Will this be a good gaming pc

[funcut]

I will buy this PC for about a month(before Christmas)

LG W2240T
Amd Athlon II X4 640
Sapphire HD 5850
4 Gb DDR 3 1333 MHz
Corsair CX 430W
500 Gb hard disk 7200 rpm
i have several questions:

1.Is this PS enough for this system
2.How long will I be able to play games on MED and LOW details?
3.Is this CPU good with 5850?

 

[pinaklonkar]

This PS is just about enough but strongly recommend NOT buying it. Please buy at least 500W unit.

I have the same graphics card and I play all today's games at maximum settings without Anti-Aliasing. If you go with 5870, it is a better bang for the buck in my opinion. Make sure your hard disk has at least 32MB cache. See if you can upgrade to a triple channel 6 GB or a quad channel 8GB DDR3 memory at 1333MHz (depending on your motherboard compatibility.

How long will you be able to play with maximum settings? no one can answer this question - I guess, until further notice

 

[nate_2011]

Personally i would go with a Phenom II X4 rather than the Athlon
Or even the Phenom II x2 Black Edition, should be able to unlock the 2 locked cores and make it x4 quad core at a cheaper price

 

[ScrewySqrl]

the problem with unlocking cores is it MIGHT work, and the majority of PhII X2s that unlock at all get only 1 core. Better to stick with the 640 for guaranteed 4 cores.

Rather than a 5850, I'd get the 6850. much cheaper and similar performance

I'd get DDR3-1333, the G.skill kit at $59.99 is cheaper than the 1066.

 

[funcut]

@Nate_2011 I will found some 500w PS.

@pinaklonkar Phenom II X4 955 cost about 75 $ more than Athlon.
Phenom II x2- some people unlocked quad core some of them didn`t

i will just OC athlon to about 3.2 Ghz

 

[funcut]

my mistake about RAM i wroted 1066 instead of 1333 MHz

and btw. in my country 6850 is even more expensive than 5850

 

[nate_2011]

the problem with unlocking cores is it MIGHT work, and the majority of PhII X2s that unlock at all get only 1 core. Better to stick with the 640 for guaranteed 4 cores.

Rather than a 5850, I'd get the 6850. much cheaper and similar performance

I'd get DDR3-1333, the G.skill kit at $59.99 is cheaper than the 1066.

The good thing about the Black edition Phenoms is you are almost guaranteed to get all 4 cores if you get a decent mobo, My Phenom II x2 BE easilt became a Phenom II x4 quad and OC'd to 3.7Ghz

 

[funcut]

motherboard will be Asrock M3A UCC
are you 100% sure that you can unlock it?

 

[nate_2011]

motherboard will be Asrock M3A UCC
are you 100% sure that you can unlock it?[/quotemsg

Im not 100% Sure on that particular motherboard,
i found this on ebuyer

Asrock M3A UCC AMD 480X Socket AM3 6 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
CPU
Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenomâ„¢ II X4 / X3 / X2 (except 920 / 940) / Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 / Sempron processors
Six-Core CPU Ready
Supports UCC feature (Unlock CPU Core)
Supports AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet Technology
FSB 1000 MHz (2.0 GT/s)
Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
Supports Hyper-Transport Technology

The UCC feature should be a built in core unlocker, do some research on it to see how easy it will be, may be a simple switch on the mobo.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

motherboard will be Asrock M3A UCC
are you 100% sure that you can unlock it?[/quotemsg

Im not 100% Sure on that particular motherboard,
i found this on ebuyer

Asrock M3A UCC AMD 480X Socket AM3 6 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
CPU
Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenomâ„¢ II X4 / X3 / X2 (except 920 / 940) / Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 / Sempron processors
Six-Core CPU Ready
Supports UCC feature (Unlock CPU Core)
Supports AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet Technology
FSB 1000 MHz (2.0 GT/s)
Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
Supports Hyper-Transport Technology

The UCC feature should be a built in core unlocker, do some research on it to see how easy it will be, may be a simple switch on the mobo.

you don't want it. the FSB is 1000, meaning its an AM2 board thats been updated with DDR3.

you want FSB 2600 (5.2 GT/s) of the 785, 770, and 8xx series boards.

 

[nate_2011]

you don't want it. the FSB is 1000, meaning its an AM2 board thats been updated with DDR3.

you want FSB 2600 (5.2 GT/s) of the 785, 770, and 8xx series boards.

