Help a noob out!

[esperasoppa]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. Gaming

2. What YOUR budget is. 500 (soft cap)

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

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. Prefer brands with best RMA.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. I need to buy new CPU, mobo first, then after that probably PSU and videocards.

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

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. I need help deciding this

8. WHEN do you plan to build it? Probably Christmas, boxing day? :D

9. What resolution do you use? 19x10


Hi,

Finally exams are coming and will be over soon, I'm planning to buy myself a new computer, for gaming mostly.
My budget is around 500, but I guess I can over if needed. (less is fine too :D). This seems a bit long, and from all of the other exactly the same threads, you guys must be tired. I would too. But please take a read and help me out.

Here are my questions:

1. I looked at the Anand bench for the 2100 and 2500k, the difference in performance do now impress me at all. I mean for almost another $100, I might be getting a few more frames. So the question is, would an OC 2500k, lets say, at 4Ghz ( I want to be a bit conservative here) increase its performance much? I understand that 2500k is more future proof and is just better at multitasking, but I'm only interesting in gaming performance for now. Really, would the extra $100 be worth it?

2. That leads to the second question of mine. I understand that by getting 2100, I don't need an expensive mobo since I wont be ocing, but would be otherwise if I get the 2500k. From what I read so far, the main difference apart from more features that expensive boards give, is the phases.

If I'm going for the 2500k, can I get the MSI Z68A-G45? It has SLI which I want (I've heard Crossfire is not good), MSI also has good RMA process in Canada too as I read in another thread here. The price is pretty cheap. The downside probably is the number of phases, it has 6, but I've read reviews on Newegg and it seems like ppl can get 4.5GHz with this board. That to me is good enough, or even 4.3Ghz.

I think there are some cheap Gigabyte boards as well, but their RMA process, from what I read here, is not so good in Canada, so I want to avoid that.


Basically, I want the best performance/price hardwares ( I will be willing to go as high as needed though, provided it is good upgrade) since money is still an issue, especially with international tuition being sooo high. The budget right now is for the CPU and mobo only, I will upgrade my PSU and video card later. That doesn't mean I have the whole 500 to spend on CPU and board only though.

That's about it, any input is greatly appreciated. I hope you understand most of what I said, as I am still ESL. I have come to love this forum so much, its the first in my Chrome list :D.

P/S: To the mod or admin:

Do you think it would be a good idea to have a sticky thread that details what is the best hardware selection for each criteria? Can be price, performance ratio, RMA...etc. I spend the majority of times here to search for these, and while I do enjoy reading them, it was tedious to search. I'm not trying to be lazy or promote laziness, but I think it would help noobs like me out so much, and will draw much more traffic to HWC.

[ZZLEE]

If you want game moddern games look to spend more like a 1000.00

500.00 is GPU and a moutherboard

maybe I am harsh but I don't think so

this system is like 1700.00 one behind me not being used is 2000.00 as they stand. cost to me to build.

[Shadowmeph]

Save money by building AMD Quad core 4gb DDR3 ram low power but good PSU ( 600Watt single rail)and which ever case you want use onboard sound try to by a decent Vid card.
Because a Intel motherboard and CPU and ram alone will break your bank then you still want a decent PSU and then if if want a monitor keyboard mouse it all adds up real fast.

[techman95]

what games are you ganna be playing and at what resolution? and xfire and sli both have their equal issues if it were me i'd just get the single best card you can get. but if you dont want to over clock and just want to game then the 2100 should do you fine and since you again arent overclocking you can go with a h67 board but i would suggest a p67 any ways. but put most of you money in to you psu and videocard

heres a build i just threw together and 500 is a little hard to meet for gaming but it is just at about 650

case: Newegg.ca - COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
psu: Newegg.ca - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
mother board: Newegg.ca - ASUS P8P67 (REV 3.1) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
cpu: Newegg.ca - Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I32100
ram: Newegg.ca - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBRL
hard drive: Newegg.ca - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
video card: you can choose from either the AMD: Newegg.ca - MSI R6850 Cyclone PE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity or NVIDIA: Newegg.ca - MSI N560GTX-M2D1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
both perform about the same so which ever you like the best.

[esperasoppa]

Hm..Seems like my English is not as good as I thought..lol

I already have the case, monitor, hdd..etc.. I just need CPU, mobo, ram. (I have PSU and video card now too, but they're pretty bad so I will be upgrading when I can).

Thanks for the AMD suggestions, but from the Anand bench, I think Intel wins at both my options, that's why I'm only looking at these two CPUs.

@Techman: The board you suggest do not have SLI right? I think I should go only for Nvidia card with its possible SLI later on, as Crossfire seems to have many issues.

Also, I'm really interested in the MSI Z68A-G45 board, has anyone used it yet?

[keto]

$500 will get you a 2500K, a top notch (ASUS would be my pref, there's a bundle with one at MemEx) mobo, and 8GB of RAM. A 2500K, every single one of them can hit 4.5 (ok, maybe not on the stock cooler - still, I would run mine at 4.0 or 4.2 on the stock one) and, yes, it makes a difference.
Asus P8Z68-V PRO Motherboard w/ Intel Core I'm sure NCIX more local to you has something similar.

[Masteroderus]

If 500 dollars is your budget why is SLI important to you?

Edit:

I forgot to post this Intel Core

z68 ud3 (16x + 8x sli only) + i5 2500k for $394.98.

Unless you have Uber video cards, you can still SLI without a performance bottleneck from the 8x card.... i think....

[blaze_125]

Originally Posted by esperasoppa

I just need CPU, mobo, ram. (I have PSU and video card now too, but they're pretty bad so I will be upgrading when I can).

Read my first post in there:
My possible build... to order today before I change my mind

All I needed was mobo, cpu and ram just like you and I pulled a very capable system for 380$.

[techman95]

oh well if all you need is the cpu mobo and ram then yea go for the 2500k and that z68 board along with 8gb of ram. and what is your obsession with duel cards both systems have issues that can make the game unplayable and just all the driver issues that both have in duel and triple card setups. i would just get the most powerful card you can get at the time and if you need more power then sell that card and get a different one

[NI3]

I dont like that you said the PSU is bad, I wouldn't run anything on a psu I considered "bad"

8GB ram, Newegg.ca - CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M2A1333C9
($10 MIR)
Motherboard, Newegg.ca - GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
2500k, Newegg.ca - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K
PSU, Newegg.ca - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply