# Building AMD pc



## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Hi, im wanting to build a computer for playing starcraft2 and online poker. My previous builds only lasted 3 years, and really want this one to last for longer.

I was hoping someone wouldn't mind taking a look at what iv chosen and letting me know if theres anything wrong/won't fit. One thing im not sure about is the graphics card, everyone seems to put in ATI on a AMD board, but iv never used ATI and know nothing about them, are the 6870s better than geforce 470s?

I allready have an antec900 gamer case, auzentech prelude sound card, 2 harddrives, 2 optical drives, 2 screens(one is VGA unfortunately), keyboard+mouse.

Motherboard(Know nothing about them, so chose from a guide):
Asus M4A89GTD PRO, AMD 890GX Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI 8.. | Ebuyer.com

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3.. | Ebuyer.com

Graphics:
GIGABYTE NVIDIA GTX470 OC 1GB 320BIT DDR5 FAN DUAL DVI.. | Ebuyer.com

PSU:
Antec TruePower New 650W Modular PSU - 80plus Bronze.. | Ebuyer.com

RAM:
G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw.. | Ebuyer.com

Thanks a lot.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Looks fine, I would recommend EVGA or asus for nvidia cards.

Also that is a very power hungry card might i suggest this psu instead
Corsair 850W TX Series PSU - 140mm Fan - 5 Year Warranty | Ebuyer.com


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Thnx very much for replying 

Hmm, i was told to get a 650W, this guide came out to about 500W:
eXtreme Power Supply Calculator
Im kind of noobish with comp building, but I do want to get a good PSU(one that will last more than 3 years and not die and take out the rest of my hardware), Won't 850W be overkill though? 

I don't understand why some of the PSU's have this in their description:
'80%+ energy efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% load condition for less heat generation and lower energy bill.'

Yet, they don't say 80+ certified on them :S i thought that was the criteria needed..


Yer, i was a bit hesitant when the card said 'super OC' on it, i don't rly want overclocked because it won't last as long.
From this list below, would the MSI with the 2fans one be better?
Components » Graphics Cards - NVIDIA » NVIDIA GTX 470 Series - Overclockers UK
Having trouble locating EVGA or Asus ones cards in uk..


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

With the psu calculator I would add about 30%. 850w wont be overkill, the computer will only draw what it needs, it will handle addons for later.

You could get by with a 750w....What we look at are the internals of the psu. Antec used to be good back in the day until they change suppliers and went with lower quality capacitors and platforms.


ant9985 said:


> I don't understand why some of the PSU's have this in their description:
> '80%+ energy efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% load condition for less heat generation and lower energy bill.'


that shows the range of efficiency at certain load levels. 

Corsair and seasonic make some of the best psu's in the industry


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Thanks for the good explanation. I think ill go with the one you recommend then.
Now all i gotta worry about is the graphics card.
The 470 is a better choice than the 6870?, i hear u cant use sli on amd boards, but i normally just get a better card when i buy new system parts rather than the same one and run two together. I dont rly keep up with the latest games often. Im hoping ill get by with this new setup for 4-5 years.

Have u seen this guide around?: http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/The_FalconO6/CurrentLogicalPCBuyingGuide/Guide.png
I chose a lot of the stuff from what they mentioned.
Are Asus/EVGA more reliable than MSI/Gigabyte?


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Where the 6870 shines is high resolution...But both are very capable cards

SLI/Crossfire is overrated, double the price,heat, and power consumption for 20% increase? Not cost effective IMO. one high end single card will chew up anything you throw at it.

I have seen that guide...we recommend what we work with and known quality
Asus and Gigabyte make the best mother boards

Asus and EVGA for nvidia cards
Sapphire,powercolor, and HIS for ATI/amd cards


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Cool. Thanks very much, you've been most helpful.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Anytime, Let us know how the build goes


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Sure.
Btw, when using an anti-static wrist strap, what do you attach it to please? Can you move around on carpet while wearing it and handling parts?

If you are gonna touch the case/power supply to ground yourself, does it need to be plugged in also?


