500$ Gaming AMD Build? Advices/Suggestions Please

[chickenwings]

Approximate Purchase Date: Whenever

Budget Range: 500$ USD Before Rebate/Tax

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming > Browsing

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon only

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: Any

Overclocking: No/Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: Medium (1024x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900)

Additional Comments: Not really in a rush; can wait if there is going to be a sale on other AMD processors when BD come out.


Here's what I have to far.

Case: GAMMA Classic Series ATX Mid Tower - 35$
Mobo: ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 - 90$
CPU: Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - 112$
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 6790 1 GB - 130$
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX V2 430w - 45$
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 4gb Blue - 29$
HHD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB - 40$
DVD: Asus 24x DVD±RW - 20$

 

[008Rohit]

Your build seems just fine, you can just consider an AM3+ motherboard for bulldozer upgradability.

 

[aznshinobi]

Chips don't usually go on sale even after the release of the succesors. IE 1156/1366 to 1155. The 1156/1366 still cost the same even though 1155 is cheaper and better.

Your build looks solid. I'd pay a little more for the Asrock Extreme4 970 which would give you 8x/8x/4x and USB3+SATA3, plus AM3+ support.

 

[ps3hacker12]

hows this 970 chipset mobo its $85 after rebates:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130608

and currently the phenom 965 is only $115 after $15 voucher code: ($15 off with promo code EMCKBJB25):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

i wouldn't reccommend the 6790 its like a repeat of the 5830 hows this 6850 for $140 after rebates?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150516

 

[christoj]

Hi CW,

One other thing to consider- Do you have a microcenter anywhere near you? They do CPU/MOBO bundles which can't be beat. The kicker is that you have to pick it up yourself.

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

If you have one within an hour or two of home, you would do yourself a favor by checking out their website.

 

[aznshinobi]

Hacker, rebates don't mean money guarenteed. The 6790 is also far from the 5830 repeat. It puts it into the spot of the 550 Ti with pricing, however beats the 550 Ti out in performance. The 6790 is like a 460 GTX in performance and is far from the fail of a 5830.

As for the MB, that would give him 16x/4x in dual card, of course, that depends if OP wants to go CF/SLI

@Christoj, great suggestion.

 

[chickenwings]

@008, I'm not planning on upgrading the CPU. In a few years I would just build from scratch probably.

@azn, Took a look at it and couldn't find it on Amazon 🙁 I'm not planning on CFing or anything like that anyways

@ps3, On Amazon it's 100$ T_T and the 965 is still 130$ on Amazon :/ and I decided to go with the 6790 because it was recommended by TH as best performance for price 😀

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Will probably order all of the stuff by the end of the week.

 

[sadams04]

You are in good shape. My thoughts are below.

MB => As 008Rohit said, an AM3+ board is a welcome change so you can upgrade to a Bulldozer CPU down the road.
ASUS => http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131734
GIGABYTE => http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128490
ASROCK => http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262

HD - The Samsung F3 1Tb is $20 and gives you double the storage. It's also a fast and reliable drive..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=f3%201tb

 

[ps3hacker12]

Hacker, rebates don't mean money guarenteed. The 6790 is also far from the 5830 repeat. It puts it into the spot of the 550 Ti with pricing, however beats the 550 Ti out in performance. The 6790 is like a 460 GTX in performance and is far from the fail of a 5830.

As for the MB, that would give him 16x/4x in dual card, of course, that depends if OP wants to go CF/SLI

@Christoj, great suggestion.

i don't live in the US so i don't really get rebates, i just get that they are sort of a tax return that you can get but its a bit of a hassle. and this is what i was talking about:
http://alienbabeltech.com/abt//viewtopic.php?t=22733

 

[aznshinobi]

According to the ACTUAL performance output, it's performs better than the more "valid" 550 Ti.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6790-barts-gpu-geforce-gtx-460,2917-5.html

Although it performs less than the 460 768mb. And it shows similar performance to the 5830. The pricing is what makes it key. The 5830 was priced more than the 460 for less performance. However the 6790 is priced at $130 and it performs better than the Nvidia competitor 550 Ti. The 460 768mb was a valid suggestion before when the supply was plentiful. But now, the cheapest 460 768mb is $160-170, priced at the 6850's range.

Oh, yeah MIR's are hassles and unassured. I although received my $20 rebate from Cooler Master, fine print states that it could be anywhere from 2-4 months. And even then, some people don't receive it.

 

[chickenwings]

I looked at the HIS H679F1GD Radeon HD 6790 on a couple of sites and the specs say it requires 500w power supply, so I was wondering if the 430w would be a problem?

*no SLI/CF*

And sadly there are no Microcenter that is near me 🙁 the closest one is 6 hours drive away.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

that '500W Power Supply' is due to crappy Logisys and Diablotek power supplies that are actually fireworks with an uncertain fuse.

what matters is the amperage. a 6790 needs about 20-22 amps on teh 12v line (including powering the CPU & RAM), the 430 suggested has 34A on the 12v, so its fine.

 

[aznshinobi]

The 430CX V2 is a pretty solid PSU.