Yet another thread about a new build

[RickC Sniper]

I am having a local shop do a build for me and I have a couple of questions. (Please don't tell me to build it myself. I can't. )

Case - Antec 300 Black Steel ATX mid tower.
HD - Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Video - Either an ATI 5770 1gb or a 5850 1gb depending on my budget. (ASUS)
Mem - Ripjaws series 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240 pin DDR 3 1600 CL 7-8-7-24
CPU - Phenom II X4 955 Black edition 3.2GHZ Socket AM3
MOBO - M4A79XTD EVO AM3 790X ATX AMD (ASUS)
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit


Do you guys favor one video card maker over another? I was thinking an XFX or Sapphire card but the tech who helped me put this together swears by Asus. Does it really matter?
If I add a second gpu card in crossfire in the future would the Phenom II be overmatched?

The mid tower case could be an issue in the future because of the room for a different video card. Those two cards listed are about 9.5 inches long which is a lot smaller than other options. An 11 or 12 inch card wouldn't fit without some cutting.
If I add a 2nd card in crossfire in a year or so either of those cards seems adequate to me so I think the case is ok. (it's size and button locations are user friendly to me) Also, cases aren't very expensive.

Should I consider Win 7 Professional because of the "XP MODE" feature or is this pretty mute because I'm going with 64 bit?
I am currently using xp home 32 bit.

If anything jumps out at you please feel free to be critical.
And THANKS!

[Arclight]

- I don't really care about card branding, but I stick to brands that I know can make a good board/PCB (Asus, Gigabyte, etc). Those should be a little more durable, having more expensive capacitors, stuff like that. Performance wise they should be equal (given that clocks are the same).

Some manufacturers might use slightly better memory chips, giving a little more overclocking headroom (again, should be the same performance wise).

- CPU will always become a bottleneck with 2 cards (like the 5770).

- "XP mode" is a virtual machine that comes preinstalled (more like integrated) with XP. You can run regular programs in there, but no games; it uses a "simulated" graphics card, not the actual piece of hardware in your system. Pretty useluss imo, since you can get most software running in Win7 itself.

- I'd go with the 5850, but gaming is my top-priority.

[RickC Sniper]

Originally Posted by Arclight

I'd go with the 5850, but gaming is my top-priority.

As it is for me.

I will get the higher end card if I can swing it financially. I'm not really a fan of dual cards so I'd like to delay or avoid that entirely anyway.

..Thank you for the input.

[Arclight]

My pleasure.

Something to note on the board: with 2 cards, either slot has only 8 "lanes". Normally a PCI-E x16 slot has 16 lanes, as the name implies.

I'm not sure it makes much difference though: even 8 of those PCI-E 2.0 lanes are plenty for a card like a GTS250/9800GTX, but maybe with the newer cards it creates a bottleneck.

In short: if you plan on using 2 or more graphicscards, it's wise to get a board that has 16 of those lanes for each slot you plan to use.

[RickC Sniper]

Good catch and good advice from the sound of it.. I do not even know what to search for to see if a mobo supports 16 lanes per slot or not.

Could you steer me to a replacement mobo or two that will fit that case?
I'd like to go to the tech with a suggestion rather than just tell him to suggest one because I'd just be back here to make sure he actually made an intelligent suggestion.

Geeze, this stuff sure can make a guy feel like a dummy. I keep up on the video cards and the cpu technology fairly (sorta) well but beyond that I gave up long ago.

I surely do appreciate the help. Its too much of an investment to mess it up and regret it later.

[stabiz]

Hey Rick, stay away from Sapphire. They messed up an entire batch of HD4870`s once (I know, I had one) and the customer support was more or less like this:

...........



Yeah, thats all they had to say about it. I had to use Riva tuner to avoid the carsd freezing the entire computer, and I vowed never to buy that crap again.

Edit: I have had ATI and nVidia cards from Asus without a hitch, so I guess they are ok.

[Arclight]

Originally Posted by RickC Sniper

Good catch and good advice from the sound of it.. I do not even know what to search for to see if a mobo supports 16 lanes per slot or not.

Could you steer me to a replacement mobo or two that will fit that case?
I'd like to go to the tech with a suggestion rather than just tell him to suggest one because I'd just be back here to make sure he actually made an intelligent suggestion.

Geeze, this stuff sure can make a guy feel like a dummy. I keep up on the video cards and the cpu technology fairly (sorta) well but beyond that I gave up long ago.

I surely do appreciate the help. Its too much of an investment to mess it up and regret it later.

Keeping up with all the technical stuff really has to be a hobby or interest, otherwise it becomes a real chore.

How many of those lanes there are depends on the chipset; the board you selected has a 790X northbridge + SB750 southbridge, which is a mainstream chipset. For multiple cards you need higher end, namely 790FX.

Just search for boards with AM3 socket and 790FX chipset, those should meet your expectations.

These are the boards I found for Asus:
Crosshair III Formula
M4A79 Deluxe
M4A79T Deluxe
M4A79T Deluxe/U3S6



Hope that's usefull.

[RickC Sniper]

Usefull and important. I thank you for taking the time to educate me a little bit.

@ Stabiz: Noted and thank you.

[JSLTIGER]

The advantage of XFX over ASUS is that XFX has a lifetime warranty, whereas ASUS' is only for a period of 3 years or so. That can become a huge factor if your card dies on you. The eVGA card in my sig, which had a lifetime warranty, crapped out on me two months ago, and they cheerfully replaced it for me under my lifetime warranty and upgraded me to the 8800 GTS 512 in the process.

[CaptainHaplo]

I have an XGX card as well - very happy with it.

Also note - I just put a 955 in my machine and am very pleased with it so far. Very good performance at the price point.