Building a new rig soon, here are the main components: Case MOBO SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor OR AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor It's kind of a budget machine, aiming for less than $900, at most $1,000. The case is nice for the price but I could buy the upgraded version (the only difference is the fan size on the top fan) for $30 more. The Motherboard come with pretty much all I would ever need. Honestly, I just picked the GPU because it had the most ratings and highest rating on NewEgg ( I know its good but maybe there's something better?). So if anyone knows more about graphics cards and knows of something better around that price range, let me know. However, I'm really on the fence about the CPUs. The Phenom is a little older and with 2.8gHz its a little slower, but I believe its much more reliable. The Zambezi is new and from the FX line of processors and its a lot faster as well with 3.3gHz, but I've heard they can cause problems with certain systems. Can anyone shed any light on this situation? I'd like to be happy with what I end up buying. Thanks! EDIT: Here's the "upgraded" version of the case I listed: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
The speed is actually the same even though the FX is at a higher clock speed. The new FX is much less "efficient" and thus for the same performance it needs to be at a faster clock speed. It would be best if you could get the Phenom II x6 1090T, as that is both faster base speed and has a higher turbo speed, plus is unlocked as well so can easily be overclocked up. Nearly all of the 1090T's overclock to 4GHz pretty easily and depending on the cooling you can get them to 4.3GHz+
They're cheaper and run just as great (if not better) than an Intel. With Intel it just seems you're buying the name, but maybe I am biased? What do you suggest? EDIT: What About: AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition Deneb 3.6GHz It's not a 6-core, but its still pretty quick. Then again, if I wait I can get the 6-core for $20 more. It's out of stock currently.
The Deneb is a few % faster than the Thuban is clock for clock, but as you said you lose two cores. Thuban has a little bit more refined memory controller that can run higher speed RAM than the Deneb cores can. Also Thuban has turbo core speed, Deneb doesnt. So although than X4 is a 3.6GHz model, the Thuban X6 is actually a 3.7GHz model even though it is sold as a 3.2GHz. This is done for two reasons. One is so when a processor is reviewed, the newer 3.2GHz processor can see so far and above better than an older model that is sold as running faster, and also to take advantage of thermal and power headroom in the CPU's TDP since it doesnt use up its TDP envelope when only a couple cores are being used. It would be better to just spend a few Dollars more for the extra two cores and faster processor. Of course you could also get an X4 955 which is exactly the same as an X4 975 and simply overclock it up from 3.2GHz to 3.6GHz with nothing but changing a single number. And then beyond that up closer to 4GHz with only a few little tweaks. So the difference is more a quad core for $120 or a six core for $180 EDIT: the X4 955 is out of stock too :/ You can get them on sale for $105
Do you know of any other websites with good component prices other than newegg? TigerDirect has the AMD Phenom II X6 1100T but its $200
Unfortunately no, the closest thing we have is a Best Buy. They don't really have many computer components other than hard drives. However, I did find one on buy.com and I may make my first round of purchases: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz EDIT: I just saw that this is a refurbished CPU, probably will not buy. I might just go with the Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban, it will have plenty of computing power and I can overclock to around 3.3 if need be. GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ COOLER MASTER Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Would you advise against purchasing only these parts or should I wait to buy everything at once? I don't have enough money to spend right now to get a full system functional. Also, hows this for a power supply: CORSAIR Gaming Series GS600 600W
Just remember that the 1055T is not unlocked, so it isnt incredibly simple to OC by just changing 1 number. Sure it is still easy (well, IMO anyway) but it does take a bit more work. You would need to drop the memory divider down 1 strap, drop the HTT multiplier down by 1, and probably should drop the NB multiplier down by 1 as well to be safe until later on when it can be raised back up. Once you do that then you want to raise the FSB clock to 230 (stock is 200). You can leave the CPU multiplier in place. This will give you a CPU speed of 3.22GHz. Make sure Windows boots and run 3DMark11 or something like that to check for initial system stability. Once you know it is stable then raise your NB multiplier back up to 10. This will give you a NB speed of 2.3GHz instead of the default 2GHz. These CPUs are generally stable with little very tweaking up to 4GHz core speed and 2.8GHz NB speed. If your computer crashes while checking stability then raise the vcore up by 2 steps, which should be 0.030v I think. These processors have a very durable fabrication process and can easily handle up to 1.425v before any degradation happens to the processor from excessive voltage. If your computer is crashing after you raise the NB speed up, then raise the voltage 1 step on that as well. I cant remember the exact setting it is called in the bios as AMD has 2 settings that look like the northbridge voltage. However one is the NB in the CPU which we want to adjust and 1 is the northbridge in the chipset. By doing this your memory will be running a bit underclocked, so if you wish to raise your RAM speed back up higher you will need to get to around 240 or a bit more on the FSB. The FSB should be capable of closer to 300MHz, but will need voltage adjustments to get that high. If you want to go up to 250 or higher then put a little bit extra voltage in the HTT and NB. Remember as the FSB clock goes up, all components get overclocked since they multiply speed based on this number. Also be aware that you want your HTT speed to be around the 2GHz - 2.2GHz range. The higher you go the more FPS you lose in game. I know, its weird. But 2.2GHz is the sweet spot. Look in the manual for how to reset the CMOS data if the computer will no longer POST and boot. Sorry for the giant wall of text.
Ha, I thought you might say that. Ok so here's what I have ultimately decided on: CASE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233 MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514 If I can't find a 1090T CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851 And of course, some RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277 The other parts (HD, CD-ROM, Power supply, GPU) I'm going to pull off my old desktop until I can afford to upgrade them. Everything look good?
Looks good except for RAM. RAM is dirt cheap right now so you need to get at least 8GB. These would be GREAT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144489 Or these if you really want to save a few Dollars: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144486 Black Dragon's are great too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144496 I know it seems like I only advocate Geil RAM, but they have always made good RAM and lately they have really revamped their RAM department to put out quality products with good overclocking headroom and stability, yet must sell their product for as cheap or cheaper than the big players like GSkill and Corsair because they are a lesser known brand. Mushkin is still my favorite RAM company by far though. Redline sticks are the best RAM I have ever used, throughout all generations and platforms. Best customer support as well. Corsair makes terrible RAM now days and is living off their previous good name. GSkill makes a good product for a great price. Kingston is ok Never really liked AData, PNY, and other companies like that although every once in a while they put out a real gem. They were never really gaming or overclocking companies when I was first getting in to computers. They were just smaller OEM type stuff that sticks to the exact JEDEC specs and cost too much money. So I have always gravitated to companies more for the enthusiast market
+1 for G.skill. I went with it after reading a lot on HardOCP about how unproblematic is was across motherboard types/versions/brands. Corsair would be my number 2 choice, but from my suppliers G.skill couldn't be beat for price.
OooOo... heatsinks! I'm actually going to take enigma's advice and go with the GeIL EVO CORSA Series 8GB. Can we talk GPUs? Looking at this EVGA AR GeForce GTX 560 for $250. Decent buy? I'm looking for something $150-$250 price range but will make an exception for a great card that's only a few bucks more.
This one is a bit better IMO, it is basically the same but it has a few less shader cores and a few less texture mapping units. However this is offset by the better memory size that will let you continue to play things on higher settings in the coming years. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130662 Or this one is the same as your above choice so it has the few extra shaders and TMU's, but also has a good amount of memory on it and isnt THAT much more expensive that your choice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608 EVGA is a bigger company, but MSI is still good and it comes with good overclocking software if you choose to do that with your GPU. It also has a better cooler on it than the EVGA option.