Gaming build. Need processor, mobo, ram, ps.

[wesamess]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

• Gaming, watching 720p and 1080p tv episodes and movies.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

• $500 give or take. Again, I need a processor, mobo, ram, ps which leaves about $125 per part.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

• I have no brand preference but I think that a dual core will be sufficient. Those Phenom 2s look good for overclocking/bang for your buck. I was looking into the 550be but I've read/heard somewhere that there's a 555be. Are there any other new phenom coming out or are out there already? I also don't mind going the i5 or i3 route.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

• 690 II advanced (I also have a haf 932 and a p182 but will most likely use the CM tower unless a good agruement can be provided :) )
• dvd-burner
• 2 7200.10 250gb hard drives (do I need an upgrade here? )
• bunch of noctua p12s, 2 p14s and yate loon 120x20s (if I find a need or application for these)
• I am deciding either between the CM 212 plus or noctua nh-u12p (probably the CM 212 plus)
• gigabyte 4870 512 with accelero s1 v2 with 2 yateloon 120x20s on it.
• asus xonar dx sound card
• logitech z-5500
• 22in 1680x1050

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

• Not really. I don't lurk in this section very often.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

• OC on air for sure

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

• Soon

9. What resolution do you use?

• 1680x1050 and I don't think I will be upgrading or adding any more monitors

Do you guys think my graphics card will be sufficient at 1680x1050 max settings for the entirety of 2010? Because of the custom heat-sink, I don't think I can fit another Graphics card in. The current one takes 4 slots... so a mobo with CrossfireX will be a optional bonus.

[Kovok]

For you I'd definitely go with a nice Gigabyte mobo and an Athlon X2 cpu. You can save some money by geting one of those instead of the dual core Phenoms, which only really have an L3 cache and a higher clock speed. If you want a quad core go for the Athlon one again. There is the Phenom II X2 555 coming out, but it's going to be about $125 and 100mhz faster than the 550. If you save some money on the CPU you can get a nicer mobo with USB3.0 and some decent ram.

Hard drives will be ok as long as that's enough space for you. Doesn't seem like you want to get every last ounce of performance out of your pc, so keep them. Power supply, I'd go with something from corsair. Spend the extra money here and you won't regret it later.

[Raserei408]

I'd say get an M4A79XTD EVO, Phenom II x2 550 or 555 if you can find it, 4GB of DDR3 RAM (any you want that fits your budget) and a Corsair TX750. Get the cooler, unlock the cores, OC a bit, and you'll have no regrets.

[Arinoth]

I would actually more recommend going the i3/i5 route as well your cpu/chipset will end up being your bottleneck if you go with any current amd cpu if you plan on upgrading your graphics card in the somewhat future.

I'd also recommend going with the CM hyper 212+ for whatever cpu you go with as it is one hell of a cooler for its price and how well it seems to disappate heat, especially with 2 after market fans and some nice air flow within the case. As an example my i7 920 C0/C1 overclocked to 3.8ghz floats around 70-75C full load for long periods of time (aka folding 24/7) with a room temp of 25-30C. Once that temperature drops, i typically keep my room around 20C i see temperatures drop at full load to about 58-63C.

[Raserei408]

I'd advise against i3. The lowest-priced one is comparable to a PII x3, and the Phenom ends up performing better. As for the CPU being a bottleneck, with a 4870 and a 1680 x 1050 monitor, if he ever CPU-bottlenecks it'll be over 60FPS anyway and make no difference. Besides, he'll bottleneck faster with an i3 than a Phenom II. Not to mention it'll be an extra $30 to get a comparable motherboard to the M4A79XTD-EVO. Besides, once his CPU is aging, it's almost guaranteed that he'll be able to run the Hexa-core AMD CPUs on that motherboard (if he decides to get one) whereas it's unsure whether 6-core processors will come to 1156 (eventually I'll bet they do, but it'll likely be longer than AMD).

[wesamess]

thanks for the input guys. I think I am going to go with this.

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by Raserei408

...... Besides, once his CPU is aging, it's almost guaranteed that he'll be able to run the Hexa-core AMD CPUs on that motherboard (if he decides to get one) whereas it's unsure whether 6-core processors will come to 1156 (eventually I'll bet they do, but it'll likely be longer than AMD).

we really have a bad start you and me...

he can always upgrade to a 860 . and I will not surprise it will still put this new AMD , last hope 6 cores in the dust.... anyway what else you need more than a i7-860.. I'm now running the CPu at 100 % folding a bigadv. use photoshop to post the image here. and I see no slow down when I do it... and my soon is playing with the lego cad ..and is i5-750 use the cpu at 100% folding 2 Vmware + the ati 4890... he mention no degradation at all.

Sorry to tell you but it's Intel time on those day..

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by wesamess

thanks for the input guys. I think I am going to go with this.

please don't tell me you gone put a hx650 with this AMD build..it make me cry...

don't listen the Google boy... 1 year ago he had no idea what was a PC

buy a i5-750.... you will not regret the extra cash you have spent on it

[kendallcschm]

Originally Posted by Kovok

For you I'd definitely go with a nice Gigabyte mobo and an Athlon X2 cpu. You can save some money by geting one of those instead of the dual core Phenoms, which only really have an L3 cache and a higher clock speed. If you want a quad core go for the Athlon one again. There is the Phenom II X2 555 coming out, but it's going to be about $125 and 100mhz faster than the 550. If you save some money on the CPU you can get a nicer mobo with USB3.0 and some decent ram.

Hard drives will be ok as long as that's enough space for you. Doesn't seem like you want to get every last ounce of performance out of your pc, so keep them. Power supply, I'd go with something from corsair. Spend the extra money here and you won't regret it later.

the Athlon X2's are amazing processors.. i got mine from 2.7 up to 3.4GHz.. it became unstable and my board isn't good for OCing.. so i put it down to 3.010 GHz. but its still damn powerful

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by kendallcschm

the Athlon X2's are amazing processors.. i got mine from 2.7 up to 3.4GHz.. it became unstable and my board isn't good for OCing.. so i put it down to 3.010 GHz. but its still damn powerful

my i5-750 run at 4.0 ghz.. , when I buy it it was at 4,2 ghz so much for your bi-Athlon OC ( x2 ...bi- )

sorry I will not put the word amazing and Dam powerfull in the same sentence than an AMD in those day.. And I'm not fan boy...I'm just realistic....
.sorry can resist