HTOTM: FUSION
Original Post
Im going to make a new computer and I need help.
The motherboard-GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H AM3 AMD Motherboard $80

Ram- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $90

Graphics Card- SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit. I think its $270

Cpu- AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition Deneb 3.6GHz Quad Core $180

Case- NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel $140

Power Supply- COOLER MASTER Silent Pro RSA00-AMBAJ3-US 1000W ATX12V v2.3 $170

Total $930

I already have a 650 Gb harddrive.

So if you can tell me weather or not its a good deal and its just good in general that would be nice and if it all compatible.
Yes
Get a HIS HD6950 1GB it's cheaper and cooler. You won't need a 2GB, unless you're going for multiple displays or huge resolutions. And the 1GB version performs slightly better.

Anything else is good imo.
I almost think you could get a 750w PSU rather than a 1000w. Seems sort of overkill to me.
I am a magnificent volcano.
Originally Posted by Afr0Ninja View Post
The motherboard-GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H AM3 AMD Motherboard $80

Ram- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $90

Graphics Card- SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit. I think its $270

Cpu- AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition Deneb 3.6GHz Quad Core $180

Case- NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel $140

Power Supply- COOLER MASTER Silent Pro RSA00-AMBAJ3-US 1000W ATX12V v2.3 $170

Total $930

I already have a 650 Gb harddrive.

So if you can tell me weather or not its a good deal and its just good in general that would be nice and if it all compatible.

Can you tell us if this is for gaming, 3D/video work or what?

RAM: 8GB is good for video editing, useless for gaming. 4GB is a good amount to aim for, for gaming. 1333Mhz is a fine speed for the RAM, but you will have trouble overclocking at that speed, if you want to overclock put out a bit extra and get 1600MHz.

GPU: I'd go with the 560 Ti, it's the best value card on the market by most standards. To compare the two here's an example chart: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...ndex,2674.html
As you can see the 560 Ti is just below and above the 6950 depending on which brand you get, and costs slightly less. It also wins in the noise department if you don't get the wind-force model: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...oise,2680.html and at stock clocks wins in power draw as well: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...Draw,2678.html
O/C it's a close call, so if you end up preferring the 6950 that's fine.
Do note that 2GB's of VRAM isn't going to help you much, 1GB vs 2GB = no speed difference. It's been shown over and over again that once you go over the maximum amount of VRAM most games use (which is normally less than 1GB) adding more VRAM either does nothing or slows a card down.
Oh and Nvidia typically has less driver issues than ATI/AMD.
Oh and don't worry, AMD CPU's work just fine with nvidia cards.

CPU: Unless your doing video editing or physics simulations that's a bit over the top, games don't need over 3 cores, and don't need that much from a CPU, personally I'd get a slower quad core, but if you think you can use that CPU then go for it.

PSU: You don't need a 1KW PSU for that biuld, your GPU uses around 220w at load, your CPU uses around 125w maximum, your RAM will use around 120w, making your load somewhere just over 465w, you'd be better off with a 650w PSU or lower, or if you think you might get an extra graphics card then you could go with 700w (minimum) 800w (maximum).

Remember, the more power your PSU outputs, the more power it wastes in inefficiency, that means your power bill costs more.
Last edited by Vox; May 12, 2011 at 10:19 AM.