General PC build help.

[Tony0783]

I apologize in advance for being a noob. lol Been looking to upgrade my PC and I am confused and frustrated by all the options. Im trying to build a gaming rig worthy of Battlefield 3, Diablo 3, Witcher 2, among others on highest settings or close to it, but I am trying to get off light on the pocket book. All I ask is for some suggestions and input.

Current PC:

2.60 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Board: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-M55SLI-S4
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
4gb ram
7200? rpm 1tb WD HDD
NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT (terrible I know)
PSU: Maybe 5-600w? Not sure which
Viewsonic 19"

Here is what I am looking to to get... while keeping some parts of my old PC. Just not sure if I want to spend this much money.

Radeon HD 6850 or 6870... not sure which? $170
Intel Core I5 2500K 3.3ghz $220
Viewsonic VX24" $200
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 $150
Corsair 750tx - 125
Cooler Master Storm Scout - 100 (optional but I at least want it to look and cool good)
Blu Ray drive - 70 (watch hd movies on pc with hd monitor)
Nice gaming keyboard (50-60)

So basically replacing most of the PC and all this will be right around $1100. Granted I havent updated my PC in over 5 years but wow.

Is this going to be good enough? If so, is there any way I can get out cheaper while still having a decent PC? Also, could I use my old 7950 in sli mode? Dont know much about it. Sorry for the trouble and any help would be much appreciated.

 

[simon12]

If this is a gaming build I suggest getting the i3 2100 so you can put the cash into a 6950 unless you plan to crossfire the 6850/70 later anyway. Also you will need to get some DDR3 RAM.

 

[ahthurungnone]

That's a very expensive build.

For gaming, you need to focus your money on cores and gpus. Thus, I'd purchase the Sapphire 6870 Vapor-X as this beats all the other 6870s in benchmarks. You can add a second 6870 later.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102925

Secondly, I'd consider just an AthlonII x4 or Phenom x4 AM3 for around $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808. The 965BE will beat the crap out of the Core2Duo's for the same money. Plus...

Third, Buy a motherboard that will handle the upcoming AM3+ chips so you can just drop the newer chips in and be "up to date" with the latest cpus. Like this one...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130600

Fourth, Logisys makes a great, inexpensive PSU for under $30 (I've installed 3 with no problems in over a year.) It's even ready two PCIe cards and has dual fans.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170017

RAM is RAM. Buy whatever DDR3 you want, but stick with RAM that's had positive reviews. Some RAM has quality issues.

Other than that, choose the case you want. Buy two Hard Drives to run at RAID 0 and watch the system scream.

 

[Engima]

You can just buy a regular CD/DVD burner instead of the Blu-Ray because it'll cost less money and unless you plan to burn to Blu-Ray discs, normal DVD's will be fine.

 

[Tony0783]

Thanks so much for the input guys. Decided against the blu/ray drive for now. Got a PS3 anyways. Getting a cpu Phenom x4 970 (almost same price as 965). Skipping on the keyboard for Xmas. Added 2 4gb 3ddr ram. I am thinking of running 2 6870 in crossfire somewhere down the road. Just a few more questions.

- Will that Logisys power supply be able to handle 2x 6870gpus?
- Are the advantages of running 2 hdd at RAID 0 worth another $80? I have 1tb 7200rpm wd caviar black
- Would 2 6870 in crossfire outperform a 6950?

Would it be cheaper to buy a cheaper PSU and a better gpu or a more expensive psu and crossfire 2 6870s?

So here it is so far:

ViewSonic VX2453mh-LED Black 23.6" Full HD HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor Slim Design w/Speakers -200
MSI 990FXA-GD80 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - $194
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100314VXSR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support ($20 mail-in rebate) - $180
LOGISYS Computer PS575XBK 575W ATX12V SLI Ready Power Supply - $30
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3- $60
AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ970FBGMBOX -$140
PC tower - 100

Total - $940

All this would cost less than $1000. Cheaper than my initial build. Sounding better already.

 

[Engima]

I'll answer the questions to the best of my knowledge.

I'm not familiar with the Logisys brand of PSU in terms of what components are in it but I would highly recommend getting a PSU that is 80+ certified so you can draw at least 80% of the listed wattage on the PSU. Three reliable PSU brands to buy from are Corsair, Antec and Seasonic. I don't believe anyone would recommend getting a cheap PSU since a cheap and faulty PSU can damage all your other components. For Crossfiring in the future, get at least a 600W PSU.

I don't know about RAID setups so I can't comment on that.

Crossfired 6870's will not outperform a 6950. If you can afford to buy the 6950 then go for it since a single GPU will be better than two lower GPU's.

 

[simon12]

- Will that Logisys power supply be able to handle 2x 6870gpus?
I would not trust that make and suggest a Corsair of Antec 650W+
- Are the advantages of running 2 hdd at RAID 0 worth another $80? I have 1tb 7200rpm wd caviar black
With the onboard raid controller most likely not
- Would 2 6870 in crossfire outperform a 6950?
Yes massively

 

[Tony0783]

Thx for the replies and sorry for jumping around in my decisions. lol You guys are helping me a lot.

Ive decided to get a Radeon HD 6950 2gb along with a 750w Antec power supply in case I want to crossfire an hd 6950 in future. Found a cheaper Gigabyte? am3+ motherboard to help make up the cost(same specs almost but $40 cheaper)

Not sure if this build will run Battlefield 3 or Witcher 2 on max but I think this is as close as im gonna get for under 1k with everything else im getting.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey