are you sure you've got a decent psu?

Also, if you want to keep the cost low for now, why not go for the very cheap X3 435, which will do quite ok, and swap cpu's for a heavier model if you saved up some more money? I think anandtech recommended the 435 in its budget gaming guide, but i'm not able to find the article again on the horrible new website.
 
Hyper 212+ is a good cooler, yes, but if you're going higher end overclocking, you want something beefier (i.e. Mugen 2).

OCZ makes so-so PSU's. I hate their RAM, but my friend is running a 700w and hasn't run into problems yet (except a blown capacitor on a bad batch motherboard, PSU was tested and runs 100% fine). The link is $60 btw.

I also forgot to mention. I agree with yasasvy in that you should pick up the Propus. Guaranteed quad for < $100. It should all perform along the same lines.
 
I would ditch that gigabyte board if price was such a big issue, doesn't even have two full 2.0 PCI-E 16x slots. I would go with something cheaper like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157176


With the $35 you save, you can put that towards a Phenom X4 555 retail and use its stock cooling and not worry about some loud aftermarket cooler. 🙂

Other areas where you can save some cash:

This case instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119161

and this Ram instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148262

That's almost $40 saved and they're not even downgrades.

BTW Don't count on rebates, they're hit and miss at best.
 
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Lyfer said:
I would ditch that gigabyte board if price was such a big issue, doesn't even have two full 2.0 PCI-E 16x slots. I would go with something cheaper like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157176


With the $35 you save, you can put that towards a Phenom X4 555 retail and use its stock cooling and not worry about some loud aftermarket cooler. 🙂

Other areas where you can save some cash:

This case instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119161

and this Ram instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148262

That's almost $40 saved and they're not even downgrades.

BTW Don't count on rebates, they're hit and miss at best.
Click to expand...

Eh, this is an AMD build. AFAIK, I thought 1366 was the only socket to support full PCI-E lanes...If you're getting a setup other than 1366, you shouldn't really need to pick a motherboard with CFX/SLI capabilities. I know 8x wouldn't really limit it horrendously, but you might as well get a faster card. Besides, one 5770 is enough for what you need. And I would still snag a Propus over the PX4 555.
 
MisterDonut said:
Hyper 212+ is a good cooler, yes, but if you're going higher end overclocking, you want something beefier (i.e. Mugen 2).

OCZ makes so-so PSU's. I hate their RAM, but my friend is running a 700w and hasn't run into problems yet (except a blown capacitor on a bad batch motherboard, PSU was tested and runs 100% fine). The link is $60 btw.

I also forgot to mention. I agree with yasasvy in that you should pick up the Propus. Guaranteed quad for < $100. It should all perform along the same lines.
Click to expand...

Thanks I think that cooler will work out well. I'm not in love with the OCZ but the reviews on Newegg are pretty good and that's a really good combo deal. But as for the Propus, I think I'm going to take the guy below's advice and save money on the mobo and cooler(get the Mugen 2 later when I'm ready to OC) and get the Phenom X4 instead.


Lyfer said:
I would ditch that gigabyte board if price was such a big issue, doesn't even have two full 2.0 PCI-E 16x slots. I would go with something cheaper like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157176


With the $35 you save, you can put that towards a Phenom X4 555 retail and use its stock cooling and not worry about some loud aftermarket cooler. 🙂

Other areas where you can save some cash:

This case instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119161

and this Ram instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148262

That's almost $40 saved and they're not even downgrades.

BTW Don't count on rebates, they're hit and miss at best.
Click to expand...

Thanks I really like what you've set up better thank what I had. I think it would be great to crossfire another 5770 when I can't play new games anymore rather than have to sell or scrap the one I have now for a better GPU.

And I think I'm going to go with a Phenom X4 since I'll be saving the money on the mobo and fan, but I think you meant Phenom X4 955 not 555. I'm kind of confused on the differences between the differences between the various Phenom X4's (925, 945, 955, etc.) so I'd really appreciate it if you or somebody could explain it to me.

