$2,500 Budget and this is it, I thinkPost Date: 2010-11-24 |
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SonicDeathMonkey 
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Joined: 17 Nov 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4 |
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 Topic: $2,500 Budget and this is it, I thinkPosted: 24 Nov 2010 at 2:52pm |
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First off I'll be running a Samsing P2570 @ 1920X1080. The machine will be utilized exclusively for gaming and the video card is probably overkill considering the resolution my monitor supports. Please let me know whether you have any different ideas &/or suggestions. Oh yeah, what does it mean exactly when it says "tweak" the OS? I don't know if that would be a good or bad thing. I'm not technologically savvy about the only thing I know how to do is update video card drivers. Well, here's my configuration:
Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master HAF 932 Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition (3.2GHz) (6 Core) (6 MB Cache) AM3 Socket Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-890XA-UD3 (AMD 790X Chipset) (USB 3.0) (Socket AM3) System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator DHX (High-Performance) Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended) Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 2x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX) Set 1 Raid Options: Configure HDD Set 1 to a Raid 0 Config - Stripe Performance (Requires Two HDDs) Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX) Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition) OpInternet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: 1x ATI Radeon HD 5870 2GB (Asus MATRIX Platinum P/2DIS/2GD5) Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Corsair A70 Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Red) (Up to 6 Fans) Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red) Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended) Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) |
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!ender_
DS Veteran 
Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4219 |
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Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 3:05pm |
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YIKES
have a look at the buying guide linked in my sig... i could go on for a while about what to change and why, which is pretty much everything
but its all there in an easy to read format, so check it out
as a start
2500 gam$ing exclusive? id do this:
moving up from that is really tough... its a $500 leap to get to the next power plateau
id pocket the money, but if you really want to spend it you could get 2 480s or a a solid state hard drive
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maxyme
DS Veteran
Joined: 14 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1514 |
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Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 3:21pm |
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haha ender you can't reccomend the 580s anymore :(
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Steam:pcmaster160
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jelsin
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Joined: 30 Oct 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 21 |
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Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 3:28pm |
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$2500 budget, and its not even intel :( Yes Ender's guide is awesome and very helpful, I would suggest to take a look at it.
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wcboltman
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Joined: 30 Oct 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 173 |
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Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 3:39pm |
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Try this: ticket number: 461100
Much more bang for your buck. With a $2500 budget get yourself a SSD drive for the OS and dual video cards. The GTX 470 is a great card and 2 in SLI will play anything at the resolution you will be gaming on. Don't bother with the LED fans, stick with the DS RAM, and definitely go w/ the Noctua cooler. Processor: Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Quad Core) Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58 (Intel X58 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s) System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series Power Supply: 1000W Digital Storm Certified (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (80GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X25-M MLC Edition) Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX) Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1.2GB (Includes PhysX Technology) Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua NH-U12P SE Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz Boost Video Card: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability |
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SonicDeathMonkey
Newbie
Joined: 17 Nov 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4 |
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Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 6:07pm |
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OH NOES, now I've got to basically re-think EVERYTHING!!! Thanks for the suggestions and great buying guide Ender!!!
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maxyme
DS Veteran
Joined: 14 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1514 |
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Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 6:34pm |
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well its not that bad just take the budget build template he has for your budget and modify it for your needs.
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Steam:pcmaster160
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Benson729
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Joined: 20 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 111 |
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Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 12:27am |
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Why don't you recommend 580's? |
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Dragoonseal
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Joined: 03 Apr 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2247 |
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Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 12:35am |
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Supply is down, demand is up. They just shot up in price a lot. |
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Lilim
Intel Core i7 920 @4.2GHz HAF 932 - Dual SLI Nvidia GTX 480s 3x Intel X25-M G2 (80GB) SSD RAID0 |
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maxyme
DS Veteran
Joined: 14 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1514 |
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Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 12:46am |
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yea they now cost $200 extra since demand is high. should be back to normal in a month or two
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Steam:pcmaster160
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SonicDeathMonkey
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Joined: 17 Nov 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2010 at 7:28am |
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Seems like everyone is hatin' on ATI GPU's and AMD CPU's. Why is this? I thought a single 2GB card would be the way to go and an affordable, I stress affordable, 6 core CPU would be the way to go to TRY and future proof my machine. I realize it'll be obsolete in 2-3 years but I'm trying.
