Gaming Computer

Looks good except it's amd =p

the intel quads out perform the phenom all day....

Not that i do not like amd or want them to develop better products against intel's ... but it's just the hands down truth, the intel based system on like a x38 chipset is just gonna dominate the amd equiv
 
FiRESAUCE said:
Looks good except it's amd =p

the intel quads out perform the phenom all day....

Not that i do not like amd or want them to develop better products against intel's ... but it's just the hands down truth, the intel based system on like a x38 chipset is just gonna dominate the amd equiv
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Intel is more expensive. Yeah, most of their high end stuff is better, but meh. Costs more for stuff that is mainly just for benchmarking crysis and 3dmark (unless you do a lot of video/photo editing and rendering. Then some of the higher-end quads are better). But for gaming, there is nothing wrong with buying amd... it's cheaper and it gets the job done.

Also want to add, you might wanna ditch the water cooling. No need for that. Just buy a good $50 heatsink and put that money towards a better video card. You only need water cooling if you are an extreme enthusiast doing large overclocks (phenoms don't overclock enough or draw enough heat overclocked to even need water cooling). That is also a crossfire board, so you might wanna stick with an ATI gfx card so he can drop another card in later if needed. There is no hard drive or operating system listed, so I am assuming he has both already.
 
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I would go with Intel, right now. They have a much more dominant lead in the CPU market, and make some good products, that beat the current AMD offerings. If that is the case, you will need to swap out that motherboard. If you do that, you currently have a 8800gts 512 for 209 listed, but for 199 you can get it's dx10, cooler brother the 9800gtx. I have tow and I love em, although 1 kills everything, except the scribbled, damaged, beautifully painted over piece of code that is Crysis. If not, that is a crossfire board, so go with ATI for a graphics card. Maybe the 4850? You don't need a water cooling system, especially seeing those phenoms don't have a lot of overclocking headroom. I have an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, and it keep my 600Mhz overclock nice and cool.
 
might be tricky leading wires to the motherboard when the motherboard is up top and the psu is at bottom. i have the exact motherboard and there are 2 connnectors at the top (a 24 pin and a 4pin) which means you will have to do some funky wiring or put the wires overtop the graphics card.
 
Does he already have hardrives? Or have you not yet added them to the list? (I know they don't really matter as much as the things you got there already, just though I would point it out :P)

As for the water cooling, I would agree that you don't really need it. (unless your friend is an uber overclocker, then that's his choice)
 
Yeah, no hdd's. I'm working on a better build right now. Unless he already has one, I'm going to include one.
 
AMD...Intel..SAME THING! They will BOTH get the job DONE! NICE RIG!
 
Get a cheapo core 2 duo and ditch quad and amd for gaming (I'd pick the e7200). Games don't take advantage of quad core right now, invest in a better video card and your games will thank you.
 
foxtrotniner said:
Get a cheapo core 2 duo and ditch quad and amd for gaming (I'd pick the e7200). Games don't take advantage of quad core right now, invest in a better video card and your games will thank you.
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Eh.... i would just get the better stuff now so he doesnt have to get it later. Its not that much of a price difference. Better to be up to date. I do agree with ditching the water cooling and just get a better video card with the extra cash.
 
Will that mobo support that processor when you get it? If I remember it's 140 watts, and may not come with a BIOS that supports that chip when shipped. That mobo has been around for a while longer than that cpu.

And I don't see why you're buying an AMD chipset mobo and putting an nvida card in it, if you want SLI, get an nforce, if you want a better performing mobo, get an intel chipset...That seems odd to me.
 
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Tomshardware just did a review on the 790GX boards, which finally give the phenom's some large overclocking - worth the extra money in my opinion.

I'd ditch the liquid and just go air. The NV120 is fantastic - but there are other air options. Much cheaper and really, most of the time just as good at cooling.

Also, you can get the 8800gts G92's for $159 after rebate now. I love mine, and wouldn't even think of a 9800 as an alternative. Overclocked mine to 800mhz without even trying. And either way - that's a crossfire board - so why get Nvidia for it?

Either way, I'd find a power supply with 2 12volt rails at least. I mean, you're not buying multiple cards now - but who wants to change their psu later on along with buying a second card?

So as others pointed out - you got some compatibility issues to work through and if it were me, some more forward thinking.

On that note also - if you go with Intel as some have suggested (you can't deny the performance) you have to be prepared for them to switch sockets several times before the next cpu buy... can mean having to buy a whole new rig just to upgrade the cpu.
 
Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. said:
Will that mobo support that processor when you get it? If I remember it's 140 watts, and may not come with a BIOS that supports that chip when shipped. That mobo has been around for a while longer than that cpu.

And I don't see why you're buying an AMD chipset mobo and putting an nvida card in it, if you want SLI, get an nforce, if you want a better performing mobo, get an intel chipset...That seems odd to me.
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Exactly..

If you are going single card get an x38 mobo and a q6600 or an e8400...

Newegg has the evga 9800gx2 for like 280 or something....

And i would try to stick to 2x2 on the ram.. 4gb is just fine for now, and it's always better to keep open 2 of the ram slots.. keeps the heat down
 
Yes, he does already have an OS and HDD from his previous computer. As for why there's a nVidia card, he had an 8800GTS already and wanted to SLI it. But I can see the reasons about the mobo. It was recommended to me, but it doesn't seem to fit the bill.

Intels are nice, but I usually prefer AMD. They are usually cheaper mainstream, and the small upgrade in performance you get from Intel isn't worth the money usually in my customers eyes.

The BE edition of the Phenom, with the 9950 being the newest tend to overclock well actually. The multipliers are unlocked (which I'm sure you knew already) and I've gotten 2.6Ghz Phenoms to 3.1 or 3.2Ghz stable, with no problems. I usually prefer water cooling over air, but thats just a personal preference.

I had already planned on flashing the BIOS to the new version update, but as is I'm looking for a more suitable mobo. Looks like the recommendation came up flat. Trying to find that that handles both 140w on the CPU for Phenom and has SLI.

Edit: If you can find a cheap Intel + mobo combo, then let me know. The reason I usually go with AMD is because its cheaper.
 
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Cervani said:
Yes, he does already have an OS and HDD from his previous computer. As for why there's a nVidia card, he had an 8800GTS already and wanted to SLI it. But I can see the reasons about the mobo. It was recommended to me, but it doesn't seem to fit the bill.

Intels are nice, but I usually prefer AMD. They are usually cheaper mainstream, and the small upgrade in performance you get from Intel isn't worth the money usually in my customers eyes.

The BE edition of the Phenom, with the 9950 being the newest tend to overclock well actually. The multipliers are unlocked (which I'm sure you knew already) and I've gotten 2.6Ghz Phenoms to 3.1 or 3.2Ghz stable, with no problems. I usually prefer water cooling over air, but thats just a personal preference.

I had already planned on flashing the BIOS to the new version update, but as is I'm looking for a more suitable mobo. Looks like the recommendation came up flat. Trying to find that that handles both 140w on the CPU for Phenom and has SLI.
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750a
 
Well there are two things to realize, one is that no pcie card right now utilizes the complete pcie x16 bandwidth, in fact it's closer to x8, the other (and I'm not sure this is still the case, what with thri-sli) but the total bandwidth for SLI cannot exceed x20, which means one x16 and one x4 or two in x8 acceleration. Two with x8 acceleration was the recommended configuration for a long time...Somehow I doubt that is still the case, I cannot image their having release thri-sli with those sorts of restrictions, you'd have to check that out. It may be a function of the chipset, and I'm not sure what the current restrictions are.
 
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