New Builds

[Crazybob]

Wanted to get some feedback on these. Was thinking of grabbing 2 of these after work. I7 chips, 5770 video cards, 1TB HD's and 8GB memory. They are refurbs, but the price looks good, I think?

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6655831&csid=ITD&body=MAIN

[Teratoma]

Not bad considering it has Win7 on it. But you have to see if you can build it yourself for less. Are these just for crunching? If so, you could run Linux if you are worried about MS Licensing. A 1TB drive is way overkill. 80GB is plenty for a crunching only box. Also, 6GB of RAM may be fine if you are not hitting any memory intensive projects. If you can cut a little here and there on a build, you could easily afford a 5830 instead of the 5770 and probably come in under $850.

[Dandasarge]

not bad, other then the 1 PCI-E slot :) same system on ebay for 750.

[Crazybob]

Not worried about MS licensing, or about HD's have plenty of those. Wasn't sure about the 5770, but I see by our home page that it isn't double precision. After thinking about the components, you are probably right. When you add it together thinking that the MB is probably lacking anyways. It adds up to about the same. Can you but the 5870's under $200 yet? Got to build up our RAC. We are getting killed in DNETC. It's embarassing!:(

[Crazybob]

Can someone recommend a decent MB that won't set me back too far? Going to need the pennies for the GPU.:)

[Fire$torm]

Here is an alternative to your Gateway with some recertified parts. All from NewEgg BTW.

Recertified
Motherboard: EVGA -132-BL-E758-RX LGA 1366 Intel X58 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188061)

PSU: OCZ EliteXStream OCZ800EXS-B 800W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341043)

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136826)

New
Case: COOLER MASTER - HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197&cm_re=haf-_-11-119-197-_-Product)

Memory: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225)

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

Blu-Ray/DVD Drive: LITE-ON Black 4X BD-ROM Blu-ray Reader - iHOS104-06 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106325)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754) (Or save a $100.00 by using Linux instead)

Price before shipping: $730.00

[joker]

Is there a CPU in there that I am missing Fire$torm?

[trigggl]

Is there a CPU in there that I am missing Fire$torm?

That's what I was wondering.

[Fire$torm]

Is there a CPU in there that I am missing Fire$torm?


That's what I was wondering.

Yep! I got ahead of myself when I started formatting my answer. The CPU never got added in. So if you add this Intel Core i7 920 (used) - $220 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-i7-920-2-66-GHz-Quad-Core-CPU-LGA-1366-SLBEJ-/250748295759?pt=CPUs&hash=item3a61c35a4f) and nix the Windows than the total before shipping is $850.00.

[Dandasarge]

I think it would be great for a high powered workstation/ Girlfriend/ Wife/ Ungrateful kid. I wouldn't pick it for a cruncher though. I personally have been staring down the HP XW most of them come with 1 processor but the motherboards have duel sockets the low end XW6400 takes the 5XXX series Xeon and the later take the E series. Also the XW6400 and the XW8400 both have duel PCI-E slots.

[c303a]

I would not go with a green caviar. If you read the reviews they are supposed to be pretty bad. I've got 1 of these and it is great. I'm sure you can find it at the Egg as well. The Black Caviar comes with a 5 year warranty. http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6076939&CatId=8

[DrPop]

You will be much more pleased with a 5830 or especially 5850 for your money right now on the GPU. ;)
Other than that...it's just a "rack" to hold the "blades" (GPUs) for points. 2 PCI-e 16x slot mobos are not that much more than those with 1. Would be really nice for future upgrade to dual GPU, of course! :D

[STMahlberg]

... Can you but the 5870's under $200 yet? Got to build up our RAC. We are getting killed in DNETC. It's embarassing!:(

Just paid $579 for (2) 5870's at Newegg... so no... not yet. :(

[STMahlberg]

I think it would be great for a high powered workstation/ Girlfriend/ Wife/ Ungrateful kid.

Ungrateful kid. LOL That's funny. :)

If you get one for the wife and girlfriend, hopefully they will never try to use it at the same time... I would hate for them to find out about each other. :D

[Fire$torm]

OK I did some checking......
If you can forgo Intel's Hyper Threading you can get an AMD Quad Core and save some cashola.

Recertified
PSU: OCZ EliteXStream OCZ800EXS-B 800W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341043) $81.99

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136826) $49.99

New
Motherboard: ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176) $59.99

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103916) $124.99

Case: COOLER MASTER - HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197&cm_re=haf-_-11-119-197-_-Product) $99.99

Memory: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225) $69.99

Video/GPU: MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127490) $154.99

DVD Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD Burner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204) $16.99

Operating System: MS Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754) $99.99

Price w/o Win7 before shipping: $659
Price w/Win7 before shipping: $759

Now for the fun! For a little more than the Gateway you can....

Swap motherboards: ASRock 880G EXTREME3 AM3 (3x Pci-E) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157191) +$50.00

Add: MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127490) $154.99

Price w/o Win7 before shipping: $864

Edit: Forgot to mention the reason for the MB swap. The three PCI-E slots allows some extra breathing space between the two 5770s.

