$500-$600 Gaming PC

[ramiraf]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This week

BUDGET RANGE: 500-600

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, OS, Keyboard, Mouse, Hard drive, Ram, DVD Drive, Case

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg, Amazon

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD/Nvidia
OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I want to play MW2, Metro 2033, Crysis, GTAIV, etc. on high to max settings. I pretty much already have my build together, I just have a few last minute questions.

CPU
AMD Athlon II x3 445 3.1GHZ
or
AMD Phenom II x2 555 BE 3.2GHZ

Graphics Card
XFX 5750 1GB

PSU
Silverstone 500w

Motherboard
ASRock M3A770DE AM3 770 ATX

RAM
G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333

I'm curious whether I should stay safe with the x3 445 or get the x2 555 with the possibility of unlocking the other 2 cores to get a phenom x4. Also I want to know if there is a big difference between the 5750 and 5770 in gaming performance. Any help or other recommendations are welcome, thanks.

 

[calguyhunk]

Keep your CPU : AMD Athlon II x3 445 3.1GHZ . But don't bet on unlocking any cores, anytime soon.

Much better Mobo : ASUS M4A87TD/USB3

Better GPU : Radeon HD 5770.

But really, to play Crysis on high @ 1920 X 1080, you might wanna look at GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB. Depends on your budget, of course.

Much faster RAM for $20 extra : G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB)

The PSU is good enough as long as you don't wanna Xfire.

 

[batuchka]

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900
I want to play MW2, Metro 2033, Crysis, GTAIV

Hmm though that is a low resolution, GTAIV does warrant a quad and Metro 2033 is a GPU devourer so @ $563AR we have

edit: remove hardware u already have ^^

 

[calguyhunk]

GTAIV does warrant a quad and Metro 2033 is a GPU devourer so @ $563AR we have

GPU devourer @ 1440 X 900? Seriously?

@Ramiraf - The 460 is a much more powerful card & you should get it if you can afford it. But the truth is, that @ your resolution, you wont need anything more than a 5770. Actually, even a 4850 might not be terrible if you don't insist on playing everything on high. It's just that, I haven't met too many people, who buy a 460/470 at a $500 build budget.

 

[batuchka]

Definitely: 1440 x 900 is approximated by 1280 x 1024 and the HD 5770 is barely playable and a better GPU is never a bad idea especially with such a game like Metro 2033 specifically on the cards ^^

 

[ramiraf]

Thanks for all the quick replies you guys. 24-30 fps on metro 2033 is low, but i'm sure that if i toned it down to medium the fps would jump up to ~50. Also i don't really think I need the 460, cause my budget limit is more like 550, not 600.

 

[ramiraf]

Best answer selected by ramiraf.

 

[calguyhunk]

Thanks man