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Close to Purchase!!

Last response: in Systems

Hello, I am getting really close to purchasing the parts for my next rig. I figured I would post what I have gathered over the months into what I plan to get. So here is the list:

AMD 965 C3 125watt and Asus 5870 V2- Combo'd at 554 w/ 20mir
Crosshair 4 and HX750- Combo'd at 349.99 w/20mir

These certain items were picked based on the combo deal, I thought I would get the HX850 but the 750 is one hell of a deal.
I have been debating on getting the UD7 and buying 5770's and CFXing them, but I can't decide on which 5770
but at this point I would get the vapor-x.

HAF-X-Waiting for its arrival(I thought about just settling with the Cm 692 ad.)
Cooler Maste Hyper 212+(I am getting 2 cm 120mm led fans on it, and 200mm for the optional on top of the HAF-X)

Trident 2000 16000-(I would get the recommended Pi Series instead if I go with the UD7)+ G.Skill S fan with either of them
Windows 7 Home 64bit
Asus DVD
Seagate 7200.12 500gb

So that is pretty much it, I am still debating on which mobo and video card combo to go with.
and its either the CH4 w/ 5870 V2 or the UD7 w/5770's.
Then based on each one I will choose different color leds and differnt g.skill memory.

More about : close purchase

I forgot, I am in College I need a gaming machine, that also is used for a lot of word processing, multi-tasker, and can be used for CS5. I am currently using a 23" acer and for now a 19" on the side, but plan on a second 23".
I guess I had a budget of 1500, but it can actually be 1500-1600.

I have printer, mouse, keyboard, speakers, wireless connector, and other assorted little things.
I have a dvd and harddrive but there both IDE so I am not going to use them.
I do have an external 500gb HD but I don't use it for FAT32.
The IDE HD and DVD could be used on the gigabyte but I rather get all new products.

I just checked and either way they would be 1502 or 1503 after MIR. So its a matter of going gigabyte and plan
on CFing 5770's or the Asus route with a 5870.

I just read an article and I have completely decided on the CrossHair 4.

The GPU however is a different story because I can either get 1 5870 V2 possibly the Matirx or
I can get 3 5770's like Vapor-X. The Vapor X idea has came in because if I get a 5870 there is a very high
chance I will never get another one, but with 5770's just over 100$ I can easily save that much in a month or two.

I was just upset to find out that the asus 5770 couldnt handle anything past 2 way CFX, so after much
research and recommendations I chose the Vapor-x, and was told that the two for sale are the same
just depends on your mobo, since this is the newer one it doesn't matter which one I get cause it all conforms to 2.0.

Anyways what I am getting at is, based on what I have wrote, would you get the CH4 w/ 5870 or 3 x5770's???
Or if you think I should go another route please let me know, I would appreciate it.
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the 3 5770s won't scale very well, as there and there are very few games which fully use up 3 different graphics cores.

You could get a 5850 and then save up to crossfire. (since it's cheaper, you should be able to save up fast enough)

Well I would only buy two at first then buy a third if needed. I read that two of them scale very well. But your right some older games don't allow CF-X so it would be like using just one 5770. The thing is the only old games I got are FarCry and BF2.

I probably won't have a lot of money after I buy this, so chances of me saving up another 300$ would be far out, thats why I thought if I went with the cheaper 5770 then 150$ could be a christmas present!!

This has been the hardest part, I could get the Asus V2 for $350 in a combo, or I could get a 5850. I just don't know if
I will ever get another one.

I keep getting mixed figures on which card to get, I wish there was an easy button. Would you get a 5850?? I originally wanted the Asus 5850 DirectCu, but TigetDirect is where I would have to get it.

Best solution

hmm.. 2 5770s are okay, but the third is barely used at all in games today, so you'd be spending $150 on almost nothing.

A single o'cd 5870 will beat 3 5770s in almost every game, so that might be your best option.

Wait, you could also use a 5830 and then crossfire in future, since that's even cheaper than the 5850. That said, the 5870's probably the better option.

Well I can get an Asus V2 for the exact price as 2x 5770!!!
At newegg they have a combo with the AMD 965 which the V2 is 389.99 w/mir + additional 35 off for combo=354!!!

It would look a lot better in a red and black CrossHair 4 matching companys and colors, which would match my black Haf-X!!

Here's a suggestion for a good gaming and multi-tasking build.

Motherboard: ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 - $209

CPU: Intel Core i7 930 - $290

CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Frio - $60

RAM: G.Skill Pi Series 6 GB 1600 MHz CL7 - $180

GPU: GTX 470 - $350

HDD (storage): Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB - $80

HDD (boot and important programs): OCZ Vertex 96 GB - $250

CASE: HAF 922 - $90

PSU: Corsair 950TX - $130

That comes to about $1630 without all the mail-in rebates and shipping. You could remove the SSD and get a stronger graphics card if you want.

The GTX 470 should accelerate your CS5 work moreso than a radeon will. NVIDIA and Adobe have something called "the mercury engine" in CS5 that only works for nvidia's cards. OpenGL acceleration will work with either ATI or NVIDIA as far as I understand, though.

