I am looking to build a PC in the near future ($800 to $1200). I have a few questions and this is what I have been looking at. 1. AMD vs Intel processor? 2. nVidia geForce vs Radeon HD graphics? 3. How would the sound be? Here is what I am thinking about purchasing... AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard CORSAIR XMS3 6GB240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive LG Black 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC XCLIO A380PLUS-BK Fully Black 1.0mm SECC/ ABS ATX Full Tower Computer Case I would love to hear everyone's suggestions.
1.) Gamers claim Intel. If your doing anything else not much difference-imo 2.) Lots of Radeon fan boys out there. check tom's hardware for tests, Radeon doesnt match up on majority of cards 3.) depends on speakers What are you using this CP for? Dont cheap on the monitor. I would check tiger's "Terminator Salvation gaming kit barebone" for $699 sounds similar to your build.
I wouldn't worry too much about pmak, he has absolutely no idea what he's talking about (no offense, but seriously, I mean that) There is no one company with an absolute runaway advantage over the others. I typically tend to recommend Intel CPUs and AMD Radeon graphics cards. The reason for this is that the Intels are more energy-efficient, have a more coherent yet diverse market for their related components, in particular motherboards, and tend to offer more consistent performance for games, HD video playback etc. When considering video rendering and conversion, however, some programs do prefer AMD CPUs, and in such instances, AMDs are the better buy. The X4 955 is the most powerful end-user retail AMD CPU there is, but there are several Intel offerings that are more powerful (but not necessarily better value). If sticking with an AMD build, the CPU and Motherboard you've chosen are about the best you get. However, the triple channel memory you've chosen is for Intel i7 systems and can't be used in the correct way for AMDs, you need to use 4GB or 8GB (4GB is plenty for most users). So that the option is there, for the Intel build, I would choose a Core 2 Quad Q9550 and Gigabyte EP45-UD3R motherboard. I am not forcing you to buy this instead, but this is what I would choose for the same money (the same rule applies for this about 4GB or 8GB of memory) I would avoid the 7200.12 hard drive as they had severe quality control problems early on. Buy a Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS instead. LG Optical drives are pretty solid quality, no complaints there. The HD4850 is an excellent choice for midrange graphics performance, but 1GB of memory is unnecessary for it. Either upgrade to an HD4870 1GB which can make better use of the exra memory, or scale back to an HD4850 512MB and save money. Your choice. The Radeons offer considerably better value in this part of the market. The Corsair TX 750W is a very powerful PSU, but far more powerful than you need. I would recommend a TX 650W or HX 520W for this build. The HX520 is a quieter unit, and is also modular to reduce cable clutter. The TX, however, may work out cheaper for you. (Don't worry about the wattage, even if you use the AMD your system will only use about 270W, around 230 with the Intel) I hate Xclio cases. Not just because I don't like the look of them, but they're poorly designed for cooling (despite the huge fans, the A380 cases are pretty mediocre in that regard), and they're also poorly made. A much better option for similar money would be an NZXT Tempest. To contradict pmak's post, most barebones from TD are awful, including the Terminator one. Sound quality is also about much more than just the speakers, though they play the biggest role. If you want top audio quality, I would recommend a Creative X-Fi sound card (not the Extreme Audio, or the really expensive one - the midrange Extreme Gamer is a good choice) The one thing I do agree with, however, is to make sure you get a good monitor. Avoid cheap tacky brands like Hanns-G, Acer and Benq. Stick with Samsung, Viewsonic, LG and Dell.
Last night, I was still looking for more options and I am 99% sure that I am going with Intel. Here's what I got CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Motherboard: ASUS Rampage Extreme LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard with Creative Audio Graphics: Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card RAM: PNY Optima 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Case: The NZXT Tempest Power Supply: COOLMAX CXI-600B 600W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Power Supply Optical Drive: LG Bluray Burner from above (no change) Hard Drive: WD WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives
There's absolutely no need for a Rampage Extreme, it's twice as expensive as a normal motherboard, and isn't even as reliable as many. Stick with the EP45-UD3R I suggested and save a hell of a lot of wasted money and time. Since you don't need a crazy motherboard, you should buy one with DDR2 (The EP45-UD3R is such an example) - so bin the PNY RAM and get Corsair XMS2-PC8500C5 instead. The power supply you've chosen is absolutely terrible, what happened to the Corsair you chose earlier?
Both of you have too much money to waste. He asked for $800-1200. I tried to save him some money for monitor and speakers. And to sammorris, you said I know nothing but you said the same thing I did: Me: "Gamers claim Intel. If your doing anything else not much difference-imo" You: "There is no one company with an absolute runaway advantage over the others. I typically tend to recommend Intel CPUs" and Me: "depends on speakers" You: "Sound quality is also about much more than just the speakers, though they play the biggest role." Typical Radeon fanboy, I knew it. Probably not old enough to drink a beer. Check your charts: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/ AND "To contradict pmak's post, most barebones from TD are awful, including the Terminator one." - not true for people who care about money or people who want to spend $800-1200 without thinking about monitor or speakers.
'Gamers claim Intel' is what you said, with absolutely no explanation for why. I went into careful detail as to why I recommend Intel CPUs, but clearly left the option open to the OP - I didn't force it upon him. As for the sound quality, what use are awesome speakers when you're a music technician and the static from onboard sound drives you insane? The choice of the sound card, and even the programs you use, affects sound quality substantially if you really do care about sound quality. Getting good speakers is just the first step. Oh dear, I see Tom's Hardware has come up, the website that for one has extremely flawed testing, and for two is run by nvidia's own staff. http://www.driverheaven.net http://www.bit-tech.com http://www.techreport.com http://www.hardocp.com are the sites I trust. Also, TD barebones, have you ever built one? Cheap build quality from the ground up, and to say a $700 barebone is comparable to the system the OP posted is utter nonsense. if there's one thing I can't stand it's people who read one website once and because of it they think they know it all.
That stuff is not worth the price. The newest products are never worth the price. Wait a year and it'll be half off. I try to buy 1 or 2 year old technology, use it for a year, then sell on ebay or craigslist for at least the same price-usually for a profit. The TD is compaable considering the money he will save. I cant wait to upgrade to i7.
1-2 year old technology is only cheap if something has succeeded it as it's new products that cause the price drops, not the time that has passed since release. People who spend a substantial amount on a PC want the best they can get for their money, not the cheapest PC you can buy (not often, anyway). Rather ironically, all the components I suggested are a year or so old anyway, simply because nothing of note has superceded them yet (that will be happening around the christmas period). Tigerdirect barebones may have reasonable specs in some instances (the terminator does not, it uses an old CPU, a dire motherboard, and a mediocre case) but they're also poor quality, as shown here by the Ultra case & power supply, Hitachi hard drive and the EVGA motherboard (and to an extent the OCZ RAM as well) Either the PC he originally posted or the amendments I made will eat that PC alive for anything but graphics performance (assuming of course he doesn't use the ghastly coolmax PSU) It just sounds like you want him to buy an inferior cheap system so you won't be jealous. Shame.
So I think that this will be my build. CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45T-DS3R Graphics: Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card RAM: PNY Optima 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Case: NZXT Tempest Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Optical Drive: LG Bluray Burner from above (no change) Hard Drive: WD WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Thank you sammorris for all your help
EP45T-DS3R? Is this coming from newegg? They only have that board as an open box (basically second hand from a warranty return), and it's the old DS3 design. The EP45-UD3R is only $9 more and will be brand new. You can also potentially get $15 off with a mail-in rebate. I'm not sure if I explained this before, but DDR3 is basically of no consequence for Core 2 systems, you should keep with the UD3R and DDR2 memory - I'd recommend either Corsair or G-Skill PC8500 CAS5 memory. The rest of the system is looking good, but once again, you will do fine with the 650W Corsair TX, you don't need the 750W version.
