[Solved] Newegg amd gaming/htpc rig

Here's another CPU/Mobo option: i3-530 and GIGABYTE GA-H55M-USB3 for $225. Total cost for the build with this option: $535.

This option will be much better as an HTPC, but not as good for gaming. The rest of the build wouldn't need to change.

You get the $30 rebate in the combo.

The i3/H55 were designed almost entirely with the idea of using them with onboard graphics as HTPCs. This would certainly be the best HTPC option.

However, since you also mentioned gaming, I would lean more towards the AMD build. That one has a lot more potential when it comes to gaming.

So I guess it really comes down to how serious you want to be about gaming and what games you want to play.

The 955 is out of budget. The CPU isn't junk, it's just not the top of the line.

For gaming a AthlonII X3 435 or X4 620/630 would do. The combo picked out is not junk - just not compatible (no thanks to Egg hehe) AM2+ Denebs have Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) that can talk to DDR2 only so the AM2+ 920/940BE is incompatible with an AM3 board which only has DIMM slots to be populated with DDR3 RAMs only

What i have been advising clients is:
Get a 140W TDP worthy AM3, a cheapo AthlonII X3 if they dun need extreme processing power and sit back and await the incoming six core Thubans ^^

Hi-Resolution Gaming
http://www.lostcircuits.com/mambo/ [...] itstart=17

When looking at gaming benchmarks - look out for test set up/environments and take low res/settings ones with a pinch of salt ^^

guru3d

"So at 25 USD a core you can't complain really. I was surprised how much performance this processor series offers, I mean really... cutting away all L3 cache inside the processor is like castrating your dog and tell it to well... can I use the word fornicate here?

As the results show, the performance however definitely remains good enough for pretty much any application. Standard desktop workload, Photoshop, even video editing thanks to the four cores is really do-able.

You may compare it if you will, with Q6600 performance from Intel, and at 100 USD that's not a bad position to be in. Is it all good then? Ehm no, there will be applications being hindered by the lack of the L3 cache and we also noticed our games starting to be hindered by the CPU, which definitely was not something I expected. In the grand scheme of things though the processor offers more than enough horsepower for your games, the framerate will however be a little less with the faster single GPU based graphics cards.

For gamers I still like to recommend Phenom II, and if you need to stay within a lower budget we very much recommend the Phenom II X3 720BE processor as it overclocks really easily, bringing more performance to the table for not a lot of money."

xbit labs

"But unfortunately, we can’t disregard the fact that the absence of L3 cache memory is limiting their performance quite significantly in a number of applications. Office work, image editing and 3D games are typical tasks where Athlon II X4 look way weaker than their Phenom II X4 counterparts. And these are the tasks where the new CPUs are defeated by the junior Core 2 Quad solutions. I believe it is a question that only you yourselves can answer judging by your needs and preferences whether low price of the new AMD solutions makes up for their low performance of in all these cases."

The budget is going up since it seems I won't be able to game much with onboard gpu from what i've found & who knows when nvidia launches its dx11 cards, how good they are, how much prices drop on current models, etc. So Ive come up with a new rig, still need to figure out the processor, best combos & so on.

• bearing in mind i've never really overclocked & am not keen on frying my cpu / voiding the warranty, i'm wondering if these black ed 955 or 940s are worth it, or if i'd be better off with a 925 at stock.
• also wondering if that ram i picked is good enough or i should try to find another combo somehow
• no plans to add a 2nd gpu, but i do plan to add in 2 or 3 more hd's, seems 600w should be a safe bet & ocz got pretty good reviews as a psu

HITACHI Deskstar HD31000 IDK/7K (0S00163) 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Retail
$85 w/rebate

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail & OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC ... - Retail $124 w/rebates

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.339839
POWERCOLOR AX5850 1GBD5-MDHG Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail
OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G16004GK - Retail
GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $453 w/rebates

tot:$663 after rebates

Starting with most of the parts of the original build:

CPU/Mobo: X4 945 and Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 for $271
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $115
HDD: Seagate 7200.12 1 TB $95
PSU/Case: Antec TruePower 550W 80+ Bronze and Antec 300 Illusion $100 after rebates
GPU: HD 5850 $290

Total: $871. All you really had to do to get a good gaming build was stick in whatever GPU you wanted. I upped the CPU and the board a little to increase performance.

Best answer selected by pzuzu775.