Final Build

[thesupermedium]

I've finally compiled a list of components for a new gaming PC, which seems to be under my $600 budget, unless something goes wrong. Here are the links:

Here's the HD:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

Heres the CPU/MB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.230024

And the RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231190

I have a 550watt PSU, an ATi 4870 XFX 1gb GFX, and a Viewsonic 19" 1680 x 1050 etc. Do all the parts seem to be worth buying? I've read all of the reviews thoroughly, but I just want to be sure because some people always post a one egg review saying it broke or that it's just junk. I was a little hesitant about the dual core Phenom, but I figured if it was really that bad, I could just pick up a quad core later. My case is a Raidmax Tornado, don't really think the case is gonna blow up, so it should be okay. Overall, my main purpose in this thread is feedback. What do you all think of this build? Is there any improvement that won't jack the price up too much? I'm willing to spend an extra $30 if there's a far superior product out there. Thanks.

 

[gkay09]

^ If you are not an extreme multitasker, then the above config is really very good...
You can check out this RAM...It is also compatible with AM3 and is a solid RAM...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148261

You can also check out the X3 720BE...It would be a little better with the extra core...

 

[thesupermedium]

No doubt it would be better with an extra core, but what I was really curious about was if I had any hardware that was bad branded, or notoriously unreliable. I do think in the future I might put in a Quad core, but from what people are saying, this processor can outperform or keep up with many quad cores. Thanks for the input, and I'll take the RAM into consideration. I won't be purchasing this for at least 2 more weeks so I may be forced to reconfigure seeing as newegg doesn't keep those combo deals for long. Thanks for the reply by the way. :]

 

[gkay09]

^ The ECS Black series, though is not as good as the Gigabyte or the ASUS, but are decent manufacturers...They initally were OEMs, who have now come into retail...
Most of the HP and compaq PCs have ECS mobo...

And as for the performance of that dual core chip, it maybe better than the previous gen Quads(Older phenoms...)
And that chip has a very good potential of becoming a Quad But is a hit or miss though ->
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/phenom-athlon-ii-x2_15.html#sect0

 

[thesupermedium]

^ The ECS Black series, though is not as good as the Gigabyte or the ASUS, but are decent manufacturers...They initally were OEMs, who have now come into retail...
Most of the HP and compaq PCs have ECS mobo...

And as for the performance of that dual core chip, it maybe better than the previous gen Quads(Older phenoms...)
And that chip has a very good potential of becoming a Quad But is a hit or miss though ->
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/phenom-athlon-ii-x2_15.html#sect0

Do you think it would be a good dual core regardless? I've heard people saying Black Editions clock up to 3.9 Ghz easily with no overheat. Even if it doesn't though, 3 Ghz kills my current 2.3 Athlon x2. Plus this CPU is only $99, whereas the Quad core is somthing like $70-90 more. Would it really be worth it to have all four cores do you think?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

This RAM is the same price as the kit you picked but has a much faster CAS rating of 7 instead of 9.

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBPI - Retail $74.99

 

[thesupermedium]

This RAM is the same price as the kit you picked but has a much faster CAS rating of 7 instead of 9.

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBPI - Retail $74.99

Ah so it does! Thanks for the info. I'll bookmark that page pronto.

 

[ahslan]

well that cpu definitely has great bang for buck when you take into account the overclocking potential...if you are able to unlock the other two cores, then thats just icing on the cake...

if your budget cant stretch anything else, i say your are definitely going to be satisfied with that cpu...when i upgraded from my single core athlon to my x2 6000+, i was totally blown away with the performance...hopefully ol' faithful can last me another year or two

 

[thesupermedium]

Well, I use a dual core Athlon right now, and have no intention of unlocking the other cores on the Phenom, but I think that overclocking it to 3.5 Ghz would be plenty. Even 3 Ghz would be fine with me. The cache seems to be decent on it too. Thanks for the input.

