Please Help Me Build My Wicked Awesome PC

[Zombocalypse]

Hey all,

I've recently joined the forums because I heard that AnandTech was a good place to go to get advice. I'm a little nervous because this is my first time building a PC and I was wondering if you had any tips/tricks concerning some of my gear. Specifically, I am just making sure that everything is gonna work kosher. These are my specs:

MSI K9A2 Platinum AMD 790FX Motherboard
AMD Phenom 9500 CPU
WD 150GB Raptor Hard Drive
Antec 900 ATX Case


I still need to get another psu (thinking 750 watts) as well 4g of ddr2 RAM, and any suggestions on either would be helpful because I've never had to buy a psu before so I'm in the dark there and I don't know as much as I should about RAM (e.g. speeds).

I'm not sure I want the MSI mobo because I've heard bad things about MSI. I want to get the Gigabyte 790fx, but apparently Phenom won't work with the board out of the box (need to update the bios before it works) and I don't have an extra cpu sitting around just so I can get the bios update. As for Asus, I've heard it has BIOS problems, plus I don't really feel like paying extra for the WIFI.

Well, that's all for now I guess. Thanks for any advice you guys can give.

 

[Narse]

Any reason for Phenom over Core 2 quad?



Also you would get much more response out of this thread if it were in General Hardware. I wish I could help more but its been quite some time since I have used AMD.

And some more info on what you are going to use the system for ie gaming etc.

 

[QueBert]

MSI makes good boards, I don't understand why people bad mouth them, I'm sure they have SOME models that are less then stellar but MSI hasn't been a crap company since the first Athlons. Back then I wouldn't have recommended one of their boards, today MSI is a good company, not great but they have good prices and stable boards. Gigabyte I've had problems with, but a lot of people like them *shrug*

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums Zombocalypse If you'd like, I can move this thread over to the General Hardware section where they do lots of system-building advising. If you give the go-ahead, then look for your thread in General Hardware.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: QueBert
MSI makes good boards, I don't understand why people bad mouth them, I'm sure they have SOME models that are less then stellar but MSI hasn't been a crap company since the first Athlons. Back then I wouldn't have recommended one of their boards, today MSI is a good company, not great but they have good prices and stable boards. Gigabyte I've had problems with, but a lot of people like them *shrug*

I personally dont like them because they are cheaply made. I've had reliability and stability issues with them in the past.

That being said, unless you are a hard core AMD fan the Phenom cpu is a bad choice at the moment. the core2duo beats it in every area including price.

 

[Zombocalypse]

I would love it if you moved me on over. Sorry for the intrusion folks, haven't quite made heads or tails of the boards yet. Thanks.

 

[Zombocalypse]

I chose AMD over intel kind of by coin flip. I don't really know much about hardware specs, so I can't tell when the reviews I'm reading about Intel and AMD are legitimate or if they're just whiny fan boys. It just seemed like AMD was a better choice I guess. What's better about Intel? Are two duo cores better than one quad core? Also, I'm using it mainly for gaming (WoW, Crysis, etc.) and a little editing. Thanks.

 

[imported_wired247]

A good place to start would be searching the dozens of threads that we get just like this daily. You will get a sense of what people are buying and what they aren't.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Zombocalypse
I chose AMD over intel kind of by coin flip. I don't really know much about hardware specs, so I can't tell when the reviews I'm reading about Intel and AMD are legitimate or if they're just whiny fan boys. It just seemed like AMD was a better choice I guess. What's better about Intel? Are two duo cores better than one quad core? Also, I'm using it mainly for gaming (WoW, Crysis, etc.) and a little editing. Thanks.

Cliff notes:
1: Intel are currently better than AMD, clock-for-clock, and their CPUs overclock higher too.
2: Please fill in the sticky at the top of the General hardware section, it'll really help us know your needs and make some suggestions that'll fit with your budget.
3: 750W is way overkill for a PSU; a good quality around 400/500 would do - the Corsair 440VX or 520HX are great.
4: Just get any 4GB of DDR2-800, like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122

 

[Zombocalypse]

Here's a sticky I filled out about my hardware. I'm spending somewhere in the $900-1500 range (hmm, kind of a weird range) right now, and will add on whatever I need to later when I'm not so broke. The pc will be used mainly for gaming, though after looking at all this hardware, I'm becoming more and more interested in seeing what I can do with it, so who knows, maybe some programming too.

