New Computer - Big time one

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Ethan9307

New Member
Ok, i'm gathering my parts for my new computer. It's going to be gaming/workstation and I want it to scream but I can't spend millions.

Basically, here are all the main parts I have picked out -
Thermaltake Xaser VI Black, full tower
AMD Phenom II X3 720 AM3 CPU
GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard
Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) x 2 DDR3 1333 RAM
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 GPU
ABS Tagan BZ 1100W PSU
ZALMAN CNPS9700 110mm heatsink (all copper)
WD 10,000 RPM 150GB drive as the main drive
two WD 1TB drives, a WD 320GB, a Seagate 200GB, and a seagate 80GB HDD for storage (all but the 1 tb drives are old ones...
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro sound card
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 MCE TV tuner

Now, The question is which CPU I should choose. I want AM3 for future expandability. So heres my options.
AMD Phenom II X4 810 AM3 95W $179.99
Operating Frequency 2.6GHz
Hyper Transports 4000MHz
L1 Cache 4 x 128KB
L2 Cache 4 x 512KB
L3 Cache 4MB
Manufacturing Tech 45 nm
AMD Phenom II X3 720 AM3 95W $145.00
Operating Frequency 2.8GHz
Hyper Transports 4000MHz
L1 Cache 128KB+128KB
L2 Cache 3 x 512KB
L3 Cache 6MB

Now, would the 720 or the 810 be a better choice for the money. I know overclocking so I can bump the 720 up a little.

Or I can get an AM2+ CPU... But I want AM3.

Now I know this is the CPU section so i'm only going to ask about the CPU but if you have suggestions on any other parts for this computer please just let me know, or if there is a better section to post this in let me know please. Thanks.
 
The Power Supply is pretty much overkill. The 720 beats the 810 in pretty much every benchmark but a few, all four cores being used. But it overclocks better, so you can pretty much even make up for those too.
 
Even with two of those graphics cards it would be overkill? I was going to go with a 900W but then picked that cuz it's like 20 bucks more than the 900 watt...

ok well scratch that.. I was just going to look for the 900w PSU.. not there anymore and the 1100 watt costs more now...

So, Anyone got any suggestions on a good PSU to run this computer (my guess is 700-1000W...)? I absolutely have to have modular cables... I hate having a bunch of unused wires inside my case. And I want it to be efficient and have lots of SATA power connectores (at least 6...) and my two graphics cards will take a total of four 6 pin PCI-E connectors.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194041

?? ENERMAX REVOLUTION85+ 850W... Seems very efficient and reliable by the reviews.
 
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Ok then I think 850 is good and I think i'm going with the enermax... that corsair isn't modular, which i have to have because i hate wires... and it has a single 12 volt rail... i want something with a little more juice.

corsair is 12v at 70 amps and enermax is 6 12v at 30 amps each...
 
Ethan9307 said:
Ok then I think 850 is good and I think i'm going with the enermax... that corsair isn't modular, which i have to have because i hate wires... and it has a single 12 volt rail... i want something with a little more juice.

corsair is 12v at 70 amps and enermax is 6 12v at 30 amps each...
Click to expand...

Are you powering your street with that thing or something?

70 amps is more than enough for any system to do anything, hell you could probably run a quad video card server with it and still have room to plug in a couple of kitchen appliances and a tv, and this is coming from someone with that exact suply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007

would that not be better as it is
a) cheaper
b) got dual rails at 80 amps combined (even though 70 is sufficient)
c) modular
d) corsair so comes with 5 year warranty and is tested at 50 degrees instead of 20 or 30
e) is over 80% efficient at all usage

Even though that, like an 850 or even 750 is massive overkill even if you plan on upgrading, it is still a damn good PSU.
 
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Aastii said:
Are you powering your street with that thing or something?

70 amps is more than enough for any system to do anything, hell you could probably run a quad video card server with it and still have room to plug in a couple of kitchen appliances and a tv, and this is coming from someone with that exact suply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007

would that not be better as it is
a) cheaper
b) got dual rails at 80 amps combined (even though 70 is sufficient)
c) modular
d) corsair so comes with 5 year warranty and is tested at 50 degrees instead of 20 or 30
e) is over 80% efficient at all usage

Even though that, like an 850 or even 750 is massive overkill even if you plan on upgrading, it is still a damn good PSU.
Click to expand...
Thats not the one he showed me.... The one you posted is a really good one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009

Thats what he posted, and I want more power than that...