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

You connect it to the chassis of the case or another place bare metal. 

You can move around with it attached, But it is not very long so you are limited to the work area


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

I understand, thanks.


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Sry for so many questions.
I have a zalman cpu cooler that looks very similar to the one in the link below but doesn't say what model. It was bought with my pc though about 3 years ago.

::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions :::

Do you think it would be best to use this or the one AMD supplies? Im guessing AMD one might be better having 3 years to catch up, and i also read you can destroy your cpu in 10 seconds without a cooler, so that's kind of worrying if it doesn't work..

Are AMD factory supplied coolers good?/come with thermal paste or should i buy some arctic5?


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Ask as many as you like....That is what we are here for 

The stock cooler will come with paste and should work just fine if you are not going to overclock the system.

However if you have that cpu cooler (zalman makes some of the best coolers IMO) already I would use it instead of the stock cooler.
I would pick up some artic silver 5 to put on the Zalman


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Thanks, I was a bit worried cause it's 3 year old one, so might not be able to handle heat of new cpus, but i will use it as uv said.

Also, when using wrist strap or touching case, people say the PSU needs to be plugged in, is this true? i assume the plug needs to be switched off or there would be power to the system also..


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

Plugging in the PC (with the PSU power off) grounds the PC case. If you are unsure whether or not you can trust this you can always invest in one of these . I use one for that added measure of safety (I've lost track of the times someone has "helped" me by turning on a power switch).


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Haha, ok thanks.
I was under the impression you didn't need the psu plugged in, so iv probably fried my soundcard 
will definately have it plugged in tomorrow though which putting in the new stuff.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

You dont "need" to plug it in......grounding with the strap or touching the chassis of the case will do fine

But for a piece of mind a grounding cable would not hurt (i have never used 1)


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Ok, iv been using anti-static strap clamped to my unplugged case.
Ran into a few issues though. The case came with an I/O shield that has a pad on the inside of it, and iv put it in the case, and screwed the mobo in. Im a bit worried though as the mobo sockets don't fully protrude(they are slightly still in the case but look like they would be ok to use though). They look like they are being hindered by the pad, but i was under the impression it was not to be removed and looked like it was glued on.

Also, the mobo says it has 6gb SATA ports and there are 2x 3gb sata and 2x 6gb sata cables provided(i also have some normal sata cables from previous build). My two optical drives and my hard drives, are kind of 3years+ old now, and i doubt they are 6gb SATA, is it ok to use the new cables/ports for my drives? Or will they cause damage?
Also there is only 4 sata ports and i was thinking of buying an SDD in a few months when the new ones come out, but gonna be short of a sata port lol. Will i just have to give up one of my HDDs for it then?


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

The i/o shield: are you using the one that came with the case? Or the one that came with the motherboard?

As far as the older optical drives and hd. You can plug them in the 6gb ports but they will only run as the 3gb. It will be fine.


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

The one that came with the motherboard, as it has different connections than the previous shield that was in there.

Thnx.
Just noticed couple more sata ports.

For the EATX 12V, there is an 8pin connector from the PSU witch u can detach 4 pins i think and use it as a 4pin. But on the Motherboard, there is a 4 pin socket but i notice a black cover next to it covering up an extra 4 pins sockets. It was the same on my previous motherboard i think, but i just used 4pin. 
I am happy to just use 4 pins, but i don't know if im suppose to remove the black cover and use 8pins for a better amount of power.. :S


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Go ahead and remove the cover and plug in the 8pin. Usually you only need 4 pin if the cpu is rated under100w. Since yours is 125w I would use the 8pin power.

Both the 4-pin AUX and 8-pin EPS power plugs provide power to the CPU. The 8-pin provides less resistance and therefore less of a voltage drop to the VRM.

Check and make sure the motherboard i/o shield is properly place. Just snaps in.


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Thnx very much, will do.

