$800 AMD Gaming Build

ElegantMess

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I am new to Tom's Hardware but have always used it as a reference point. I am looking to build an AMD Gaming Rig, but not very familiar with all the choices and compatibility. I do not live near a Micro center (Rochester,NY) so New-egg is preferred site but open to suggestions, and I'm looking to make purchases in the next couple weeks. All that is needed tower and components, have OS,monitor,keyboard, mouse. Any and all help is greatly appreciated, thank you
 

ElegantMess

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Approximate Purchase Date: Next couple of weeks

Budget Range: $800-$900

System Usage from Most to Least Important: GAMING

Parts Not Required: Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: New-Egg but open to suggestions

Country: Rochester, NY (USA)

Parts Preferences: I want to go AMD, already have Intel

Overclocking: possibly

SLI or Crossfire: yes but not right away
 

ElegantMess

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Hi, I'm new to Tom's Hardware but have always used it as a quality reference point. I have seen that here at Tom's you lean away from AMD but i already have an i7 system, hence why I want to go AMD this time. Any and all help, suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you and I hope to hear from you guys soon
 
what kind of I7? Unless its a sandy bridge I7, I'd still say AMD is not very good.

I'll quote the sub-$200 article last week.

"we're almost-shockingly left without an AMD CPU to recommend at any price point."

This picture shows the dual-core only Pentium G860 beats the AMD Phenom II 955, and all FX processors:
Averages.png
 

Pezcore27

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Just for giggles, I'd rock this if I didnt build my i5 recently. Went for a kind of Industrial/Ninja theme. I nicknamed it "The Dark Horse"

CPU = AMD Phenom II x4 980

MOBO = Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3

RAM = Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8gb DDR3-1600

CPU COOLER = Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

CASE = Fractal Design Core 3000

PSU = SeaSonic S12II 620w 80+ Bronze Certified

GPU = Sapphire Radeon 6870

HDD = Seagate 500gb HD

TOTAL = 791.92 (theres $20 in shipping but you get a $20 MIR, so it cancels)

EDIT:

Crud, I forgot your Optical...

OPTICAL = Samsung 22x DVD Burner

TOTAL = 807.91
 

ElegantMess

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Hey guys thanks for your quick responses. I forgot to specify that my i7 is (i7 Q 720) Sony VAIO F Series laptop, which i love and plays games decently. But building from scratch and with the budget I have I'm going to go AMD. So any thoughts and builds that you can put together are greatly appreciated. thanks again
 

EaYaJB

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Hey guys, very similar to the build I'm trying to put together, based around the AMD P2x4. But I notice you all opted for the GIGABYTE 990FXA?!

I've been debating between this board and the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX, and was just wondering was there any reasoning for choosing this one??

I'm not looking for a big gaming system but instead a solid multi-tasker with some additional gaming, so I thought about RAM and future proofing with a healthy 16Gb. I had looked at the Mushkin @ 1.35V for stability and possible future OC, but wasn't sure if it was the way to go?

You seem to be the guys in the now, so any pointers would be greatly appreciated :)
 



Use RAM that has been qualified by your vendor. Most AM3+ QVL lists have a good many 4GB sticks.

Any -FX motherboard will have 42 PCIe lanes off the northbridge. The Sabertooth is a great motherboard. For me, Gigabyte is simply a personal preference - I prefer their BIOS support and some models offer features I look for, like 2xeSATA 6Gb/s and upgraded 8xSATA 6Gb/s on-board.

You should probably start a new thread for specific input.






 

ElegantMess

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Hey guys I have compiled a decent list of parts and it's just a little over the $800 budget but I can handle that. Please let me know if all is copatible and looks good. Thanks again to everyone for there help too.

GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $134.99

AZZA Triton 401 Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $29.99 (with rebate)

RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Modular LED Power Supply $59.99 ($5.99 shipping)

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL $46.99

OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $165.99

LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM $17.99

*COMBO
*HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
*AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ980FBK4DGM - OEM $413.98

Total=$869.92

 
Be sure to update the firmware of your SSD prior to installing your OS.

I'm not familiar with that PSU -- check Hardware Secrets for good PSU reviews.

'C3-stepping' PhII quads will all pretty much OC to the same level with good air so there are other options available to you for saving a few bucks.

 

ElegantMess

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Ya I went through and compared the specs and i'm going to stick with AMD because if I go with Intel I'm really gona have to short change on PSU & GPU. I'm still in the process of deciding so if anyone has anymore suggestions or previous builds please post em' up. Thanks again guys for all the help
 
FX 6100 or FX 4100
Asrock 970 series chipset mb
2 x4 gig of RAM
hyper 212 cooler

You should easily hit 4.5 GHz with this set up

GTX 560 ti or Radeon 6950

Antec 300 two case

500- 600 watt psu

As you can see here from this page of the article the screwed up squirrel posted b4
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-4.html

the FX 4100 plays BF3 at 1080p resolution LESS THAN ONE fps slower than the intel fanboy favorite the 2500k
 


This chart is not "clearer"
Its biased because some of the games with older game engines only use 2 cores .
That means the intel i3's show better results in those games

But in more recent titles [and most future titles ] that are multithreaded the FX will equal or exceed the intel .
 

EaYaJB

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I did have a similar build to this, as noted above, which was actually designed for multi-tasking (which is supposedly what AMD do) and not gaming (which is what Intel do), but with further research the age of the AMD really shows.

Yes there's a lot to be said for the Phenom, but if you go 960T there's the possibility of 6 cores and some serious power after an unlock and overclock (5 mins reading around), however, this is almost always required atm just to keep up with Intel. It's just a case of age as the new generation of FX just doesn't cut it. Where as a new i5 2500k straight out of the box will put all AMD bellow FX8100 to shame.

I hate to say it, I've always had a thing for AMD, but Phenoms have had their day. Bulldozer was the replacement and they're just not going to cut it. Price per pound, you just wont get the performance you want from a similar priced AMD to Intel when gaming, although you want to keep price down. AMD is cheaper, but they're tired and sadly Bulldozer wasn't the stimulus they needed.

Maybe check out my build, especially GPU for BF3:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/336476-13-could-critique-build-please