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

[ThePlague]

Nope.

[Cortexian]

Buying this stuff this week because I wanna get some actual high-res video for BF3:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - $119.00
MB: ASUS M5A97 AM3+ ATX - $95.00
RAM: Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 2x2G 1600Mhz DDR3 - $38.00

The RAM timings are slow, but I don't give a fuck, this is a budget build. The prices written into the hyperlinks are different than newegg because those are the prices I'm getting these items for at my local computer shop.

I'm pairing the above items with these things that I already have:

GPU: Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 5750 Vapor-X 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Case: Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Mid Tower ATX

ThePlague recommended this CPU cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus. It's cheap and it gets unreal reviews. I think I'll use that to OC the 955 Black, after all, that's what the Black edition is for. My only concern is that coolermaster doesn't say that it's compatible with AM3+ motherboards, but I'm sure it'll work no problem since the mounting hasn't changed for AMD boards since the AM2 socket I think.

What do you guys think?

I'm an Intel fanboy but the 955 Black is a pretty nice CPU.

The motherboard is pretty good, I've started to dislike some of the newer things Asus has been making and their customer service/support isn't the greatest.

The memory is decent, I was looking into the exact same stuff earlier for a build. The 9-9-9-24 timings aren't bad but the 1.65v power draw it requires isn't good. Try and find some RAM that only uses 1.5v since the 1.65v stuff is a little less stable from what I've read.

That CPU cooler should work.

[Amit]

I'm Intel all the way, but their cheap offerings are bullshit. I don't have $200 to spend on a CPU. SO i'm venturing into unknown territory of AMD with a relatively safe build. I don't plan to overclock the RAM, so voltage should be fine. Or is it just general stability that is the issue?

[Cortexian]

Only really matters if you're overclocking.

[Patrickssj6]

That CPU will downclock your RAM to 1333.

[Cortexian]

That CPU will downclock your RAM to 1333.

Only if you leave the BIOS controlled ratio for that at Auto... Haven't seen many motherboards lately that don't let you unlink the CPU and Memory ratio.

[Amit]

Only if you leave the BIOS controlled ratio for that at Auto... Haven't seen many motherboards lately that don't let you unlink the CPU and Memory ratio.

This. I don't have to overclock the RAM just to get the manufacturer tested speeds.

[InnerGoat]

Nope.

Select North America / Radeon HD and you'll see the following for yourself:
Speaking of warranties and how awesome lifetime ones are when you actually register... Awhile ago one of my GTX 285's failed and I sent it in for RMA, I got a GTX 285 back which failed in just shy of a month. I sent the replacement back for RMA as well and now they're sending me a GTX 470 1.2GB version. I called them up today and explained my situation (I use SLI to power three monitors using Nvidia Surround etc...) and now they are going to take my other GTX 285 and replace it with another GTX 470 1.2GB!

So since one of my cards failed, and the replacement they sent me failed, now I'm' getting a free upgrade from GTX 285's to GTX 470's.

Now, here's a question for you guys... My motherboard only support PCI-E 1.0, it didn't bottleneck my SLI GTX 285's. Do you think it will bottleneck my GTX 470's in SLI? If it does I will be on the hunt for a 780i chipset motherboard, they support PCI-E 2.0 and DDR2 + my 775 socket processor.

Oh so maybe they changed something around since then. Also nice to see how that RMA turned out. Can't say that I've seen a situation like that ~ grats on your cards!

Also your CPU is old, why not upgrade everything else at once

[Amit]

Oh so maybe they changed something around since then. Also nice to see how that RMA turned out. Can't say that I've seen a situation like that ~ grats on your cards!

I've seen it many times, but only with EVGA. Seriously, I wish they made Radeon cards. Sapphire cards just work, though. No need to RMA those babies.

[Cortexian]

Oh so maybe they changed something around since then. Also nice to see how that RMA turned out. Can't say that I've seen a situation like that ~ grats on your cards!

Also your CPU is old, why not upgrade everything else at once

Thanks heh. EVGA is now my most favorite PC related company, followed by Logitech.

Not upgrading cause the system I plan to build in April next year will probably be like $4,800 - $5,000 just for the tower... I'm slowly upgrading some of my peripherals right now that I can get from Best Buy for staff price though. Keyboard will be next, I was going to get a Razer Black Widow Ultimate but then I tried it... I really don't like mechanical keyboards apparently, so I'm going with a Logitech G110 instead.