Yer it took some force to put in, it clicked in place ok though i think it's in right possition. Maybe just bad design :-\


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Looks like im not gonna be able to use my prelude soundcard, the graphics card is massive, and asus says i need to use it on the PCI-E slot nearest the bottom of the board. So that means it's covering one PCI slot, and if i use the prelude in the other PCI slot, it looks like it's only just gonna fit in and will block 1/2 of the GPU's fan, and will be very close to it and the PSU's fan.


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Can't seem to fit the audio connector to the mobo plug either, so looks like im without sound alltogether lol

There is a mobo screw missing from bottom right hand corner, will this matter?(it was wrong type and fell out) The PCI cards are on the left hand corner, only sata ports on right..


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Actually the prelude would only cover about a 1/3rd of the GPU's fan. 
It's the slot right at the bottom, so it might interfere with the PSU's cooling?
Althought i don't know why there would be a slot there if it would cause so many problems..
I do have the option of putting a 120mm fan on the side of the case, and i could buy some extension leads for the 1934, and the usb cables. But im worried the sound card is gonna stop the gpu and psu's cooling.


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Iv taken a few pictures. The first one is of the graphics card and the slot below it is the only one left for my sound card.
In the second pic, the soundcard is elevated above the slot, but if it was seated, it would obscure around a 1/3rd of the gpu's fan and would leave the PSU with a little less room above it's fan, although the sound card is quite thin.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

ant9985 said:


> Looks like im not gonna be able to use my prelude soundcard, the graphics card is massive, and asus says i need to use it on the PCI-E slot nearest the bottom of the board. So that means it's covering one PCI slot, and if i use the prelude in the other PCI slot, it looks like it's only just gonna fit in and will block 1/2 of the GPU's fan, and will be very close to it and the PSU's fan.


Looks like it will be fine




> Can't seem to fit the audio connector to the mobo plug either, so looks like im without sound alltogether lol
> 
> There is a mobo screw missing from bottom right hand corner, will this matter?(it was wrong type and fell out) The PCI cards are on the left hand corner, only sata ports on right..


The front panel audio cable? 
I would be better if you had all the screws in.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

ant9985 said:


> Actually the prelude would only cover about a 1/3rd of the GPU's fan.
> It's the slot right at the bottom, so it might interfere with the PSU's cooling?
> Althought i don't know why there would be a slot there if it would cause so many problems..
> I do have the option of putting a 120mm fan on the side of the case, and i could buy some extension leads for the 1934, and the usb cables. But im worried the sound card is gonna stop the gpu and psu's cooling.


As long as you have front to back airflow, it will be fine. Side fans usually dont do any good as it will cause turbulence inside the case.


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Oh fantastic. Thnx very much 



shotgn said:


> The front panel audio cable?
> I would be better if you had all the screws in.


Yer sry, the front pannel. Not very important, dno why i mentioned.

Ur probably right :-\
The ones i took off my previous mobo, some of em screwed in to a certain point and now they just spin round when screwing them in either way(u cant get em out). Ill try get some more from shop. Dunno how i gonna get those ones out though, maybe with pliars.
Ty for help.


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

Got everything connected and turned it on. Sounded fine but the cpu fan didnt come on, and i tryed to power of the system by holding down the button but it wasnt turning off, had to switch off at the plug. Probably damaged the cpu having no fan and being on for 10 or so seconds..
I don't think i saw a display on the monitor, but was busy watching the pc so im not possitive.
The graphics card isn't fully protruding from the back pannel, the piece of metal on the case got in the way a bit as a result, and i think it may have been touching the monitor connector. Perhaps this cause the motherboard not to function..


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Looking at your pic above, everything looks fine. 

Double check the cpu fan is plugged into the 4pin header on the motherboard.

It has a fail safe on the cpu. It will shut itself off before burning up. Fire it up again and give it a bit.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Take a pic of the rear and post it.


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## ant9985 (Nov 22, 2008)

The motherboard power connector wasn't in properly  
It's working fine now, just installing win7 

You've been so helpful during this build, don't think i would have managed it without ur advice somehow. So thanks very much, really appreciate it


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

I am glad I could help in any way. Glad you got it up and running. Dont be a stranger to the forum


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