The single GTX 470 will give you pretty much the same performance as 2 5770s without using an extra slot, giving you advanced GPU features in CS5, and leave room for a second 470 in the future.

SSD is just nice to have.

EDIT: Forgot you had the HAF-X already. Excellent case, has USB 3 headers too. Nice. In that case (pun intended), this build comes to around 1540 and not 1630.

I am not into the whole Intel/Nvidia thing. I know the 920/930 is better than the 965, but I would just get a 1090t if I was going to spend that much. I like the way I am going with my computer, there is just the last few adjustments to make.

I talked to Tiffany at Crucial to figure if the 212+ and the Crucial Tracer would work together. She actually told me that
I should get air coolers on top and she told me about upcoming BL active cool or Ballistix active cool.
We came to the conclusion that even when facing up and down, the 212+ on a CH4, would block my tracers even with a fan.
plus even if I use the black dimms instead of the red, I would have even more clearence.

Even though g.skill trident/ripjaw 2000 was what I was going to get, the second I told there support tech that I was going to use an AMD board, they told me they can't help me, cause g.skill is for Intel only and that I shouldn't use there memory.

That's cool, I guess. But with your budget and your useage, you could get a much better performing system than what you're about to buy. If you live near a microcenter, the i7 930 is $200 too.

NVIDIA's CUDA technology is going to help you out in CS5 too. I just feel that it's wrong to have $1600 with 5770s and Phenom II 965's in there.

Well I think I am going to the 5870 V2, but I guess I can consider a switch I can look into it. Awhile back I was thinking of the 470 w/ an intel chip, but I am going to need to see what prices I can get on them.

I am into Utah and there is no computer store to walk in and buy computer parts. There are a few places like Best buy that you can buy a few things but no where can I find chips, mobos, "good" graphic cards and so. Just little things like cheap fans.

But I will look into it.

Oh, I see. 5870 is definitely a good card and if this was only a gaming build, it'd be a completely solid choice. But since you are using software that can be accelerated using NVIDIA GPUs (for class? Does your major use CS5 or is it more of a hobby?), I'd lean towards the 470. And of course, the i7 930's 8 threads will murder an x4 965 in encoding and other highly-threaded applications in your adobe suite.

Well I have used it as a hobby but, the courses next semester will be using it and will be mainly used on school computers.
But I want to get really into so I would like to get it myself @ "college" discount for 890$

My main use of computers are Internet, word processing and gaming. Then what I want to use it for some adobe software, which I don't have, but hopefully can save and get it.

So I want to make sure I have what I need when the time comes, "Future Proofing"

I am not so found of the whole Intel seen, for some reason I like AMD, better. I think it has to do a lot with its price.
If I want a similar Asus mobo the Rampage or Maximus there 350$, then I spend another 100$ more on the Chip.

thats 200$ I don't have, but then like above I could settle with the evga board that hasn't half the technology the Crosshair 4 has. But then the chip would be a lot faster, but if I wanted that route I could just get the 1090t.

For some reason the intel seen doesn't seem like me, it's probably because I haven't got into as much as AMD. But either way since this is a budget machine, I would probably be better off with AMD. But when I finish school, I plan on spending like 5,000 grand on one, when that time comes then I will get one of those dual cpu XEON boards that are bigger than my desk.

the CUDA of the 470 and the 8 threads of the i7 would help significantly overall. So that's your better choice, but if you do decide to stick with amd, then the 5870

Check this, If i get a gigabyte board I can get a pretty decent board for about 200$
Intel i7 930
EvGa 470
X58 UD3
and g.skill tri-channel memory
this is all under 1600$ about 1580$
Something like this is in my price range. I wouldn't have to get the fermi, but it would probably be the way to go with intel.

If I wanted to spend hella on a mobo I would have to get something like 1x 5770, that way I could spend another
200$ on the mobo. Then I could easily add another one if I wanted.

Hey getting a cheap video card actually works out very well.
I could get a Rampage 3, 930 and HX850-But then I would only get a 150$ video card.

It actually would work better on AMD, that way I would get a true 6 core that beats a 4 core thats threaded.
I am still scouting but I kinda got an idea in my head, I can pretty much get a 1090t w/ everything including
a 5870, it would just be about 1600$, which is a little over my budget, but hey for an extra 100$ I get the real thang.
I just wouldn't get all the extra fans the 200mm 2x 120mm and the 80mm.

If I ordered the 212+ from frys for 37 which I can save on the side, then the total at newegg is only 1554!

I like your idea before your last post. 1090t has been shown to perform worse in some games even when compared to the Phenom II x4's. It's not appropriate.

I've never done that. Barely even ever looked into it. Maybe just google around starting off with "9600 GSO Physx". See if it's even necessary first, though.

Well I think its any card above the 9800 series. I have a 9600 in my computer right now, and someone told me I couldn't use it for PsyX. But I have heard that the 9800 and the GTS 250 are what a lot of people use.

Hey I just found the sickest memory, the g.skill Flare 2000 lat=7 @7-9-7-24
Plus it works super good on the Mobo I want the Crosshair 4.

It's a little bit more money, but it comes with a fan. Its actually way better than the gskills and crucials I was looking at.