Need advice on an AMD CPU for my budget friend XD

Well I already have very specific things in mind, Spinpoint F3, XFX Black 750W Semi-Modular PSU. 6850 (we need good framerates on Bad Company 2), G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB CL7 1333 MHz RAM and yeah. we wanna get a good build not save 5 bucks to get a less reliable brand so yeah, so keep that in mind if u wanna try, i dunno how much he can spend i need to ask him he hasnt been on recently

+1 to the above if he can wait if not, then I would have to say the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition would be your best choice for speed and cost. One step below would be the Athlon II 610 but I would not suggest it. The Phenom II is plenty fast enough to run the 6850 pair that with a nice ASUS board and your freind will have a pretty sweet system.

Phenom II 955BE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

What resolution will this computer be running games at? Do you know if any overclocking is planned?

I know your going AMD for budget, but saving $75 against the price of this whole build doesn't justify the performance difference to me. Trust me Sandy Bridge is way faster than Phenom II, especially overclocked.

We're going with the case I have which is the NZXT Lexa S, $70 and works like a champ



I think the SB will be a much better idea, my friend suggested AMD but the post above convinced me out of it



The resolution will be 1080p hopefully and no OCing, and yeah I think Ill go with SB over AMD, Im an Intel fan, my friend had just suggested AMD

ASRock 870 Extreme3 / XFX Radeon HD 5870: $355 (before $40 rebate)

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition: $145

Crucial 4GB kit (2GBx2) 1333: $46



  at a $375 mobo/cpu with a GTX 460 beating the HD5870 with the PhII 955 in BC2. Don't think most folks would regret AMD quite that much   I'm not going to dignify that comment (or bother computing how much money the AMD rig will save you -- even with the HD5870)

There is GSkill CL7 on the QVL list but I went with the Crucial, anyway. It's just good stuff and may well run CL7 for you (it does for me on Asus product). Stick with the F3. I'm not familiar with the XFX power supply but the stats look impressive.



Your friend might be a little smarter than you think  

We're going with a 6850 not 5870, and the RAM is fine nothing needed there.

To recap:

You are spending more money for less performance - and introducing your personal bias into the decision-making against the wishes of you friend.

Gotcha


(glad you are not my 'friend')

The RAM is fine, we wanna save anywhere from 15+, a few bucks here and there is no problem, we're ok with paying a tidbit more for G.Skill

If you're saying we should get the 6870 that was our initial choice but the 6870 doesn't give much more FPS and he's fine with a little less FPS

Look at that, someone who tells it like it is, THANK YOU Psycho

Also, ASRock seems really cheap to be honest, I looked at the picture, Im sure it works and all but the build quality just doesn't look nice at all, and he won't crossfire so I don't even know if it's worth it

Keep in mind that those benchmarks were run with a GTX 280 in medium quality

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-rev...

Going with a 6870 will allow you to enable higher detail than a 6850 or GTX 460, especially if you aren't going to overclock. If you want to enable higher visual quality then it does not make sense to spend more money on the CPU when it's the GPU that will hold you back. For a 2500K you should go with at least a 6950 or GTX 570. Also the whole point of the K series is the unlocked multiplier to overclock. If you aren't overclocking then the regular 2500 makes more sense and saves you $20

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

You really should look at this article

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpu-overclocki...

Though sandy bridge does of course change the picture for CPUs over $200. Even though you expressed concerns over ASRock boards I would recommend them for any experienced builder looking for the best bang for their buck.

The 6850 is much cheaper than the 6870 so he'll be ok with that, and the 2300 is good too

My point is, why would you spend more on the CPU so that your game could look crappier? A 6870 would allow him to get a bitter better visuals, especially at higher resolutions.

We're spending less on CPU Im choosing 2300 over 2500K, and I want SB and Intel over AMD

Also, Id get a 6870 but it gives a little more FPS for BC2 and it's a hefty sum more

Very recently considering it's a Sandy Bridge I3 just released.  

3 cores are enough for gaming but Athlon II X3 get "bottle-neck" with "strong VGA"
And i3-2100 wins Phenom II X4 in gaming
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=102
So go for SB. I think i5-2500k is the best choice  
If you want something cheaper then i5-2300...

Just in case you didnt know diggle even my friends core 2 quad struggles wiyh bc2 on anything with more than 16 players. Bc2 is an extremwly cpu and gpu intensive game

For BC2 a Phenom II x4 955 is more than enough, I think even an Athlon II X4 would be enough, as long as you get a decent graphics card. With the money you save by going the AMD route, you could choose a HD5870 (as mentioned above) instead of the 6850.

PS: I myself play it with high to very high details and full AF/AA with my Phenom II X4 955 and one HD4890 (the card is enough for my low resolution - 1280x1024, but even 1920x1080 doesn't need a better CPU, just a better graphics card)

Edit: I always play on servers with 32 players

I just a new budget motherboard, cpu, amd x4 640 for 100 freaking dollars, and a gigabyte motherboard (i was on a very strict budget and my old motherboard/cpu was dieing) and it destroys everything at teh same price point, amd is NOT overpriced what so ever intel on the other hand.. and my old cpu (intel) ran way to hot nearly 50 idle , 65 full load, this one is at most 20 idle 40 full load (celcious), so idk about you but i much prefer amd