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thanks a lot, and yeah I am not running 12 gigs of ram, I am refining my build and adding/removing stuff until the sales go off in newegg. I am going to probably get 8 gigs of ram, I was just reading reviews on some patriot ram to see if people recommend it since it is REALLY cheap for what it was giving me.
I figured my build would handle SC2 fine, I like to think for the future though, if for some reason I buy a new game for PC that isn't a SC2 expansion I wanted to make sure I would be able to set up crossfire and it be able to efficiently run the game, I figured crossfire would be cheaper than actually buying a whole new card, but then again it probably would be only a marginal difference.
The PSU I am getting is this http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair - Gaming Series 700-Watt ATX CPU Power Supply/1073697.p?id=1218217267616&skuId=1073697&st=corsair 700&cp=1&lp=1
A friend can get it for me for just 90~. It seems like a good price for a PSU when I was shopping around.
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In my main use computer at home I am using the msi 890gxm motherboard. Im pretty sure its the exact one you linked to. I have no experience with your first choice.
Its a good board if you are sure you want AMD. I bought it because I heard that it will be compatible with future procs like bulldozer. However, I concede that intel usually has its sh*t together more. I don't really know how to explain it.
I'm not sure why you are considering a matx board if you have a case that can fit a larger board. I use the matx 890gxm because I need a powerful matx board for a matx case. But if I were you I would get a larger mb. Its easier to work on a larger one.
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On November 17 2010 15:37 MOOG wrote:
Its a good board if you are sure you want AMD. I bought it because I heard that it will be compatible with future procs like bulldozer.
It won't be. AM3 processors will work in AM3+ motherboards, but AM3+ processors like bulldozer won't work in AM3 motherboards.
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On November 17 2010 15:51 Mindcrime wrote:Show nested quote +On November 17 2010 15:37 MOOG wrote:
Its a good board if you are sure you want AMD. I bought it because I heard that it will be compatible with future procs like bulldozer.
It won't be. AM3 processors will work in AM3+ motherboards, but AM3+ processors like bulldozer won't work in AM3 motherboards.
well shit man. I dun goofed.
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Oh god, I just found a deal on another Mobo for anyone whose looking. It seems great and even fully supports crossfire with double x16 support, not shaving it to x8 each.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131363&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-13-131-363-_-Product
Newegg daily deal.
Edit: I am also trying to weigh the pros/cons of each board. So far I see less PCI slots on the above one, but under features the previous board lists many more, but I dunno if that is just supposed to be showy. The no USB 3.0 thing kind of sucks, since I wouldn't have any way to add it in besides losing a PCI Express slot which defeats the purpose of it being able to fully crossfire without losing that 20% efficiency by dumbing down to x8.
Oh and they also have an nvidia 460 on sale today for like 160~
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The difference between x8/x8 and x16/x16 is minuscule, less than 5%. I don't know where you got 20% from. I would consider having USB3 much more important.
No need for 8GB of ram unless you are doing lots of video editing, and in that case you should be getting an X6.
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I read somewhere online (I think tom's?) that is was like a 20% decrease to a video card. I can't really see the speeds of USB 3.0 being beneficial for anything besides USB networking cards and external hard drives, for things like mice, keyboard, webcam I just doubt the quality difference would be significant and for external drives I have eSata which is faster and for networking I would hardwire anyway.
But yeah, you are probably right about me going overboard on ram my friend does crazy streaming/sc2 on max setting among other shit and runs just fine with 6. I just figured be safe for later but I am sure I can lower it. For a couple of things on there I was waiting until black friday/cyber monday for sales and would change some shit out. The only thing that is really staying is the Phenom II 965 and the Mobo which probably won't go on sale. Rest of the parts I have selected are just worst case scenario if I can't get good deals on the two days.
Edit:
I was wrong, it is only a marginal loss of like 5%
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/296100-33-tomshardware source
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Don't get the ASUS board. Go with the other one. If your ASUS board breaks they will not fix it. I know from personal experience.
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All the boards are Asus O_O and exceptionally high rated. I am surprised their customer service would suck considering they go off reputation a lot.
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Asus makes great boards but their support is pretty weak, I'm not aware of any motherboard manufacturers where this is not the case though. However due to their huge market share you are usually able to find help somewhere.
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Since you are talking about usb3 I would like to add my 2 cents.
I use eSATA for backing up to my external hard drive. It gives satisfactory speeds-perhaps a little less than I expect.
I have usb 3 available but I dont plan on using it anytime soon, and I would have no idea what to use it for. I prefer pci wireless adapters so that I can use an aftermarket antenna, so i will probably never use that thing. Hell, on my 890gxm, I seem to have an issue with having the usb3 controller on. When I was on ubuntu 10.04 there was some sort of sleep/power issue and disabling the usb3 controller fixed my problem.
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Well to respond to that, if you are using eSata with anything besides 7200 drives the speed of the drive bottle necks the eSata cable since it can't retrieve the data as fast as the cable can send it. I think eSata is 6gb/s and 5400 drives only can read at 3gb/s? I haven't looked it up in a while but USB 3.0 is slower, I don't remember the exact speeds on it. I feel the same way about USB 3.0, I just don't see the need for it since anything you NEED to go really fast you would prefer to be PCI Express or eSata which is only hard drives and wireless adapters.
Edit: Upon googling to confirm what I said I am wrong. USB 3.0 matches eSata in speed at 3.0Gb/s roughly but USB 3.0 can have a faster cable.
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EPT
