My Current Newegg Cart (advice needed)

the_miker · Post by **the_miker** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:29 am

Antec Signature SG650 650W Power Supply
Antec P182 Advanced Super Midtower Case $250

ASUS M3A78-T AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Phenom 9850 2.5GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor $233

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory $75

ZEROtherm ZEN FZ120 120mm CPU Cooler $36

Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan $15

Total so far: $609

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I'm going for a good balance of power and quietness. The first four items (Case/PSU, CPU/Mobo) are grouped because Newegg is offering deals on them. The Mushkin memory seems to go best with the M3A78-T and I threw in the Scythe case fan to replace the stock one on the ZEROtherm heatsink. I still need to add a hard drive or two, I was thinking something from the WD Caviar Green series. I'm fine with onboard video for right now since I don't really play games. Plus I plan on using the sound card, mouse, keyboard, monitor, and DVD drive from my current machine so no need to buy them either.

Any advice? Am I missing anything? I haven't built myself a new machine in like 3-4 years so I just wanna make sure. I'd really like to get this ordered and built soon since I'm getting so sick of listening to my current PC's noise. Seriously, it sounds like a plane is about to take off in my bedroom!

-Mike

FartingBob · Post by **FartingBob** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:24 pm

I would suggest getting one of the new phenom II's rather than the older Phenom 9850. Better performance, less power, cooler running.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:46 pm

And that is overkill PSU... Anything from 450W - 520W range would be more than enough.

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:09 pm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103649
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Retail

The 720 is within a few dollars of the price of the 9850 you get 3 cores instead of 4 but you get 6MB L3 instead of 2MB L3. You are better off with the 720 anyway you look at it. Lower power, faster in games, etc...

As to the Power supply I see reasons why you chose it. 80Plus bronze and modular. Nothing wrong with that other than cost.

If you want modular and cheaper you could do

CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX 520W 80 PLUS Certified Modular http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139001

If you don't need modular you can really save some dough with

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W 80 PLUS Certified
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139003

as for the CPU fan I'd suggest you read up on a program called speedfan because you won't want that fan running at 1200 RPM all the time.

FuturePastNow · Post by **FuturePastNow** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:05 pm

I know that the power supply is one area we want no one to skimp on, but you could spend a lot less. If you aren't wedded to the idea of modular cables, the Corsair CX400 is $50, quiet, and should be more than enough power for your system.

jobu · Post by **jobu** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:29 pm

I was looking at nearly the same setup actually, and I know why the_miker wants that power supply. The egg has a deal right now to get that case & ps for $250 shipped. That's only $30 more than the p182 with the CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX.

Right now I'm stuck on the motherboard:
ASUS M3A78-T - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131331
MSI DKA790GX Platinum - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130190
GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128384

I'm leaning toward the Gigabyte board. It appears to be an update to the GA-MA790GP-DS4H which had decent reviews, and I've had good luck with a Gigabyte board in the past.

Does anyone have experience with these boards, or want to suggest a different board? I'm looking to spend under $200 for a motherboard & video.

loimlo · Post by **loimlo** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:51 am

I prefer MSI DKA790GX Platinum as you could control the fan speed in bios at your will. I am for MSI's fantastic fan control. Gigabyte one is better concerning crazy overvolting/overclocking, nevertheless.

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/16159/2

jobu · Post by **jobu** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:19 pm

Thanks, I was wondering about the fan controls for these boards. It looks like the Gigabyte board has a setting to turn off automatic fan speed control, but I'm not sure what else it allows you to do.

The MSI has a some funky looking chipset cooling. Are the round parts fans? Do those coolers work very well?

I'm not interested in overclocking so much as a stable, quiet system.

loimlo · Post by **loimlo** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:36 pm

Gigabyte provides enable/disable and PWM/DC fan control in bios. Not great but acceptable.

There's no fan on MSI board. As for cooling efficiency, I don't think you'd meet problems since you don't plan on insane overclocking.

jobu · Post by **jobu** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:01 am

NewEgg just deactivated the MSI board, and it looks like most other resellers are out of stock. You had me convinced on it, and I was about to pull the trigger.

They still have the non-platinum board, but I was really wanting the one with the sideport memory for the integrated graphics.

Jurph · Post by **Jurph** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:28 am

Wow, I'm looking at a very similar setup too! I'm filling out a P182 case with...

Seasonic M12-II 430W PSU
Phenom II X3 720 (3 x 2.8GHz)
Xigmatec HDT-S1283 heat sink
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D (120mm)
Asus M4A78T-E (onboard graphics, no fans built in)
2x2GB of Kingston DDR3 RAM

Can anyone see any obvious problems with this design? I think it'll end up being pretty quiet and a fairly solid performer. I've never done software fan control - does Asus typically provide good BIOS functionality for that?

ETA: wanted to thank everyone for convincing me that fanless (Fortron Zen and totally passive cooler) was a fool's errand. I gathered that just by lurking here, and you guys probably saved me ~$300 in burned-out parts!

WallyX · Post by **WallyX** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:54 pm

I have a similar setup, same motherboard.

The issue I am running into is, I want to get 4 gb memory sticks and I can't find the only type listed in the QVL and was hoping I could get some help in determining what other 4gb memory would work with the Asus M4A78T-E AM3 Motherboard.

Monkeh16 · Post by **Monkeh16** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:17 pm

WallyX wrote:I have a similar setup, same motherboard.

The issue I am running into is, I want to get 4 gb memory sticks and I can't find the only type listed in the QVL and was hoping I could get some help in determining what other 4gb memory would work with the Asus M4A78T-E AM3 Motherboard.

Any should work.