New AMD build - Any suggestions? Thanks

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[H]ard|Gawd
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Thanks ahead to anyone who is kind enough to offer some advice.

This is my new build Im thinking of. Going to be used for gaming and multimedia. No editing or rendering or anything though. My price limit was around $800 but it went a little over.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Motherboard: ASUS M4A89TD PRO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131655

Video: MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127490

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 1600 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

HDD: Western Dig 640GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136544

PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026

Case: Antec 300 with 5 120mm fans - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Hows this look? Anyone have anything to input about this build? Thanks!!! Any suggestions for changing the video card or harddrive? I plan to go crossfire eventually and the heatsink on that card has gotten great reviews about keeping it really cool.
 
I would just get a corsair 750w imo... for about the same price and better PSU, can normally find one with a rebate too, and corsair rebates are easy and fast
 
Nickbaldwin86 said:
I would just get a corsair 750w imo... for about the same price and better PSU, can normally find one with a rebate too, and corsair rebates are easy and fast
Click to expand...

Okay, and do you think a corsair 650w PSU would be enough? I plan to go crossfire eventually...is 650w going to be good or should I stick with 750?
 
the 650w corsair should hold down a 5770 Xfire system. I run 5850s xfired with my Corsair 750w PSU.

If you can offered to, (looks like you have a few extra bucks for your $800 budget), I would suggest getting the 750w for future builds and/or more head room.
 
I'm a big fan of anything Corsair so that's what I'd rather have but that Antec is a good power supply so I wouldn't sweat it too much.

Since this is a gaming rig, I suggest moving up to a 5850 or GTX470 instead. If you have to, drop down to an Athlon II X4 which save you about $40-50 but give very close to the same performance of their big brothers. An Athlon / GTX470 would be much better for gaming than a Phenom / 5770.
 
1st off please answer the sticky about asking for build help at the top of this forum.. Beyond that I can tell you that the 5770 is a crap ass buy in your budget & so is that motherboard.. You could easily fit a 6850 intto that budget.

Edit: Try this out for size.. Within 5 bucks of the same cost & way better performance.

244 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition + ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X
310 XFX HD-585X-ZAFC Radeon HD 5850 1GB + XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W Modular PSU
125 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
70 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM
60 COOLER MASTER HAF 912

Total shipped 809. Then there is also an additional 75 in MIR bringing the cost to 734 after rebates. This has a MUCH faster video card & 2x the ram. Not to mention a very good modular PSU & more HDD capacity thats just as fast. The only things this looses is sata III & usb 3.0.. But given its for gaming the Video Card & ram will be of much more use. Also a much better case.
 
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bastage said:
1st off please answer the sticky about asking for build help at the top of this forum.. Beyond that I can tell you that the 5770 is a crap ass buy in your budget & so is that motherboard.. You could easily fit a 6850 intto that budget.

Edit: Try this out for size.. Within 5 bucks of the same cost & way better performance.

244 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition + ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X
310 XFX HD-585X-ZAFC Radeon HD 5850 1GB + XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W Modular PSU
125 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
70 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM
60 COOLER MASTER HAF 912

Total shipped 809. Then there is also an additional 75 in MIR bringing the cost to 734 after rebates. This has a MUCH faster video card & 2x the ram. Not to mention a very good modular PSU & more HDD capacity thats just as fast. The only things this looses is sata III & usb 3.0.. But given its for gaming the Video Card & ram will be of much more use. Also a much better case.
Click to expand...

QFT. As it stands now there is currently no cost-effective AMD motherboard with CrossFire capability with either USB 3.0 or SATA 6 Gbps controllers onboard. All of the cost-effective AMD motherboards with SATA 6 Gbps and/or USB 3.0 onboard support only one single GPU while the AMD motherboards that support CrossFire that don't cost more than a middle-of-the-road Intel LGA 1156 motherboard all lack both SATA 6 Gbps and USB 3.0.
 
bastage said:
Not to mention a very good modular PSU & more HDD capacity thats just as fast. The only things this looses is sata III & usb 3.0.. But given its for gaming the Video Card & ram will be of much more use. Also a much better case.
Click to expand...

I agreed up to this point.

A PSU isn't better or worse if it is modular, that is completely a personal thing and maybe nicer for building the rig... it is a good PSU though and a great deal with that card so I agreed again with you there.

Also a much better case????? that is the most ugly case on the market. imo

Cases are completely personal opinion, I build a lot of client computers... I have never recommend a case to a single one of them, why? because that is a personal thing, I will suggest and show them options, but I will never say this is a better case.
A different case also isn't going to yield any different end results in the computers power or performance, in most general areas of course.
 
E4g1e said:
QFT. As it stands now there is currently no cost-effective AMD motherboard with CrossFire capability with either USB 3.0 or SATA 6 Gbps controllers onboard. All of the cost-effective AMD motherboards with SATA 6 Gbps and/or USB 3.0 onboard support only one single GPU while the AMD motherboards that support CrossFire that don't cost more than a middle-of-the-road Intel LGA 1156 motherboard all lack both SATA 6 Gbps and USB 3.0.
Click to expand...
I would say this mobo is cost-effective:
$145 - Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX ATX Motherboard
 
Nickbaldwin86 said:
I agreed up to this point.

A PSU isn't better or worse if it is modular, that is completely a personal thing and maybe nicer for building the rig... it is a good PSU though and a great deal with that card so I agreed again with you there.

Also a much better case????? that is the most ugly case on the market. imo

Cases are completely personal opinion, I build a lot of client computers... I have never recommend a case to a single one of them, why? because that is a personal thing, I will suggest and show them options, but I will never say this is a better case.
A different case also isn't going to yield any different end results in the computers power or performance, in most general areas of course.
Click to expand...

I said PSU was better based on the Internals, not the fact that its modular..

And no cases are not completely subjective. I recomend that ugly ass haf 912 because its a good price at 60 shipped & the internal design & features. Especially if your talking about a long video card since the center HDD rack is removable leaving room for 13" video cards where as the Antec 300 is cramped in the video card dept with anything over about 8.5" (as I know all to well since I have one).

Aside from that, the looks could be a whole lot worse. I hate anything with allot of bright LED's or flashy colors. So the Haf 912 although not as sexy as a Lian li is allot better looking then allot of more popular cases.


Danny Bui said:
I would say this mobo is cost-effective:
$145 - Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX ATX Motherboard
Click to expand...
That certainly is a good board for the $$, but I couldnt see a way of working it into budget without taking major loss's elsewhere. If the OP can stretch an extra 30 bucks this would be a good combo to sub in. The after rebate cost would still be well under 800 as well if he wants to take rebates into account.

Edit: although I just checked the combo I linked the 1st time for CPU/Mobo.. Its even cheaper now as it just went on sale.
 
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