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Help with 700-800 gaming system

M

MIBuckeye

Junior Member
I've been doing a lot of research on these forums and others and I'm trying to put together a solid gaming system for around $700-$800. It will be used almost exclusively for gaming BF2BC, MWII, Crisis L4Dead, and some photo editing with Photoshop elements. It's been about 6 yrs since I've built and would love any feedback on what I've selected and other suggestions. I do not intend run Xfire or to overclock right away, but will eventually overclock (will this require better cooling?). I'm keeping monitor Asus VH226, dvd burner, and OS Windows 7. I would like to game with most of the eye candy cranked up. Here is what I have so far.


ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
or
Gigabyte GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM# AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W
Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGMBOX

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI (should I consider modular?)

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100283VXL Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Total cost right now is ~$780
 
I thought the 5770's needed a rated minimum of 450w?

You can bump to the cheaper OCZ's; otherwise, if what you're happy with how much your setup costs, then just go with that. Not sure on AM3 motherboard prices, but just go with the cheaper motherboard from a reliable company.
 
I'm a bit skeptical that a 5770 will handle "fully cranked up" gaming. What resolution will you be using? Average frame rates might be ok, but minimum frame rates might be an annoyance at 1900x1200 and above. 2 x 5770, now that's another story. And it would make better use of your 650w power supply. 🙂

Also those Sapphire Vapor X cards tend to be $30.00 more expensive than a more generic 5770. I'd consider just picking up two base 5770's for Crossfire which should up your total to just over $900.00. Still a killer value gaming machine, and will let you run all the eye candy you want.
 
I figured I would be stretching the 5770 a bit at full eye candy on some games. I'm alright with cranking down a bit, consider now that I'm running an old AGP ATI 9800 Pro card D: I've also considered crossfire two 5770's but have read that some games actually perform worse in crossfire configuration and that the two cards can be a pain at times to configure. Is it really that bad?

I think I remember reading that the Vapor X cards are supposed to have better cooling, is this not as big a concern and would I be better of just choosing a brand name cheaper 5770?

Also on the mother boards I've seen that some of the ASUS boards had problems with the Phenom 955 chips (old BIOS?) Is this something that has been addressed? or is that really not a big deal either. Is it easier to overclock with one board over the other?

Thanks for all the feedback!
 
Most boards within a similar price range end up performing too close to matter. I usually recommend the EVO 790X, but the last time I played with a 955BE, I had it on a Gigabyte UD3P. Whatever works. A 5770 can handle most games just fine. With AA cranked up, it struggles a bit (all of this @ 1080p gaming). I'm not too sure how it does in 1200 gaming. Should still play things just fine. You can crossfire, but you might as well find a good deal on the 5850. There was a Dell deal 30% off GPU's, and puts the Visiontek 5870 @ $320?
 
I had a single 4870 before I went Xfire. It's performance is almost identicle to 5770. You will be fine for 1200 gaming, able to play on high details on 95% of the games. The super graphics intensive titles may need to be slowered SLIGHTLY to get acceptable framerates, but usually just turning off AA will be enough.
 
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