Rebuild that won't cost $6k

[GFaust]

So, the last time I built a system from the ground up I ended up spending around $6,000. ( brand new 64FX-60 was over $2k alone... ) I essentially bought everything bleeding edge and it cost me an arm and a leg. It was fun having one of the better systems money could buy, but I relegated one of the main aspects I think of building a custom system and that's to avoid stupidly high markup for crap parts, to save money.

This time around, I figured I would budget myself to around $1800-$2000. I saved a bit off my build costs as I already have a Kandalf 9000 ( full size, 20lbs beast of a tower ) with a 1KW PSU, Creative Labs X-Fi Platinum sound card, z5500 sound system, along with a DvD drive that I dont need to replace. After reviewing a lot of articles and playing around with different setups, I came to the conclusion with the following pieces:

Mobo - ASUS Crosshair IV Formula ( Chosen mostly because I read it was designed for the 1090t CPU )
Newegg.ca - ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU - AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
Newegg.ca - AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT90ZFBGRBOX

GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 460 ( 1GB Version ) ( OC'd to 763 MHz )
Newegg.ca - EVGA 01G-P3-1372-TR GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

RAM - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
Newegg.ca - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model CMD8GX3M4A1333C7

HD - Crucial C300 SSD 128GB SATA III
Newegg.ca - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)


What I was wondering was if anyone had any suggestions or foreseeable conflicts of hardware. I haven't built a system in awhile and I've honestly lost touch with what's going on. As I said though, I've read a bit into it recently and feel I have a pretty good setup with whats out on the market, but any pointers or ideas would be most welcome.

The main reason I wanted to go with this AMD cpu over an i7 is mostly because it has the 6 core setup that shuts down 3 cores to boost the frequency of the remaining 3, automatically without any intervention. This system is mostly going to be for gaming and this design at this price point seems to be a better deal than just getting a 4 core i7 at comparable prices.

At any rate, I look forward to any incite.

Thanks!

[_dangtx_]

probably no need to get the 1090 over the 100 dollar cheaper 1050. might as well look at gigas offerings in the same price bracket. is this a gaming unit? if so you may want to get a mobo that does sli and add another 460.

[GFaust]

Yuppers, it will be a gaming unit. I thought about SLI but back when it was newer, the price trade-off for what you gained in performance didn't seem to be too good, I think it was roughly 20%, so I never really looked back at it too much. I do however have the power to spare and space in my case. But that's something I think I might hold off on until I have the system and see how well it performs. Adding in a second card after the fact I think would be better to give a more hands on comparison to the added performance. But I still wonder is it even that noticeable for the extra $250? Also, I thought the MoBo I picked had SLI. I figured for the price and it being relatively new it would support it. I'll have to look into that. O.o ( you see, this is exactly why I posted here first! )

As for the 1055, does that processor have the same 6 core setup that allows inherent overclocking by powering down 3 inactive cores for gaming to amp up the frequency by 400 MHz just as the 1090? It looks tempting, but it's also about 400 Mhz lower in base frequency. I suppose adding 2x more to the multiplier to get it comparable to the 1090 is doable, I'm just not sure how well the 1055 OC's. I also wonder if the 1055 is OC'd would it still power down cores to boost the remaining 3. I read that the 1090 runs 6x cores @ 3.2 or 3x cores @ 3.6. So I would hope the 1050 would be 2.8 and 3.2 GHz respectively?

[jay51]

im thinking 3.6 shouldn't be to hard YouTube - AMD Phenom II X6 Thuban 1055T Overclocked Benchmark

[_dangtx_]

cool. yes, the gtx 4 series so far not only overclock very well, but also scale extremely well.

for amd we dont have much choice, 980a chipsetted boards are only a couple, and i dont see any reviews of them either

im not telling you to go intel, but that would be the solution for an sli setup right now,since we know the mobos that wo with it. figure a 1156 mobo around 150-200 bucks, xeon 3440(because its got hyperthreading) or i7 860

its a shame we cant get sli loving, well on a big scale, like we used to i nthe past with amd mobos

NCIX.com - Buy ASUS M4N98 Evo ATX AM3 NVIDIA NF980A DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard - M4N98TD EVO In Canada.

and pm it here : Agile Electronics - Buy Mfgs Part-#:M4N98TD EVO online in Canada

[GFaust]

I'll have to take a look at that vid when I'm on a PC that has Flash. This one doesn't and sucks pretty terribly, ahem. ( no this isn't my overpriced custom built PC, that would be embarassing if it didn't have flash )

At any rate, yeah, I guess that mobo doesn't have SLI support. Oops!

Anyone know a good AM3 MoBo with SATA III, DDR3 and SLI support? I checked out Asus' selection but it seems to be lacking.

EDIT: I just looked at that M4N98TD on the Asus site too, it seems alright, but no SATA III, which I was hoping for, to go with my SSD. But it's probably top choice right now if I wanted SLI. I'll give Gigabyte and MSI a lookover too, but im not sure if they could offer much better.

EDIT2: I checked out MSI and they seem to have a similar board in regards to capabilities as the M4N98, just no SATA III. I also checked Gigabyte and it seems they don't even have any AM3 SLI MoBo's. 8\

My bad, I guess the latest nForce SLI chipset ( 980a ), doesn't support SATA III. 8(

[_dangtx_]

like i said, its a pathetic escuse of a chipset to have around when p55 and x58 make a killing.

for ssd performance better go with intel.

[Iphikratous]

Well you could go for an Intel 1156 mobo, probably around the same price and slightly better performance in gaming. The i5-760 is a stock 2.8 ghz quad-core, but it jumps up to 3.46 GHz when a certain number of cores are unactive, I forget how many. That said, these chips are incredibly easy to overclock and nearly always hit 4 ghz with the proper cooler.

[GFaust]

I never really realized until now how behind AMD is on their development and partnerships. I guess since nVidia is licensing out their SLI, finally, to Intel and their x58 chips, AMD is going to be pretty hard-pressed to compete. Maybe this is why they're selling off their fabrication plants to put more in to R&D, they need it.

Right now that Rampage III MoBo from Asus is looking pretty nice, I just need to find a comparable processor to the Phenom 1090 in the 300-400 range and I'll be set.

EDIT:

I narrowed my search to 2 Intel processors, either the 875k or the i7 930. I'm leaning towards the 930 though because it's the newer socket 1366 that takes advantage of Intel's QPI, it's also $50 cheaper.

Thoughts?

Newegg.ca - Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601930

Newegg.ca - Intel Core i7-875K Lynnfield 2.93GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor BX80605I7875K

[_dangtx_]

also keep in mind that 1156 will be replaced by 1155 and 1366 by 2011(?) next year so if you want to heavily invest, which i wouldnt do right now, gives you an idea anyway :)

but having sli and crossfire at your disposal? priceless. hell you could indeed keep one 460 and see what nvidia's answer to the upcoming mid way ati cards is. then you could probably decide.gpu wise

the k cpus are unlocked and probably not worth the extra price unless youre shooting for world records and the like