I present...

[Stan]

1 x AMD AM3 Phenom II 810 BOX 4 x 2,6Ghz 6144Kb Cache (CPU)

1 x Asus M4A79T Deluxe AM3 (Motherbord)

1 x DDR3 OCZ 3x2048MB Kit PC10667U 1333Mhz 7-7-7-20 Platinum (RAM)

4 x SATA 500GB 7200rpm 32MB Cache Maxtor STM3500320AS (HDD)

1 x SATA 1,0TB (1000GB) 7200RPM 32MB Cache Samsung HD103UJ (HDD)

1 x ATI HD4890 1024MB Asus EAH4890/HTDI 2 x DVI, TV (Graphic Card)

1 x PSU Enermax MODU 82+ 525Watt 1 x120mm fan, cablemanagement (Power Supply)

1 x Blu-Ray Disc Writer LG GGW-H20L SATA black Retail with Software & DB-R Disc (Blu Ray Writer)

1 x DVD Writer Samsung SH-S223F 22x/22x black bulk (DVD Writer)

1 x CPU Cooler Coolermaster V8 (CPU Cooler)

1 x Front 3,5"CardReader 50 in 1 Black, Silver, White ( Card Reader)

To be added later:

Network Interface Card

Audio Card

[hunter42]

Nice, what was your old computer like?

Sounds like it would've cost a lot too.

[billyfromhill]

Those Phenom IIs have good value. Personally, I prefer Intel because their 45nm processors have been out longer and with the 32nm coming out end of this year/early next year. Should of gone Core i7 if your using DDR3.

Instead if those three 500 GB HDDs (in RAID presumably) you should of gone with two (or more) solid state drives in RAID 0 and then two 1 TB HDDs in RAID 1. Your OS and games go on the SSDs and your files go on the HDDs. SSDs have wicked fast read/write times and RAID 0 only increases it more.

A 4890 with a 525 watt PSU? No Crossfire for you.

Lastly, what case are you using?

[Newfoundking]

That is pretty impressive computer

[Stan]

Nice, what was your old computer like?

Sounds like it would've cost a lot too.

Well about 1290euro but less for me since I pay less since I work in the shop plus I still get rewarded for my past Internship year

Old system:

AMD AM2 Athlon 64 x2 5000+ EE Edition

ASUS AM2 MSN SLI DELUXE

4 x 1GB GSkill Dont know what anymore

1 x 320 gb hdd with 16mb cache (samsung)

2 x 160 gb hdd with 8 mb cache (samsung)

1 x 500 gb hdd with 32 mb cache (maxtor)

Sapphire Ati HD2600XT 256mb

LG Dvd writer GH20LS15

Btw don't call it old it is still under it's two years of warranty

Those Phenom IIs have good value. Personally, I prefer Intel because their 45nm processors have been out longer and with the 32nm coming out end of this year/early next year. Should of gone Core i7 if your using DDR3.

Instead if those three 500 GB HDDs (in RAID presumably) you should of gone with two (or more) solid state drives in RAID 0 and then two 1 TB HDDs in RAID 1. Your OS and games go on the SSDs and your files go on the HDDs. SSDs have wicked fast read/write times and RAID 0 only increases it more.

A 4890 with a 525 watt PSU? No Crossfire for you.

Lastly, what case are you using?

First of all I7 is way too expensive

Second hehe, even if I know Intel is better with it's I7 i would stay at AMD. Comparing their average CPU's they are quite equal... one is cheaper and a bit slower, the other is more expensive and a bit faster...

And going I7 just because you use DDR3 is a strange reason... what has I7 to do with DDR3...

About the HDD's... not RAID, I don't need raid as i use imaging software for this shit, 1 for windows, 1 for downloads, 1 for data and SSD's are not worth their money at the moment. As I work in the RMA section at my internship we saw em come back as often we sold em so till they get cheaper and get better I am not going to get them.

The only SSD's that work properly at this time, without bottleneck are those from Intel that cost an average of 12,09euro per GB

Who needs crossfire? I will never use more then one card in my System, more then one card is for people that have money enough to trow out of their window for their power bills.

So this should explain why i chose exactly those parts...

Ehm the case, yea forgot it:

Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000BWS

Got it a month or three ago already

Before someone asks why I buy so much Asus:

Foxconn boards are in RMA way too often

Abit is closed

MSI is in RMA way too often too

Elitegroup well uhm is that really a brand?

Gigabyte, okey that one is good too

Asrock well its a brand of Asus but still... thats only for small office systems etc not really for my purpose in my eyes

Well no in fact the real reason is that I had much good support from Asus in the past. The ebst example was that the Northbridge Cooler died. 14Hours after contact I had the cooler at home... and their RMA service is way better then others + they have VIP Warranty (register)

[billyfromhill]

First of all I7 is way too expensive

Well it is more expensive. But you can't beat eight processing threads.

Second hehe, even if I know Intel is better with it's I7 i would stay at AMD. Comparing their average CPU's they are quite equal... one is cheaper and a bit slower, the other is more expensive and a bit faster...

Over here in the states I can get the Phenom II 810 for $167.99. I payed $169.99 for my Q9300. Two dollars more for 2 MB more of cache? Yes, the Phenom II 810 has a .1 GHz advantage, but the Q9300 has 6 MB of cache. The disparity in clock speed can easily be overcome through overclocking, but cache sizes can not be changed. As it is I have my Q9300 running at 3 GHz. The best Phenom II (940 Black Edition) comes in at 3 GHz with 6MB of cache, whereas I can get a Q9450 for the same price as a Phenom II 940 and it has a clock of 2.66 GHz with 12 MB of cache. The 940 Black Edition will overclock higher then the Q9450, but at the end of the day it only has 6 MB of cache. Cache speed and the # of cores is what matters nowadays, clock speed doesen't matter as much.

And going I7 just because you use DDR3 is a strange reason... what has I7 to do with DDR3...

Core i7 only uses DDR3. DDR2 will not work with i7.

Drive imaging is good but you will need make new images every time you install something. RAID 1 does it automaticly over two drives and you can keep using the PC if one drive in the array goes down.

One more thing. Will you be overclocking your Phenom II 810 and/or the GPU and RAM?

[Stan]

Well it is more expensive. But you can't beat eight processing threads.

Over here in the states I can get the Phenom II 810 for $167.99. I payed $169.99 for my Q9300. Two dollars more for 2 MB more of cache? Yes, the Phenom II 810 has a .1 GHz advantage, but the Q9300 has 6 MB of cache. The disparity in clock speed can easily be overcome through overclocking, but cache sizes can not be changed. As it is I have my Q9300 running at 3 GHz. The best Phenom II (940 Black Edition) comes in at 3 GHz with 6MB of cache, whereas I can get a Q9450 for the same price as a Phenom II 940 and it has a clock of 2.66 GHz with 12 MB of cache. The 940 Black Edition will overclock higher then the Q9450, but at the end of the day it only has 6 MB of cache. Cache speed and the # of cores is what matters nowadays, clock speed doesen't matter as much.

How much games and programs really support two cores already? In Fact I already waste two cores now, the amount of programs and game supporting it are not that you say "wow" so I saw no reason going over 4 cores.

Core i7 only uses DDR3. DDR2 will not work with i7.

+1 For AMD, they don't change their sockets each good damn time And the backwards compability of the AM3 Socket...

Well I can't combine your if you use DDR3 you need to go I7 sentence... both AMD and Intel use it now so where's the problem using AMD with DDR3? Good it only support 1333 but that more then enough atm till they raise the fsb and datarates.

Drive imaging is good but you will need make new images every time you install something. RAID 1 does it automaticly over two drives and you can keep using the PC if one drive in the array goes down.

I know the working of RAID I do an IT Study on the highest level available here

Well I don't need raid, I only need an image of a fresh Windows install and if I want my files backed up each 7 days I'll let my program run a differential Backup on system start automatically.

Another point for the program in my case is that I can tweak the boot.ini a bit and get an press 11 for system recovery and let it do the shit alone without me sitting next to it. (yea I'm lame hehe)

The most disturbing thing on RAID is that if you use it to clone a Windows drive, all shit that happens on one drive, will be on the second two. Well ever saw two hdd's failing at same time?

No well in fact, my important data is always backed so even if i thought about a raid1 data hdd I left it on the side since it wasn't really needed

One more thing. Will you be overclocking your Phenom II 810 and/or the GPU and RAM?

Very probably not

Edit:

By the way... you know you just compared two completely different CPU architectures on cache level?

And uhm, were did you see a 8 core desktop I7 that is in shops?

[billyfromhill]

How much games and programs really support two cores already? In Fact I already waste two cores now, the amount of programs and game supporting it are not that you say "wow" so I saw no reason going over 4 cores.

It's better to buy a quad core now because in 1-2 years games will support them. Lots of game support dual cores, only like one or two support 4 cores today.

+1 For AMD, they don't change their sockets each good damn time And the backwards compability of the AM3 Socket...

Well I can't combine your if you use DDR3 you need to go I7 sentence... both AMD and Intel use it now so where's the problem using AMD with DDR3? Good it only support 1333 but that more then enough atm till they raise the fsb and datarates.

