Budget Gaming Rig Build Now Or Wait

[Kalokeri]

Hi I'm building a budget gaming rig (my first complete build) and I have a question, do you think current cpu prices will drop very much with the bulldozer launch? I was planning on waiting it out, grabbing a low end BD or a price dropped PII or i5, but I've been waiting for months and with the news that it's been delayed again I think I may just buy something now and maybe upgrade in a year or so. Do you guys who have been thru CPU launches forsee any significant price drops for the Phenom II or sandybridge? Is it worth waiting for? This will be hooked up to my 32" tv and used mostly for gaming and secondly as a media center, no 3d rendering or heavy photoshop.

This is what I've been thinking about getting:

Not yet purchased:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE Deneb 3.2GHz
ASRock 890FX DELUXE5 AM3+
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR

Already own:
Radeon HD 4870 1GB (Plan to get a 2nd for crossfire)
WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Antec High Current Gamer Series 750W PSU
COOLER MASTER RC690 Computer Case

Thanks

 

[ps3hacker12]

whats your current CPU/mobo/ram? (btw 1866Mhz ram has no real world advantages over 1600Mhz ram for the needs you listed).

 

[sportsfanboy]

You can always go with an AM3+ platform now and upgrade the chip when BD is released. A two or three month old chip should keep a decent amount of it's original price on e-bay. I don't think PII will drop in price, they are already priced pretty low and the new chips will be in a higher price performance bracket.

SB will go down in price but it might be a little while and that won't be until SB-E is about to be launched or launched.

 

[Kalokeri]

Its a brand new from scratch build. No mobo/cpu yet because I was going back and forth on cpus. I like this ASrock 890FX because it's AM3+ if I upgrade later to BD. As for the ram speed, I know that the PIIx4 can't do over 1600mhz, but the ram is on sale for $72.54 and met my criteria (low heat sinks for cpu cooler, low voltage for mobo). Should I look at something else? I'm a hardware noob, I'm really a software person.

 

[sportsfanboy]

There are a ton of companies that make AM3+ boards, I can't tell you which one is best because I have no experience with them and haven't read a lot about it either. That question would do pretty well in the mobo section. Ask what the best AM3+ board is for X amount of dollars.

You can pick different ram or you can try to lower the cas latency once installed. For example, memory rated to run at 1866 and 9-9-9-24, would most likely be happy running 1600 with 8-8-8-24 or maybe even 7-7-7-21 with the same stock voltage. You'll just have to experiment a little to find the best combo of stability and performance.

 

[sportsfanboy]

Just something to think about... You might want to consider selling the 4870 and put the money you were going to use acquiring a second, towards a single 6950 or 6970. Same basic performance (I think a single 6970 is faster) but way less power and your getting DX11 which will be nice to have for the upcoming titles and even a bunch of current ones.

 

[Kalokeri]

Thank you sportsfanboy, you've been very helpful. You told me just what I wanted to hear about cpus, I want to build this asap so I'm glad you don't think I'm shooting myself in the foot there. If I'm planning on upgrading to BD in a year or so is the PII x4 good enough for gaming now or should I go with the x6?

I've read a million reviews so I think I'll stick with the Asrock 890 (best price with crossfire) but I will consider the 6970 that's food for thought.

 

[sportsfanboy]

The X4 will be fine for gaming, and you can always overclock it a little pretty easily. The only way you would be shooting yourself in the foot is if you don't actually upgrade to BD. If you don't then a SB build would make more sense from a performance standpoint.

 

[Kalokeri]

I'd love to go with a SB build but I think its a bit out of my price range right now. But I'm sure I'll upgrade in the future because I've caught the tinkering bug; my wallet will never forgive me

 

[sportsfanboy]

I know what you mean, I'm always thinking of upgrading something.

 

[amdfangirl]

Well if you can't afford Sandy Bridge, your best bet is to grab a Phenom II X4 (there are sub $100 ones eeep!) and once you need to upgrade, we'll almost be saying cheerio to Bulldozer and pick up one for cheap then. That's what I plan to do.

Intel is definately the safer option. You know that it's going to perform well, so you could spend a little more on a P67 motherboard with a Core i3 2100 (roughly same as Phenom II X4 in speed, minus overclocking) and get an Ivy Bridge quad/hex core later.

 

[ps3hacker12]

Well if you can't afford Sandy Bridge, your best bet is to grab a Phenom II X4 (there are sub $100 ones eeep!) and once you need to upgrade, we'll almost be saying cheerio to Bulldozer and pick up one for cheap then. That's what I plan to do.

Intel is definately the safer option. You know that it's going to perform well, so you could spend a little more on a P67 motherboard with a Core i3 2100 (roughly same as Phenom II X4 in speed, minus overclocking) and get an Ivy Bridge quad/hex core later.

only if ivy bridge will adopt the current LGA1155 chipsets.

 

[amdfangirl]

To begin with, Ivy Bridge processors are seamlessly compatible with existing LGA1155 platforms, and "Cougar Point" P67, H67, H61, Z68, chipsets, although it will come with its own 7-series chipset.

http://www.techpowerup.com/143951/Intel-Ivy-Bridge-Feature-Set-Detailed.html

So who knows? You never know if the AM3+ mobo you buy can do BD or not, not until BD actually releases, same with LGA 1555. From what I gather, it's more of a risk with LGA 1555, but when I bought into socket AM2 5 years ago, AMD promised that AM2+ processors would be compatible with AM2 motherboards. This was true to an extent, with some motherboards getting BIOS updates. Mine didn't, plain and simple...

 

[Kalokeri]

The board may not work? It's listed as AM3+ 8-core bulldozer ready. I thought some of the 890s and all of the 990 mobos were guaranteed to work with BD.

 

[youssef 2010]

Not all of them. This is something that every manufacturer will decide. But the board you have supports BD

 

[amdfangirl]

The board may not work? It's listed as AM3+ 8-core bulldozer ready. I thought some of the 890s and all of the 990 mobos were guaranteed to work with BD.

I'm 99% certain they will, but AMD said a similar thing about socket AM2 and AM2+. They said if you bought socket AM2, you could get a Phenom later in the same motherboard.

This was technically true, but many mobo makers didn't update the BIOS.

I'd just be careful, that's all, much safer to buy it after BD comes out and make that 99% a 100%.

The board you've chosen should work with AM3+, heck that's what they promise isn't it? A promise doesn't equal reality.

Well until Bulldozer comes out, we won't know for sure, but I'd say it's a safe bet there's going to be AM3+ support.

 

[ps3hacker12]

I'm 99% certain they will, but AMD said a similar thing about socket AM2 and AM2+. They said if you bought socket AM2, you could get a Phenom later in the same motherboard.

This was technically true, but many mobo makers didn't update the BIOS.

I'd just be careful, that's all, much safer to buy it after BD comes out and make that 99% a 100%.

The board you've chosen should work with AM3+, heck that's what they promise isn't it? A promise doesn't equal reality.

Well until Bulldozer comes out, we won't know for sure, but I'd say it's a safe bet there's going to be AM3+ support.

well since 9XX series chipsets are the Bulldozer chipsets, and the 890FX/GX are basically the same as the 990FX/GX (apart from SLI) and the same number of pins are being used on the 9XX series chipsets, bulldozer will work on any AM3+ garaunteed board.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey

 

[Kalokeri]

Best answer selected by Kalokeri.