draw2much Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 (edited) This is the build for my husband. It's for his collage. Adobe CS4, AutoDesk, Maya, stuff like that. I asked him whether he wanted an i7 or Phenom II, and he chose the Phenom II. (He likes how it upgrades and the price point.) This is what he's getting: NZXT Guardian -$89.99 AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz -$189.00 GIGABYTE GA-MA790 -$114.99 2x 4GBG.SKILL DDR2 800 (8GB) -$89.98 EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3* -$229.99 PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W -$99.99 Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache -$89.99 ASUS CD/DVD Burner -$25.99 Microsoft Windows Vista 64Bit Premium Home -$99.99 S/H: $102.37 Total: $1,132.28 What do you think of the motherboard? I've never dealt with the PII so I don't know what motherboard would be good for it. I'm hoping to get a motherboard that will not require a BIOS flash just to properly recognize the PII. If anyone knows of a better MB around the same price please let me know. He's super keen on the Case. Honestly I didn't think I'd find one he would like, as he never seemed to care. But when he saw this case he got all goggle-y eyed and nothing else would do. lol I almost went with DDR2 1066 until I found out it was overclocked 800 RAM. Then I was like "No way am I paying extra for over clocked ram!". So now I'm sticking with 800. Let me know what ya think and where I can improve. B:) *Changed from a 4870 due to Geleto Edited February 15, 2009 by draw2much Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardnrg Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 2x4GB is a very wise choice for that type of work (rendering especially)... if he's not a really big gamer, I think you could scale the graphics card down to a 4850 512MB, and switch to a X4 940 edit: actually, I'd advise going for an NVidia GPU... the GTX260 216 can be had for ~$220, so you save $30 which is about how much extra it is for the CPU (940 vs 920) why do I suggest such a powerful graphics card for a non-gamer? Because of CUDA and GPGPU acceleration. NVidia has way better GPU-assisted processing, and it is already available for free (e.g. NVidia Gelato for 3DSMax and Maya)... GPGPU processing can be up to around 150 times faster than CPU processing!!! This is only going to continue to be developed by NVidia, while ATI basically has nothing in comparison Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_bowtie Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 I say it's a very nice choice of parts... he should be very happy with it twofold....mostly because you did it for him... I also think the 2x4gig of ram was a rather wise choice...it seems you've done your homework and the list shows it... the Gigabyte board will be fine as long as it's rated for the Phenom CPU...most of them are rated at 145watt so you'll be more than fine there...good luck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
draw2much Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 Aw, I've never had praise from my peers before! Hurrah! You really think I could get away with a 4850? The reason I went so high end is because of Maya. But if it can run smoothly on a lower end card I wouldn't mind saving a few bucks and getting a 4850. Do you mean a X4 950? Cause I looked for a 940 and couldn't find it*. I'm not sure if it's worth getting the X4 950 because it doesn't come with a cooler. If I buy a cooler than I end up right around the price of PII which comes with a cooler. (And I'm ok with stock coolers as long as they aren't too noisy since I don't over clock.) *on newegg.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardnrg Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 Here's the X4 940 Maya would run a LOT better with the realtime design AND a lot lot lot lot lot faster in rendering with an NVidia GPU like a GTX260 (which is cheaper than a 4870) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjloki Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 Here's the X4 940 Maya would run a LOT better with the realtime design AND a lot lot lot lot lot faster in rendering with an NVidia GPU like a GTX260 (which is cheaper than a 4870) yep totally 940 black....!! +1 ....!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
suchuwato Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 Maya would run a LOT better with the realtime design AND a lot lot lot lot lot faster in rendering with an NVidia GPU like a GTX260 (which is cheaper than a 4870) That's the only reason I got a 9800gtx+ over an AMD (can I call it that yet? ) card, for the upgrade path to a GTX260 or over... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
draw2much Posted February 15, 2009 Posted February 15, 2009 Oh you meant the Phenom 2! Haha, I thought you were talking about the regular Phenom X4. Had me confused there for a minute cause I couldn't figure out why you'd suggest a regular Phenom over a Phenom II.... However, I'm not getting the 940. I had thought about it prior to posting this list, but it does not seem as cost effective as the 920. The 920 comes with a stock fan, and just that saves me $20-$40. (I'm not overclocking so I don't need a fancy cooler.) I do appreciate the suggestion though. But that Geleto thing REALLY caught my eye. Thank you so much for mentioning it! I think we'll be getting a 260. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
redtigerdragon Posted February 16, 2009 Posted February 16, 2009 Wait, does he want the phenom 2 to be able to put into an am3 socket? If so, the 920 won't be able to... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkrow21 Posted February 16, 2009 Posted February 16, 2009 (which is cheaper than a 4870) False. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardnrg Posted February 16, 2009 Posted February 16, 2009 "Cheaper than a 4870 1GB like the one you picked out initially" is what I should have written, but sometimes I don't care to be so verbose when I'm right in that NVidia is the superior solution for the machine specification. But, thanks for the one-word contribution to the thread anyway Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coors Posted February 17, 2009 Posted February 17, 2009 Plus the prices of 260's have gone down. 260's might not be cheaper but they are in most cases the same price across the board. If you can get a 4870 or a gtx260 for the same price then the gtx260 is the clear winner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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