[Bob-san]

Pentium E6300 @ 3.7GHz
Abit IP35-E (v1.01)
A-DATA Vitesta Extreme Edition 2x2GB DDR2-800 CL4
Wintec AMPX 2x1GB DDR2-800 CL5
XFX Radeon HD 5850 1GB
Corsair 750TX
XClio 188AF
WD Caviar SE16 320GB SATA
WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA
WD Raptor 150 SATA
WD Raptor 150 SATA
Windows 7 Pro x64
Acer X213h (21.5" TN, 1920x1080 via DVI-D)
Acer X193w+ (19.3" TN, 1680x1050 via DVI-D)


Sent the HD3850 256MB to a working retirement & stored the XFX 650W PSU.

[MR_T3D]

nice setup.

[Rodo]

dammit!

[IronBeer]

Niiiice. And plus with a 64-bit OS, you've got room for a RAM upgrade should you want/need it.

[Bob-san]

It's rather old now and has been upgraded a few times before. I think this is the last upgrade for this motherboard at least. A Wolfdale at 3.7GHz isn't bad but it isn't terribly modern, either.

I ordered about a week ago and received it Tuesday. I argued with myself all Saturday between an HD5850-1024 & GTX460-768. In the HD5850's favor was a combo deal with that XFX power supply, while in the GTX460's favor was the lower price. I decided on the Radeon since it's a faster card in games that I play (Source and, now, Bad Company 2).

[Dark RevenantX]

Any reason for HD 5850 over HD 6870?

[Bob-san]

Any reason for HD 5850 over HD 6870?

#1: Price ($201 AR for HD5850 + 650W PSU v. $240+ for HD6870)
#2: Performance (HD5850 is only slightly slower. No meaningful features lost.)
#3: Milkyway@home (You can crunch with Cypress, you can't crunch with Barts.)

[Admiral LSD]

You made the right call going for the 5850 over the 768MB GTX460. Due to the way it's designed, reducing the amount of RAM in the 460 requires disabling some of the memory controllers, which in turn means you lose about 1/4 of the total ROPs ultimately resulting in a card that's slower. It really should have been given a different name, but you know how nVidia are with these things...

That said though, nice setup you have there. Are you overclocking on just the standard air cooler, or have you replaced it with something beefier since those photos were taken? If you're still using the stock cooler then nice. I ordered an S1283 Dark Knight cooler for my Deneb yesterday, just arrived today. I won't be able to fit it until tomorrow some time though, I need to modify it to neuter the pesky lights on the fan and I have no idea where my sidecutters are...

[achtung]

I'll hijack your thread for opinions on what should be my next build:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9988449

Think this will last for another 5-6 years?

[Admiral LSD]

You can pick up an i5-760 and P55 mobo to put it on for roughly the same price as the 1075T and 890FX board you have there which will embarrass the AMD setup. If you can wait a little bit longer, then Intel are planning to launch the new Sandy Bridge chips in January next year, which will be better again, but there seems to be little to no word about pricing just yet.

[Bob-san]

I'll hijack your thread for opinions on what should be my next build:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9988449

Think this will last for another 5-6 years?

Choose a different, more efficient, power supply. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703027
Hold off on graphics cards. You'll want a Radeon HD 6950/6970 (1.5GB standard).
I'd also suggest a different chassis (dislike Antec's >300 line).
Consider a refurb Dell Professional or UltraSharp monitor.
Faster hard drives. Seriously. One Black 2TB costs similar and will be much faster and more reliable.
Perhaps a Logitech G500 mouse or something.
Otherwise, consider more RAM up-front. A 2x4GB kit will keep you for a long time and will draw less power and leave room for a future, less expensive, upgrade to 16GB.

If you want the computer soon, I'd say order it without a graphics card and just use whatever you have now to hold you over for HD69x0's. Though if you wait that long, it's not that much longer to Sandy Bridge.

[achtung]

Price is a factor with mine; I'm not sure I will be able to shell out the extra 200-300 bucks for a 6970 when it comes out, considering the 5870 will surely run almost any modern game fine.  If Sandy Bridge is going to be released on January 5th, I'm not sure what to do. I'm sure the CPUs won't be cheap, and neither will the boards. I'm trying to stick to two thousand or less.

[Bob-san]

Price is a factor with mine; I'm not sure I will be able to shell out the extra 200-300 bucks for a 6970 when it comes out, considering the 5870 will surely run almost any modern game fine.  If Sandy Bridge is going to be released on January 5th, I'm not sure what to do. I'm sure the CPUs won't be cheap, and neither will the boards. I'm trying to stick to two thousand or less.

The 6970 will cost similar to the current 5870-E6. As I said, do NOT buy the HD5870. The 6950 is surely going to perform much better--much less the 6970. As for Sandy Bridge, the more mainstream parts are going to be released first so just keep your wallet fat in your pants.

[Hades]

Consider a refurb Dell Professional or UltraSharp monitor.

Hahahaha, no. The ACER is a much better buy than any Dell monitor with the same size or resolution. Not to mention it's Acer, and not Dell.

[Bob-san]

Consider a refurb Dell Professional or UltraSharp monitor.

Hahahaha, no. The ACER is a much better buy than any Dell monitor with the same size or resolution. Not to mention it's Acer, and not Dell.

IPS > TN

[achtung]

I've generally had excellent luck with dell monitors.

Maybe this one?

Also, I swapped out the AMD 1075t for an i7 950. I think I'll wait until the 6970 comes out, and either get it, or grab the 5870 at a lower price. In the mean time I guess I can stick this old 7900GTX in it.

[Klaustrophobia]

there's really no reason to get a 5870.  the 6870 is more or less the same performance (if not a little higher) and a LOT cheaper. 

[Spicious]

The 6870's between the 5850 and 5870 performance and price-wise. It scales much better with crossfire though.

[Admiral LSD]

Also, I swapped out the AMD 1075t for an i7 950. I think I'll wait until the 6970 comes out, and either get it, or grab the 5870 at a lower price. In the mean time I guess I can stick this old 7900GTX in it.

The 950 isn't a bad chip in and of itself, but the 1366 platform is let down by the cost of the motherboards. Decent ones start at around the USD$200 mark and don't really offer anything of any particular value to justify that kind of premium over 1156 boards in the USD$100-150 range (such as this or even this). By opting for an i5-760 or i7-870, you'll still get a respectable level of performance, but will be looking at saving a fair bit of money (anywhere up to USD$200 or more depending on what CPU/board combination you buy). Still, if you're able to wait until January then you're best advised to check out Sandy Bridge. If SB board/CPU pricing is less than agreeable you'll still be able to pick up a P55/Lynnfield setup for much the same price you can now.

As for monitors, if you can get a decent deal on them (the U2211 and U2311, 22 and 23 inch models respectively, in particular) then the Dell UltraSharps are well worth looking into. You have to keep an eye on them though, Dell are always doing deals so the prices fluctuate all over the place. In purely technical terms, IPS is far better than TN, but the reality is most people aren't really in a position to know or care why that is so the still cheaper TNs will suit them down to the ground. If you can grab the U2211 for around USD$199 on sale, then go for it, otherwise just go for whatever is cheap enough and looks good to you.