Seriphx Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 Hello again guys A friend has a bunch of cash and wants a computer. His parents want him to get something from an electronics store, this will end him up with a 2.4Ghz Athlon and 2 GB ram, 320GB hard drive and no GPU. Now thats gonna cost him around $1200 dollars. So he got upset, and asked me if I'd help him out, I would hate for him to spend all that money and not even get a dual. So I put this together for just a couple hundred more. Specs: GPU 896MB GTX 260 Gigabyte RAM 6G Kit (3x2G) DDR3 1333 Kingston MOBO Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P HDD Seagate SATA 1TB CPU AMD x4 Phenom II 955 PSU Thermaltake QFAN 650W CASE Thermaltake V9 Ok, So I've heard some things about ram, I'm pretty sure this Mobo supports DDR3, but is this Triple channel? Will it have problems? If so I can go for a cheaper AM2+ board and get DDR2 1066Mhz. I Shop HERE as they have the cheapest parts close to me. (Sure wish newegg posted to Australia!) All currency is in AUD (As this is where I live and all!) and please give me any comments or point out my idiotic mistakes A few questions: Is 650W enough power? Does the mobo support DDR3? With the RAM listed? Should I up the graphics? (It's a 19" WS monitor) Thank you all in advance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reagnon Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 This mobo is dual cannel so you wil need ram per 2 pieces. Are you aware that this mb is a crossfire mb and does not support sli? Buying a cf motherboard and a nvdia gpu isn't a great choice. with a 19" monitor you won't need cf or sli anyway. Have you calculated the os in the price? I would a get mb with 1 PCIe slot because they are cheaper and you won't need more. I see that your shop does only sell am3 cpu's... only a short list. can you give a bit more info abuot the prupose of the comp and the res of the screen? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmc_boss Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 Hello again guys A friend has a bunch of cash and wants a computer. His parents want him to get something from an electronics store, this will end him up with a 2.4Ghz Athlon and 2 GB ram, 320GB hard drive and no GPU. Now thats gonna cost him around $1200 dollars. So he got upset, and asked me if I'd help him out, I would hate for him to spend all that money and not even get a dual. So I put this together for just a couple hundred more. Specs: GPU 896MB GTX 260 Gigabyte RAM 6G Kit (3x2G) DDR3 1333 Kingston MOBO Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P HDD Seagate SATA 1TB CPU AMD x4 Phenom II 955 PSU Thermaltake QFAN 650W CASE Thermaltake V9 Ok, So I've heard some things about ram, I'm pretty sure this Mobo supports DDR3, but is this Triple channel? Will it have problems? If so I can go for a cheaper AM2+ board and get DDR2 1066Mhz. I Shop HERE as they have the cheapest parts close to me. (Sure wish newegg posted to Australia!) All currency is in AUD (As this is where I live and all!) and please give me any comments or point out my idiotic mistakes A few questions: Is 650W enough power? Does the mobo support DDR3? With the RAM listed? Should I up the graphics? (It's a 19" WS monitor) Thank you all in advance It's not triple-channel - only x58 has that currently. UMart currently has a GTX260-216 on sale for $235.00 Why not go for a 940 instead of the 955? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seriphx Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 The store doesnt sell 940's, I'll go down to a MA-770-US3? and 4GB Kingston 1066 DDR2 (2x2)? The monitors max resolution is either 1440x900 or 1650x1050? It isn't a great one, but he likes it and is happy with it, so what can I do? He wants this machine, for playing Call of Duty 4 as well as Raiding Ulduar etc. on World of Warcraft. I already have Windows XP for him, (just realised the 6GB would have been pointless anyway, would have only read 3.5) This will actually make this computer cheaper than the one his parents want him to spend his hard earned cash on, AND it's abundantly better So anything else? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmc_boss Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 The store doesnt sell 940's, I'll go down to a MA-770-US3? and 4GB Kingston 1066 DDR2 (2x2)?The monitors max resolution is either 1440x900 or 1650x1050? It isn't a great one, but he likes it and is happy with it, so what can I do? He wants this machine, for playing Call of Duty 4 as well as Raiding Ulduar etc. on World of Warcraft. I already have Windows XP for him, (just realised the 6GB would have been pointless anyway, would have only read 3.5) This will actually make this computer cheaper than the one his parents want him to spend his hard earned cash on, AND it's abundantly better So anything else? Looks good. You could go the ddr800 to save a few more $$ - not sure if they stock any cl4 though. Unless he's set on the quad, the new Phenom dual 550 looks to be a good performer, & the extra $$ saved could be put towards a gtx 275. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reagnon Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 (edited) That quad would be nice but if you want this to be cheap you should consider the phenomX3. They are good preformers. The gtx 260 should be ok @ that res (all settings high). and last for a while. go for that MA-770-US3 the ddr2 will save some money. btw with this build a 500w power suply is enough (if you choose a good brand) so you can save a bit on that too. Edited June 11, 2009 by Reagnon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seriphx Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 Thanks guys I'll probably pick up a 550W Thermaltake then. Should run ok I'll post if anything else comes up with it. Thanks again, Seriphx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seriphx Posted June 14, 2009 Posted June 14, 2009 Hey again guys. The build is complete Everything went fairly smoothly, except the heatsink was a bit hard to get on, but it booted up fine and everything installed nicely. However when I went to My Computer's Properties, it came up with AMD Phenom II X4 955 1.60 Ghz 3.25GB Ram. Now the RAM I knew wouldn't be 4GB, but I expected 3.5? Not 3.25? But the 1.60 Ghz gave me a scare. Is this the correct reading? I thought maybe it will fix it when all windows updates are done. But it is still in the middle of SP2. Any ideas what this could be? I hope something hasn't gone wrong? Thanks in advance. All help much appreciated Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seriphx Posted June 14, 2009 Posted June 14, 2009 :/ Bump? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coors Posted June 14, 2009 Posted June 14, 2009 Have you tried running Prime95 and then checking the cpu speed? Could be you have C1E or w/e it's called on and it's downclocking the cpu. Or it could be the bios settings are set wrong. Buying a cf motherboard and a nvdia gpu isn't a great choice. It is if you never plan on running SLI or CF anyways Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheConqueror Posted June 14, 2009 Posted June 14, 2009 BIOS Update so your motherboard supports the CPU properly. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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