Complete u-turn here... Phenom II X4 940 system

EQPlayer · Feb 8, 2009

darkside_gamer7 · Feb 8, 2009

I'm really happy you went w/ the HAF. I'm in love w/ this case. If you look at the top inside where there is dual fan ports you will see an alternate hole in the back panel which is supposed to be for water cooling you can actually put a second PSU there. Or so I've heard. I haven't done it yet but that wld be nice. That way you don't have to scrap your old psu for a new one and just buy a new one. You will like those WDs. Fast Fast Fast. Especially if you decide to do a Raid config later. If you want you can ugrade those gpus for 30 more a piece and get the 1gb memory models. That wld give you 2gigs of GPU memory instead of 1. HIS has them for 230 I believe on newegg. There are others for less 2.

EQPlayer · Feb 8, 2009

darkside_gamer7 :

I'm really happy you went w/ the HAF. I'm in love w/ this case. If you look at the top inside where there is dual fan ports you will see an alternate hole in the back panel which is supposed to be for water cooling you can actually put a second PSU there. Or so I've heard. I haven't done it yet but that wld be nice. That way you don't have to scrap your old psu for a new one and just buy a new one. You will like those WDs. Fast Fast Fast. Especially if you decide to do a Raid config later. If you want you can ugrade those gpus for 30 more a piece and get the 1gb memory models. That wld give you 2gigs of GPU memory instead of 1. HIS has them for 230 I believe on newegg. There are others for less 2.

Any comment on the i7 vs Phenom II?

WR2 · Feb 8, 2009

EQPlayer :

But neither is it that far off in performance.
If you're looking at the Phenom II X4 940 you'll also want to look at the C2Q 9550 (and Gigabyte EP45-UD3P motherboard) which is probably its price/performance equal.

This i7 920 / Phenom II X4 940 / C2Q 9550 review is a good read.

You've picked a better a better PSU this time around but you're still not getting value for money, even in the case/PSU combo. The CM UCP is giving you 52amps of +12v power for $130 compared to a Corsair 750TX 60amps @ $99 after rebate. You can find the 750TX on the 4870 CF Certified List @ http://game.amd.com/us-en/crossfirex_components

darkside_gamer7 · Feb 8, 2009

Nope. Only thing I can say is that I still like i-7 more. P2 is good though. I recently mucked up somebody elses post by fighting w/ someone on i-7 over P2. I-7 is better but p2 can hold its own. want to save then go for p2. I recommend i-7.

ohiou_grad_06 · Feb 8, 2009

I think i7 is clearly the performance leader, however a lot of guys will probably tell you that i7 is not a huge jump from higher end socket 775 stuff from intel. So you could go that route as well to get similar performance and save money. However, when on a budget, amd is a good choice, and I find myself almost always doing what you are, go amd to save some $$ and get other components that are better. I think even if the processor is a little slower than the i7, if you can use that money to balance your system more then you will be a lot happier, especially if games are the primary concern.

But clearly if you have to have the fastest, go i7. If you want a little more to spend on other components, grab the phenom 2.

darkside_gamer7 · Feb 8, 2009

W2 has a point. I wld go w/ p2 this time. Save ya some moolah. I have a deep pocket right no so I'm going w/ I-7.

darkside_gamer7 · Feb 8, 2009

Exactly grad. I have an almost 2500 dollar game budget that I'm getting ready to use on a build in the next week or two. was 1900 but I got more then what I thought from income tax. I'm going to post system soon.

darkside_gamer7 · Feb 8, 2009

I have 2 kids and I made alot last year.

EQPlayer · Feb 8, 2009

WR2 :

Only problem I see with that Coarsair is that the fan is on the bottom and the case I've linked mounts the PSU at the bottom, meaning the fan will be pressed up against the bottom of the case = no airflow.

Outlander_04 · Feb 8, 2009

The phenom ll is a very decent quaddie .

Of your build the two suggestions i would make are
1/ do you really need 8 gig of RAM? Id install 4 gig and then run your games windowed and pull up windows task manager . Look at the performance tab and see how hard the cpu cores are working and exactly how much RAM is being used . I doubt you will manage to use anything like 4 gig let alone 8 .
Try this trick running any productivity apps you use too .

2/ the 4870 is a great card , but the one you have chosen might not have the best cooler . In a reference 4870 all the air is exited out the back , but on that sapphire the fan is in the middle and maybe some air is just circulated in the case . With a great case thats not a huge issue but its worth investigating a bit more b4 you buy .

PS most of the cases with the psu at the bottom mount the psu upside down so the fan is up

WR2 · Feb 8, 2009

EQPlayer :

There are two different positions where you can mount the PSU. And the case is slotted for airflow in the bottom mounting position. And you can always flip the PSU over if you want to re-orient the PSU for some reason.

from Cooler Master HAF 932 review

WR2 · Feb 8, 2009

Here is a review of the 4GB vs 8GB performance in Vista

EQPlayer · Feb 8, 2009

Any opinions on this case? I really like the looks of it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043

MechAG1 · Feb 8, 2009

EQPlayer :

Nice case I chose the Antec900 it is the mid atx case and is about the same and I have the corsair ps and it works in the upper or lower case configs. I do like the ps on the bottom made hiding all the extra cables very easy and think helps with ventilation. Case also has room behind M/B to hide cables. Very heavy/sturdy case and if you transport a lot be warned it is heavy.
GL in your build

EQPlayer · Feb 8, 2009

Outlander_04 :

My thing is I'm a WoW player with 2 monitors. What this results in is WoW being open on highest settings on my 24" LCD and then I've got Internet, iTunes, Ventrillo, and whatever else all running on the second 22" LCD... so I use a lot of RAM.

WR2 · Feb 8, 2009

EQPlayer :

One monitor or two it won't change the amount of RAM in use. And Im guessing you already do that with the current amount of RAM you have installed. With what youve listed you're not an especially demanding multi-tasker. You could do all that (and lots more) with 4GB and not notice any improvement with 8GB. A fast CPU with a good amount of on CPU die cache would be more important to you than extra RAM.

MechAG1 · Feb 8, 2009

With that board running 4 sticks of 1066MHz it will default to 800MHz. From what I read asus says it is a prob in the memory controller in cpu. Don't expect to run four 2gb sticks at 1066MHz. I have also seen some posts suggesting the 800900MHz ranges are possible

EQPlayer · Feb 9, 2009

MechAG1 :

Can you suggest a board that will run 4 2GB sticks at 1066?

MechAG1 · Feb 9, 2009

There are some new boards from asus coming out but I feel reluctant to suggest anything I haven't actual had first hand knowledge about. But those are ddr3 and am3
2 ddr2 sticks of 2gb will run at 1066mhz
4gb at 1066 should be plenty. 1066 is good for oc but, if you don't oc get 800mhz 4x 2gb sticks and you will be happy.

MechAG1 · Feb 9, 2009

You might be stuck with 1066mhz memory on that board since I didn't see any support for anything but 1066mhz but even at 800mhz its fast I use 4gb@1066 so I don't know if 800 ddr2 will work

Complete u-turn here... Phenom II X4 940 system

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