Sunday, February 15, 2009

Parts on order!

Finally buckled and decided a new computer is for me.  After a ton of research, my build is as follows.  This isn't meant to be the biggest beast on the block, but price for power, it seems to be the best bargain.

I went mostly with NewEgg.com because I just like the service I've gotten from them in the past.

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor on a Foxconn A79A-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard.  This was a combo from NewEgg and seemed to be the best deal.  I originally was only looking at Intel processors, but after reviewing numerous benchmarks, I couldn't beat the power for the price.

HIS Hightech H487F1GP Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video.  Though the GPU is slightly under the next bump up, the price price jumped significantly.

Corsair ddr2-1066 pc2-8500 4gb.  I would have gone with the cheaper Patriot, but Fry's was out, and I missed the deals on NewEgg.  I'd probably save the $40 and go with Patriot if I had it to do over again.  Corsair's warranty is better though, so that is a plus.

1.5 TB SATA drive from Dell.  Can't beat ~$100 + shipping.  Coworker hooked me up with a coupon.  Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to fill 1.5TB..images perhaps..

750w Corsair PSU.  I am no expert on power, nor do I claim to be.  That being said, it was a good price and single 12V rail with good reviews.  I was looking at the ThermalTake with it's 4x 12V rails, but from what I've read it really doesn't matter how many rails it has as long as the single has decent components (which mine should).  The split rails can help with power management, but a single rail also helps make to ensure that core components have the power they need without being limited.  (4 rails could mean 13A, 16A, 18A, 8A which can just get confusing).  If I'm way off base here, feel free to leave me a comment and contradict me. :)

I went with the Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120mm "Core Contact Freezer" for cooling.  From what I can tell, the ThermalRight 120 Ultra Black Edition seemed like the best choice, but at half the price, the SunBeam was more appealing to me.  All reviews point toward it being quite comparable.  Tomshardware and Frostytech both show the "Core Contact Freezer" as being near the top of the charts.  Can't beat $30 from NewEgg for a quality product.

I'll be using Arctic Silver for the thermal compound as well.  We'll see how it goes.  Should be here in a few days..  Hopefully everything fits in the case and on the motherboard without covering RAM slots..

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