New build for my average gaming computer

[albinogoron]

Approximate Purchase Date: (2 weeks)

Budget Range: (900$-1100$) Getting it from AMAZON due to I have a 1,000 dollar gift card

Average Gaming system and browsing the web

Country: (America)

Parts Preferences: by brand or type (I would like to use an AMD CPU)

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: This is what I have right now

cpu- AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor
2-28-12 its priced 150 (IS THIS CPU GOOD?)

XFX AMD Radeon HD 6950 800M 1 GB DDR5 PCI-E Video Card HD695XZNFC- 260$

keyboard- microsoft sidewinder x4- 40

mouse- logitech g500- 50

motherboard- not known (Make it around 90$-100$)DIFFERENTLY NEED HELP ON THIS

ram- 8gb- 50 bucks (Need help on this one)

hardrive-500 gb (Need help on this one)

windows 7-100 64 bit

power supply-70-http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-eXtreme-ATX12V-Active/dp/B001NJ0CZA/ref=sr_1_16?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331010877&sr=1-16

case- Cooler Master HAF ATX Mid Tower Case, RC-922M-KKN1-GP (Black)-90

Monitor- 150 dollars-http://www.amazon.com/Hannspree-SL231DPB-Class-Widescreen-Monito/dp/B0052ZFTFE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331010583&sr=8-1

 

[azeem40]

The FX series are far from good. They have performance issues and only when OCed can they combat being beaten by the stock speed of the i3-2120. AMD is not a good manufacturer of CPUs anymore. Their reign of both low and high budgets is over. Intel will get you better results. For HDD, just get a WD Caviar Blue and Low Profile RAM from Corsair, G.Skill, and RAM from Patriot, Kingston HyperX, Crucial, and Samsung.

 

[albinogoron]

The FX series are far from good. They have performance issues and only when OCed can they combat being beaten by the stock speed of the i3-2120. AMD is not a good manufacturer of CPUs anymore. Their reign of both low and high budgets is over. Intel will get you better results. For HDD, just get a WD Caviar Blue and Low Profile RAM from Corsair, G.Skill, and RAM from Patriot, Kingston HyperX, Crucial, and Samsung.

I would love to get a intel but that would go way above my budget. Anyways I will get amd phenom II x6 quad core and as well i still need help on my motherboard, due to i need to know my motherboard in order to get ram and a HDD

 

[Goldengoose]

I can't get on amazon to price this up for you but try:

CPU - I5 2500k
Mobo - H67 intel
GPU - Radeon 6950
Ram - Kingston 4gb x2
HDD - Seagate barracuda 500gb
Then the components you've chosen above.

That will give much higher performance than you would get with an AMD CPU and should be around the same price. If you get any spare cash towards the end then i suggest trying to push for a 6970 GPU.

 

[CaedenV]

Intel will not go above your budget as you can get faster and cheaper parts from them than from AMD these days (it's been true for over a year and I still find it hard to believe myself).

Look for these types of parts:
2400 if not OCing, 2500K if you do want to OC (OCing is really unnecessary as the stock speed is already overkill for most games at normal resolutions of 1080p or less).
H61/H67 mobo will get you done if not OCing and want a single GPU (~$50-75), MSI ASUS and ASRock are solid names to go by
p67 or Z68 chipsets if you want to OC and do multiple GPUs ($100-200). Again, MSI, ASUS and ASRock are all good, just avoid MSI for z68 boards.
4-8GB of ram, 1333 is not bad (it's what I use with no problem), but 1600 is not much more expensive these days. Get it in pairs of 2x2GB or 2x4GB. Don't worry about timings, or heatsinks as it makes little to no difference on the intel side. Get something cheap with a good name that will stand behind their product (like Gskill or Corsair), but buy cheap.
For the GPU I would wait a few weeks if possible. We are on the verge of what I hope to be a pretty awesome price war between AMD and nVidia as AMD just released their 7000 series, and nVidia is just about to launch their 600 series. I would definitely splurge on the best modern GPU you can afford as they are head and shoulders above the previous/current gen equipment for every price point. Check the review on the 7870 which is supposed to retail for $250-300 when it comes on in a few weeks. It should do well for you for a good long time at most resolutions.

