Some questions, plus a list I'd like looked over.

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xydin

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Case:

Thermaltake Armor +MX (Already have it sitting in my room, so it can't be changed)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133062


Motherboard:

GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128384

(Or any other recommendations you may have)


CPU:

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471

I don't know if it matters but, the thermal paste I was going to get is this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835202006


RAM:

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (Not sure on this one..should I go for 1066, or 800 with low timings?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209


HDD:

Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102


PSU:

The one I have in mind is an OCZ Fatal1ty (550w Modular, and I have had good experiences with OCZ)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022


DVD Drive:

Samsung 22x DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173




Ok, I know I have posted before, but almost every time on my list has changed, and I was wondering a few things and thought it would be better to just make a new clean thread rather than resurrect an old one.

all of this (without the case since I already have it) runs up to ~$530 in total. I would like to try to get it below $500 for right now, and I already know I won't be able to get a graphics card for about a month or so, or possibly next paycheck.

Should I pick up the Phenom II 920 rather than the 940 since I won't be overclocking, and the only difference I see is 0.2GHz between the two?

From what I see, if I grab the 920's combo with the same motherboard I would drop my total cost by ~$40, which would be great. But is the 940 worth the extra money even if I'm not overclocking?

Also, I know there were a lot of problems with 64 bit XP, but how about Vista? Should I just go ahead and grab 64-bit Vista instead of 32?


Thanks in advance for any help ^^.
 
aevm

aevm

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Your list looks good.

Sure, downsize to Phenom II 920, you won't see a difference 99% of the time.

If you are a gamer, then dump that OCZ Fatality (37A combined on 12V) and get yourself a Corsair 650TX (52A single rail). That will allow you even something like HD 4870 Crossfire, which you can't do with the Fatality. Also, if you're a gamer, get Vista Home Premium 64-bit so you can play games in DirectX 10 mode.

If you're not playing games (or just Solitaire, whatever), add a HD 4670 (or just use integrated graphics) and get that Fatality PSU.
 
xthekidx

xthekidx

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You might want to wait for the PII 955 which is supposed to be released any day now. A good AM3 board would be the GA-MA790XT-UD4P to go along with that chip, then pick up some decent DDR3 ram. If you want to just stick with the AM2+, you can still use that chip. A good AM2+ MB would be the GA-MA790X-UD4P (its the same MB as that AM3, except with DDR2, and its the same MB that you picked out above, just without the onboard video, so it costs less. Wait for your next paycheck so that the 955 will be out, and prices will be lower on components, then you can also get the GPU at the same time as everything else and not have to pay for onboard video.
 
aevm

aevm

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Oops, I misunderstood the part about Vista.

I thought you were trying to decide between XP 32 (fine for non-gamers) and Vista 64 (fine for gamers).

If you're trying to decide between Vista 32 and Vista 64, stop hesitating right now and get Vista 64. There's absolutely no reason to buy Vista 32-bit. Vista 64-bit is just like that and it has the additional advantage that it can see a lot more RAM. Drivers and apps are tested on both 32-bit and 64-bit before they are certified. They are in fact better tested on 64-bit because there are more users for 64-bit.
 
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xydin

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I do game, and yeah, I meant 32 or 64 bit vista, sorry, I kinda worded it confusing. Thanks for clearing up which version I should buy

I do plan on getting a 4870 within a month of buying the essential (well, what I see as essential) parts. But I more than likely won't be doing Crossfire, as long as most games I play run at playable rates I'm fine, and that's mainly some online FPS's and MMORPG's, most of which aren't too graphically intense. Although once I can play better games I probably will, so you never know (right now I play my games on my laptop with integrated graphics lol)

Anyways, the Fatality should be able to handle one 4870 right? and if I do upgrade to a crossfire setup I can always buy another PSU that would handle it (never hurts to have a backup psu).

And on the post about the 955, I think when it comes out it may be too expensive at the start, unless you mean to wait for it to release so that the other chips drop in price, either way I will wait till my April 30th paycheck and see what deals and whatnot are out then.


Thanks for all the help.

