m-ATX AM3 Build

Shiminay

Hey there, was gonna post into af_thefragile's thread, but didn't want to hijack. I'm doing a major upgrade and will need motherboard, chip, ram and gfx card. I was planning on getting an AMD chip mostly cause they're cheaper.

For a budget of around €500 I got the following:



I've got a Nzxt Rogue case, a Seasonic M12 700W PSU and several hard drives, so that'll all serve me.

The biggest issue is finding an m-ATX AM3 board with 2 PCIe X 16 slots as I plan on treating myself to Crossfire when the funds allow for it (and at the prise that 6870 is now, it'll be sooner than later I'd say). The MSI motherboard seems to be pretty solid (Guru3D Review, HardcoreWare.net Review, Overclockersclub.com Review), I've not had any of their gear before though, so I'd love to hear some comments if anyone has anything to share on that or any alternatives that aren't silly money.

Burgo

Total build cost: €466.63 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €175.58
ASUS P8H67-M PRO Rev 3.0, Sockel 1155, mATX, DDR3 €87.71
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-10667U CL9 €45.09
XFX RADEON HD 6870 900M 1GB DDR5 DUAL DP HDMI DUAL DVI PCI-E €141.72
Scythe Katana 3, nur für Intel-CPUs €16.53

Don't know that much about amds current offerings so did an intel build, board supports crossfire. I just went for the same cooler that you went for (except the intel variety) as i guess you know it'll fit in the case.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72858800 you can use this for amazing script in future instead of having to post an image of your basket, thanks to fluffy88.

deconduo

The Phenom X6s are a waste of money unless you do a lot of video editing on a tight budget. For any sort of gaming rig the Phenom II X4s outperform them.

On that budget you can just about squeeze in an i5-2500k build as Burgo did above, but theres two problems with it.

-The motherboard only allows x16/x4 crossfire which will gimp the performance of a 2nd 6870

-Thats a H67 motherboard so it won't allow for overclocking the 2500k.

I would suggest something like this. It skips crossfire in favour of a more powerful GPU. Going for crossfire in an mATX case is madness anyway, you'd have heat problems and the thing would probably sound like an airplane.

Slightly over budget, but is definitely worth it:
Total build cost: €501.72 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €175.58
ASRock Z68 Pro3-M (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX €92.81
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-10667U CL9 €45.09
Club 3D Radeon 6950 1024MB, AMD Radeon HD 6950, PCI-Express €188.24

-The intel stock cooler is enough for some mild overclocking, and is actually a half decent low profile cooler.

af_thefragile

That's a really nice case you've got.
Would you mind me asking where did you get the Nzxt case? Cuz I can't seem to find it anywhere here...

Monotype

If you can afford €143 for the board on top of a 2500K, I recommend the ASUS Maximus IV GENEZ-Z. It's a very solid looking mATX board, even with crossfire in mind.
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=47602

Burgo

Ah never realised it was x16/x4, should have guessed since it was a h67,my bad.

@af_thefragile, yeah they are pretty sweet cases, unfortunately i don't think they are still in production any more

Shiminay

Coming back to this, I came up with the following:

Total build cost: €544.30 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €175.58
XFX RADEON HD 6870 900M 1GB DDR5 DUAL DP HDMI DUAL DVI €143.84
2 x 8GB-Kit Kingston HyperX blu PC3-10667U CL9 €48.95
MSI Z68MA-ED55 (B3), Intel Z68, mATX, DDR3 €126.98
(serious kudos to Fluffy88 for that script!)

Picked the MSI cause there're 2 X PCIe16 slots and despite the warnings Dec, I still fancy Crossfire at some stage cause I'm a pervert that way With the case I have, I've got two spare 120mm fan slots which I intend to fill to help with cooling and I may opt for the Scythe cooler I'd listed previously on the CPU over stock if it's running hot. I'm not planning any overclocking tbh, but it's always nice to know it's an option

af_thefragile: I got the case 3+ years ago at this stage and as Burgo mentioned, they're no longer in production. It's pretty cool, but very big for an m-ATX case. I found the motherboard tray wouldn't slide out when my graphics card was installed (8800 GTX) which I didn't find to be all that annoying tbh, but some might. It came with a carrying strap which helps a lot even though I don't attend that many LANs anymore. Spotted one on eBay though if you're interested.

Monotype

That second slot is still x4 speed.

PCI Express gen2 x16 slots
- PCI_E1 supports up to PCIE x16 speed
- PCI_E4 supports up to PCIE x4 speed

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z68MA-ED55--B3-.html#?div=Detail

Edit: What do you need 16GB of RAM for?

deconduo

You do know you have 16GB of RAM selected yeah?

Shiminay

Feck, misread that.
[edit]
Something with a Z68 chipset would be my best bet then, yea?

As for the 16GB of RAM: I need it for ALL THE THINGS EVAR! Yea, 8 will be fine tbh and another 8 as an option should things start going too slowly in a year's time

Burgo

the maximus supports x8 x8 sli/crossfire
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=47602&agid=1603 €143,81

Shiminay

The Maximus ruins my colour scheme though

I think the Gigabyte cause it supports x8/x8 and matches my blue and black theme (and is €20 cheaper than the Maximus to boot)!

Which gives:

Total build cost: €494.86 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €175.58
XFX RADEON HD 6870 900M 1GB DDR5 DUAL DP HDMI DUAL DVI €143.84
8GB-Kit Kingston HyperX blu PC3-10667U CL9 €48.95
Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3, Intel Z68, mATX €126.49

Monotype

Shiminay wrote: »

As for the 16GB of RAM: I need it for ALL THE THINGS EVAR! Yea, 8 will be fine tbh and another 8 as an option should things start going too slowly in a year's time

I think you've got that mixed up. 4GB is fine for most situations with 8GB being a luxury. With RAM so cheap 8GB makes sense, but 16GB is just showing off. :pac:

Shiminay

Monotype wrote: »

...16GB is just showing off. :pac:

You say that like it's a problem...

I like to take a "buy once and buy big" approach to these things when money allows for it, but I don't think I'll be having any problems with 8GB. For some reason, I had it in my head that I have 8 at home already, but after engaging my brain, I remembered it's actually 4 (4 X 1GB Dimms).

Shiminay

Well, I ordered and have just received a 6950 from Pixmania (€206.99 inc express postage - can't really argue that price). The fact that it was only a few quid more than a 6870 and is more than a few quid better made me opt for this.

Got a con to attend next month, so won't be making any more purchases till end of September I'd say, so maybe something new and exciting will present itself

Now all I need to do is not spend the rest of the day worrying about the fact that the 6950 is bigger than I thought and will be a *very* tight squeeze (if it even fits at all) into my case...

Shiminay

Update:
Went to install the new card this morning into my existing setup and it blocks all the SATA ports on my current motherboard. Balls.

So looks like I might have to give up food for the next 2 months to be able to afford the rest of the upgrades as a matter of urgency

weisses

Shiminay wrote: »

Update:
Went to install the new card this morning into my existing setup and it blocks all the SATA ports on my current motherboard. Balls.

So looks like I might have to give up food for the next 2 months to be able to afford the rest of the upgrades as a matter of urgency

Why mATX ?

ATX with a descent case will give you no trouble ...

Video cards these days are so large that ryanair are charging extra for it

Monotype

That's unfortunate. Can you use angled SATA cables?