Everything else in your build looks fine.
If you need to loose some $ on this build then keep in mind that even the i3 processors game better than the monster AMD you picked out, so you can save a little money there. Also you can get a dirt cheap case to throw it in for now, and get your haf down the road. Also 4GB of ram is plenty for today's games, the 8GB is just for futureproofing, and you can always get a mobo with 4 dimms and get a 2x2GB kit now, and another later.

Last suggestion; If you can afford it without sacrificing your CPU and GPU, then get an SSD. It will not add a single FPS to your gaming (which is why the CPU and GPU are most important)... but man does it make your computer feel as fast as it really is for loading times!

 

[CaedenV]

oh, almost forgot, get any 500GB HDD. They are all slower than the SATA2/3 controllers that they are paired with, so it does not matter so long as it is SATA and 500GB. I personally like Seagate for cheap drives, but Hatachi has been doing well for themselves lately as they were not as affected by the flooding that has HDD prices through the roof right now.

 

[hotthree]

H61/H67 mobo will get you done if not OCing and want a single GPU (~$50-75), MSI ASUS and ASRock are solid names to go by
p67 or Z68 chipsets if you want to OC and do multiple GPUs ($100-200). Again, MSI, ASUS and ASRock are all good, just avoid MSI for z68 boards.
4-8GB of ram, 1333 is not bad (it's what I use with no problem), but 1600 is not much more expensive these days. Get it in pairs of 2x2GB or 2x4GB. Don't worry about timings, or heatsinks as it makes little to no difference on the intel side. Get something cheap with a good name that will stand behind their product (like Gskill or Corsair), but buy cheap.
For the GPU I would wait a few weeks if possible. We are on the verge of what I hope to be a pretty awesome price war between AMD and nVidia as AMD just released their 7000 series, and nVidia is just about to launch their 600 series. I would definitely splurge on the best modern GPU you can afford as they are head and shoulders above the previous/current gen equipment for every price point. Check the review on the 7870 which is supposed to retail for $250-300 when it comes on in a few weeks. It should do well for you for a good long time at most resolutions.

Everything else in your build looks fine.
If you need to loose some $ on this build then keep in mind that even the i3 processors game better than the monster AMD you picked out, so you can save a little money there. Also you can get a dirt cheap case to throw it in for now, and get your haf down the road. Also 4GB of ram is plenty for today's games, the 8GB is just for futureproofing, and you can always get a mobo with 4 dimms and get a 2x2GB kit now, and another later.

Last suggestion; If you can afford it without sacrificing your CPU and GPU, then get an SSD. It will not add a single FPS to your gaming (which is why the CPU and GPU are most important)... but man does it make your computer feel as fast as it really is for loading times!

Most of the above is good information. I do have a few problems with what he said/suggested.

-First of all, Why not MSI? MSI is a good brand. He also left out gigabyte another good company. Z68 boards had tons of problems before the gen3's came out. But do not worry all the old boards are gone anyways. You can't buy a z68 board without getting a gen3 board.

-Secondly, go for 8gb's ..its maybe $5 more. And get a 64bit os. You won't touch bf3 with 32bit and 4gb is pushing it. Every other game should be ok with 4gb if you can't chalk up $5.

-Memory timings are no big deal, but do stay around 1.5v (voltage) with sandybridge 1.65 can cause problems. get 1333 or 1600.

-You won't have enough for any high end cards..so go for a 7870 (7850 has had bad reviews so wait for a patch or don't buy). If you wait you might can get a good deal on a 6950 or 6970. If not go with a 560ti

-If you stay with AMD go for the 960t black edition. If im not mistaken this is the better cpu. It should be am3 compatiable to so able to upgrade later.

-Lastly, please please change your PSU. Go for quality!!! stay with antec/corsair (builder series)/xfx. each company makes a 600-650 psu . Get one for around $50-90

-Do not get a SSD.. You won't have money for it. But consider this for your next upgrade. There great lil pieces.