I'll agree with you there. I'm sort of miffed that Core i7 uses LGA 1366. Oh well, it gives me an excuse to get another computer in 3-4 years.

Again the Phenom II line is comparable to the Core 2 Quad line from Intel. IMO if your going to use DDR3 you might as well go Core i7 for like $50-$60 more.

And uhm, were did you see a 8 core desktop I7 that is in shops?

There's lots of them, Dell even makes Core i7 desktops. Again, i7 has 4 cores with two processing threads per core. Its a "fake" 8 core CPU.

[Stan]

Its a "fake" 8 core CPU.

Jup noticed it after doing a bit more of research

But well I think Ill be happy with the rig, I passed the order to my internship's chef

[hunter42]

Old system:

AMD AM2 Athlon 64 x2 5000+ EE Edition

ASUS AM2 MSN SLI DELUXE

4 x 1GB GSkill Dont know what anymore

1 x 320 gb hdd with 16mb cache (samsung)

2 x 160 gb hdd with 8 mb cache (samsung)

1 x 500 gb hdd with 32 mb cache (maxtor)

Sapphire Ati HD2600XT 256mb

LG Dvd writer GH20LS15

Btw don't call it old it is still under it's two years of warranty

Wow, that's quite good actually (I think) Not really sure about ATI cards so I can't really comment. That's a lot of hard drive space though.

[Stan]

Wow, that's quite good actually (I think) Not really sure about ATI cards so I can't really comment. That's a lot of hard drive space though.

ATI is better then Nvidia at the moment even thought their drivers could be better.

[billyfromhill]

ATI is better then Nvidia at the moment even thought their drivers could be better.

Oh? Nvidia makes two of the top three cards.

1. GTX 295

2. 4870 X2

3. GTX 285

[Xplorer4x4]

Wow, that's quite good actually (I think) Not really sure about ATI cards so I can't really comment. That's a lot of hard drive space though.

With out going into to many details I have a 750 GB Drive, 75 GB drive,232 GB drive, and that inside my case only. I also have one more HDD in the case not hooked up as I need longer SATA Cables. Then I have a 300 GB , and a 150 GB USB Hard Drive. When I have the fund I want to invest in a drive specifically for my OS. Possibly a Solid State Disk depending on how reliable and expensive they are at the time.

On topic: I pretty much agree with Billy on the Intel side of things, but Stan, I have to agree with you it does seem ATI has the uper hand at the moment.

I personally would have stuck with a reliable seagate or a western digital on the hard drive front, although the newsamsun spinpoints are good from what i hear.

[Stan]

------------------

System Information

------------------

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.longhorn_rtm.080118-1840)

Language: Dutch (Regional Setting: Dutch)

BIOS: BIOS Date: 05/05/09 11:36:45 Ver: 08.00.15

Processor: AMD Phenom™ II X4 955 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.2GHz

Memory: 6142MB RAM

DirectX Version: DirectX 10

---------------

Display Devices

---------------

Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series

Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.

Display Memory: 3831 MB

Dedicated Memory: 1016 MB

Shared Memory: 2815 MB

Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

Driver Date/Size: 3/16/2009 22:11:16, 3837440 bytes

WHQL Logo'd: Yes

------------------------

Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives

------------------------

Drive: C:

Free Space: 456.8 GB

Total Space: 476.9 GB

File System: NTFS

Model: MAXTOR STM3500320AS ATA Device

Drive: D:

Free Space: 476.8 GB

Total Space: 476.9 GB

File System: NTFS

Model: MAXTOR STM3500320AS ATA Device

Drive: E:

Free Space: 953.7 GB

Total Space: 953.9 GB

File System: NTFS

Model: WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0 ATA Device

Drive: F:

Free Space: 953.7 GB

Total Space: 953.9 GB

File System: NTFS

Model: SAMSUNG HD103SI ATA Device

Drive: G:

Model: HL-DT-ST BD-RE GGW-H20L ATA Device

Driver: c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 6.00.6001.18000 (Dutch), , 0 bytes

[Newfoundking]

sure that is only like 6 gigs of ram and 4 cores... That's nothing...

Joking, wow, monsterous machine

[Xplorer4x4]

Still sticking with AMD I see; When are you going to see the light? So are you running Vista x64 or x86?

[Stan]

Still sticking with AMD I see; When are you going to see the light? So are you running Vista x64 or x86?

AMD and Intel are equal...good wow Intel is better with I7 but AMD is cheaper so finally they are at same level. People crying AMD or Intel is better don't know what they say...

