Looking for help with building AMD rig

chrisbutton · 2 Feb 2010 at 20:46

Hi

Thinking of building the folowing gaming rig, and looking for advice or if anyone can see any bottlenecks. Heard this is one of the best forums to ask for help, so i signed up.

Motherboard:
Asus M4A785D-M PRO, AMD 785G, AM3/2+/2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1200/1066/800, SATA 3Gb/s RAID, uATX, VGA

Processor:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition, Deneb, S AM2+, 3.0GHz, 8MB Total Cache, HT 2000MHz, 125W, Retail

Graphics card:
1GB XFX HD 5870 XXX, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 5200MHz GDDR5, GPU 865MHz, 1600 Cores, DP/ 2x DL DVI-I/ HDMI

RAM:
TWIN2X4096-8500C5C - 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2, PC2-8500 (1066), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-6-6-18

Power Supply:

850W Corsair CMPSU-850TXUK, ATX, 4x PCI-E/ 8x SATA, PS/2 PSU, 5 Year Warranty

Other:
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 120mm Heat Sink Fan for AM2 CPU (Without Fan)
Akasa AK-FN058 Apache Black Super Silent 120mm Fan - 4 Pin PWM [AK-FN058] [From Overclockers]
LG CH08LS10.AUAR 8x Blu-Ray Reader & DVDRW - 16x DVD±R, 8x +RW, 6x -RW, 5x RAM, 4Mb Buf - Retail Box
1TB Seagate ST31000528AS Barracuda 7200.12, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ

Thanks

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 2 Feb 2010 at 20:54

Do you intend to overclock the CPU or not??

If you do get the following motherboard instead:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-199-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1482

It can do Crossfire at PCI-E 2.0 8X too and has an 8+2 phase VRM with VRM cooling.

I would also get a Phenom II X4 955BE as this will also work in a DDR2 motherboard.

For a few quid more you could also get a DDR3 790X motherboard and 4GB of DDR3.

R088ieS86 · 2 Feb 2010 at 20:59

I agree with the Phenom II X4 955!
you can also save a few bob by getting a 750W PSU, doubt you'll ever need 850W unless you go graphics card mad (3 cards)

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 2 Feb 2010 at 21:02

An HD5870 1GB barely consumes more power than an HD4870 or HD4890 IIRC.

Hence a decent 650W PSU will do the job!!

This Antec is modular and has 4 PCI-E power connectors too:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-117-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

chrisbutton · 3 Feb 2010 at 14:41

Thanks

Thanks guys, got a lot of good advise, only thing left is to actually build the thing

pieman109 · 3 Feb 2010 at 15:02

It I were you I'd consider going DDR3 as opposed to DDR2 and go for one the gigabyte or asus Matx mobos that support it if you're not interested in Xfire,

Squirrel-666 · 3 Feb 2010 at 17:07

for the cooling you could try the corsair h50
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-002-CS
Might be better for cooling if you plan to overclock

daz87uk · 3 Feb 2010 at 17:34

^^ You want 2 fans on the H50, I reccomend Apache Black (4pin) PMW. Install with your own paste (MX-3) and have the pipes at the top of the rad as this takes up less room. Thats if you go for the H50

Squirrel-666 · 3 Feb 2010 at 18:01

daz87uk said:
^^ You want 2 fans on the H50, I reccomend Apache Black (4pin) PMW. Install with your own paste (MX-3) and have the pipes at the top of the rad as this takes up less room. Thats if you go for the H50

Ive got the H50 installed in my rig and i think i might take up your advice and add another fan and thats how ive got it installed pipes up top

daz87uk · 3 Feb 2010 at 19:06

yeah 2nd fan helps a lot with temps, pipes are quite long so to save bending them/excess strain, I put the second fan on the back as I cant see it anyway