 

[albinogoron]

Intel will not go above your budget as you can get faster and cheaper parts from them than from AMD these days (it's been true for over a year and I still find it hard to believe myself).

Look for these types of parts:
2400 if not OCing, 2500K if you do want to OC (OCing is really unnecessary as the stock speed is already overkill for most games at normal resolutions of 1080p or less).
H61/H67 mobo will get you done if not OCing and want a single GPU (~$50-75), MSI ASUS and ASRock are solid names to go by
p67 or Z68 chipsets if you want to OC and do multiple GPUs ($100-200). Again, MSI, ASUS and ASRock are all good, just avoid MSI for z68 boards.
4-8GB of ram, 1333 is not bad (it's what I use with no problem), but 1600 is not much more expensive these days. Get it in pairs of 2x2GB or 2x4GB. Don't worry about timings, or heatsinks as it makes little to no difference on the intel side. Get something cheap with a good name that will stand behind their product (like Gskill or Corsair), but buy cheap.
For the GPU I would wait a few weeks if possible. We are on the verge of what I hope to be a pretty awesome price war between AMD and nVidia as AMD just released their 7000 series, and nVidia is just about to launch their 600 series. I would definitely splurge on the best modern GPU you can afford as they are head and shoulders above the previous/current gen equipment for every price point. Check the review on the 7870 which is supposed to retail for $250-300 when it comes on in a few weeks. It should do well for you for a good long time at most resolutions.

Everything else in your build looks fine.
If you need to loose some $ on this build then keep in mind that even the i3 processors game better than the monster AMD you picked out, so you can save a little money there. Also you can get a dirt cheap case to throw it in for now, and get your haf down the road. Also 4GB of ram is plenty for today's games, the 8GB is just for futureproofing, and you can always get a mobo with 4 dimms and get a 2x2GB kit now, and another later.

Last suggestion; If you can afford it without sacrificing your CPU and GPU, then get an SSD. It will not add a single FPS to your gaming (which is why the CPU and GPU are most important)... but man does it make your computer feel as fast as it really is for loading times!

Here is my updated system PLEASE CHECK HDD, MOTHERBOARD, AND RAM need to know sorry for caps.

As well check if I need watts, i might buy a ssd but please link me one if its necessary


cpu- i5 2500k- 225

XFX AMD Radeon HD 6950 800M 1 GB DDR5 PCI-E Video Card HD695XZNFC- 260$ or 7870 which would be 250 dont know the retail price since it hasnt been released nor reviews are up

keyboard- microsoft sidewinder x4- 40

mouse- logitech g500- 50

motherboard- 88-Boxed Intel Desktop Board Media Series Micro-ATX Form Factor for Second Generation Intel Core Family Processors

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Micro-ATX-Generation-Processors-BOXDH67BLB3/dp/B004Q7JRJI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331096972&sr=1-1

ram- 8gb-44 bucks-Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit for Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and AMD Platforms SDRAM CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-240-Pin-Platforms-CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9/dp/B004CRSM4I/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331097280&sr=1-6

hardrive-500 gb-80-Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA III 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331097867&sr=1-1

windows 7-100 64 bit

power supply-70-http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-eXtreme-ATX12V-Active/dp/B001NJ0CZA/ref=sr_1_16?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331010877&sr=1-16

case- Cooler Master HAF ATX Mid Tower Case, RC-922M-KKN1-GP (Black)-90

Monitor- 150 dollars-http://www.amazon.com/Hannspree-SL231DPB-Class-Widescreen-Monito/dp/B0052ZFTFE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331010583&sr=8-1

battlefield3- 40 dollars

as well thanks for all the help this goes to everyone

 

[Goldengoose]

I don't think you'd be able to fit a 7870 into your budget, toms article stated they expected that card to be $300+.

And that bundle goes over your budget, but otherwise i'd say it's pretty sweet. You have however missed out the optical drive but you could cover that with roughly $20, just chose a well respected brand (samsung for example).

