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Kitten Reaper

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Apr 5, 2013
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Hey everyone! I am very new into the computer world. I've always been a xbox guy but the upcoming Battlefield 4 has convinced me to make the switch even though the new consoles are coming out soon. I have put way too much time into researching every component of an average PC used mainly for gaming and I believe I have put together exactly what I need within the budget I have given myself. My budget is between $500 and $600. My monitor, mouse, keyboard, HDD, and maybe the operating system will be taken care of but I'm not sure about that one. For now I am not considering the OS as part of my build because I can probably get it through my University.

My goal is to have ~60 or more FPS in BF 3 and BF 4 on as high settings as possible in 1080p. This is my goal and I would like to get as close as possible within my budget. I know the specs for BF 4 aren't out yet but I'm banking on it being similar to BF 3.

What I would like advice on is:
- Is this an adequate build?
- What kind of performance can I expect?
- What suggestions do you have for improvement?
- Is my CPU going to bottleneck my GPU or Vise Versa
- Will it work together? I admit I am posting this a little premature and may have over looked something like the power requirement or compatibility. I'm too excited!

OK. Here she is:

-MSI 970A-G46 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130637

-RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152028

-G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

-AMD FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103996

-SAPPHIRE 100354OC-2L Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202025

-RAIDMAX Altas ATX-295WB Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156247

-ASUS DVD Burner Black SATA Model DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135240

I can't thank you enough. I respect and appreciate all responses.
 
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JD88

JD88

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Feb 25, 2013
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Couple of things. First, I would highly recommend going with a different processor. The FX 4100 really is not a good chip for gaming and not a great value. I would go with either the Phenom II X4 965 or the FX6300. Both are quite a bit better for equal or slightly more money.

Also, I would suggest a power supply from a more reputable brand as Raidmax is known to be pretty bad.

Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, or XFX are best.

Let me know if you have any questions.
 
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makah21

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Sep 23, 2011
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https://www.google.com/search?q=7870+tahiti&aq=f&oq=7870+tahiti&aqs=chrome.0.59j0j60j0l2j62.5713j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#hl=en&tbm=shop&q=7870+xt&spell=1&sa=X&ei=Ap9fUaH7JdDpigKIg4DgCw&ved=0CDsQBSgA&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44770516,d.cGE&fp=86704470250c693&biw=1745&bih=866. Hear is a benchmark of the card compared to the other 7870 and pay attention to the clock on the 7870 xt is only at 975mhz and it can see upwards of 1150mhz with no issues.
 
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makah21

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One more thing if you are mainly setting up for a battlefield PC your choice in processor is going to do you perfectly. Battlefield's new engine loves multi-core processors it is one of the few game to utilize all cores. You will see no difference from a three hundred dollar intel like everyone is trying to sell you and Your amd, it will suit you fine! hate to do this but here you go buddy http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/battlefield_3_vga_and_cpu_performance_benchmark_test,3.html . I have the 7870 tahiti overclocked on my computer runs battlefield maxed out at 40-65 fps. I have a 775 intel q9550. and yes it was almost three hundred dollars when I bought it. I run battlefield 3 at 1080p 4x anti aliasing medium to high settings so I never dip below 70 frames on all maps.
 
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K

Kitten Reaper

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Apr 5, 2013
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They 965 is actually a little bit cheaper. The 6300 is a little bit more expensive. I could do it if there was reason. I see it is a 6 core CPU. Is there any obvious number I could look at that what tell me what I can expect from a game? What makes the 4100 not a good processor.Is it worth it going for the 6 core? I see a lot of people saying that future proofing doesn't really exist but that is the only reason I could see going for it at this point. Thanks for the heads up on the PSU. It had a good MRI but i'll check out your suggestions.
 
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K

Kitten Reaper

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Thank you! That is why I will not even consider a dual core. I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you are trying to show me with your links. Intel would push me out of my budget and I can't see anything wrong with AMD.
 
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JD88

JD88

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Check out this chart. It shows what I'm talking about. The processor you chose would perform right around the FX 8120 and just under the FX4170 (a slightly higher clocked version of the 4100)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-frame-rate-performance,3427-9.html

As you can see the other chips I mentioned are significantly higher for not much more money (actually less in the case of the Phenom)

It just doesn't make sense to spend the same for less performance.
 
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makah21

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This was just to show how most any quad core or more is not going to bottleneck what ever video card you are running on battlefield 3 only. See you on the battlefield
 
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JD88

JD88

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Here is a full build that I recommend at a $600 budget.


PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/OKPa
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/OKPa/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/OKPa/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($90.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($58.24 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $623.17
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-06 00:41 EDT-0400)
 
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K

Kitten Reaper

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I completely agree. Thank you for opening my eyes to this.
 
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K

Kitten Reaper

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This is awesome! I am fortunate enough to have a HDD set up for me so I would probably put the savings into getting 8 gigs of G. Skill memory. What is good about that motherboard. Having a S/PDIF out is important to me because I have a headset that receives audio through an optical cable.
 
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Kitten Reaper

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I see now! That is good to know. It is deceiving with such vast differences in price. It can be difficult to figure what will work not what people say is the only thing worth buying.
 
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JD88

JD88

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Yeah go with the 8 GB for sure. Nothing is special about that MOBO, I actually clicked the wrong one in partspicker. I wanted the Extreme 3 not PRO 3. The one I listed there is actually out of stock. The one you chose is fine. Sorry about that.

This is the actual motherboard I meant to suggest:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157280&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

It has the S/PDIF out. It is about the same as the MSI one you chose, but I prefer ASRock products.
 
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K

Kitten Reaper

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Apr 5, 2013
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That is really good to know. That is right around what I'm shooting for.
 
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K

Kitten Reaper

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I can't complain about help! It's just good to know. I updated my chopping cart with the 965 and it offered me the 8 GB as a $14 off combo! Very cool.
 
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makah21

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Yes a good cooler is probably the best thing you could buy to top off your build
 
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H

HEXiT

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Mar 13, 2011
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building a system for bf4 that will get you 60 fps for under $600 is a stretch... throw another 400 at it and you may have something.
yes you could play it at lower settings but whats the point of having a pc if your not gonna max out as much as you can your games.
from what i have seen very few are giving you the advice you need.
the only fx chip that is worth the money is the 8350 imo as thats the only cpu that can compete with the older i7s on day to day and perfoms as well as the newer i5 in pretty much every game. while the fx4100 crumples as soon as you move away from a 4+threaded ap down to a 2 or 3 threaded app. they really are junk parts for gaming builds... perfectly fin for nas and servers but useless for gaming.
yes you can drop down to phenom 2 but that will limit you to the much more expensive ddr2 as the phenom 2 has a ddr2 mem controller unit not ddr3.

so for your build i would say a cheap asrock motherboard for about 70
a fx 8350
8 gigs of ddr3 1866 (the max the cpu can handle natively a cheap gfx card that will allow you to play games but not so expensive that when bf4 comes out you dont want to get rid of it.
buy the best bare bones you can for now and in oct/nov upgrade the gfx. you will get much more bang for your buck and spread the cost over a manageable period.
coz the build you have listed may well look good on paper and look like a good deal but for gaming it just isnt.especially with that gfx. (it has been shown the fx4100 bottlenecks the 7870 quite badly in a lot of games.)
and dont forget both nvidia and amd will be releaseing there new architecture in november. so you will get even more bang for your buck if you take the bare bones route.

1 other thing. dont bother with an ssd untill you actually can afford 1 they do little other than speed up windows. so putting 1 in a gaming rig thinking it will speed up load times is a myth. better to get 2 hdd's and raid 0 them if you want better general loading performance.
 
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JD88

JD88

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Feb 25, 2013
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We need to clear up a few inaccuracies here.

First, the Phenom II x4 965 does in fact support DDR3 as all of the newer socket AM3 Phenoms do. It is only the socket AM2 Phenoms that do not.

The FX-8350 is not a great choice for gaming, especially not at this price range. As you can see from this article:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-frame-rate-performance,3427-9.html

The FX-8350 only performs about 5% better on average than the Phenom across a multitude of games. Hardly worth spending an extra $100 on when that money can be put towards graphics.
 
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voiidwulf

voiidwulf

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That is not helpful in anyway. If you are going to be a fanboy you should at least attempt to back up your points with facts or links.


@OP
I would also recommend the build JD88 suggested. I have a 7870 and it is excellent. I play Battlefield 3 on maximum settings with 2X AA. It overclocks really well, mine is up to 1.2GHz from the default 1.0, and that is with the stock AMD cooler. I'm sure Sapphire's custom heatsink performs even better.
 
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tadej petric

tadej petric

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Drivers used to be better. Now AMDs got better again so AMD now.
 
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