So uhm, seen the fact i have 6Gb of DDr3 I use 64Bit

In fact I got this now:

1 x AMD AM3 Phenom II 955 BOX 4 x 3,2Ghz 6144Kb Cache (CPU)

1 x Asus M4A79T Deluxe AM3 (Motherbord)

1 x DDR3 OCZ 3x2048MB Kit PC10667U 1333Mhz 7-7-7-20 Platinum (RAM)

2 x SATA 500GB 7200rpm 32MB Cache Maxtor STM3500320AS (HDD) Windows/Data

1 x SATA 1,0TB (1000GB) 7200RPM 32MB Cache Western Digital WD1001FALS (HDD) Games

1 x SATA 1,0TB (1000GB) 5400RPM 32MB Cache Samsung HD103SI EcoGreen (HDD) Downloads

1 x ATI HD4890 1024MB Asus EAH4890/HTDI 2 x DVI, TV (Graphic Card)

1 x PSU BeQuiet! StraightPower E6-700Watt ATX2.2(Power Supply)

1 x Blu-Ray Disc Writer LG GGW-H20L SATA black Retail with Software & DB-R Disc (Blu Ray Writer)

1 x DVD Writer Samsung SH-S223F 22x/22x black bulk (DVD Writer)

1 x CPU Cooler Coolermaster V8 (CPU Cooler)

1 x Front 3,5"CardReader 50 in 1 Black, Silver, White ( Card Reader)

To be added later:

1 x Soundblaster Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champ. PCIe

1 x Sata controler or RAID sata controler for 2/3 more sata connectors

[Xplorer4x4]

AMD and Intel are equal...good wow Intel is better with I7 but AMD is cheaper so finally they are at same level. People crying AMD or Intel is better don't know what they say...

cant take a semi serious joke eh?

So uhm, seen the fact i have 6Gb of DDr3 I use 64Bit

I figured you would have made note of it in your build specs.

[Stan]

cant take a semi serious joke eh?

I figured you would have made note of it in your build specs.

Was not especially directed to you

There are enough people around crying Intel or AMD is better

Btw graphic card updated to ASUS EAH4890 TOP

[Xplorer4x4]

Well thats because one is better then the other. Hows that ASUS card? Never heard people favor ASUS in the video card department.

I thought about upgrading to a core i7 here in a month or so but I think I might hold off as I dont really want to upgrade my mobo, and ram just for a new processor when a dedicated OS drive and maybe an upgraded Quad Core will get the job done. I havent priced things yet though so no telling I might go for the i7.

[billyfromhill]

For now get a high-end quad core. I use the Q9300 and I have it running at 3.4 GHz (up from 2.5 GHz stock) on the EVGA 750i FTW. Get a Q9550 or Q9650. They both have 12 MB of cache and higher multipliers so you can overclock higher with them. I'm going to get a Q9550 or Q9650 when the 32nm CPUs come out from Intel and the prices on the 45nm's drop.

[Stan]

Well thats because one is better then the other. Hows that ASUS card? Never heard people favor ASUS in the video card department.

I thought about upgrading to a core i7 here in a month or so but I think I might hold off as I dont really want to upgrade my mobo, and ram just for a new processor when a dedicated OS drive and maybe an upgraded Quad Core will get the job done. I havent priced things yet though so no telling I might go for the i7.

On the only point I will agree with you is the fact Intel has faster CPU's... the I7 for the rest they are equal hehe we can go on in that game for soooooo long

Well it's my first Asus card, my first card was a Palit then an MSI and now an Asus. never had problem with the first two but well the asus one the cooler went KO after 3 days... they told me to RMA it for 3 weeks just for a frigging cooler lmao since they where too lame on sending me a new cooler and leaving me to it...

But well now I'll get a new replacement card from my internship well an 4890 TOP instead of a 4890 for the same price is a nice deal for me hehe

[Xplorer4x4]

32nm are already in the works? Sheesh time flys, but yes, more then likley I will get one of those 2. I have a Q6600 and its got great bang for the buck but I am looking for a bit more performance. Factor in a dedicated OS drive, probably 500 or 650 GB WD. I looked at SSD but the one I wanted was over a thousand usd so I think I can live with out that for now. When I order I plan to finish off this build as I didnt have money for a few parts last time like cathodes and uv cables and a dedicated os drive. Getting some mesh fan grills to because dust has been relay bad in this apt. I think I will stick with my 9800GTX+ as it gets the job done, but considered getting a SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 as the extra bang wouldnt hurt. I dont really do any single graphic intensive things, its just that i do alot of little stuff at once some times.

[billyfromhill]

Get a WD VelociRaptor for your OS and programs. They're almost as fast as SSD's and cost much less.

[Xplorer4x4]

If you get a 500 GB 32 MB cache WD its almost as fast as the Velociraptor and it has lower power consumption all for about a 4th of the price.

This is the drive I am likley going to get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136320