You could change the i5 2500k to the i5 2400 if you're not looking to overclock, very minimal difference in performance for games (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/363?vs=288) so it wouldn't impact on performance.

 

[Pezcore27]

The 7850 will be the one around 250-260. the 7870 is suggested to retail around 325-350.

 

[albinogoron]

I don't think you'd be able to fit a 7870 into your budget, toms article stated they expected that card to be $300+.

And that bundle goes over your budget, but otherwise i'd say it's pretty sweet. You have however missed out the optical drive but you could cover that with roughly $20, just chose a well respected brand (samsung for example).

You could change the i5 2500k to the i5 2400 if you're not looking to overclock, very minimal difference in performance for games (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/363?vs=288) so it wouldn't impact on performance.

yea it will go over my budget a tiny bit but im aware of it anyways as well i already have an optical drive. But does the hardvrive go well with my motherboard and do you really reccomend the i5 2400 i could overclock later my 2500 k later not now

 

[Goldengoose]

yea it will go over my budget a tiny bit but im aware of it anyways as well i already have an optical drive. But does the hardvrive go well with my motherboard and do you really reccomend the i5 2400 i could overclock later my 2500 k later not now

The hardrive will be fine.

And regarding the processor it is really your call. If in the future you're looking to overclock it with a better CPU fan then i would suggest the 2500k, without the overclock there is a very small performance gain between the two.

 

[hotthree]

If your going to overclock add in a heatsink. cooler master hyper 212. its cheap and it works.

Change the psu...cooler master is not a good product in this catagory...get a corsair builder series for cheaper and its good quality or go with antec / xfx 600watt.

other than that everything looks good to me.

 

[albinogoron]

Ok last question can my motherboard handle overclocking other than that here is my specs



cpu- i5 2500k- 225

XFX AMD Radeon HD 6950 800M 1 GB DDR5 PCI-E Video Card HD695XZNFC- 260$ or 7870 which would be 250

keyboard- microsoft sidewinder x4- 40

mouse- logitech g500- 50

motherboard- 88-Boxed Intel Desktop Board Media Series Micro-ATX Form Factor for Second Generation Intel Core Family Processors

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Micro-ATX-Generation-Processors-BOXDH67BLB3/dp/B004Q7JRJI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331096972&sr=1-1

ram- 8gb-44 bucks-Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit for Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and AMD Platforms SDRAM CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-240-Pin-Platforms-CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9/dp/B004CRSM4I/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331097280&sr=1-6

hardrive-500 gb-80-Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA III 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331097867&sr=1-1

windows 7-100 64 bit

power supply-60-http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Certified-Compatible-Platforms-CMPSU-600CXV2/dp/B004W2T2UQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331172401&sr=1-1

case- Cooler Master HAF ATX Mid Tower Case, RC-922M-KKN1-GP (Black)-90

Monitor- 150 dollars-http://www.amazon.com/Hannspree-SL231DPB-Class-Widescreen-Monito/dp/B0052ZFTFE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331010583&sr=8-1

battlefield3- 40 dollars

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler, RR-B10-212P-G1- 25

1237

280 is from mouse and keyboard, games, and monitor

 

[albinogoron]

Best answer selected by albinogoron.

 

[CaedenV]

that intel board has an h67 chipset which means no OCing, which means you should save a few bucks and go for the i5 2400, or change the mobo to one with a p67 or z68 chipset.

I love Corsair, but be warned that those high heatsinks can mess with you if you get a huge CPU cooler down the line. It should not mess with a hyper 212 though.

While I dislike WD, that HDD should do just fine (really I should give WD another chance, my issues with them were from back in the '90s... but man was it bad enough for me to not touch another one of their drives for the last 14 years!).

The Hyper 212+ is a great cooler, but entirely not needed if you are not OCing. While the stock cooler is tiny, it is more than adequate to disapate the little amount of heat that comes from these chips. If you are OCing then you will need a different motherboard (something in the $75+ range), and this cooler would do great for you (I know my Evo works great for me and it is the same thing with a different fan).

Everything else looks great!