This is true, to be honest £40 on a motherboard isnt a good idea, should be what you build around, id say if you are on a budget get a cheaper processor and spend a little more on your mobo, something thats futureproof.

 

[funcut]

what about m3a770de?

 

[nate_2011]

what about m3a770de?

How about Asus M4A77T AMD 770 (Socket AM3) Motherboard

£55 at novatech?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

thats a much better board.

 

[funcut]

But i don't live in UK and there is no theese MB.
Is this MB i suggested worth 80 $ and can you unlock forth core?

 

[coldsleep]

Unlocking is never 100% certain. If you need 4 cores, buy a 4-core CPU. If you are ok with 2 or 3 or 4, buy a 2-core or 3-core and attempt to unlock it. Anything you get is a bonus.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

you have a better shot of getting to 4 if you buy a 3 core. Most 2 cores, if they unlock at all, get 3 cores. getting 4 is rare!

 

[nate_2011]

Realy? My current build was my first attempt at a Gaming desktop build, i purchased the Phenom II X2 560 BE, and my ASUS Motherboard with Core unlocker switched on for first boot automatically recognised it as a Phenom II X4 965 BE, was i rely that lucky?

But i don't live in UK and there is no theese MB.
Is this MB i suggested worth 80 $ and can you unlock forth core?

To be honest im not the best person to ask regarding Overclocking and core unlocking, and the best board for it, You would be better off asking these guys. Im pretty new to it myself, maybe i had a lucky first build, but the research i did suggested that the Phenom II x2 BE has 4 cores out of the factory with 2 locked down by AMD?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

you did get lucky.

the X2s are indeed X4s with 2 cores turned off. Thats because there was some production issue with those 2 cores.

Only 50% of Athlon II X2. unlock at all, usually to an X3. Then 550/555/560 have a better unlock rate, but 67-75% of the X2 unlocks only get 1 core, not 2.

 

[funcut]

so what CPU choose: Athlon or Phenom?

are you sure that Phenom only get 1 core?
Is Athlon good at gaming?

 

[nate_2011]

you did get lucky.

the X2s are indeed X4s with 2 cores turned off. Thats because there was some production issue with those 2 cores.

Only 50% of Athlon II X2. unlock at all, usually to an X3. Then 550/555/560 have a better unlock rate, but 67-75% of the X2 unlocks only get 1 core, not 2.

Rely did get lucky then! thats awesome, its been running stabe at 3.7Ghz for a few days now

so what CPU choose: Athlon or Phenom?

are you sure that Phenom only get 1 core?
Is Athlon good at gaming?

For gaming defenatly Phenom..... Phenom II x2 is around the same price as an Athlon II x4, Like ScrewySqrl said i think its down to luck, you should defenatly be able to make the Phenom II x2 an x3....an x4 who knows?

Take into consideration the Phenom is better chip than the Athlon, and no games will rely take advantage of all 4 cores on a quad... not yet anyways

 

[Darkerson]

In benchmarks, the difference between an Athlon II and a Phenom II of comparable core count and speeds end up being a 5-7% penalty in performance in regards to the Athlon II's lack of L3 Cache.
So if you really need to save some money, youll be fine with an Athlon II for gaming. At least, I havent had a problem yet with mine. If anything, my video card has been more of a bottleneck then the CPU.
And the AsRock M3A770DE is actually a pretty good board, considering its only going for about $55-$60. Just dont expect to be able to crossfire very easy with it, on account of how close the 2 PCI-Express slots are to each other. But if you dont plan on doing that, you'll be fine.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

the only difference between athlon II and phenom II is the L3 Cache. Tom's did a comparison by underclocking a 965 to match the speed of an Athlon II 635 about 7 month back.

actual differences between the two ran from 0% to 3% in most games. the 5-7% you see is mostly a SPEED rather than CACHE difference.

 

[Darkerson]

Well, either way, its not that noticeable of a difference. So he could save some bucks by going the Athlon II route and then try getting a slightly beefier GPU, like the 6870. But I would suggest getting a quad either way, and not trying to play the unlocking game. At least, its not a gamble I was willing to take.

 

[funcut]

Phenom II cost as same as Athlon II. 5850 is about 90$ cheaper than 5870 and 6870 so i don`t think is worth it. OC 5850 ~ Stock 5870