I'm currently in the midst of looking for parts for my new build.
I've done this before so this isn't a technical question.
Anyhow, what I am looking for is a reasonably priced motherboard with at least 2 PCI-E 2.0 slots that when run in Crossfire give x16 x16 NOT x8 x8.
If you guys have any ideas that would be great.
I'm also still up in the air about my processor. I am going with AMD because of their price/performance ratio and am currently leaning toward the 955 as it consumes less power than the 965 and can easily be OC'ed to 965 levels. My video card will be probably a 5770 initially than when the price drops in March I will pick up a second to crossfire with hence the mobo requirement.
Ideally my build will be 800 dollars or less but I do have some headroom if things get a bit pricey.
"You look up because you wish to be exalted. I look down because I am exalted."
id lean toward AMD too, but it would prob fall over, crash and burn, EWWWWWWWWW AMD, they couldnt pay me enough to run thier stuff.. well maybe enough to build my new intel system i want =P
CODE OF FPS GAMING: If you see movement, your already dead...
Ya, the last AMD I had was terrible. It would keep overheating even with a properly seated Zalman. I had to send back one and when the second failed I just built a new rig rather than continue to deal with the failings of that chip (which was about as good as I could go on the old MOBO). The predecessor to that chip was pretty good though...but that's like 5 years old now so pretty useless.
Well everything is in store and ready for pick-up. Even though the pressure was intense I went for an AMD Dragon Build. (Somebody has to represent AMD here)
Every component was bought with AMD in mind. 955 Phenom, ASUS M4A79T Deluxe, ATI 5770, (will buy second after New Years for Crossfire). The best part about this was that the processor and mobo came in a combo deal for 229 dollars Canadian which is impressive considering each part individually is 199.
When I go pick up these parts on Friday I will also be picking up a case and heatsink. My case will either be the AZZA Solano Full Tower or if my budget can swing it, the Coolermaster HFN932 AMD edition. (Both are red)
For those looking for a budget build this is something to look into. For a 500 gigabyte hard-drive, a 5770 (with 3 games included!), 4 gigs of GSKILL Ram, (I returned the Corsair to save a few bucks), Mobo and Processor I paid 550 dollars. With tax the total came to 620 Canadian. While the case and the heatsink will bump me up about 100 dollars I have basically built a complete DirectX 11 ready system for a great price.
Anyhow I'll be assembling the dragon over the weekend and I look forward to fragging some of you guys again. "You look up because you wish to be exalted. I look down because I am exalted."
Where'd you source that stuff? Tiger Direct? Canada Computers?
Got a buddy coming down after Christmas to build a new rig and I am basically taking him to CComputers, but I'm curious if you picked another retailer and why.
They offer competitive pricing and price match any other retailer like Newegg.ca I've always got the best pricing from NCIX as opposed to Tiger Direct or Canadian Computers which tend to be pricey. Plus they have weekly specials.
They have a bunch of branches in BC and a warehouse in Toronto and their shipping costs are reasonable. Also their website is easy to navigate.
But yeah that's where I source all of my parts from. "You look up because you wish to be exalted. I look down because I am exalted."
Well Meta Requested some pics so here they are. As you all can see It's a very large case compared to the one I had my old '2142' build in. It's absolutely cavernous to be exact. Again, wire management could be better but my power supply cables were a tad short and I couldn't wire them through the back of the case. Regardless, there is ample space for airflow as the mass of PS cables are at the bottom. My mobo supports quad crossfire but in reality since video cards are so massive today it could only support 2 at best, maybe three if I took out my sound card.
As you can tell I went for an AMD red theme, but it slightly failed due to my power supply and zalman heat sink having green LED's.
Temps are great even under gaming load and my memory is zipping. My video card performs well and I will be buying a second in the coming weeks once my next paycheck comes in. Even though it's large, in comparison to nvidia's recent offerings it is small.
Back to the case. The Azza Solano is legit. I was questioning a full tower case for 90 bucks (after rebate) but once I opened the box my fears were assuaged. There are no sharp edges and its monstrous inside. It comes with 5 fans and a fan controller and the case doesn't feel like cheap plastic. Image: http://www.86you.net/86U/e107_files/public/1261787229_144_FT2963_img_0163.jpg Image: http://www.86you.net/86U/e107_files/public/1261787229_144_FT2963_img_0162.jpg Image: http://www.86you.net/86U/e107_files/public/1261787229_144_FT2963_img_0164.jpg Image: http://www.86you.net/86U/e107_files/public/1261787229_144_FT2963_img_0165.jpg Image: http://www.86you.net/86U/e107_files/public/1261787229_144_FT2963_img_0166.jpg Image: http://www.86you.net/86U/e107_files/public/1261787229_144_FT2963_img_0167.jpg "You look up because you wish to be exalted. I look down because I am exalted."
oo thats the antec 1200, im running the 900 and they are INSANELY cool running cases that i fricking love! cant wait to see what my new cpu oc temps are
CODE OF FPS GAMING: If you see movement, your already dead...
