Building a computer? Need advice/suggestions? Come here!

**Warsaw** · April 24th, 2011 09:33 PM

It can handle the newest games easily, even if it bottlenecks the most powerful GPU. You have a Socket AM3 motherboard, yes? It's also pretty good at overclocking with its unlocked multiplier. I've read that it can reach 3.5GHz on air, easy.

**Cortexian** · May 27th, 2011 01:02 AM

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3 w/ Dual DDR3 2133, CrossFireX/SLI ------------------------------------ $194.99
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...7%28ME%29.aspx

Processor:
Intel Core™ i5-2500K Processor, 3.30GHz w/ 6MB Cache ----------------------------------------- $229.99
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...7%28ME%29.aspx

Memory:
Patriot Viper Xtreme Series, Division Viper 2 Edition DDR3 8GB (2x4GB) ----------------------- $109.99
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...8%28ME%29.aspx

OS Hard Drives:
(RAID 0) 2 x Western Digital 500GB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA III w/32MB Cache ---------------- $54.99 X 2 = $109.98
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...3%28ME%29.aspx

Storage Hard Drives:
(RAID 1) 2 x Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue 7200rpm SATA II w/32MB Cache -------------------- $69.99 x 2 = $139.98
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...5%28ME%29.aspx

DVD Drive:
LG Super-Multi 22x DVD Writer, SATA w/ Lightscribe, Black ------------------------------------ $24.99
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...3%28ME%29.aspx

Graphics Card:
eVGA GeForce GTX 460 2GB PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDMI --------------------------------------------- $239.99 X 2 = $479.98
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...3%28ME%29.aspx

Power Supply:
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX850 V2 850 Watt -------------------------------------------------- $144.99
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...9%28ME%29.aspx

Case:
?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ------------------------------------------- $???.??
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...?????????.aspx

Sub-Total - $1,434.89
Total - $1,506.63
Savings - $120
Final - $1,386.63

Build for a friend, suggestions? All products must be from Memory Express. Probably not going to go with the RAID stuff, except maybe for the OS since SATA III RAID is oh-so-fun.

**Bodzilla** · May 27th, 2011 04:04 AM

personally i'd go for an ATI card.

mines brilliant.

**Cortexian** · May 27th, 2011 04:17 AM

Only things that beat 460's in SLI are 5850's/5870's in Crossfire (would cost more) or a 5970. The 5870's would cost more and the 5970 isn't available, the 5850's would be the same price but my friend and I both prefer Nvidia. I'm not sure if the 5850's are better than the 460 2GB models either, only the 768MB and 1GB models are shown on Toms Hardware.

3DMark06 v1.1.0:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2....1.0,2484.html

Sum of FPS Benchmarks Totals:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...tals,2485.html

We are kinda already over his budget a little, but it's lenient. The goal was $1,300 for tower + monitor + keyboard. That's the main reason we will probably ditch some HDD's and probably down it to 4GB of Memory instead of 8GB. There's always the possibility that we might get some kind of deal on a monitor with purchase of a system at the same time.

**Warsaw** · May 27th, 2011 05:11 AM

Forgetting the HD6000 series much? Unless he's gaming on 2560x1600 (which 460s won't be swell at anyways with certain titles), there is no need for 2GB VRAM. If you are going to spend a premium, spend it on a card that actually has more shader muscle.

**Cortexian** · May 27th, 2011 05:29 AM

He'll be on a 22" monitor most likely unless I can convince him that an extra 2" for 24" is worth it.

**Warsaw** · May 27th, 2011 05:47 AM

Then in that case you should definitels scrap the 2GB 460s. That's wasted VRAM.

Also, going from 22" to 24" is not worth it if he's already at 1080p or 1200p. It's barely worth it going from 1680x1050 to 1920x1080.

**Bodzilla** · May 27th, 2011 05:51 AM

1920x1200 is gods true monitor size.

all who say nay shall die.

**Cortexian** · May 27th, 2011 05:52 AM

Mk, I'll save some money and go with the 1GB versions. Unless you can recommend a better performing single or dual card solution for the current price or cheaper.