Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > CPUs > Budget AMD pc build

Budget AMD pc build

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - Budget AMD pc build

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Word :    Username :           
 

Good day folks, I've been out of the PC game for a while now (current system Athlon 3200+ on Abit UL8 w/ GF4 Ti4200) but it now has some issues. Well, it has 1 major issue. It won't boot. My 500W Thermaltake PS is from 2001 and has never had a day off.
What I'm looking at is : (all in $CAD)

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8 GHz SKT AM3 L2 1.5MB $147.77
GIGABYTE AMD770 DDR3 AM3 SATA PCI-E $96.77
SAPPHIRE 100265L Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 $99.77
OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 Gold 4GB Dual Channel Kit $99.77
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Power Supply $79.77

I've got a new Samsung DVD drive and a WD Blue Caviar 320Gb HD ready to go into it.

My concern is I've gone WAY overkill on my RAM and that I could also go down to the 550BE phenom. But I figured I won't be upgrading for several years again so it should last.
My PC is currently used for downloading, video conversion, internet; but I would like to edit the HD videos from our new camera. Right now I can't even play them smoothly.

Do I have an OK build or could scale it down even further. I'm sure regardless of what I do it will be a MASSIVE improvement.

Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.

I'd recommend you get the HD 4850 video card and downsize the PSU to 450W-500W to balance the overall cost.

What operating system will you be using? 2GB is fine for XP, for Vista, Win7 you'll want 4GB.

Reply to WR2

change that 4830 to a 4770 or a 4850

------------------------------ "Envy is ignorance" - Henry Thoreau : Best quote ever.

http://www.pingtest.net/result/3022953.png
Reply to xaira

i believe 4770 ousts a 4830 comfortably... especially with low power consumptions u could buy a cheaper psu.. and upgrade ur ram to 4 gb

Reply to abhishekk89

As said above probably upgrade your GFX card with the money you could save on a smaller PSU. 4GB would be overkill on XP but would probably do you for Vista or Win7.

Reply to moody89

I looked at a 4850, but I chose lower cost. The SAPPHIRE 10245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 would have cost $129.
The 700W PS was only because it was a sale price at the same as a the 500W.

Thanks for the help! I placed my order as my budget was increased by 'management' allowing me to get my original 'wants'.

Reply to btibben

how about the Athlon II X4? Have you considered that as an option?

------------------------------ http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/banner/631829.png
http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/banner/549389.png
Reply to blackpanther26

id say go for the phenom II 550 anyways. unless you are doing something that would benefit from an extra core, i think the 550 is a better option.

plus its possible to unlock it to a quad core if you are lucky...

Reply to welshmousepk

Go with a nice Athlon 2 X2 dual core. Get a quad later when they are cheaper and better.

Use the savings to get a better graphics card, I highly recommend you wait for a nice 40nm 57XX series.

As far as the psu goes, people are saying its overkill, its really not. The OCZ modstream is one of OCZ's cheaper inflated wattage psu's.

Put it this way, it has 2- 25a rails. My OCZ Fatality 550w has 2- 25a rails as well.


Message edited by zipzoomflyhigh on 10-07-2009 at 03:55:20 AM
Reply to zipzoomflyhigh

You could get his 4850 for $99 and it will outperform the 4830 and 4770 by a decent amount:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102824

As for the processor, the X3 720 is a very good choice. I wouldnt really consider a dual core these days. The only other cpu I would mention would be the Athlon II X4 620, but the X3 720 would perform better in most games.

Reply to bige420

if you are going to edit HD videos get the Athlon II X4 due to the fact that it'll get the job done faster and better. It may have no L3 cache but the recent THG review it seems you don't need that L3 cache as it only makes the CPU faster by about 10%-15% somthing you won't notice.

------------------------------ http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/banner/631829.png
http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/banner/549389.png
Reply to blackpanther26
Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > CPUs > Budget AMD pc build
Go to:

There are 406 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
  • 01:00 meywd won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 nayega won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 gpfear won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 Conrad925 won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 skythra won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 Ckaz won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 james59 won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 snarl won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 patlabor44 won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 Kiren won the Uniformed badge