Proposed new computer

Dakota · Rated R Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 67

Did everyone give up on me? I am still looking for more advice.

caligo · Rated R Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 91 Location: East Coast

Would possible replace the graphics cards incase you end up needing some more power at some point with a 9500GT. It is still an XFX, so same warranty. (XFX PVT95GYAJ2 GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card ~$50 after rebate)

CPU and Motherboard are fine. Would definitely recommend staying with the Quad core. You may want to shop around for prices. If you don't mind rebates, newegg has the motherboard for $84 after rebate. If you have a microcenter nearby or even a frys, I would recommend looking at what combos are on sale. Those two places tend to have some great sales.

Memory- Depending on how much you work with photos and what programs you will be using the extra memory will be helpful. I have seen some 4GB kits for around $50. If you can save money on the motherboard or processor go with 8 GB of ram. Photoshop will benefit from this.

Your power supply should be fine.

Never heard of the case and for the price I would probably keep looking around. Though I did find it on tigerdirect for about $50 shipped if that is what you want. You may want to check amazon as well. Over all you system shouldn't be producing that much heat. It will be mainly the cpu, so overall it should be fine with any heat produced. If you want lower temps on the cpu you can always go for an after market cooler.

Dakota · Rated R Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 67

Was looking at this combo: $149.99
Asus M4A785-M Motherboard & AMD Athlon II X4 630 Quad Core Processor Bundle
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5688231&Sku=B69-4184

don't know how that compares or if I would have to look for different Ram?

Does that graphics card have a digital input?

caligo · Rated R Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 91 Location: East Coast

Overall the processors seem to be close on real world apps (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/81?vs=105). Not sure what photo programs you plan on running, but on CS4 both processors are the same.

If you looking to cut cost/stay within a budget, the tigerdirect combo doesn't look too bad. You would have to look at ddr2 ram, which right now is going to cost you a little more than ddr3. The ddr3 production is still ramping up, so even Kingston ddr3 4gb kits (1600) are hovering around $50 after rebate. For Mushkin ddr2 4gb kits it is about $65 at the egg.

The card I mentioned does not have hdmi, only d-sub and DVI.

Dakota · Rated R Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 67

caligo · Rated R Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 91 Location: East Coast

Dakota · Rated R Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 67

All said and done, this is what I ordered:
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103656
AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor HDX925WFGIBOX

Mother Board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226103
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996782

Graphics: XFX PVT95GYAJ2 GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Windows 7 Pro

Hellfire · Rated XXX Joined: 05 Aug 2003 Posts: 3473

For what you want, it should do the job nicely. If you want to do more gaming down the road, the video card can easily be replaced with something a bit more powerful, however the CPU/RAM should do well for a while still. Plus you can always upgrade to 8GB of memory if you happen to get the 64 bit version of Win 7 Pro.

Dakota · Rated R Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 67

(TSC)Bender · Rated NC-17 Joined: 11 Feb 2008 Posts: 162

I've been using the same motherboard for my gaming PC for about a year, been pleased with it so far. A word of warning though, depending on the size and orientation of your processor's heatsink fan, it may block one of your RAM slots. It did for mine, though I only needed three of them for the amount of RAM I bought.