AM3 Gaming PC questions

petepcgamer

petepcgamer

petepcgamer

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14 Dec 2009
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18
Hi guys I am planning on building a new AM3 gaming pc this is my second pc build and my first one was shoe string budget :P

So far I have got:

Asus Crosshair III Formula AMD 790FX

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz

Corsair Dominator XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 16000C9D Twin3X

As far as I can see these seem to be the best parts for a starting point.

I need everything else apart from monitor,speaker and input devices.
My budget total is around 500-700 depending. Any suggestions on these parts would be great.

PS. I have always like AMD and ATI but am willing to get an i7 if within price range ;)
 
i7 spec definitely worth the extra 16 pounds.:)
pc52.png
 
X58 boards are capable of doing dual as well you can even read it in the description of the mobo.It may be a bit too much just for gaming but it will keep him from changing the mobo and cpu for at least 2 years.But and i5 system would be great as well.
 
Hi thanks for the reply the budget is 700 inc the parts listed.

So you think it would be better to get an i7 ?

Ill have a look at those builds thanks

*edit* the 1000 am3 build probably available for 700 ish now. Is the crosshair best am3 mobo ?
 
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I'm in a similair situation and am about to order the exact am3 build you listed. I could add a bit more and get an i7 build, but AM3 is going to be around for ages and i want a future proof socket, AMD are going to be using AM3 for their Thuban 6 cores, which is what i'll upgrade to in about 2 years time.
 
ok so i think i have planned a decent build, I am going to be gaming on 1920x1080 on game like modern warfare 2 and other new games.

Asus Crosshair III Formula AMD 790FX

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz

Corsair Dominator XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 16000C9D Twin3X

XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case - Black

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler

Sony Optiarc AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter OEM

So any suggestions or anything I have missed? Im not sure if the case is a bit overkill and maybe the PSU aswell, although i may look to corssfire in the future so....
 
Thanks for the input yea the mobo looks nice but I will only probs ever need 2 GFX cards and also the crosshair has got the sound card built in :P

What do you reckon to the PSU would i need higher watt for xfire?
 
why go AMD when you can get a damn good i7 kit for roughly the same money ..the i7 one is Superior to the one you getting ..not sure why you asked for the advice as you seem to be ignoring it
 
well I have only had one person suggest the i7 and from what I have seen it makes litte differance for games its just better at encoding I am not ignoring the advice as I have used 3 of the items suggested. I am just not full convinced the i7 is that important for games.
 
petepcgamer said:
What do you reckon to the PSU would i need higher watt for xfire?
Click to expand...

For two cards the PSu should be fine. the 5770 uses max 112W and the higher 5 series uses max 145W. You may run out of plugs but can move over to adaptors.

According to frostytech the artic cooler does not offer much improvement over the stock heatsink. It does however move heat away from the motherboard better. i would aim for a 120mm fan supporting cooler.

If Gaming the i7 will not offer anything over an i5; have a squint at the article of the day!You're pretty much GPU limited anyway with a 5770. Talking of which we hve not had the great 5770 vs 4890 debate!
 
If Gaming the i7 will not offer anything over an i5; have a squint at the article of the day!You're pretty much GPU limited anyway with a 5770. Talking of which we hve not had the great 5770 vs 4890 debate!
Click to expand...

Sorry for noob question but i guess this means the gfx card is lower spec than the rest?
Thanks this article was very usefull may push the boat and get the 5870.
 
petepcgamer said:
Sorry for noob question but i guess this means the gfx card is lower spec than the rest?
Thanks this article was very usefull may push the boat and get the 5870.
Click to expand...

Yeap; but even with a 5870 you appear to be GPU limited with a single card solution in most instances. Don't be silly; I'm probably more of a noob than you as I haven't actually used much of/if any of this gear under discussion. I can only paste links for articles that may be interesting!

techpowerup has a nice relative performance table at various resolutions. they also do performance/price table (which may be a little dated).

Finding a 5870 may be quite hard atm and the price perfromance ratio I suppose is questionable until they fall in price.
 
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