Any comments on the RAM? Should I go for the 800 MHz with low timings or find a 1066 MHz set? Also, I'm going to get 4GB to start with, but in the future should I order another set of 4 gigs and get 8 gigs or just leave it with 4GB?

Thanks ^^


EDIT: I have to go to bed now, fiance is waiting for me, I'll reply in the morning to anything posted, good night :)
 
JTP709

JTP709

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Unless you're doing anything really CPU intensive (such as a lot of multi-tasking, or burning a lot of DVDs) I would recommend the Phenom II x3 720 or 710. Games currently don't take advantage of multiple cores, and IMO I don't think the extra money for a quad core is worth the little extra performance in gaming benchmarks.

As for the memory, if you aren't over clocking 800 will be fine, unless you can get a good deal for 1066 with the same timings and same price. Im working on building a new rig in the next 2 months or so, and I'm getting an AM3 CPU and DDR3 memory just to "future proof" as much as possible. My last rig was outdated in literally 2 months, as a new socket and pci-x replaced my old socket and AGP card. Hopefully, I'll still have the option to incrementally upgrade my CPU, GPU, Memory, etc, with my new system build.
 
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Outlander_04

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There can be reasons not to buy a 64 bit OS .

If you have an older printer etc , and there are no 64 bit drivers would be one I can think of .


And with the RAM article on this site showing no improvement on an i7 system going from 3 to 6 to 12 gig of RAM Its dubious whether a 64 bit is necessary .
Having said that , if anyone is buying an OS then unless theres a good reason they should buy a 64 bit version .

Vista being replaced by Windows 7 complicates things . I think you can make a good case for acquiring a win 7 beta and using that till the release of the finished OS in a few months time
 
xthekidx

xthekidx

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Especially for non gamers. DX 10 doesn't do anything for Microsoft Office or Firefox.
 
aevm

aevm

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DX 10 didn't do anything for Bioshock either, come to think of it. It does make Crysis look better though.

I'm playing some games on XP 32-bit myself, so yeah, that's not a bad idea either. Just don't buy Windows ME, OK?
 
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xydin

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Lol, don't get Windows ME, check.


I'll go with vista home premium 64 bit, although I'm really kind of looking forward to windows 7 for some reason..

Anyways, on my laptop, it came with windows vista, but my laptop games almost twice as good on xp so i downgraded. I've heard cases where you can call microsoft, tell them that harddrive/mobo died or you upgraded some hardware and they will renew your OEM license or activation code and you can reuse it, would this work in my case you think?


EDIT: Off of the a little off of the OS topic... well a lot off the topic... in fact it has nothing to do with the OS topic in any way shape or form.. anyways.. on my case there is a mesh above where my PSU would go, should I put the PSU in upside down so the fan is facing up to utilize this and get fresh air to it? Or will there possibly be a problem with the screw alignment?

Images:

top.jpg


top2.jpg





EDIT2: Now that I think about it, the top of my case kind of looks like a scuba diver's flipper... or is "kind of" an understatement?
 
xthekidx

xthekidx

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I just did it when I rebuilt a Dell Dimension 4600 with all new internals. They didn't ask any questions, just asked me for the reference number that my PC had generated when I tried to reactivate with the old product key, and then they activated over then phone.
 
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xydin

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Thanks for the help both of you, I guess I will give it a try, can't hurt I guess.

Also, Windows 7 Release Candidate, is basically the final stage of beta right? Does anyone know how all the hardware would work with it, and does any software out right now already support windows 7? (Last I heard Windows 7 was releasing in October, lol I guess that changed)
 
aevm

aevm

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There may be a RC2 or even a RC3 later between this RC1 and the final commercial release. It depends on how many bugs are found, how important they are, how much work is needed to fix them, etc. Hard to guess right now.

I think October is still possible for the commercial release, because the beta gets good user reviews.
 
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xydin

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ok, will do, and yes that would mean installing in the normal position, thanks a lot for all your help guys, I should have the comp up and running within the next 2 weeks ^^, hopefully I don't have to do any returns. Lol, off topic completely, but any recommendations for anti-virus/firewalls for vista? I use zonealarm right now w/ xp; but I don't know how it is on Vista
 
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