Questions building pc

[baller43]

So i'm going to build my self a desktop, and i have questions about how certain things work. Feel free to correct anything, and if you find anything that is cheaper for around the same quality tell me.

Mobo: 870A Fuzion-$80(ebay), i want to be able to use either crossfire or sli, and 4 mem slots. Want to be able to unlock 4th cpu core. Q: is only mobos with cpu unlock technology(like msi and asus mobos) able to unlock another core, or is it possible with any random mobo to unlock another core?

CPU: Athlon II x3 455 rana-$80, with correct mobo can unlock into 4th core

RAM:2x4gb-$38

GPU: ATI Radeon 4870 512mb-$60 I'm going to get 2 of these and do crossfire. If someone thinks i should get a different mobo which only supports sli, i will change these.

PSU:600w?-$30
This price seems to good to be true, i don't think it will support 2 4870. I have no clue about PSUs or anything so someone please help me, and tell me what is the best power supply for this system that will work that's cheap.

Total= $350, with hard drive and optical drive add another $100

One more thing, how severely bottle necked would it be to go from a pcie x1, and extend it to a pcie x16 via cable or something?


Thank you in advance

 

[Raiddinn]

Any motherboard can unlock additional cores as long as it has something called UCC (Unlock CPU Core).

Every maker writes this differently, some just say UCC, some say TurboUCC, or whateverUCC or stuff like that. Some may just spell the whole thing out in the product descriptions too.

The 870A Fuzion does have that, see this in the product description

Unlock CPU Core: Unlock hidden CPU core and potential

RAM - Patriot has pretty high failure rates in my experience. If I were you, I would get CT2KIT51264BA1339 instead. It is about the closest thing to optimal RAM in existence.

I would skip the 2x 4870s and instead get a 6850 or 6870 or even 6950 instead.

2x setups are so much more of a pain to run and the 6000 series cards are dx 11 capable unlike the 4870s. I had a 4870 prior to my 6850 and I get 50% more FPS now than I did back then.

The 6850 will probably cost the same as 2x 4870s, use way less power, make way less noise, be much easier to setup, and more and more games are being made with dx 11 now instead of dx9 because most people have moved to one of the more recent generation cards now.

PSU - Under no circumstance should you spend under $1 per 10w on a PSU. Any PSU being sold at $1 per 20w is better off as a paperweight. The 600w you chose definitely will not handle 2x 4870s and may not even handle 1x 4870.

Get an XFX Pro 650w Core like mine. It has a rebate that puts its net cost at about $60 and it will run 2x 4870s or 2x 6850s for that matter.

Don't look at wattages on the labels, testing conditions aren't standard in the PSU industry and that means the wattage listed on the labels are completely meaningless.

A manufacturer that tests with aggressive standards might try to draw max power from the PSU in an environment with 0c ambient temperatures whereas one with conservative standards might try to draw max power from the PSU in an environment over 50c.

They may both say 650w on the label, but the aggressive one might only give 300w at room temperature while the 50c one might be able to give 900w at room temperature.

All you need to know to choose a good PSU is how to determine the OEM of the PSU and just make sure it is Seasonic. That is really all there is to it.

The XFX 650w (and any XFX for that matter) are all Seasonic PSUs. That makes the whole thing really simple.

Not sure what you meant with the last question extending PCIE x1s to x16, try rephrasing it.

- Edit - If you insist on sticking with a 4870 for budget reasons (~60 vs ~140), I have one I will sell you. The above one that I upgraded away from is still laying around my house.

 

[baller43]

Were is that PSU for $60? My second option for PSU was to get this.


Thanks for the offer of the 4870, but I'm think i am going to try to buy both the 4870s used off of ebay, which is way cheaper. If i were to just get a single graphics card i would probably get this.


If you have a better idea of video cards that are cheap tell me. I want to be able to crossfire two cards together. 870A Fuzion has 2 full x16 pcie slots, which is why i am getting it, otherwise i would go super cheap for the mobo


by pcie extender i meant something like this

 

[jsc]

and tell me what is the best power supply for this system that will work that's cheap.

"Best" and "cheap" are conflicting requirements. However, XFX PSU's are some of the best bargains around.

 

[Raiddinn]

Definitely don't pay $81 for a 440 that is worse than 1x 4870. The idea is to get better performance not worse.

If the PSU isn't ~$1 per 10w, it is not worth getting. More wattage on the label says nothing about how the PSU performs in the real world. There is no way that the Diablotek 750w can handle 2x 4870s, much less the Diablotek 600w.

XFX 650w - Well, it is $70 after rebates in the first place I looked. It might be available elsewhere for $10 less.

Really, an xfx 650w is the bare minimum for a 2x graphics card setup that sucks as much juice as 4870s do. They are among the highest power requirement video cards due to the old technology used in them.

Also, I am not entirely sure why you are interested in x16/x16, tests have shown that x8/x8 actually performs better in the real world than x16/x16 most of the time. That is why AMD suggests that people use x16/x8 (drops to x8/x8) even if the motherboard includes x16/x16/x8 capability.

To allow x16/x16, traffic has to be re-routed through a special processing chip on the way to and from the motherboard. That slows things down to the point where x8/x8 is actually faster.

Also, I am not sure why you think you can get the 4870 cheaper on ebay than from me. Just sayin.

 

[baller43]

hahaha. ebay is cheap, i love it.
BTW 15 day free bidnapper trial right now


if x8/x8 is faster im going to try and find a different mobo for same price or cheaper. if i can't then maybe i will just go with a single gpu.

 

[Raiddinn]

Here is a write up by HardOCP about x8/x8 vs x16/x16

http/www.hardocp.com/article/2010/08/23/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x8x8

I just glanced through the list of 4870s for sale. The lowest buy now price I saw was $60 without shipping factored in.

I will one up it and go $55 and shipping at cost, whatever it happens to be not like $20 shipping when it really costs $5 with the rest ending up in my wallet. You can choose the shipping method and speed.

 

[baller43]

is it posible to just use 2 different gpus and without crossfiring them, will they work properly, or will you have to do a bunch of synching?


is it possible to crissfire or sli on x16/x4

if their is no graphics intergrated on a CPU what does that mean? such as this

 

[baller43]

Best answer selected by baller43.

 

[Raiddinn]

I don't think you can make multiple video cards render at the same time to the same screen without using crossfire or SLI.

Yes

It means you need to get video from somewhere else. Either a video card or from a chip on the motherboard.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey