New AMD Build

[Cinn]

So my computers gotten old...like me :\

I'll answer the basic questions first.

1. I'm mostly going to use the computer for gaming and photoshop work.

2. Price, 550-700. Just for CPU/MB/RAM
3. USA, Newegg

4. I'd like to stick with AMD, owning some stock and bonds I might as well further invest.

5. I'm going to reuse my raptors in raid 0 for the OS & Programs. I have plenty of extra 500gb hd's for data. I'm also going to reuse an X-Fi card and an 8800GTX. Case & PSU, keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, cd drive.

6. All the threads I find about builds are all about Intel... :\

7. My old setup bugged out and would not O/C but i'd like to get my system to run the memory at its advertised speeds at minimum.

8. 1920x1080

9. I'm going to buy/build within a month.

This is what I have in mind so far:

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131366
OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227496
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

Total : $580

My questions stem to the motherboard and the video card I plan to reuse. Origionally I had this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131392, the Asus Crosshair III. I'm worried about the bios not being updated on either of these boards to support the new AMD cpu revision and I won't be able to update the bios without buying an older am3 chip or returning the motherboard and waiting for them to ship with updated bios.

My video card is an 8800GTX and I'm wondering if i can use this for a while before buying a 5000 series card, or should I just buy the new vc now?

Or would I really be better off purchasing an Intel setup?

General comments are also welcome! Thanks!

 

[jae]

What PSU do you have?

I would save some cash, and get a 955BE and AM3 mobo combo deal. Well you original post says you gonna keep ur vid card, which leads us to believe its capable of handling your uses for the momeny, so wait till the 5-series prices come down.

 

[Cinn]

just O/C the 955BE then?

I was also going to get 2xOCZ Memory for a total of 8gb. Overkill or will it make a difference with photoshop ?

 

[StrangerGuy]

Don't fall for the "Performance" memory trick...RAM is really the last place to look at to boost performance. This is just the same in real-world use but much cheaper:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231303

 

[Craig234]

Those 2 RAM run about the same pirce now - $115 free shipping for the G.Skill, $105 plus $6 shipping for the OCZ AMD-specific RAM (it's also slightly cheaper than the G.skll now).

THey're also close in ratings. While the OCZ is 'designed for AMD' whatever that means, it's 8-8-8-25 1600MHz 1.5v, the H.skill is 7.8.7-?? 1600MHz 1.6v, a touch faster.

I'm picking 4gb for AMD MSI 790FX-GD70 and it's hard to sort out, either of these seem ok, some people say 'don't worry just get cheap ram'. Worry about 1600 vs 1333? About CAS? Who knows.

 

[elconejito]

just O/C the 955BE then?

I was also going to get 2xOCZ Memory for a total of 8gb. Overkill or will it make a difference with photoshop ?

I'm a believer in "you can never have too much RAM"... However, from a cost perspective, just buy what you need. Open up a bunch of files like you normally do when working and then check the Photoshop scratch size. That will tell you how much RAM you're using.

Generally speaking, for light photoshop work 4GB is plenty. If you're dealing with a lot of big (read 20mp+ RAW files) open at once, big panoramas, lots of heavily layered PSD images then the 8GB will come in handy. Or if you frequently use lots of other RAM-heavy programs at the same time then you could benefit from the extra RAM.

Really, the CPU will offer you the most performance. Just OC that 955 and you should be good to go.