Hey guys, I'm pretty sure I've got everything right, but would like to run it by yall first. Motherboard: ASUS M4A78LT-M Price: $69.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131672 Processor: AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Price: $99.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871 Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333 G.SKILL Price: $27.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231310 Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W Price: $69.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371048 Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100312-3SR Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 Price: $264.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945 Hard Drive: HITACHI HDS721050CLA362 500GB 7200RPM Price: $44.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145299 Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner Price: $18.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039 Case: Xigmatek ASGARD II Black Price: $39.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811815004 Monitors: (3X) Hanns·G HZ201DPB Black 20" WideScreen Price: $329.97 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254055 OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Price: $99.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 DVI Cables: (3X) Nippon Labs Premium 6 ft. DVI Cable Price: $26.97 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816012 DisplaPort-DVI: SAPPHIRE Active DisplayPort Adapter Price: $26.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999030 Total: $1,118.84 Comments, suggestions? Thanks.
yeah you can get a phenom ii x4 (965?) for 139 or so. it is a decent deal. x6 phenom ii's are becoming affordable as well. check passmark cpu benchmark list for comparisons. i prefer an ATX board because it has more slots for expansions. but thats your choice really. BEWARE of your displayport adapter choice. the first few reviews said it died. I cant prove it, but in my opinion Sapphire and HIS and powercolor (et al.) are lower build quality. Im sometimes wrong tho. Consider an aftermarket CPU cooler. they are more efficient meaning cooler running and quiet too if you use the right kind of fan. PWM fan is recommended. i use a thermax eclipse II. Its more affordable than alot of coolers, and the performance is close to water IMO. Hitachi drives, from what i hear, are slightly less reliable, and from experience, a bit loud. i like WD and Samsung drives. Apparently, Samsung is selling(?) their HDD dept. this could affect build quality in the future. good choice on the antec psu, mine has worked well for a while now. might be a bit low on the wattage side if your gonna game heavy or overclock, but thats for you to decide. TBH, though i use a 650 watt and im doing both. One video card. G SKILL is a fairly decent brand, i think. @21q - monitor configs above 2 monitors require displayport I believe. his chosen monitors have no displayport connections.
Here is an updated list. I find that if you research a lot before you buy, you can get quality products for a little more than off brand. I swapped out the monitors for backlit ASUS 20" ones, they come with DVI cables so thats off the list. Changed the case to a cooler master elite 430. Only 5 more bucks and has really good reviews, sidepanel/steel construction. Upgraded the HDD to a 750 GB western digital. like 2-3 more dollars including shipping. Upgraded the CPU to Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz. Motherboard: ASUS M4A78LT-M Price: $69.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131672 Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Price: $119.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808 Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333 G.SKILL Price: $27.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231310 Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W Price: $69.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371048 Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100312-3SR Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 Price: $264.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945 Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD7500AARS 750GB Price: $49.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136847 Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner Price: $18.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039 Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 430 Price: $49.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227 Monitors: (3X) ASUS VE208T Black 20" Widescreen LCD Backlight Price: $389.97 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236106 OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Price: $99.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 DVI Adapter: SAPPHIRE Active DisplayPort Adapter Price: $26.99 Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999030 Total: $1,184.87 I dont think I'm going to get an aftermarket CPU cooler because I dont plan on overclocking. The total price only went up like 70 bucks with waay beter parts. Oh, and the mobo doesnt have dual x16 slots so I cant do crossover with it so I'm probably safe with just a 620W. I hope. Cant wait to get this baby ordered! Dirt 2 across 3 screens is going to be insane! Thanks
If I were you, I would downgrade a notch on the Phenom II X4. You can find an X2 that you can unlock 3rd and forth core on, and still get a pretty good ghz overclock. I got a X2 555 black edition, and oc'd it to 3.7 with 3rd and 4th core unlocked. Stock cooler keeps it within 41 to 45 celcius. Look around a little. Hell mine with cores unlocked actually registers as a 955 x4 according to windows..lmao! As for the mobo, I would spend the few extra bucks on a better model. Go for the Asua M4888 Evo. Comes with crossfireX and nice GPU boost...very nice. The GPU is a little over kill. You could get 2 sapphire or XFX cards and run them in true x16 with the mobo and get a little more bang for cheaper than the $250 for the one you want.
I'll look into that mobo, looks pretty good. But, about the crossfire setup, I dont think you could get near as good performance from them as this 6950. I'm looking into it though. What card would you reccomend for a dual setup? The main reason I've chosen this card is because I've seen it push 3 monitors at very high res. My resolution would be at 4800x900, so thats 4,320,000 pixels to output. I'm very openminded though.
I'm thinkin about this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130290 only 4 more bucks.
MSI is horrible in my opinion. I had a MSI board, and it is not overclock friendly at all. The reason I suggest the EVO board is because it is built on the 880G chipset and overall handles a wider range of tweaks than the 7th generation chipsets. Also it is one of the few boards in which you can get true SLI or CrossfireX bandwidth at x16. Most boards say they can provide up and down x16 speeds with dual cards, but in truth they actually only perform at x8 each or worse..... x4 each. But on a side note, why does everyone seem to have a need to display stuff across 3 monitors? I may be a tad bit older than most here, but I can't imagine trying to look at a combined 3 monitors just to play a game or do everyday tasking. Can someone shed some light on this please? Oh yeah almost forgot. The one thing you get with Asus over the other boards, is the "Core Unlocker" function. Most motherboards do not have this type of support built in and require you to use 3rd party software. With Asus, you can do it from the start in the BIOS.
About the three monitors, the main reason for me to get them is because when you play call of duty, it lets you use your peripheral vision with the game, you look at the middle screen and the rest you see out of the corner of your eye. so it like extends your field of view in the game, not stretching the res to fit the screens, just extending it. Thats a big advantage of eyefinity. The second reason is the "cool" factor. Being able to beat everybody elses rigs. The third reason is for my schoolwork, since you have a huge desktop, you can have several applications open, and viewable, at the same time. It really boosts productivity. I say that as I'm writing with dual monitors. Word is open on one, and internet on the other. By the way, thanks a lot for the help. It's givin me a lot to think about before I buy, I'm still not sure about the mobo, I dont plan on overclocking so thats not a big issue. I'm looking for a good board in the 60-80 dollar range.
