$2000ish gaming and design build HELP!

[misty911]

Hello all, I'm not so computer savvy when it comes to building... thanks in advance for any help!

Approximate Purchase Date: Now - June 10th-ish


Budget Range: up to $2200 after rebates, WILL spend less if 2200 is overkill...


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Design applications (no 3D, some minor animation), gaming, music, internet


Parts Not Required: Speakers, 1 monitor, keyboard, mouse


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, tigerdirect, amazon


Country of Origin: usa


Parts Preferences: Antec, Corsair, Asus


Overclocking: no


SLI or Crossfire: Not sure


Monitor Resolution: 1600x1200


Additional Comments: AMD. Dual monitors. I'd like to be able to run multiple Adobe applications together while running Winamp. I'm not a hardcore gamer, just want to run Diablo III - the system reqs aren't out yet. Plan on using this PC a long time, but upgradability would still be nice. Windows 7 OS.

I don't know much about overclocking or very technical details, so I'm unsure about most of this. I tried, but the things I've picked might not go together very well... that is what you're for! Thanks again!


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AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103913

ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131644

CORSAIR XMS 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145327

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

Again, none of these are concrete, I really am somewhat clueless. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

I should probably add, I have EXTREMELY (busy) computer savvy family members who know what they're doing, so when you read this thinking I am a moron who shouldn't be building their own computer, don't worry, they will be helping me.

 

[striker410]

Hi misty,
The first and most obvious thing is the processor. With bulldozer right around the corner, your best bet is to wait and see what it looks like. If you really want your rig priced now, look at the i5-2500k, it smokes the x6 in gaming and beats it in nearly all rendering apps even though it's only a quad.
Here's a benchmark illustrating my point: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=288 I hate it, but Intel has the clear lead right now. I hope AMD can get their act together and come out with something competitive....

Next thing I will mention is that you only have 4 GBs of ram. While it's plently, you will want more with some rendering apps that eat up data.

For the PSU, look at a tx 750. It will allow you to SLI/crossfire later on.

If you use CS5, I highly recommend getting a GTX 570 for GPU acceleration features.

I hope that helps you out!

 

[gametstr]

Since ur budget is high u could go with a i7 2600K and GTX 570 based setup.
Or wait and see what bulldozer has to offer.

 

[mdd1963]

I'd substitute the 890FX mb/1090T cpu with an Asus P8P67/i5-2500K if at all possible...

a 6950(2gb) gpu is nice for about all games out right now.....

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I don't see spending $2k on an AMD build. This is $1995

Case - $155 - Antec DF-85 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129087
Case Fans - $15 - Antec Red 120 mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209013
PSU - $120 - Antec CP-850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371024
MoBo - $465 - ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.642533
CPU - incl - Intel Core i5-2600K included in combo w/ above
Cooler - $40 - Scythe SCMG 2100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185142
TIM - $5 - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080
RAM - $130 - (2 x 4GB) Mushkin CAS 7 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226178
GFX - $220 - EVGA GTX 560 (900MHz) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130651
GFX - $220 - Same
HD - $65 - Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 rpm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
SSD - $300 - OCZ Vertex 3 2.5" 120GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706
DVD Writer - $70 - Asus 24X DRW-24B3L w/ LS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247
Card Reader $50 55 in 1 Card Reader http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820314001
OS - $140 - Win 7-64 Home Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116992

-Large case w/ Great cooling, adjustable fan controls built in, fan filters, very quiet; PSU inaudible
-MoBo will do GFX at x16 x16
-Set OC profiles up w/ HT enabled for Adobe CS5 work up to about 4.6 GHz / Set Gaming profile for 4.8 GHz w/ HT off
-Low CAS RAM for Adobe applications
-Corsair Force 3 release should drive SSD prices down to $225 when it hits
-Optical has BR
-GFX are nVidia for CUDA in Adobe applications

 

[gametstr]

-Set OC profiles up w/ HT enabled for Adobe CS5 work up to about 4.6 GHz / Set Gaming profile for 4.8 GHz w/ HT off

That combo comes with i5 2500K. So no HT.

Not the 2600K. I thot it was a typo when u said i5 2600K. But guess u mistook it for an i7.