I chose my case because I really like the way it looks and it seems to be pretty decent, so I don't really want to change that unless someone says it's terrible. Somebody else recommended that kind of RAM too. Is the Cas Latency of 9 rather than 7 going to make a difference in the speed of my computer or is that just something people say?
 
Lyfer said:
I would ditch that gigabyte board if price was such a big issue, doesn't even have two full 2.0 PCI-E 16x slots.
Click to expand...

What are you talking?? Only 790FX supports full bandwidth CFX. The board you specified had a second slot running at x4 speed which means if you populate both the slots you only get 1/4 th the original bandwidth which will be a bottle neck if you CFX 5770 for sure.

I would be happy with your board if you really need sata 3.0 and usb 3.0.
If you are planning for an SSD upgrade I say keep this board or else you can go with lyfers recommendation but CFX is not an option.

EDIT:You can go with crucial RAM if you like to save $5, the caveat is this kit operates at 1333 MHz.

OP, update your final list so that you can be sure of the budget.
 
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yasasvy said:
What are you talking?? Only 790FX supports full bandwidth CFX. The board you specified had a second slot running at x4 speed which means if you populate both the slots you only get 1/4 th the original bandwidth which will be a bottle neck if you CFX 5770 for sure.

I would be happy with your board if you really need sata 3.0 and usb 3.0.
If you are planning for an SSD upgrade I say keep this board or else you can go with lyfers recommendation but CFX is not an option.

EDIT:You can go with crucial RAM if you like to save $5, the caveat is this kit operates at 1333 MHz.

OP, update your final list so that you can be sure of the budget.
Click to expand...

Aww I knew that was too good to be true. Back to the Phenom X3 for me 🙁. I think I'm going to go with the G.Skill RAM you suggested before. And the USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 aren't really a big deal to me, I'd like to be able to CFX in the future more than I would to have those. Do any of the mobos that can combo with the RAM here have that capability?

EDIT: Yeah I have it all in Newegg. Now with the 720 and old mobo in again it's $605
 
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yasasvy said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.367644

This should be fine if you plan to CFX. I guess this is the cheapest combo.
This runs at 1/2 the bandwidth but should not bottleneck 5770.
Click to expand...

Thanks that seems like a good deal to me. And I just found that I can get a combo with my GPU and a Phenom II X4 955 and get $20 off. So with these combos everything comes out to $644 which is only $30 more than I started with but I get a lot more out of. I think this is what I'm gonna go with unless you all have problems with it:

Motherboard+RAM: ASUS M4A78T-E + G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB DDR3- $206 after rebate

Hard Drive:Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB-$55

Case:Thermaltake Element T-$55 after rebate

PSU+Optical Drive:OCZ 600W + Lite-On Drive-$44 after rebate

CPU+GPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 + GIGABYTE Radeon HD 5770 1GB- $285 after rebate

I'm pretty happy with that and I'll see what you all have to say and order it in the next day or so probably if it seems alright. Thanks again everyone!
 
Looks Great. There is no way to know how long the combos last, unless specified. your guess is as good as mine.
 
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yasasvy said:
What are you talking?? Only 790FX supports full bandwidth CFX. The board you specified had a second slot running at x4 speed which means if you populate both the slots you only get 1/4 th the original bandwidth which will be a bottle neck if you CFX 5770 for sure.

I would be happy with your board if you really need sata 3.0 and usb 3.0.
If you are planning for an SSD upgrade I say keep this board or else you can go with lyfers recommendation but CFX is not an option.

EDIT:You can go with crucial RAM if you like to save $5, the caveat is this kit operates at 1333 MHz.

OP, update your final list so that you can be sure of the budget.
Click to expand...

I should have made my self clearer, I was NOT recommending the AsRock 770 board for SLI, I advised it because its cheaper than the gigabyte board he picked with the same AMD 770 chipset (with the $35 saved he can use that on a faster CPU/GPU). And at almost $100 for the gigabyte board, I'm surprised it wasnt a 790FX chipset with CF or something.

And BTW that Asus combo looks great, goodluck on the build.
 
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