[DrPop]

Have to chip in here - if you can bring yourself to the AMD fold, their quad and six core CPUs are huge bang for the $ and, Newegg typically has open box specials for the AM3 socket that are steals. I got my MSI mobo with dual PCI-e x16 slots on the latest chipset with SATAIII & USB3.0 support for like $65 - and it O/Cs awesome! Just a thought for some cheap crunching power, if that's what you need.

[Teratoma]

Agreed. Except I would go for a Dual Core to save a little and invest in a quality Mobo with 2 PCI-e slots. Get one good GPU in there now and then add another later with a Quad/Hex core. The GPU power far outweighs the CPU and should be the focus IMO.

[Mr. Hankey]

Agreed. Except I would go for a Dual Core to save a little and invest in a quality Mobo with 2 PCI-e slots. Get one good GPU in there now and then add another later with a Quad/Hex core. The GPU power far outweighs the CPU and should be the focus IMO.

I would agree with this, with the exception of having 3 pci-e slots as I am very unsatisfied with the heat issues associated with having 2 gpus in adjacent slots. Not that the cards aren't performing but that the card that has its air intake essentially blocked runs literally 30c hotter than the second card.

[STMahlberg]

I would agree with this, with the exception of having 3 pci-e slots as I am very unsatisfied with the heat issues associated with having 2 gpus in adjacent slots. Not that the cards aren't performing but that the card that has its air intake essentially blocked runs literally 30c hotter than the second card.

Here's a bit of a low-tech fix if you don't mind taking apart your expensive GPU... Pull the case off, disconnect the squirrel cage fan and use a giant floor fan to cool the cards. On the Nvidia that I took apart you have to remove the entire heat sink in order to get the case off then reattach the heat sink.

I know it's a lame fix but until they start redesigning cards to fix this issue like Sapphire seems to be attempting with a more open air case not sure what to do other than very expensive liquid cooling. :-??

The HAF X case has an attempt to use a duct fan forcing air into the air intakes on the short edge of the card which are the squirrel cages rear intake but you can only get so much air into those little holes.

[STMahlberg]

Have to chip in here - if you can bring yourself to the AMD fold, their quad and six core CPUs are huge bang for the $ and, Newegg typically has open box specials for the AM3 socket that are steals. I got my MSI mobo with dual PCI-e x16 slots on the latest chipset with SATAIII & USB3.0 support for like $65 - and it O/Cs awesome! Just a thought for some cheap crunching power, if that's what you need.

I love AMD, it's a great chip... that and I own stock in them so my opinion is tainted. :) Seriously though pretty much the reason I run AMD is because they are inexpensive chips. I think Intel is a great company but you are paying for the name.

[Mike029]

I've been looking through this thread as an alternative to changing my MB in my system and putting the money towards a new, low cost box for gpus. I really don't know much about older AMD products and need help.
Could someone recommend a MD with three pci-e slots.
(Heat issues and/or running 3 gpus in the future)
A cpu that could handle 2 5870's and perhaps a 3rd in the future.
Memory for the mb.
PSU that could handle 2 gpus now 3 in the near future.
Do I need a aftermarket heat sink as I would not overclock the cpu?

I have a hard drive, case, dvd drive, GPU's and OS.

What is the cheapest build you could recommend?

[Fire$torm]

To quote JPM: "Upgrade Upgrade Upgrade!!!"

For AMD the cost difference between Dual Core and Quad Core is not that extreme and if you consider the amount of work a Quad can do compared to a Dual, a Quad wins out every time IMHO.

OK here are some possibilities:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Quad-Core - $99.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871)

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W - $129.99 before $20 MIR (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009)

Motherboard:
Value Conscious: MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX - $69.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130290) (Note - Only 2 PCIe Slot but with good spacing)

Performance Value: ASRock 880G EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 880G - $108.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157191)

Performance Recommended: MSI NF980-G65 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a - $159.99 before $20 MIR (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130236)

Memory: (Disclosure - I am a Corsair Fanboy)
4GB PC3 8500: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $44.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148150)
4GB PC3 10600: * G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $39.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231394)
4GB PC3 10600: CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $49.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145299)
4GB PC3 10666: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $41.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145218)
4GB PC3 12800: ** CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $49.99 before $10 MIR (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260)
4GB PC3 12800: Patriot G Series ‘Sector 5’ Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $48.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220436)

8GB PC3 8500: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) - $79.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231308)
8GB PC3 10600: CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) - $94.99 before $20 MIR (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145315)
8GB PC3 10666: * Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) - $82.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095) Note: $5 off with promo code HARDOCPX119A, ends 1/26
8GB PC3 12800: ** CORSAIR XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) - $109.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145324)
8GB PC3 12800: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) - $104.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314)

Edit:
* Denotes Value Recommendation
** Denotes Performance Recommendation