Budget Gaming Build?

[rocknrollz]

I am wanting to build one in the next few months, and have come up with this as of now.

AMD Phenom x4 975 (3.6GHz)

ASUS M4A88T-M AM3 AMD 880G

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB)

Thermaltake TR2 W0388RU 600W

Thermaltake V4 Black Edition Gaming Chassis (Already Own)

250 GB HD (Already Own)

I plan to use the on-board grahpics for my basic use until I sell another computer I got laying around. Then will get maybe the 560 TI or a 7000 series when they come out.

Anything I should change?

 

[rocknrollz]

bump

 

[rocknrollz]

 

[kajabla]

No bumping here. It doesn't do anything. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/282333-31-read-first

Might as well go 955. The 975 won't get you anything that justifies its price.
Eh. Stay away from Thermaltake PSUs. That one'll probably work, but I generally advise sticking to the golden list:
Antec
Corsair
Silverstone
XFX
OCZ
Seasonic
and a few more at high wattages (Thortech, NZXT, Ultra), but that's not important here.
A Ti would be happy on a good 500W PSU. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035

 

[andrewcarr]

If your planing on buying in a few months I would wait until, Windows 8, Intel Ivy Bridge and the AMD 7xxx series and maybe even the new NVidia cards.

As on now though I wouldn't get an AMD processor because its so much slower than Intels, the performance per core is worse. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/processor-architecture-benchmark,2974.html
I think it is worth it to get an i5-2500k
Your motherboard looks good (don't think you can go wrong with ASUS)
Your memory is fine but recommend getting just a cheap set 1600 timing.
For your PSU I wouldn't get an TR2 go with another brand altogether. Depending on what your Motherboard supports (FC/SLI?) or what GPU you plan on getting you may need more power. But if you only need 600w I would get one of these PSU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007657%20600014021%204801&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=58%7C17-139-028%5E17-139-028-TS%2C17-341-017%5E17-341-017-TS%2C17-703-036%5E17-703-036-TS%2C17-139-023%5E17-139-023-TS
If it was my money I would pick this one though. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017

If 500w is ok then even this PSU is a good deal.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016

Lastly what is your budget and you would get better information if you post links. I for one don't want to spend the time looking up all those parts on newegg. If I am spending my time helping you I would appreciate it if you could spend the time to post the links. (Please don't take this the wrong way)

 

[rocknrollz]

Okay thanks both.

Will look for a better brand named PSU. As for budget, what I chose was 360 dollars, so I'd like to stay in that.

And will post links to my revised items.

 

[andrewcarr]

Ok then would go with the 500w OCZ for $35 after rebate. Just buy an Phenom ll X4 955 and a cooler to overclock to 3.6-3.8.

 

[kajabla]

Oh, I hadn't noticed your time frame. Yes, if you're building in a while it'd be better to just reopen discussion closer to your purchase date. Tech advances quickly.

 

[rocknrollz]

AMD Phenom x4 970 (Don't feel the 955 will give me what I need)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103894

ASUS M4A88T-M AM3 AMD 880G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131657

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233180

Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-520 520W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371047


I have to say to, a few months is just a guess. I could be buying as soon as mid Jan. I know for a fact that I will be buying before Mid Feb.

 

[kajabla]

An OCed 955 will be enough for the level of graphics hardware you're working with. How much money do you have to spend on this? If you want to go up a tier, you could go 2500K.

 

[andrewcarr]

Too much for the memory get one of these kits.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220570
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314
The second is currently 20% off.
955 is same in most ways it can overclock on stock voltage up to that speed and even faster. One thing to add in will be a CPU cooler.
Personally this is the cooler I would get. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233082
Even if others will recommend this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
and if you do go with the cool master spend the $5 for this upgraded model
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Besides that your set up looks good. Antec PSU are good although pricier than others at the moment.

kajabla he only has $360

 

[rocknrollz]

I looked at the 2500k actually, and I like it. But the 2500k+a nice ASUS (Must be ASUS) Mobo didn't fit my budget. And I prefer AMD CPU's anyways. As I have been running a comp for 3+ years under stress quite a few times with no problems.

 

[rocknrollz]

Okay, so it looks like the 955 will be a better choice. As with the mobo I want OCing should be pretty easy.

I am gonna have to head off.

I really appreciate the help andrewcarr and kajabla!

 

[andrewcarr]

no problem

 

[need4speeds]

I bought a on sale A6-3650/gigabyte crossfire mini atx board combo.
Reused existing hd-4870 cards, ocz Fata1ly 550 watt, arctic cooling 13 pro, 3 12cm case fans on med-low. winxp pro dx9.0c.

135fsb, 3.51ghz, 550mhz 320 shader clock, 31c was the highest apu temp even when trying out the integrated gpu running prime95+furmark. The system tested stable with the integrated and crossfire 4870's.

If you run the computer at high loads fairly often, this much cooler running chip might be better then the hotter running phenomIIx4.

The A8-3850 would be a bit faster.

I tried out the integrated gpu, gaming at 1080p, i left the game settings where they were set with the x2-crossfire setup i had before. Games like dirt2 ran at 24fps, most other games ran, some well, a few were a bit choppy but the game did run ok.

I would say the integrated gpu is on par with my former ati x1950pro pcie card and close to a hd-3850.

I would consider going to a cheaper case, micro atx z68 budget board, i5-2500k and then a hd-6950 because they use less current so you can use a cheaper but decent brand like antec, corsair, ect. 500 watt to 600 watt you find on sale somewhere.

 

[rocknrollz]

Best answer selected by RockNRollz.