AM3 Bulid with HD 5850.

I'm looking for a new computer to replace my outdated, eMachines 3220 which is Intel celeron 2.8GHZ overclocked to 3.0 and with No graphics only onboard mobo.

So, here's my requirements:

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: After Windows 7 release.

BUDGET RANGE: £500 to £600.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, maybe folding and browsing, some very, very heavy workload.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, keyboard, mouse, CD drive, speakers and Windows 7 (I preordered it.)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Overclockers.co.uk and Aria.co.uk

PARTS PREFERENCES: by brand or type AMD Phemon II X4. and 6GB of memory. Im choosing AM3 mobo because I will replace AMD Phemon with six core.

OVERCLOCKING: NO, unless my computer is at least 5 years old and running slowly. SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No way.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: CRT monitor resolution varies. Max is 1200 something. But I will upgrade it to Full HD monitor in somewhere time later.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: None. But if I have some money left over, You can suggest me to buy things.

Thanks in advance.

AMD is still using dual channel memory so you wont want 6GB. You will want 4GB (2x2) or 8GB (4x2 or 2x4).

I'm not quite sure why you would go for a PHIIx4 over a more powerful i7/x58 system which will have a much more powerful 6 core/12 thread CPU coming soon. I guess I also dont understand why you wouldnt spend 10 minutes doing a quick light overclock to get a significant free performance boost.

I loved I7 before looking at benchmarks. Thats why.

Perhaps he realised mortaging his house for the latest Intel/Nvidia components wasn't wise?

AM3 platform is great idea for future updating but i wouldnt bother with a 6 core CPU because even QUAD cores aren't really getting used properly. Especially if your using it for gaming, IMO my quad core Phenom is overkill.

By the time windows 7 is out, although it isn't long now ATi's 5870 and 5850's prices would have settled nicely. Not to mention better drivers.

IMO the more memory the better you dont want to bottle neck your multi core CPU with a small amount of memory so the more the better. Not forgetting AMD doesn't use the whole 3 X thing the i7 does.

OCZ have got some good sticks made specifically for AM3 platforms, too squeeze the most out of your "Dragon platform".

For a gaming system GPU is a big thing that you need to think about. Even 2 4890's would give you plenty of juice and soon they will be super cheap. 2 X 4890's in Crossfire X dual 16X lanes? Worth a thought.

and dont forget to get some decent speed from your system, Think about RAID 0.

Plus Network Cards make sure that doesn't lag you out in them modern warfare servers.

Bump... I wanted AMD processor to save AMD/ATI from getting bankrupt.

BUMP...

Its saturday, chill with the self bumps.

Read this thread. At your price point almost everyone here would go with an i5 build.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ost=269162