Upgrading my rig!

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zetas

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Mar 25, 2009
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I figured I'd upgrade my current rig as there's some heavy bottlenecking going on once I insert my 2nd graphics card.

Current rig:
CPU - AMD Athlon 6400+ (3.2Ghz default clock)
MB - Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4
RAM - Corsair Dominator 2x2GB 800MHz
GPU - HIS Radeon HD 4870 1GB (Two of 'em)
PSU - Corsair TX 750W

So, what I wanted to get, are the following:

CPU - AMD Phenom II 965 BE
MB - Gigabyte 890FXA-UD7
RAM - Crucial BallistiX 1600MHz 2x2GB DDR3 CL8


My main thought when chosing these components is overclocking.
As the motherboard is one of the best for multiple GPUs, it was my choice.
The CPU can be overclocked pretty much
(as high as 3.8GHz on aftermarket air cooler, even 4GHz on water!) and Cruicals BallistiX chips are "recomended" by overclock.net (sort of) because it can deal with pretty
high voltage (for ram chips) and frequencies.

Now to the point of this thread, does anyone have any experience/thoughts with/about this upgrade?
Anything that can be changed/removed/added for cheaper, yet better performance?

Or does anyone know if this build will actually work?

It all goes inside a CM HAF 932, so the motherboard will be difficult to get inside there (it's XL-ATX).
I might even have to place my PSU at the top, which is bad since I have to remove my top 230mm fan for the MB to fit in.
 
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Hm..
I would recommend not getting such a massive motherboard.
Also, you should either get a 955BE instead or get a 1055T. The 965BE is not worth it over the 955 since you could overclock them both pretty much the same.
Those are my only recommendations.
I'll post a link to a motherboard I would choose soon.

E/ Here you go.
ASUS Crosshair IV
 
Ph?bus said:
Hm..
I would recommend not getting such a massive motherboard.
Also, you should either get a 955BE instead or get a 1055T. The 965BE is not worth it over the 955 since you could overclock them both pretty much the same.
Those are my only recommendations.
I'll post a link to a motherboard I would choose soon.

E/ Here you go.
ASUS Crosshair IV
Click to expand...

Ah, yes. Been wondering about wether to get the 965 or 955, but guess I'll have to go for the 955BE. The 1055T

And after reading Guru3D's review I must say I am impressed.
However, there's only 1 bios on that MB, which I do not like at all.
But seeing as it's just as good as the 890FXA-UD7, I'll give it a shot I guess.

*edit*

Also, there's only 1 ethernet connection (There's two on the Gigabyte MB) and didn't like that too much either.
 
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I also wondered about getting a 4x2GB kit of Corsair Dominator PC3-12800 CL9 and tighten the timings alittle (from 9-9-9-24 to 8-8-8-24), but I'm still not sure if it's worth it. The price will be the same though, and Corsair does have a neat heatsink.
 
zetas said:
Ah, yes. Been wondering about wether to get the 965 or 955, but guess I'll have to go for the 955BE. The 1055T

And after reading Guru3D's review I must say I am impressed.
However, there's only 1 bios on that MB, which I do not like at all.
But seeing as it's just as good as the 890FXA-UD7, I'll give it a shot I guess.

*edit*

Also, there's only 1 ethernet connection (There's two on the Gigabyte MB) and didn't like that too much either.
Click to expand...

What do you need two ethernet cables for, exactly?

zetas said:
I also wondered about getting a 4x2GB kit of Corsair Dominator PC3-12800 CL9 and tighten the timings alittle (from 9-9-9-24 to 8-8-8-24), but I'm still not sure if it's worth it. The price will be the same though, and Corsair does have a neat heatsink.
Click to expand...

Are you only using this computer for gaming?
If so, there's no need for more than 4GB. Having 8GB will not yield better performance in games AT ALL. I know from personal experience.
 
The 965 isn't the 6 core right??

If your going AMD, i wouldn't recommend anything other than the 6-core now. It's simply put the best processor they've made that is also price competitive.

It's still slower than the i7's but it's up there and keeps up

And yea, i would change the motherboard. An XL-ATX?!?!? i have a HAF 932 also but does it even support a motherboard that large lol (probably cuz the HAF 932 is huge haha but still, damn that motherboard is big)

And im guessing your gonna have crossfire 4870's as your GPU config??
 
PewPewBangBang said:
The 965 isn't the 6 core right??


And im guessing your gonna have crossfire 4870's as your GPU config??
Click to expand...

Yes on both questions : )
I actually read about a guy who made that Gigabyte MB fit inside his HAF932, but he had to put the PSU on the top of the case, thus replacing the top fan.

mattM_- said:
Get a SSD :D
Click to expand...

I will if I get enough money : p
Having one as a boot drive would be awesome.

Ph?bus said:
What do you need two ethernet cables for, exactly?
Click to expand...

Oh, you know.. This and that..

Ph?bus said:
Are you only using this computer for gaming?
Click to expand...

Not only gaming. I do some video editing every now and then, I also fequently use winrar/7-zip to compress files.
 
zetas said:
Yes on both questions : )
I actually read about a guy who made that Gigabyte MB fit inside his HAF932, but he had to put the PSU on the top of the case, thus replacing the top fan.



I will if I get enough money : p
Having one as a boot drive would be awesome.



Oh, you know.. This and that..



Not only gaming. I do some video editing every now and then, I also fequently use winrar/7-zip to compress files.
Click to expand...

Oh. Have you thought about an i7, then?
 
Ph?bus said:
Oh. Have you thought about an i7, then?
Click to expand...

i7? But I like my money! : (

I'd rather do as said before, go for the 1055T or 1090T (depending on how much I get for working this summer)

Oh, and PewPewBangBang, the gigabyte card is actually only 2cm wider than a normal motherboard (ATX)
 
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zetas said:
i7? But I like my money! : (

I'd rather do as said before, go for the 1055T or 1090T (depending on how much I get for working this summer)

Oh, and PewPewBangBang, the gigabyte card is actually only 2cm wider than a normal motherboard (ATX)
Click to expand...

Oh.
Two questions.
When are buying these?
What do you plan on buying?
 
I'll be buying it within the next month. All depending on when I will get paid (don't know when).
Right now it's this setup I want ot buy:

AMD Phenom II 955BE (Or 1090T BE if someone can convince me to buy it instead)
Crucial Ballistix PC3-12800 CL8 (Think I'll buy two 2x2GB kits unless you convince me to do otherwise)
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula

This will all cost me about 870$ here in Norway (if I buy 8GB ram).
 
zetas said:
I'll be buying it within the next month. All depending on when I will get paid (don't know when).
Right now it's this setup I want ot buy:

AMD Phenom II 955BE (Or 1090T BE if someone can convince me to buy it instead)
Crucial Ballistix PC3-12800 CL8 (Think I'll buy two 2x2GB kits unless you convince me to do otherwise)
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula

This will all cost me about 870$ here in Norway (if I buy 8GB ram).
Click to expand...

You could get the 1090T and only get 4GB of ram. That's really all you need unless you're encoding HD videos. But get the 1090T + 4GB, it'll be better overall.
 
Ph?bus said:
You could get the 1090T and only get 4GB of ram. That's really all you need unless you're encoding HD videos. But get the 1090T + 4GB, it'll be better overall.
Click to expand...

Alright, thanks man.

Since my previous setup (955, 8GB RAM & ASUS MB) costs the same as the latter (ASUS MB, 1090T & 4GB RAM), it seems like this will be my new setup.

The RAM can always be upgraded later though, should it be needed : )

Thanks y'all for helpin out!
 
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