Opinion/Advice appreciated

[godftw]

k, well my current computer is getting on in years and i think i may have to take it behind the barn and shoot it soon... i've done alittle looking around and building a computer seems like the best way to get a computer with quality parts for a better price... being as my knowledge of computers ends when i hit the power button i would appreciate any insight you could provide.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: sometime this summer BUDGET RANGE: 4-600??

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: general internet usage, movies, music, school things, gaming -not really in order...when i get on i usually multitask between downloading/internet/gaming/music/w.e else i feel like.... i do game but will most likely be games like STARCRAFT 2, WARCRAFT, maybe some Fps?? not really a hardcore gamer.. light/moderate at best..

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, Monitor

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Usa sites - newegg, tigerdirrect?? ect... not familiar

PARTS PREFERENCES: none

OVERCLOCKING: light OC when i get a chance to read an article on it mabe? SLI OR CROSSFIRE: doubt it

MONITOR RESOLUTION: not sure.. was a cheap dell 22'' wide screen i picked up when my 19'' died

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: not really sure what kind of computer i should be gunning for i have the hierarchy charts and whatnot but its hard to relate to real life performance needs... below i took a random stab at it... if i left out anything or you have questions feel free to lmk again i thank you for your time

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Current Cp

intel pentium 4 2.80ghz
geforce fx 5200
512 mb Ram
not sure what MB or PS

from what I've read+ some personal preference an amd build should look something like

athlon II 435/440
4gb g.skill memory
radeon 4650/4670
+ cd/dvd drives
as for case /Mb /PS there's a lot of choices would need to look alittle more to get an idea

intel would just be i3-530 instead

 

[dndhatcher]

Look at the Gigabyte 770TA-UD3 motheboard. Its about the cheapest quality AM3 motherboard with USB3 and SATA 6 capability.

You will want a good HDD like a Samsung F3 500GB or Seagate 7200.12 500GB.

Check out Antec 200 and 300 cases. Inexpensive and good cooling. Often you can get a good 400-500W Antec power supply bundled with their cases for a good price.

 

[godftw]

yea i was thinking WD or Samsung for the Hd apparently samsung does something faster??? so ill prolly go with that as the price difference is like 5 dollars..... ill check out the Mobo and the cases thankyou

could that mb run 1600 memory - > Specs = DDR3 1866(OC)/1333/1066 MHz also for anyone else looking... im really looking for opinions on the processor / GC selection aswell as known brands ------ the case/memory/drives should be pretty straightforward.
power supply im trying to stick to the brand names... and Mobo/proc/gC im just in the dark about guessing as to what my requirements would be

.... totals for current selected items is about 600+ - depending on the exact brands/items/rebates

gskill memory 4g
athlon II x3 / intel i3
asus Cd/dvd burner x2
radeon 4650 / 4670
corsair(or other reliable brand) 450-650 PS
the Gigabyte 770TA-UD3 motherboard suggested above
and a case ill prolly pick later ...prolly 40-100$

 

[whitefang]

This is an excellent build here.

 

[godftw]

sorry dont mean to bust balls but im not so much looking for builds as i am opinions/reasoning woll i have confidence in the site and the people here i would really like to know alittle about the practical performance of parts when compared to other parts

ex: i know HD 4850 is better then the 4650 but how would that translate into games/performance is it good to just look at the games you will be using and just get the system requirement for it? or would u want to be over it... and how much?
same for processor ? i know they have charts but i dont see any of the games i play and if i can find a chart for the certain programs it may help but idk if im going to be able to make sense of any of it

ive looked through alot of the articles here and whatnot... the amds seem better for budget builds and the x3 was in the best cpu value... but would i want the x4 for extra cores for multitasking??? or do certain x3's unlock to 4 cores? or is the intel just better for all around stuff

anyways ima go read some more stuff and maybe wait till some April articles come out and get some more imput befor i start buying stuff... maybe im just being alittle to meticulous thankyou

:ramble over:

 

[whitefang]

The rana 435 2.9 ghz is the best bang for the buck. The extra core on a processor can actually slow down some games.

So most people would either go for the Rana 435/440 (Depending on price at given time and combos) And then the next step up from that would be the Phenom II 955. The processors in between aren't worth the price difference.

The only difference between the Athlon X3's and X4's between the Phenoms is that the Phenoms have L3 cache which helps a little in games.

4670, 4770, 4850 are all low priced budget cards performing similarly.

Example, a 4850 will play recent games at 1440x900 resolution at Mostly high and some medium settings. a 4670 might have to take the settings down to all medium and maybe some low settings. A lot of people like the 4770 because it has GDDR5 and can overclock like mad, it performs slightly worst then the 4850.

So for anything above 1400X900 you would want to look at the 5770, 4870, and the 5830. at resolutions of 1900x1200 you would want 5850, 5870.

Spinpoint F3's are the best and fastest HD's available today. Newegg sells the 500GB and 1TB ones at $55 and $89.

For ram you want the best CAS latency, brand doesn't matter except for OCZ. Don't get ocz.

The ram that most people suggest is the Ripjaw 4GB DDR3 10666 7-7-7-21 timing ram at $115.

For motherboards there's a few things to look for. Asus and gigabyte are the best brands, Asrock is Asus's lower end version and a lot of there motherboards are pretty decent. I wouldn't get anything lower then the 770 boards, the 760 740 etc are very low end junk. The 790GX usually has two PCI-x16 slots at 8x8 speed. The 790FX some times has more PCI-x16 and are better overclockers. Then there's 780G/785G boards which most people don't suggest because they are just 770 boards with a built in video card. Most of them have two PCI-x16 slots but the second PCI-x16 slot runs at X4 which is useless.

So most people go with a few different boards. The gigabyte 770 USB 3.0 + sata 6GB's. Or the Asus / Gigabyte 790FX/790GX/ 890 GX/

For PSU's you want to look at the below brands.

Corsair, antec, Pc power and cooling, seasonic, Silverstone, and OCZ. No other brands are worth buying.

 

[godftw]

thankyou whitefang pretty much answered all my questions