Power supply- Don?t know a lot about psu?s, but I?ve been looking at http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817103941 (Antec NeoPower 550 ATX12V 550W) and http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341010 (OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS ATX12V / EPS12V 600W)
Case -Antec 900 ATX- lots of fans, pretty case, and its on sale.
Motherboard- MSI K9A2 Platinum AMD 790FX- As I said before, this is what I?m looking at now. I want something that?s about this level of expected performance, but I?m still shopping around for good ideas. What would be a comparable Intel mobo? Same goes for my CPU- I?m kind of wary going with the Phenom, so either some comforting assurance or some severe warnings coupled with suggested alternatives would be appreciated.
CPU -AMD Phenom 9500
Heatsink/fan for the CPU ? Can someone please explain a little bit more about heatsinks? I understand the concept of a heatsink, but some info on installation and what I should look for in quality would be nice.
Memory - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (x 2)
Primary hard drive -WD 150GB Raptor (what can I say? I want to go fast). Probably gonna pick up an extra 500gb to keep my non-game programs, docs, info, etc. on
Primary optical drive ? CD/DVD RW
Video card? I?m leaning towards Nvidia (I have a GeForce 6200 puttering along in my old pc right now), but I don?t know enough about the current vid-card market. Obviously, since this is mainly a gaming computer, I want a good card that I can use to its fullest potential, but I?m already dropping a ton of dough, so between $100-200 range. Any particular suggestions in light of my current specs?
Monitor ? Sony SDM-HS95P- It?s a sweet 17-inch hi-def monitor. Wouldn?t have bought one (price tag is kind of outrageous, plus it has some glare issues) but I got it free so no complaints here.
Operating System ? Anything but Vista. Vista killed my laptop. And my dog. Okay, just my laptop.

Well, this is where I?m at right now. Any and all help is appreciated. Hopefully I can get everything in order in the next few days so that I can start buying/assembling. Thanks,
-Brian

 

[heyheybooboo]

The MSI 790fx is a great mobo (I own one).

The 790fx chipset is primarily targeted to Crossfire / CrossfireX which would require an ATI video card (a single nVidia card will work). Anand did a recent article you may review if you have questions.

If you decide to base your rig on the MSI 790fx consider an X2 5400+ 2.8GHz AM2 65W Dual-Core as an alternative to the Phenom 9500 (at least until the new B3 steppings arrive)

The video card market in the < $200 range is getting highly competitive with prices dropping on an almost daily basis.

If you elect to purchase a single nVidia card check out a 512MB 256-bit 8800gt or a 9600gt.

You have multiple options with ATI considering the CrossFire options of the MSI 790fx. Drivers will be released next week which will allow you to run up to four video cards in your rig.

The ATI video cards you should consider would be either the 512MB 256-bit hd3870 or hd3850. Prices range from $160 to $200 for a single card.

Alot of good options there.

If you feel that 3 or 4 video cards is an option for you, select a power supply from 700w to 800w with 4 PCIe connectors.

The power supply you selected has 2 PCIe connectors and would be fine for 2 (maybe 3) video cards.

 

[Zombocalypse]

Two questions: Say I got the 8800gt or the 9600gt (I was thinking about this one already), would it be worth it to keep my 6200 in for crossfire, or since it's so old/medium-grade would it not work or even be worth it? Also, what do you mean about B3 steppings? Does that have to do with the bios? Thanks.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: Zombocalypse
Two questions: Say I got the 8800gt or the 9600gt (I was thinking about this one already), would it be worth it to keep my 6200 in for crossfire, or since it's so old/medium-grade would it not work or even be worth it? Also, what do you mean about B3 steppings? Does that have to do with the bios? Thanks.

nVidia = SLI
ATI - CrossFire

You can't 'SLI' 2 different series nVidia cards.

B3 steppings will be the latest 'spin' of the AMD K10 (Phenom) arch, and may substantially improve performance. The 'quad' will not give you the performance in gaming that the duallie will (and in the case of the X2 5400+ you should easily reach 3.2GHz on stock volts)

Very little software is capable of using 4 cores in 'parallel' (the notable exception - some video encoding software like Adobe Premiere)

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: Roguestar

Originally posted by: Zombocalypse
I chose AMD over intel kind of by coin flip. I don't really know much about hardware specs, so I can't tell when the reviews I'm reading about Intel and AMD are legitimate or if they're just whiny fan boys. It just seemed like AMD was a better choice I guess. What's better about Intel? Are two duo cores better than one quad core? Also, I'm using it mainly for gaming (WoW, Crysis, etc.) and a little editing. Thanks.

Cliff notes:
1: Intel are currently better than AMD, clock-for-clock, and their CPUs overclock higher too.

QFT - it's not fanboism. I think at the low end AMD may still be competitive (like <$99), but if you're spending $200+ Intel gives you more for your money, currently.