Have y'all had bad experiences or are you just in love with intel and Nvidia. I've owned both Nvidia and ATI GPU's and was happy with both. I've never owned an intel CPU so maybe I'm biased?
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MagiK
DS Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1074 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2010 at 12:47pm |
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Really glad I got my order for 2 of the 580's early.
Seriously look at Ender's guide as a great starting point, the Sabertooth has replaced the x58 Motherboard of choice for now. The Intel Bias and Nvidia Preferance is due to stability and performance issues. AMD has some great products but if you are 100% honest with yourself, most games and software are built around the Intel/Nvidia builds still if the engineering and price/performance numbers tilt in AMD's direction these folks will be the first to let you know. For now Intel for CPU, Nvidia for GPU, and Intel for SSD. (and Corsair for PSU)  The biggest downside to AMD GPU's that has emerged on this forum has been on the Driver side. AMD drivers are just more problem prone than Nvidia. I think I know these guys well enough to state, that "BRAND" doesn't impress them, they want the NUMBERS to back up the claims. I havent seen them "Dis" AMD, just not choose it over Intel/Nvidia Edited by MagiK - 27 Nov 2010 at 12:53pm |
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!ender_
DS Veteran
Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4219 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2010 at 3:48pm |
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yea, there is no hate, amd processors are simply not as good. its not opinion, its fact.
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MagiK
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1074 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2010 at 8:51pm |
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By good he means overall bench marks currently and historically have usually favored Intel.
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Dragoonseal
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Joined: 03 Apr 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2247 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2010 at 9:06pm |
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Oddly, real world applications currently and historically have usually favored Intel as well.
As if AMD processors were simply not as good, or something. |
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Lilim
Intel Core i7 920 @4.2GHz HAF 932 - Dual SLI Nvidia GTX 480s 3x Intel X25-M G2 (80GB) SSD RAID0 |
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maxyme
DS Veteran
Joined: 14 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1514 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2010 at 10:12pm |
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Personally i have had terrible expierances with amd and ati cards/chips. I guess it just is the fact that i thiink intels low end chips are much better than amd's low ends and the same with nvdia and ati.
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Steam:pcmaster160
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MagiK
DS Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1074 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2010 at 10:13pm |
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that too
 But that is not to say that AMD chips are crap....just not as good. Usually the reason to go with AMD is because you cannot afford the equivelent Intel chip....but that isn't the case currently...Intel just has a huge lead on AMD.
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SonicDeathMonkey
Newbie
Joined: 17 Nov 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4 |
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Posted: 28 Nov 2010 at 9:37am |
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OK so after all of your recomendations I've made the following changes. Dual 470's and an intel quad core. I think you'll all agree this gives me the best bang for my buck and is nearly identical in price to the AMD system I started with. 2 other questions. Should I have my HD partitioned with a backup of the OS and drivers or is the recovery software all I'll need and should I have non-essential services tweaked on the OS. Thanks again for all of the feedback. I've gone on New Egg to read reviews and think you guys have made some excellent
suggestions. Wicked glad I posted here BEFORE I bought anything.
Chassis Model: Cooler Master HAF 932 |
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MagiK
DS Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1074 |
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Posted: 28 Nov 2010 at 11:25am |
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Personally I'd get a small external HDD and and make an image of the system first thing before adding or changing anything, then doing windows updates and adding your particular changes then doing another image. But that is just how I do it.
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!ender_
DS Veteran
Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4219 |
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Posted: 28 Nov 2010 at 11:32am |
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avoid the raid 1, hard copy backups are the best idea
what makes you want the p6 mobo over the sabertooth or the evga sli 3?
id reccomend 1000w psu for dual 470s, especially if you want to overclock
evga brand over normal 470s is no benefit
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MagiK
DS Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1074 |
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Posted: 28 Nov 2010 at 11:43am |
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ohh good catch Ender, yeah Sabertooth over the P6 board for sure.
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wcboltman
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Joined: 30 Oct 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 173 |
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Posted: 28 Nov 2010 at 12:46pm |
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Drop to the sabertooth and go with the 1000W Corsair. 3TB is a lot of storage space, but if you need it you need it. I would get a SSD for the OS though.
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MagiK
DS Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1074 |
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Posted: 28 Nov 2010 at 1:02pm |
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 Yup what he said.
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