Here's my build! 1200/gaming/school rig LINKS FIXED

[MrMatt]

So I'm building a rig for gaming on a 1280x1024 LCD, and for doing some moderate photo editing, and various school tasks. I'll also be watching movies on it as well.

All prices listed after rebates are applied

Case:LIAN LI Lancool PC-K7B $79.99
Processor:AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 175.99
Ram:CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 119.99
mobo:ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G 99.99
PSU:CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W 79.99
GPU:ASUS EAH4890/HTDI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4890 194.99
HD:PQI 2.5" 64GB SSD
HD2:HITACHI Deskstar 250GB
DVD/BD:LG Blu-Ray burner $179.99

Total: 1129.92


So what you guys think?

 

[engiNURD]

Dominators are overpriced. I'd stick with regular XMS3 instead, since there is little performance difference between CL8 and CL9 (not enough to warrant the $26 price premium):

$94 - CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1600 CMX4GX3M2A1600C9

Judging by the price, I think that PQI SSD uses a jmicron controller; in which case I'd suggest avoiding it. You'll get better performance from a Kingston SNV125-S2/40GB when they're released. For SSDs, stick with Intel or Indilinx (and maybe samsung, if you can figure out which drives use the latest version controller, since their old one wasn't good).

For $55, you can get a much faster and double the size drive:
$55 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA300 16MB Cache
$55 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA300 16MB Cache

 

[MrMatt]

thanks for the reply! I switched to Mushkin Redline link. CAS was a full point lower, timings were all lower too.

 

[engiNURD]

The performance difference still isn't worth any noticeable price premium, IMO, between CL7 and CL9 unless you run benchmarks all day. Higher speed ram yields more performance gains than lower timings with DDR/2/3.

 

[BaboonGuy]

Get a 125w 965 as it is the new C3 stepping which is much better. Overclock it to 4GHz... easily done on good air cooling, will be 24/7 stable.

 

[Patrickz0rs]

I purchased that exact same video card...it really is better than every other 4890. Super easy overclock and idles around 38.

 

[MrMatt]

Get a 125w 965 as it is the new C3 stepping which is much better. Overclock it to 4GHz... easily done on good air cooling, will be 24/7 stable.

the 965 is just the 955 with the multiplier set one higher though, does the stepping improve it that much?

I purchased that exact same video card...it really is better than every other 4890. Super easy overclock and idles around 38.

I'm glad to know that. I trust ASUS, as they've never let me down.

 

[BaboonGuy]

the 965 is just the 955 with the multiplier set one higher though, does the stepping improve it that much?




I'm glad to know that. I trust ASUS, as they've never let me down.

Yes it is worth the money. They also have a 955 C3 stepping but it's not as easy to find right now. The 125w 965 is a definite C3 as the older stepping had a higher TDP (140w). You can buy it here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-727-_-Product

The C3 stepping allows for higher overclocks, both on the CPU itself and the CPU-NB, which manage the memory or something, it's kind of like the CPU's bandwidth. A high NB is very important for silky smooth uber fast computing. 4GHz stable on air with good cooling (Megahalems, TRUE, Noctua NH-D14, or even cheap water cooling like Corsair H50)... perhaps even up to 4.2-4.3 according to AMD. If you do go Mega, or TRUE route, get some good fans. Zalman ZM-F3 is my fan of choice right now, but it's only 25mm deep, for serious air cooling with no regard for noise get a San Ace H101 or Panaflo 38mm deep fan. Good TIM is important too, I like ICD7.

If you're not going to overclock then this is all irrelevant, but you'd be leaving a good amount of speed on the table. The last 955/965 steppings would hit ~3.8 stable if you were lucky and had really great cooling, but it's harder to obtain and also harder to get a high NB on the chip as well.

 

[BaboonGuy]

Also, I know for a good amount of video editing and 3d programs, Nvidia > ATI for GPU-acceleration. Not sure if that's the case for your programs but it's something to look into.

 

[dmw16]

1280x1024 would drive my crazy. Any way to get a better monitor into your budget?

Also, what are you using a Blu-Ray burner for? That's a seriously expensive optical drive and I'd wait until you are sure you need a Blu-Ray burner before buying one.

Also, a 250GB hard drive seems really small. You can get 1TB for under $100 these days...

 

[MrMatt]

1280x1024 would drive my crazy. Any way to get a better monitor into your budget?

Also, what are you using a Blu-Ray burner for? That's a seriously expensive optical drive and I'd wait until you are sure you need a Blu-Ray burner before buying one.

Also, a 250GB hard drive seems really small. You can get 1TB for under $100 these days...

I'm going for a bigger monitor around xmas. I can go as high as 20" maybe, but limited desk space prevents anything larger. As for the blu-ray burner I have home movies to be burning, so it'll come in useful. It's my one splurge on this build. With regards to the hard drive, I"m not really a glutton. I have a 200GB now for both my system & files, and it's never been more than 75% full.

 

[fffblackmage]

I'm going for a bigger monitor around xmas. I can go as high as 20" maybe, but limited desk space prevents anything larger.

My little brother is currently dorming with two other people in a room meant for only two. He not only brought his desktop, but managed to fit a 19" WS LCD and a 21" WS LCD plus 2.1 speaker set on his desk. When I was dorming, I brought my 19" CRT + desktop + speakers.
I'm sure you can fit a larger monitor if you really wanted to.

 

[MrMatt]

My little brother is currently dorming with two other people in a room meant for only two. He not only brought his desktop, but managed to fit a 19" WS LCD and a 21" WS LCD plus 2.1 speaker set on his desk. When I was dorming, I brought my 19" CRT + desktop + speakers.
I'm sure you can fit a larger monitor if you really wanted to.

not really, especially not if I want to have the monitor centered on the desk. It has drawers to either side so I can't shift the chair. I have a printer on the desk as well. No room anywhere else in my room for it.