r31ncarnat3d

Two things I like to point out:

If X-Fire is definitely a plan for you down the road, I'd consider upgrading the power supply to a 650W or 750W Corsair; however if you plan on staying single card, then the 550VX will do you just fine.

Second, in my opinion a single card solution is fine, but with X-Fire cards, I'm a bit apprehensive that the CPU will bottleneck the cards, essentially wasting your performance gain and your money.

Just my only two concerns

RaBidRaBit

An Athlon II x4 is another option if you wanted to go quad-core. It is about the same price as the Phenom II that you listed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...AMD-_-19103706

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adad22

Thanks for all the replies so far.

Putting all your feedback together I get
1)Bad mobo choice (and I realize that even more so now that it says 16x 4x rather than 8x/8x so it isnt even ideal for crossfiring 2 5750s) Mobos that are 8x/8x and can unlock are 150ish

However I do want a mobo that can unlock the 550, preferably an asus now that they released bios that allow you to unlock either 3rd or 4th core seperately.

So maybe it would be more ideal for me to get a single card, but there seems to be no way i can incorporate a 5850 into a 750 budget, but i guess a single 5770 would be ok my for needs (1680x1050) at decent settings for new games.

2)Power supply; I used 3 different psu calc and i come up with around 500w max overclocked and 4 cores with crossfire 4770 (about 5750 power) but with a single slot card i should be safe with 550 or 500w power supply right? (edit: nvm thanks for post clearing that up)

3)Ram-->thanks a lot for the detailed ram explanation, will go for the 1600

Would a 550 overclocked really bottelneck a 5750 crossfire? (without unlocked cores)

Will look into the antec case

adad22

I looked through other amd processors but i am more interested in the phenom 2 550be for 2 reasons:
1)theres a probability of unlocking if i want the extra cores, and also added excitement (with possible disappointment) of unlocking
2)I am more interested in clock speed as most games atm dont make use past 2 cores, and I don't use any apps that are cpu intensive.

Although the athlon 435 x3 seems nice at 2.9ghz, i read that at resolutions lower than 1980x1050 the L2 cache loses about 5 fps+ in current games.

Tator Tot

1.) Look over all the boards I suggested. That 790GX ECS board is very nice to work with, will unlock, and do you well.
2.) Yes your 550vx is a fine PSU for two HD5770's or HD5750's.
3.) A Phenom II 720BE would be your best bet for the price at the time. Though...soon AMD will launch a newer 740BE CPU.

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el gappo

looking at your op you have obviously done your research, very nice. although as tatortot said the ram might be a bit iffy and the motherboard isnt one i would choose. and the new improved c3 stepping is out on November the 4th for the general public and you would stand to lose out if you bought anything right now. wait it out a couple of weeks and go for an x2 555 or the x3 740

also on the price front asrock have some really solid am3 boards out at the moment. i cant find the 790 version on new egg but a 785 would do just fine. (the highest 965 oc is on a budget 785 board ) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157167

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ElScorcho

Don't forget a CPU cooler if you'll be OC'ing.

The system in my sig was an AMD budget build about a month ago and it was under $730(before rebates). Easily unlocked the 4th core after a bios update and has been rock solid thus far. My only regret is not waiting a few more weeks for the 5700 series GPU.

adad22

Didn't realize the 555 and 740 were coming out shortly,thanks for the heads up!! I will definitely wait on them then.
In the meantime I just have the motherboard to decide on which is so far between
ECS 785GM-M
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813135236

ASRock M3A785GXH 785
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...ck%20M3A785GXH

ASUS M4A78T-E 790gx
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...k=asus%20790gx

Im leaning towards the asrock because of the nice price, all have crossfire as I do intend on xfire 5750's (I cant justify another 30-43 cad for a 5770 136$vs179$ ) but am wondering if it is possible to specify which core to unlock in either the asrock or ECS,
like it is on asus http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardwar...re-unlocking/1

I did include a CPU cooler, the Xigmatech s1283, was also looking at the coolermaster hyper 212+ because of its size. I am wondering how easy either are to install and if I am ok with push pins on am3 motherboard or need to get backplate + bolt through kit

ElScorcho

I have the hyper 212+ and it comes with everthing you need to install it. Once the backplate is installed you dont need to access it if for some reason you ever need to remove the heatsink.

Also as you can see in my sig rig I have the M4A78T-E motherboard. No complaints.

Tator Tot

I would go with the Asus, it's big brother (the M4A79T-Deluxe) is an amazing board, and that version is no skimp either.

The Hyper 212+ is an amazing cooler as well, and mounts in a East/West (IE fan blowing out the back of the case) position, unlike the Xigmatek which blows the fan up.

The Hyper 212 is cheap and cools just as well.
The Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2is another good budget choice.
Or the Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer

Out of all, the Sunbeam is the best.

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