Cyberpower build for gaming @ $1200 USD

[nge123]

This system has several compromises, and I would like to know what people think about the overall functionality, and future upgrade potential. I am trying to go the bang-for-the-buck route, with an eye towards upgrading the short-life components later.

CD:24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive

CAS:CyberPower CX-9959 Lan Party Case w/ See-Thur Window

CPU:AMD Phenom™II X6 1055T Six-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology

FAN:Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan

FLASHMEDIA:INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer

HDD:1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

MOTHERBOARD:* GigaByte GA-890FXA-UD5 AMD 890FX

MEMORY:4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory

OS:Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

POWERSUPPLY:* 650 Watts - Corsair CMPSU-650TX

VIDEO:ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Card [

WNC:Zonet ZEW1642 IEEE 802.11b/g/n Draft 2.0 PCI Wireless Adapter Network Card

_PRICE: (+1162)


I am open to suggestions and ideas. My price limit for everything is $1200 USD, before monitor, tax and shipping, and honestly the more I save the better off I will be.

Basically I picked out the MoBo, HDD, and CPU for use over the next 4 years. I am hoping to upgrade the RAM, case fans, and Video Card in a year or two, or as needed.

I really want this one to be an AMD system, and yes I do plan on OCing later down the road (when I add in extra fans)

Is there any major bottlenecks, or items I am missing? Is there anything I could drop or downgrade and get a better bang for the buck? I am really impressed with the MoBo, and its feature of 3.0 USB

Also I checked with newegg and TD, and I decided that I would just buy the pre-built since I would only be saving very few bucks if I go BYO.

Lastly, I need some help picking out a new monitor.... It looks like the 1920x1200 monitors (the resolution on my now defunct Gateway FX laptop) are incredibly expensive. Instead they have been replaced with 1080. Any idea guys on a monitor to go with my new system?

Thank you everyone, for your time!

edit: to make it shorter

 

[welshmousepk]

spending that ammount of money on a pre-built system just seems ridiculous.

have you thought at all about building your own? you would save more than 'a few bucks' im sure. or for the same budget could get a much better machine.

but on the system itself, what do you plan to do with it?

for gaming, i would siggest dropping back on the processor and getting a more powerful GPU. if you aren;t gaming, then the GPU is probably overkill.

other than that, the only thing worrying me is how expensive it is for a relatively moderate PC.

 

[nge123]

Actually I was going the BYO route, and when researching the parts, I decided to check out other sources. As far as these parts themselves, Newegg will actually come out at about the same price.

For the processor, I would probably be happy with a 3 core 720 Black Box, so I could save some money there.

What price tag would you deem reasonable for the parts given? Or for that matter what parts would you use differently?

 

[welshmousepk]

well for that budget i expected to see a 5870 in the system. it just seems alot of cash.

im not really close on US pricing, so i couldnt say exactly what the build is like. but im sure i have seen more powerful builds being done for 800 in the homebrew section.

hopefully one of the local system builders can weigh in.

 

[lowriderflow]

In the future, please simplify your posts. Copying and pasting was totally unecessary and made your post entirely too long... could have just included the main components.

You could absolutely build this same computer for $300 less. No doubt... also, what are you using the computer for? for nearly $1200, you should be getting an i7 rig.
I'm willing to bet 95% chance you dont need an AMD 6core processor. For gaming and general users, the phenom ii x4 actually perform better b/c of their higher clock speed (essentially most people actually uses all 6 cores)

 

[nge123]

OK, I went back and made the opening post shorter.

I agree that a 4 core would work, so I have put that into my proposed build in this post

So doing my best on newegg, I came up with this so far. I hear everyone about how expensive my build is, and I would love to see how I can cut cost and maintain performance. I have already done some research on what I want.

If you have an idea that could help cut cost, let me know!

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: within the next 60 days

BUDGET RANGE: 1200 Before Rebates, plus monitor

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:Games (RTS > MMO > RPG > FPS), watching Videos, web surfing, office applications

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com but I am open to any other, esp if the price and shipping charges are good. I have no problem placing orders on multiple websites.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Looking for an AMD build on a 890FX board, Mid or Full Tower

OVERCLOCKING: eventually

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: eventually

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 (1920x1200 is preferred, but this seems more and more difficult to find)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Wife wants the rig to look nice, I want to to be cheap and upgradable.

Parts I have picked so far:

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP $89.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 AM3 $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128441

SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB $74.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Crucial Ballistix 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 X2 $105.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148304

ASUS Black 24X DVD+R $23.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

SIIG JU-MR0012-S1 All-in-one USB 2.0 Bay Media Card Reader $12.43
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820270007

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm $27.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student $124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116856

Arctic Silver 5 $9.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007



And i think I found a monitor:

ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms(GTG) $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236059

Any suggestions or help is welcomed. Also should I make a separate thread for this?

 

[welshmousepk]

no, its fine here.

firslty, to you plan to crossfire?

the PSU is overkill. a VX450 woudl do the job fine, and can be had for 50 dollars after rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003&Tpk=vx450

GPU wise, this is only a little extra and offers more performance: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121387
also SLI scales much better, so if that is your plan for the future this is a better choice card.

this motherbaord: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435&cm_re=am3_motherboard_890-_-13-128-435-_-Product
cheaper, but should still do everything you need.