 

[gkay09]

^ Going from a Athlon dual core to the Phenom X2 wouldn't show much of a difference right away...
But certainly overclock it to atleast 3.4-3.6GHz to get good performance...

 

[ahslan]

^ Going from a Athlon dual core to the Phenom X2 wouldn't show much of a difference right away...

...you're probably right about that...

But certainly overclock it to atleast 3.4-3.6GHz to get good performance...

Overclocking will definitely help get rid of some bottleneck, if you happen to have any

 

[gkay09]

^ True...
But if the OP is able to unlock all the 4 cores and overclocks to the 3.4GHz+ mark, then there would be a good performance bump...

 

[ahslan]

^Yup...that would be effing awesome...$200 chip for $100

 

[thesupermedium]

Haha, indeed it would. But I've read on it, and it's a very very risky thing, more often than not the motherboard will prevent unlocking due to a Bios update, but who knows? I'm definitely Overclocking it, do you think I should get a new fan and/or heatsink? and I've changed my setup a little too, not much difference, but I've changed to an ASUS Motherboard of the same level, same PCIe, same RAM, same everything. I just feel a little safer with ASUS, not to mention the combo was better.

And ahslan, I do have some serious bottlenecking at the moment. I'm currently running an ATi 4870, which is a great card, but I read a post by someone on Google, and they have the same setup with a 40% bottleneck! In my benchmarks on stuff like Crysis, I've been getting somewhere around the 25fps range, so the new CPU will help significantly, as well as the faster RAM.

Sorry, long post.

 

[gkay09]

^ Can you say what mobo and RAM you currently have???

 

[thesupermedium]

Well I'm currently running a compaq Presario, not sure of the motherboard, but my RAM is 3gb of the Best Buy DDR2 (Ultra or Kingston?) RAM. I hope that helps.

Just another thing, I got the blue screen just a few minutes ago, and now I'm getting some error to do with ISATAP #2 or what not, so I'm more eager than ever to get rid of this computer.

 

[Outlander_04]

the ecs mb + x2 550 costs $218

a triple core 720 be is $119
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649
and a
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 is $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392

Total is $204 , you lose the option of crossfire , but its a great quality mb , and you get the more powerful triple core processor

 

[thesupermedium]

Thanks for the reference Outlander. What does this setup look like?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.235897.19-103-680

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.234600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

I have a 550w PSU and a 4870 already, do these combos look good to you guys? I might get the two parts from the above post if I can find some good combos on it. I know they are cheaper, but at this point I'm actually looking to make a higher end system. Do you guys think getting a quad core would make it much faster, even if I could clock the dual core higher?

 

[thesupermedium]

Sorry for double post, found a combo to replace my dual core with triple for $4 more Lol. So triple it is! My total build is $453.96. Thats about $150 under my original combo I configured a few weeks ago. Thanks for all the input guys, if you guys have more to say, seeing as you've been a great help, that would be appreciated. Should buy it in a few weeks if the combos are still good.

 

[ahslan]

And ahslan, I do have some serious bottlenecking at the moment. I'm currently running an ATi 4870, which is a great card, but I read a post by someone on Google, and they have the same setup with a 40% bottleneck! In my benchmarks on stuff like Crysis, I've been getting somewhere around the 25fps range, so the new CPU will help significantly, as well as the faster RAM.

I hear ya man...I'm suffering from major bottleneck even with my X2 6000+ and my 4850....wish my rig didn't refuse to OC...

 

[thesupermedium]

Hey sorry for the late reply. I know how you feel. You go out and buy the nicest GPU for the money, and your CPU manages to mess it up. You should build a computer yourself, if you're up to it.

 

[ahslan]

well the thing is, I did build my comp myself....lol...I just didnt realize how powerful the 4850 was when i got it...

 

[thesupermedium]

Hm, well I bought the 4870 for the DDR5 RAM, plus it was only $150, so regardless, a good deal.