No it is unecessary but that doesn't mean i dont need it. I want power, i love power, and if i dont have enough, i'm gonna end up throwing my computer at the wall...

But the one you just posted is very nice, cheaper than the enermax i was looking at and a very good looking product. So you say you have the one you posted? run solid? is it loud?
 
Ethan9307 said:
Ok then I think 850 is good and I think i'm going with the enermax... that corsair isn't modular, which i have to have because i hate wires... and it has a single 12 volt rail... i want something with a little more juice.

corsair is 12v at 70 amps and enermax is 6 12v at 30 amps each...
Click to expand...

On the Enermax, on a multi rail you dont just add the rails together, thats just the max. amps any one rail can pull. The Enermax only has a total of 70 amps. on the 12V rail. The same as the 850TX, big single rail. I would rather have a large single rail. Dont have to worry about any one rail getting oveloaded.
 
That enermax has 6 12v rails that max at 30 amps.. nothing inside my computer is gonna overload 30 amps... that's why i wanted that... and mainly i wanted it because it something fails, it may not affect everything inside my computer...
 
Ethan9307 said:
That enermax has 6 12v rails that max at 30 amps.. nothing inside my computer is gonna overload 30 amps... that's why i wanted that... and mainly i wanted it because it something fails, it may not affect everything inside my computer...
Click to expand...

Corsair is a solid product.

Quiet, efficient, and cheap.

Its one of the only things in the world that is cheap, but bloomin amazing...

My TX750 runs my rig with absolutely NO problems...
 
Ethan9307 said:
and mainly i wanted it because it something fails, it may not affect everything inside my computer...
Click to expand...

Who told you that, if one rail hits its limit, the P/S will restart if the other rails are under there limit or not.

If both P/S have 70 amps total. Your more likely to hit the limit of one smaller rail on a multi rail and have it restart, then you would on a large single rail with the same amount of amps. on the 12V line.

Multi rail P/S are not what they are cracked up to be.

Not saying the Enermax is bad, but just use this example. It has 6 rails with a 30 amp. Max pull on each rail. It has a total of 70 amps. max on the 12V rail. Two rails are pulling 25 amps, that only leaves 20 amps for the remaining 4 rails to use.

Having 6 rails with only 70 amps total on the 12V is really just a (sales pitch). They think people will see that 6 rails with 30 amps and think, my god this thing has 180 amps, (wrong) it has 70 amps. Its just a game.
 
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No it is unecessary but that doesn't mean i dont need it. I want power, i love power, and if i dont have enough, i'm gonna end up throwing my computer at the wall...

But the one you just posted is very nice, cheaper than the enermax i was looking at and a very good looking product. So you say you have the one you posted? run solid? is it loud?
Click to expand...

You may "love power" but what you have to remember is if you run that PSU you will be on about 40% usage so about 83-84% efficient. To get the most efficiency out of it you want 60-70% usage, then they are around 88-90%, more efficient=less heat and less cost

The one i posted IS nice. I don't have the one that i posted, i have the TX850, which is the exact same, just less wattage and less combined over the rails, mine isn't modular (i didn't want to pay for something i don't see the point in) and mine has a single 70amp dedicated 12V rail, for reasons posted above. On a side note thanks for posting that, corsair didn't make the reasons very clear, it just said about it being more stable and more able to do what it was supposed to do, but i love knowing the ins and outs so once again, thanks.

Back to topic, it is solid, to give you some idea of how solid it is, it comes with 5 year warranty and is tested at 50 degrees (compare that to the 20-30 standard temperature) to ensure it will perform as said at high temperatures. It also comes with, and this is quoted from the box:

  • Over Current/voltage/power protection
  • Under voltage protection
  • Short circuit protection

and i can also tell you it comes with teemperature protection, so should, for whatever reason, it get too hot, it will break within itself, not taking components with it. If you want to know how it does this, just ask and i will explain, but that is the gist of it.

It is quiet, it comes with temperature regulated speed so it gets hot, the fan speeds up, it gets cool, the fan slows down. Put it this way, it has the same fan as what's in mine and when i have no case fans on i hear nothing but the CPU fan spinning, not the air it draws, the fan itself moving, i hear nothing ever from the power supply.
 
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