Self Build - Advice Needed!

[alexmorris60]

I Know that this type of thread must be common by now.
But I though as i'm planning to order my new PC components in the next week or so, I thought I would check the spec's with you experts to see if you could see any compatibility issues before I spend £900 of hard earned cash.

CPU - Phenom II Hex Core 1090T
MoBo - Asus nForce 750a SLi (M4N75TD)
RAM - 8Gb Corsair XMS3 1333 (2x4Gb)
Case - CoolerMaster HAF 922
PSU - 650Watt Corsair PSU (2x 6+2 Pin PCI-e)
GPU - GTX480 Gainward 1536Mb (A little Out dated but still Competitive)
OS - Win 7 HP 64 bit

Hard Disk, DVDRW and Monitor are not a problem, Both SATA2 and Monitord is LED 22" HDMI.
Also with modern CPU's that come with the heat compound sticker on them is it still worth while to put Arctic Silver on the Heat Sink?

Once Again Thanks in advance!

[Molotov]

Hey alex,
First of all how urgent is this purchase ? I'm not sure if you are aware but Bulldozer processors from AMD are coming out in the next 1.5-2 months which are likely to be both a great deal for you and even if you still choose older CPUs those would be cheaper (considering your budget however I'm sure Bulldozer will definately be one of the more viable options). These new CPUs can not be used with same MoBos as amd processors use now so upgrading later will mean getting both new CPU and MoBo.
If you are still to purchase now I'll have another look at your bits and bobs tonight when Im back home, although some1 will probably beat me to it by then anyway.

[alexmorris60]

Its not massively urgent, but would like it all sorted in time for Crysis 2.
If you could have a look over the system and let me know then ill have a think about bulldozer option aswell

[MSIC]

HI Alex, i have 2 thoughts (and, by the way, i'm not an 'expert'!).
Firstly, to answer your original request, I cant see any compatibility issues. It clearly will be a very powerful system.
My other thought though, and it's just an observation, is that since you are buying a whole new system and therefore don't have (i imagine) any commitments in terms of staying on a given upgrade path, i'm curious as to why you want an AM3 system and a GTX400 series card - both are, as you say, a little outdated? (That's not to say that they are wrong choices though, just perhaps a little less power efficient than their newer variants).

[alexmorris60]

I'm not sure really either . I think its because they are both fairly powerful, and as they are not current generation stuff the bang4buck should be higher
Its all subject to change. Im not really into Upgrading, but with an extra PCI-e Slot could add another at a later time to keep the FPS up and with a little OC'ing

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

GTX480 SLI on a 650W PSU is pushing it a bit TBH! You can get an HD6950 2GB for around £200 now and a pair of these will consume significantly less power than a pair of GTX480 cards.

BTW,the current AM3 CPUs will work in the AM3+ motherboards and AM3 motherboards are being released which will work Bulldozer but will run the HT at a lower speed.

Bulldozer is the first fully new AMD high end architecture since the Athlon 64.

[alexmorris60]

Whats the best AM3+ MoBo that Supports both Xfire and the up coming Bulldozer, but is around the £100 mark?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Whats the best AM3+ MoBo that Supports both Xfire and the up coming Bulldozer, but is around the £100 mark?

The motherboards have not been released yet but hopefully in the next few weeks more info will be released. A few companies have already been demoing AM3+ motherboards already.

[Molotov]

Hey cat
I thought you said earlier bulldozer will need new mobos - when did that change and where can I have a read about these mobos compatible for both

Also perhaps worth considering gtx 560 alex ? It's around 200 quid as well. Obviously with it being nvidia it might need a bit more power but i think they are quite efficient - I'm sure cat can tell if dual 560 can still be fed with the 650w well

[Skulltrail]

What resolution monitor will you be using?

While the 2x 480s at £200 each do give a lot for the money, unless you are above 1920x1080/1200 I would suggest that a couple of 560s would be plenty, especially when overclocked.

They would also be quieter and be using closer to 300W rather than 500W (for the GPU alone).

[Pob255]

As people have said, the new amd cpu's will be coming out soon, but until they are we'll not really know how good they are or how much they will cost.

EDIT: the new motherboards will be socket AM3+ and will be able to use the current AM3 cpu's and the new cpu's, like the way the AM2+ motherboards could use AM3 cpu's or AM2 cpu's

On that list of hardware you made, nothing is a direct problem, personally I'd not bother with that motherboard unless you plan to run two cards in sli from the start.
A pair of gtx560 might be worth looking at.
A single gtx480 is still a solid card (but power hungry and hot running) if you can get one at a low price it's worth considering.

Is Crysis 2 going to use tessellation? if so then it is worth looking at the ati 6xxx or nvidia 5xx series cards.

[alexmorris60]

Wow...Thats a lot to take into account. No doubt before I press 'Buy' I will alter some things. just for simplicity reasons I will stay with Phenom Hex. I can easily sea Bulldozer being quite expensive and out of my Budget
In a real word situation, and not a bench mark, what is the best GPU out for the £200-£250 bracket - I'm open for change to anything

Not interested in SLi Xfire for a few months yet too.

Thanks for all the Advice so far!

[MSIC]

Well the Radeon 6950 and the nvidia 560 ti are realistically the 2 main cards to check out.
Edit: To be clear by the way, in terms of frame rates, the GTX480 is the strongest card (see this comparative review); it's just not the card that I would spend my money on due to the power consumption & heat generation.

[Pob255]

What MSIC said, both are solid cards.

Personally I'd not bother with sli/crossfire unless you're looking at a multi monitor set up, however crysis2 . . . if it's anything like the first one then you might want to consider it, but I'd wait for it to come out before buying a pair of cards.

PS silghtly cheaper case option, look at the HAF 912 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...r-case-w-o-psu and get one of the bitfenix fans to go in the top http://www.scan.co.uk/products/200mm...8fdb%29-700rpm (that's the red led but they do others)
the 922 would be a better option if you where looking to water cool but for air cooling the HAF 912 is very nice for the cost. nearly half the cost and pretty much just as good once you add in a top fan and still decent without it.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hey cat
I thought you said earlier bulldozer will need new mobos - when did that change and where can I have a read about these mobos compatible for both

Asrock are releasing an 890FX motherboard which should run Bulldozer. OTH,I suspect that the HT will be run a bit slower.

Here are more details of the motherboard:

http://www.techpowerup.com/140422/AS...therboard.html