Evaluation of First Build

[Fallz]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: May 15-30 BUDGET RANGE: AU$1500

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Surfing the Net, Gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard (Logitech G15), Mouse (Logitech G5), Speakers (Logitech Z2200 I think >>; 2.1 Anyway) Monitr (BenQ V2400W) Software - Vista Home Premium SP1

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: umart.com.au

PARTS PREFERENCES: ATI GPU.

OVERCLOCKING: Yes CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Im already pretty set on the built, but still wanted some opinion from everyone on their thoughts. Im kind of after a semi-quiet value for money pc, wanting to overclock it to get more out of it. Possible future upgrades will include Blu-ray Player, SSD for Windows 7. One question I do have, do you think my built is going to fit the case - don't care if its tight, so long it fits and I can put the side back on I'm happy. =)

Parts are linked to Newegg.com for easier reference, can't buy from their though

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XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail $39.99

3x Antec 761345-75024-0 120mm Blue LED Case Fan - Retail $59.97

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $54.95

Antec EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $99.99

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Retail $145.00

2x SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card $197.98

ASUS M4A78-E AM2+/AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $139.99

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $70.99

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM $64.99

Pioneer Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 40X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - OEM $26.99

Grand Total: $900 US from New Egg / $1521 AUS from My preferred supplier.

 

[batuchka]

Hmm looking at CF benches and power consumption why not HD4770CF? Also u selected DDR3 which is incorrect as that is an AM2+ mobo ^^

 

[randomizer]

Somebody read the sticky!

As mentioned above, you need to buy DDR2. AM3 CPUs can run in an AM2+ motherboard but still only use DDR2.

 

[Fallz]

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 DDR3 AMD 790GX ATX AMD Motherboard $95.25

Sorry >< I double checked the specs and the board I linked was not the board I picked lol. Link above is the correct board the M4A78T-E rather then the M4A78-E - my bad.

New Grand Total $856US / $1521AUS

@Batuchka

I have been thinking about the 4770, but I didn't go with it - merely because there hasn't been a lot of tests done with it in CF, so not sure what to expect of it in that kind of environment.

Thanks for your quick replies to guys. ^^;

 

[Helloworld_98]

well for comparison,

2 4850's in CF come out at equivalent fps to a GTX 280, 2 4830's come out at equivalent to a GTX 285, and from first benches, 2 4770's are even faster than a GTX 285, my guess is about 13% faster since they are about 20% faster than a 4890.

 

[batuchka]

Not to mention

 

[batuchka]

Example of HD4770CF pure AM3/DDR3 build, $868 less 24" LCD+OS

 

[nerrawg]

well for comparison,

2 4850's in CF come out at equivalent fps to a GTX 280, 2 4830's come out at equivalent to a GTX 285, and from first benches, 2 4770's are even faster than a GTX 285, my guess is about 13% faster since they are about 20% faster than a 4890.

2 x 4850's are faster in CF than 2 x 4830's - I think you mixed them up (maybe just by innocent mistake) because the 4830s in CF competes with the 280 (which is only marginally better than a core 216 GTX 260 OCed)and beats the 4780 1 GB http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd4830-crossfire.html and 2 x 4850's compete or beat a 285. Technically I think you will see very similar performance between 4850's and 4770's in CF depending on resolution (with 4850 possibly having the edge at 2560 x 1600). Here is a good article with Core i7 benches of 4850 in CF vs the GTX 285 and many other setups - from this you can deduce that 4850 scales well and is good band-for-the-buck verses other GPU solutions: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3517 , However this is an article on 4770 scaling, and it is equally impressive:http://en.expreview.com/2009/04/28/first-look-at-radeon-hd-4770-crossfire-benchmark.html , although it is a preliminary result - you can compare the scores between the two test (similar platforms - make sure you compare the right resolutions with eachother) and see that the 4770 in CF is very similar to the 4850 in CF

Also I would personally go for the 4770's in CF - +1 to all the guys that suggested it - just remember that the are certain issues with CF like possible heat build up due to constricted airflow, which is why a ventilated case is always a good thing. In the case of the 4770's though I would guess that they won't have as much heating problems as 4850's in CF, they also spend much less power, are cheaper and probably just as powerful - so all around a very very good deal

 

[Fallz]

Thanks again guys ^^;

So you've all convinced me to go with the 4770's, which look definitely better value then the 4850's. However, this raises some free cash for minor upgrades.

Im thinking of going with the OCZ Reaper DDR3 Modules, for tighter timing. And perhaps a bigger HDD. Can anyone see a better upgrade path for me?

Also I am still wondering about the whole, is it all going to fit in the Antec 300 case. Which is cheap, but also small =/

Thanks for your input!

Heres link to new memory: OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $89.99

 

[Helloworld_98]

2 x 4850's are faster in CF than 2 x 4830's - I think you mixed them up (maybe just by innocent mistake) because the 4830s in CF competes with the 280 (which is only marginally better than a core 216 GTX 260 OCed)and beats the 4780 1 GB http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd4830-crossfire.html and 2 x 4850's compete or beat a 285. Technically I think you will see very similar performance between 4850's and 4770's in CF depending on resolution (with 4850 possibly having the edge at 2560 x 1600). Here is a good article with Core i7 benches of 4850 in CF vs the GTX 285 and many other setups - from this you can deduce that 4850 scales well and is good band-for-the-buck verses other GPU solutions: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3517 , However this is an article on 4770 scaling, and it is equally impressive:http://en.expreview.com/2009/04/28/first-look-at-radeon-hd-4770-crossfire-benchmark.html , although it is a preliminary result - you can compare the scores between the two test (similar platforms - make sure you compare the right resolutions with eachother) and see that the 4770 in CF is very similar to the 4850 in CF

Also I would personally go for the 4770's in CF - +1 to all the guys that suggested it - just remember that the are certain issues with CF like possible heat build up due to constricted airflow, which is why a ventilated case is always a good thing. In the case of the 4770's though I would guess that they won't have as much heating problems as 4850's in CF, they also spend much less power, are cheaper and probably just as powerful - so all around a very very good deal

I've seen different to you then, all the benches I've seen put dual 4830's ahead of the dual 4850 because 640 cores x2 scale far better than 800 cores x2.

 

[nerrawg]

Hmmm... really? what benches have you been looking at?
From what I have seen 4850's scale on average around 80% - pretty much the same as 4830s. Also the framerates on similar core i7 builds favour the 4850 - however would gladly like you to show me wrong if that is not the case.

-edit - check the Crysis warhead CF benchmarks at 1920 x 1200 in both above mentioned articles:
4830 CF at stock 575 MHz speed: 24fps
4830 CF overclocked to 700 MHz: 28fps
4850 CF at stock 625 MHz speed: 32fps

Think that gives a balanced picture on the strength of the 4830 vs. 4850 in CF.