I'm building a gaming computer from scratch and I'm having some problems. I've looked up some instruction online but their recomended stuff is really outdated. My price range is, and read this twice, $5000. yeah. i know! but I need to use as little as possible. I want an AMD CPU, perferablely an AMD athalon 64 FX-74 but I can't find any in a AM2 socket setup. I'm going to use 2 ATi HD 2900 GT graphics cards conected via Crossfire. I love to know what motherboards are compatable with the graphics cards. any sugestions on where to go from here? is this CPU outdated? Am I hopelessly in over my head? anyone?

Ok here is your checklist.

1. Determine what CPU you want to use. If you don't know, look at some websites such as:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/index.html
http://www.hardocp.com/
or whatever else

2. Find a motherboard that supports the CPU you picked.

ASUS
Foxconn
Gigabyte
etc

DON'T BUY MSI!!!!

3. Base your specs off the motherboard you picked.

Most motherboards come with on board sound and lan, so you don't really have to worry about that. Some boards have Dolby 5.1 support, but they aren't that reliable. If you want good surround sound, you'll need to get at least a 5.1 surround and a good **cough** SoundBlaster **cough** sound card. That leaves you with memory, and a video card.

As far as video cards go, if you get a motherboard with an nVidia or nForce chipset you better get yourself an nVidia card. If its an ATI chipset, get an ATI card. If its neither of those, get whatever you like best.

Then you just need hard drives (cheap), optical drives like DVD+/-RW ($40 on newegg or cheaper), case and power supply. You'll want at least a 500watt power supply if you are using 1 video card.

God knows how you'll get your operating system...

Also make sure to read about your motherboard you picked. A lot of newer motherboards do not have PS2, parallel or serial ports. Of course no fool outside of the POS business uses serial ports anymore, but if its got no PS2, that means you'll need a USB keyboard and mouse.

Try to stick to an ATX power supply, case and motherboard. If you are lucky you can find a good combo of Power supply and case for sale to save money that way too.

That's all I can think of.

Wait for someone else who has a clue about current hardware, I'm kinda outdated on it.

OH I FORGOT! Check what games you are wanting to be playing, and aim for at least the recommended specs!

This man speaks the truth. And thanks for the tip on the onboard chipset thing (ATI, nVidia, etc). I never knew that.

As for hardware brand - I've actually come to trust the customer ratings on Newegg. I don't go off believing everything I read on the internet, but 300 4 or 5 star (actually intelligent) reviews can't be wrong.

I will tell you though, go with an Apevia case. I'm practically a customer for life after having some of the best customer service experiences with them that I've ever had. Slick looking cases too.

Alright I'm still finalising the details but heres what I got listed:

Sound card: Creative 70SB046A00000 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series - Retail : $85 (I couldn't resist )

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-DS4 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail : $170

OR

GIGABYTE GA-MA790FX-DS5 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail : $210 (<-probaly going to get this one)

[only difference is the northbrige: 790X or 790FX]

CPU:AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail : $240

GPU: GECUBE GC-HD3870XTG4-E3R Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail : $250

OR

HIS Hightech H385QX512NP Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported IceQ TurboX Video Card - Retail : $230 (I like these better)
(going to hook two together using Crossfire)
PPU: BFG Tech BFGRPHYSX128P PhysX Processing Unit 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Physics Card - Retail : $100

Powerplant: (case has one,500W)

HDD:HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000 HDS721075KLA330 (0A35154) 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM : $190

Case: RAIDMAX AZTEC ATX-619WBP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail :$95:00

Memory:CORSAIR Dominator 4GB(4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Quad Kit Desktop Memory - Retail : $267

CD:LG Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model GDR-H30NK - OEM : $18

Cooling stuff: Comes with case,GPUs, and memory.
Five 80mm fans in the case, a fan per video card and three come with the memory.

Total: $1,705 highest - $1,625 lowest ; $1665 Ideal setup. (790FX MoBo, 2x 3850 GPUs)

Optional:
Screen (HDMI) BenQ FP222WH Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen HDMI LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 - Retail : $255
Game controler: Saitek PP24 P3200 Rumble Pad - Retail : $25

(it sucks don't it? )

EDIT: You know, now that I look at it, do I have a powerfull enough powerplant?

Let me tell you some insider horror stories.

MSI made this board called the P4M900M2-L. It was our stock board for awhile. They we (work) got an order for 2000 machines using this board. Turns out AFTER delivery, ALL of the boards failed. We got them all back in, replaced the boards, reshipped and they ALL FAILED AGAIN. So we get the boards back in. At this point we were ready to drop MSI. So they sent us a bunch of money, and FIXED all the boards. The client had since decided to switch to Intel so it was a wash really.

THEN

MSI replaced all P4M900M2-L boards with P4M900M3-L boards. At the beginning we were running into a good 30% failure rate (compared to the 10-15% rate on M2L board which is still pretty bad) in client orders. It was worse when we hit a batch that wouldn't survive MSI's own BIOS update, and would never boot afterwards. We went through about... um... 13 I think it was.. boards that failed its BIOS update IN A ROW THAT IS. So we talked to the MSI dude and he says "oh you need to use this update instead" but it turns out the files he emailed us were the SAME THAT WE WERE ALREADY USING. Eventually we got some "good" boards that wouldn't fail their own BIOS updates...

One thing is for sure about their boards. Be it the K9VGM-V, 945GM3-F, P4M900M2-L or P4M900M3-L, if you hook up the front USB wrong on the board, and then connect a bidirectional USB device (aka USB 1.1 or higher, like a thumb drive or an ipod or whatever) the Motherboard would start on fire....

Also, it wasn't until the M3L came out that their default BIOS Settings allowed for USB Keyboard... which was highly annoying in the past when you'd turn on the computer and the keyboard wouldn't work.

I hate these guys...

MSI's gotten a lot better nowadays.

Anyway... Do not bother with the PPU. only a few games use it. it's 100 some odd bucks down the drain. also, for the cash that the crossfire'd video cards would cost, you could get a much better GeForce 8800 GTX, or a 2900 XT or something.

It also doesn't help AMD is going down the drain, and crossfire has to have mini-drivers for each game to support it. In other words, if AMD has not made the mini-driver, only one video card will be supported, and 230 bucks of your system will be literally useless.

nVidia's SLI has the same drawback, but nVidia's been much more frequent when updating the drivers to include extra games in the SLI modes...

Edit: I also strongly recommend getting a Core 2 series CPU rather than the Phenom's. They are much faster, even not taking into consideration the fact that the Phenom have a bug in the processor that has to be fixed with a BIOS flash. And that the fix slows it down even further... and get a stand alone PSU. you're likely to have your PSU burn out on you if it's included in the case. Those types of PSUs generally die after a few years. Here's a few good models: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139004 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817103941 and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817151034

Hi, we had these over the past 2 months. I don't know about their video cards, they might be OK for all I know. We only use XFX and EVGA cards in our builds. Their mobos are crap tho.

I was referring to their VGA cards... >.> never heard of any problems with them. FWIW, never heard of any problems with their motherboards starting with the P35 chipset and up.

Yes I have no complaints over their SVGA cards, althought I've never dealt with them. Also fwiw I like Sapphire even though I heard bad things about them...

Sapphire's a good brand. Hell, they make a lot of the AMD branded cards... Have ever since the beginning of the Radeon series...

well I got this sucker and here's the current tally:

Sound card: Creative 70SB046A00000 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series - Retail :$135

Motherboard: ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail : $260

CPU: AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 95W Quad-Core Processor Black Edition - Retail : $240

Enlight Sniper 5604724 ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CCC, TUV,FCC, RoHS - Retail : $100

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM : $195

Case: RAIDMAX AZTEC ATX-619WBP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail :$110

Memory:CORSAIR Dominator 4GB(4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Quad Kit Desktop Memory - Retail : $267

CD:LG Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model GDR-H30NK - OEM : $18


Optional(read: may get later): Screen (HDMI) BenQ FP222WH Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen HDMI LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 - Retail : $255 ($284-$30 rebate)

Game controler: Saitek PP24 P3200 Rumble Pad - Retail : $25

(Owning the battle field : priceless)





(sorry couldn't help myself. )

Random thoughts:
I also bought some antec 80mm fan as a bonus at a office depot. it's one of those self regulating veriable speed gizmos. built in thermostat, you know the deal.

Ran into a bunch of problems. one stands out however: PFC_List_Corrupt (or something like that...) I gave it to a very trusted friend to work over night with it. I am tring to get more experienced with this stuff but this was beyond me. Any chance this could come up if the ram on the graphics cards were bad?

The CD drive was bad so I had to RMA it for replacement.

And dudes, ASUS FO' LIFE, YO!!!

That PSU you have is a Blot one.

You didn't list the graphics card, BTW.

yeah, I'm going to replace this one because it's not powerfull enough. and I noticed a realy shody job with the thermal gel. there's white stuff all over the inside of the case.

Any suggestions?

My Gpu's are 2 HIS Hightech H387QS512NP Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported IceQ3 Video Card - Retail :$199.00

I also found the problem with the crashes: bad motherboard. It was missing one of the standoffs and I instaled it anyway. Turns out I ended up causing tiny cracks to form in the board from the stress of installing componets. I'm going to have to replace it and try again next week or two.
(any body got a spare standoff?)

If you're going to replace the mobo, I'd just go ahead and replace the CPU with a Core 2 based one. It'll be a fair bit faster, especially when you consider the errata fix that cuts the performance of the Phenoms down a lot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128059 Intel motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115032 Core 2 duo CPU

The video card you got will be good enough unless you do emulation of 3D systems. In that case, get one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814143123 Will be about the same speed/slightly faster/slightly slower as the one you have, and a little cheaper too. However, if you're not messing around with emulation of 3d systems(PS1, N64, etc), the one you selected is fine.

Here's a good AMD motherboard if you wish to keep using the CPU you got. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131234

I have access to thousands... literally thousands...