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Gamer PC - Intel vs AMD

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Last response: in Systems
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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within a month

BUDGET RANGE: $AU750-AU$900 approx

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Games

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Monitor, Speakers, Mouse

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: www.msy.com.au

PARTS PREFERENCES:
CPU - X2 PHENOM II BLACK EDITION 3.10GHZ AM3 550 [$133]
MOBO - ASUS M4A77TD-PRO[$120]
GPU - 1GIG 4670 HIS-ICEQ [$96]
RAM - 4GIG DDR3 (2X2GIG) PATRIOT-VIPER 1600 [$90]
HD - SEAGATE SATA 500GIG [$62]
CASE - ANTEC 300 [$94]
PSU - ANTEC EARTHWATTS 500W [$103]

Total - $AU698


OVERCLOCKING: Yes
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: (Currently) 1280x1024

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
Looking to put together a gaming rig (below). with a $AU750 to $AU800 budget. After reading numerous reviews i selected the following components from www.msy.com.au (yeah i know its not the best looking site, but they are cheap, and i haven't heard any complaints).
Hello all,

After recently showing a colleague of mine the above specs, explaining it was to be a gaming machine, he asked me why i chose AMD over Intel. He said Intel was better than AMD these days. My response, AMD being more cost efficient, and nice O/Clocking capabilities.

Currently i'm running a Celeron D 2.8Ghz, 1Gig Ram, 256 Radeon 9600 AGP (The base PC is 5 years old, since upgraded the RAM and the GPU) I look to play games like EvE online, Call of Duty 4, being able to play at very high settings (without forking over the cash for a high end gaming rig). Currently i play on a 19" LCD @ 1280x1024, will eventually upgrade to a 22" (maybe a 24").

So i'd like to ask your opinions. Does the machine above look good for my needs. Or could i go Intel based, spend $AU50 to $AU100 more and get a bigger bang for my buck.


Thanks in advance.


~Short~

More about : gamer intel amd

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you cant get a better intel cpu on that site for that money .

AM3 gives you a decent chance to upgrade in the future too

I'd spend a bit more and get a 4850 , which has a much better chance of running games at higher quality settings

website VERY ugly and hard to use . They must be cheap

4670 is a minimal graphics card. You should be looking for at least a 4850. As soon as you hit a 20 inch LCD that 4670 is going to crawl.

Is that a Phenom or Phenom II?. Make sure you get a Phenom II, the older Phenoms were junk. Dont be afraid to go Athlon II x2 if that is cheaper.

Your friend would be right about intel being better if your price point was a few hundred dollars higher. As soon as you hit the quad core CPU range, intel now dominates in price/performance.

Phenom 2 x3 would be a good choice in your price range. However, if price is a large concern, you might look at the Athlon 2 x4. While not as powerful as the phenom 2's, as games go for multicore optimization, it may not turn out to be such a bad choice considering the Athlon 2 x4 620 propus chips can be had for 100 bucks US.
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Thanks for the replies, reviewed and updated specs.

CPU - Q8400 [$AU211]
MOBO - Asus P5P43TD-PRO [$AU139]
GPU - 1GIG 4850 HIS [$AU140]
RAM - 4GIG DDR3 (2X2GIG) PATRIOT-VIPER 1600 [$AU90]
HD - SEAGATE SATA 500GIG [$AU62]
CASE - ANTEC 300 [$AU94]
PSU - ANTEC EARTHWATTS 500W [$AU103]

Total - $AU839 [$US721]


How does that look for the extra 140 bucks ;) 

The thing I'm not liking is that you are gonna go with Socket 775. It's not that those intel chips don't perform well, but you are getting into a dead end. So if you want to drop a new chip in that board in a year or so, you may not be able to do that. That's why I personally like AMD, because going with their AM3 line, you might be able to do a drop in chip upgrade with a bios update later. It's up to you though. May even look at i5 from intel as well.

IMHO, going intel Q8xxx is no step in performance level, the q8xxx are the worst quads from intel, there are crap.
if you must have a quad, go amd athlon II 620 or intel q9xxx
what I would do is stay with the original setup and try to unlock the extra cores.
wcs, staying with pII x2 BE, ncs, getting a cool pII x2 BE, bcs having a full working pII x4 BE in the price of x2

However, while a lot of guys have luck with unlocking extra cores, there is no guarantee. If you are willing to spend the extra, I would still be tempted to look at a 720 x3 Black Edition. That way you still get some good multicore performance, those have the chance for core unlocks, but even if it does not work, you still get a good balance.

Edit *looked at the price list, noticing how much more expensive the 720 is. If you want to spend say 10 bucks more over the original setup, you could get the x3 710. The drawback is it's not a Black Edition, so harder to overclock, should still be able to squeeze an OC out of it however. Not sure about core unlocks on those however.

TheShortResort said:
Thanks for the replies, reviewed and updated specs.

CPU - Q8400 [$AU211]
MOBO - Asus P5P43TD-PRO [$AU139]
GPU - 1GIG 4850 HIS [$AU140]
RAM - 4GIG DDR3 (2X2GIG) PATRIOT-VIPER 1600 [$AU90]
HD - SEAGATE SATA 500GIG [$AU62]
CASE - ANTEC 300 [$AU94]
PSU - ANTEC EARTHWATTS 500W [$AU103]

Total - $AU839 [$US721]


How does that look for the extra 140 bucks ;) 



the q8400 is hopeless for gaming . The original choice was way better, but if you have extra to spend then go with the 720 be and a 4850


GDay Mate
A fellow Aussie here.
You have good quality parts there. Asus Mbs are great.
I am researching parts for a new build my self will defiantly go with an Asus mb.
Good luck with the build & have fun
Joe

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