 

[nge123]

no, its fine here.

firslty, to you plan to crossfire?

the PSU is overkill. a VX450 woudl do the job fine, and can be had for 50 dollars after rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003&Tpk=vx450

GPU wise, this is only a little extra and offers more performance: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121387
also SLI scales much better, so if that is your plan for the future this is a better choice card.

this motherbaord: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435&cm_re=am3_motherboard_890-_-13-128-435-_-Product
cheaper, but should still do everything you need.

Ah I see....

But dont I need the extra power? I was under the impression that I would need at least 600W to run a AM3 system w/ v-card.

As to Xfire, there is a silight cvhance I might do it later on, if it makes better economical sense than just getting a new card (but will probably get a new card and OC it instead)

Not an nvidia fan, so I wont go SLI, but thanks for the idea.

Looking over the MoBo now, looks like a good plan.

Should I go with that one, or

GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H $139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435&cm_re=am3_motherboard_890-_-13-128-435-_-Product&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

Or

GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128444

Given that I will want to do some OC and 3.0 USB at the least, are any of these going to be good?

 

[nge123]

Also been thinking of this for a vid card if I can save some more elsewhere. Might have to up the PU to make it work though

SAPPHIRE 100282-3SR Radeon HD 5850 $299.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102884

 

[welshmousepk]

the corsair PSU i linked should be capable of running any single GPU system. its very good quality.with th a 650w PSU you could actually run a fairly demanding crossfire setup. (5770's easily, probably 5850's with a corsair PSU)

the 5850 is an excellent GPU, but at the moment its over priced. the new GTX460 offers similar performance at 100 dollars less. until ATI lower the price of the 5 series cards they are very hard to recommend.

motherboard wise, the 880 chipset board should be fine. I would go with that.


the Haf case is very nice, but id suggest something a little cheaper if you are trying to shave some cash from the build. you could always drop back to a triple core processor such as a 720 (or get an athlon II 635).

 

[nge123]

the corsair PSU i linked should be capable of running any single GPU system. its very good quality.with th a 650w PSU you could actually run a fairly demanding crossfire setup. (5770's easily, probably 5850's with a corsair PSU)

the 5850 is an excellent GPU, but at the moment its over priced. the new GTX460 offers similar performance at 100 dollars less. until ATI lower the price of the 5 series cards they are very hard to recommend.

motherboard wise, the 880 chipset board should be fine. I would go with that.


the Haf case is very nice, but id suggest something a little cheaper if you are trying to shave some cash from the build. you could always drop back to a triple core processor such as a 720 (or get an athlon II 635).

The 720 was my original insipration for the build, but one of my friends is in the FF14 Beta, and he says that his 720 barley chugs along. He is also sporting a 5450 series Radeon, but activity monitor shows both are just not keeping up with the game.

Can I ask a silly question? I just do not see how the Nvidia card runs faster than the 5770, let alone the 5800 series. How can you make that judgment?

Going to spend some more time looking at cases, trying to find something cheaper that still looks good and is functional, then I will try and see if there are any other corners I can cut.

 

[nge123]

Man! The learning never stops! Reading up on the Athlon chips now... I thought they would be gimped like the Celerons... but maybe not? What are the real differences here anyways?

 

[welshmousepk]

check out the reviews, the benchmarks are there. a gtx460 performs arouns a 5830 better in some cases worse in other.

two of them in SLI, are jsut behind a 5970 (when overclocked, they surpass it)

the thing to remember is that the FF beta is a beta, it will be firther optimized by release. not to mention your friend is using a very low end GPU.

a tri core should be plenty.

 

[nge123]

Some good news from over the weekend... My budget expanded by a bit more money, so my build can expand out more here. New cap is $1500 ish before rebates (including CA tax and shipping).

Kinda worried, a good friend has pushed me towards looking at full sized cases, grabbing the $180 MoBo and getting a 750W PSU with the extra money. I am not sure if I am actually getting anywhere by the extra spending though.

Looking at:

Thermaltake Element V Black Edition - or other full tower idea? I live by a Fry's Electronics...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133178&cm_re=Element_V-_-11-133-178-_-Product

GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128441

GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB $229.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125333

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

Kingston FCR-HS219/1 19-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader $13.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134753

Crucial Ballistix 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 X2 ~ $106
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148304


SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0G -$69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

SAMSUNG EX2220X Glossy Black 21.5" 5ms $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001390

ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner $23.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

TP-LINK TL-WN851N IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Wireless Adapter $29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704040

Arctic Silver 5 $9.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm $28.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125


I have to say guys, I really appreciate the help on pointing me towards the BYO route. It is a mind expanding thing. Anyone have a good example of a $1500 AMD build with monitor, or a $1300 build w/o monitor?

Also since I am going with an NVidia GPU, should I be changing more things around so I can SLI? The more research I do, the more lost I feel, as I realize how little I know.

Also is there anything else I need to put this system together, aside from basic screwdrivers?

 

[nge123]

Best answer selected by nge123.

 

[welshmousepk]

you're welcome

and nope, it looks like you have everything. and the system looks like an excellent build. You'll want another 2gb of RAM when you can afford it, and another 460 would offer an awesome performance boost. but it will do everything you need for now.

 

[mike1]

You will save $124.99 by using OpenOffice for free or figuring out how to d/l Microsoft Office Starter 2010 which is MS Word and MS Excel.