Good all-rounder build suggestions please.

[Forde3654Eire]

Approximate Purchase Date: June / July 2011

Budget Range: $800 for everything, including OS, monitor, keyboard and mouse.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Sim-racing, gaming, photo and video-editing, movies and music, college work.

Parts Not Required: Speakers only

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Local stores, no such thing as online shopping in Saudi Arabia. Seller is a Gigabyte distributor for Middle East: PC Time

Country: Saudi Arabia

Parts Preferences: Intel. AMD equivalent counterparts are more expensive here! WTF?!

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, 1920x1200

Additional Comments: I'm thinking of an i3 2100 build... but does the Phenom II X4 have the edge here? Is it better to have 4 physical cores instead of 2 cores with hyper-threading?

Thanks in advance folks.

 

[azeem40]

The i3-2100 may have less cores, but it has power in those cores that puts the Phenoms to shame. It will takes a decent OC on the Phenom to match the STOCK performance of the i3-2100, even moreso for the i3-2120.

 

[quicksand10]

Not really, go with the i3 2100 build

i3 2100 processor ~125$
ASUS P8Z68-V LX ~110$ (with 10$ MIR)
Antec HCG-M 620W Modular ~70$ (with rebate)
Video Card: wait for the AMD/ATI Radeon HD7850 coming out soon.
OS: Windows 7 Professional X64 ~140$ or Windows 7 Home Premium X64 ~100$
Case (to your liking) Check out the ThermalTake V3
Monitor (to your liking)
Keyboard/Mouse (to your liking) (gaming or casual?)

 

[g-unit1111]

The i3-2100 may have less cores, but it has power in those cores that puts the Phenoms to shame. It will takes a decent OC on the Phenom to match the STOCK performance of the i3-2100, even moreso for the i3-2120.

What he said. Check out these benchmarks - even Intel's onboard video is far better than the AMD A8-3650 and FX-4100:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-4100-core-i3-2100-gaming-benchmark,3136.html

Video Card: wait for the AMD/ATI Radeon HD7850 coming out soon.

The Radeon 7850 is actually out now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102984

But it can't be done on a $900 build that includes everything - if monitor/keyboard/mouse were not needed I'd gladly suggest that.

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - $59.99 ($10.00 MIR)
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX600 V2 - $69.99 ($20.00 MIR)
Motherboard: Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3 - $121.99
CPU: 3.30 GHz Intel Core i3-2120 - $127.99
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB 1600Mhz 1.5V - $44.99
HD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB - $84.99
Optical: Lite On DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 - $149.99 ($15.00 MIR)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium - $99.99
Monitor: Acer S200HL - $99.99
Keyboard / Mouse: Logitech MK260 - $26.99

Total: $902.89 - $45.00 MIR = $857.89

A little bit over budget but that includes everything you need.

 

[quicksand10]

That's true.
I would replace the PSU in your build, g-unit1111, for the one I suggested. It's modular and Antec is an equally reliable brand.

Otherwise, looking good.

 

[Forde3654Eire]

Thanks for the help guys! I have to note that video cards here are anywhere from 50% - 100% higher than listed US prices.

Just a few examples:
The closest I found to US price here is the Gigabyte GTX 550 Ti: $145.
Gigabyte Radeon 6850: $240.
Gigabyte GTX 560: $270
Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti: $340

What compromises can I make to fit a Radeon 6850 ($240) into my budget? If I can't compromise, is the GTX 550 Ti good enough for most modern games?

 

[g-unit1111]

Thanks for the help guys! I have to note that video cards here are anywhere from 50% - 100% higher than listed US prices.

Just a few examples:
The closest I found to US price here is the Gigabyte GTX 550 Ti: $145.
Gigabyte Radeon 6850: $240.
Gigabyte GTX 560: $270
Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti: $340

What compromises can I make to fit a Radeon 6850 ($240) into my budget? If I can't compromise, is the GTX 550 Ti good enough for most modern games?

The 550TI is not a good choice - I don't really know of any places you can really cut corners on this build without compromising important pieces like the PSU or motherboard. You might be able to get away with an H67: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121508

That would save you about $50 which you could put toward the 6850.

 

[Forde3654Eire]

Bump.

 

[jerreddredd]

shaving cost...

drop the 8GB DDR3 1600 ram for 4GB of DDR3 1333 saves $20. your not going to to over clocking your ram with the below MB's.
drop the Z68 MB for a H61 or H67 MB saves $30-$50. you can't over clock the i3 anyway, so you don't need a z68 MB

I take you are going to buy locally in KSA? I'm in Kuwait on a job for a year and I know what you mean about prices on GPU's and such. most of the newegg prices you won't come close to and here in Kuwait and only certain brands are available. Gigabyte, ASUS, Intel and Cooler master seem to be pretty popular here.

Suggested MB that you might find in KSA if its like Kuwait.
GIGABYTE GA-H61M-S2H
GIGABYTE GA-H61MA-D3V
ASUS P8H61-M

 

[Forde3654Eire]

I take you are going to buy locally in KSA? I'm in Kuwait on a job for a year and I know what you mean about prices on GPU's and such. most of the newegg prices you won't come close to and here in Kuwait and only certain brands are available. Gigabyte, ASUS, Intel and Cooler master seem to be pretty popular here.

Suggested MB that you might find in KSA if its like Kuwait.
GIGABYTE GA-H61M-S2H
GIGABYTE GA-H61MA-D3V
ASUS P8H61-M

Good going jerreddredd. The Z68 motherboard is DHS 650 - 700 here. The H61 boards are around DHS 200 - 250. That's more than $100 difference!

Prices here for GPUs are astronomical. An MSI GTX 460 (768mb) costs DHS 800, thats $215! I think, for now anyway, I'll keep the GTX 550 Ti at the top of the list since that's the most reasonably priced.

 

[dalauder]

Jerreddredd gave you some great advice. Although I still like the $640 Acer laptop with the i5-2450M & GT 630M you linked: http://www.extrastores.com/Site/ProductDetails.aspx?Page=OnSale&ProductID=2299975

With GPU prices as they are there, I'm not inclined to be that excited about the GT 550Ti Prospect. You'll get similar performance out of the mobile i5 to the desktop i3 and comparable gaming performance (thanks to the reduced laptop screen resolutions). It's up to you, but I only believe in building desktops because I can find great deals. When I can't, it kinda defeats the purpose.

 

[obsama1]

Get 4GB of RAM. The 550Ti is roughly equivalent to the 6790. The 6790 will get better FPS, but the Ti has better antialiasing, but personally, I'd chose the 6790.It's not that great. I would suggest the 6790 over the 550Ti, since it's much cheaper. If you can cut some corners, the 6850 will be good enough.

 

[jerreddredd]

this will show you the difference between several cards HD 6790, HD 7750, HD 6850 and the GTX550 Ti. You can judge for your self the price vs performance you can live with.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7770-7750-benchmark,3135.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6790-barts-gpu-geforce-gtx-460,2917-4.html

edit: added missing link

 

[Tavo_Nova]

6790 if not get the 6850 if you can cut some corners

stick to h67 not h61 you might need some features from h67. it's already cheap.
go with a asus/samsung 23"1920x1080 monitor.

4gb g.skill 2x2gb 1333mhz ram is your best bet to save you a few bucks.

if you can find a corsair 430/500 CX then go for it if not look for seasonic 500w they might be a little bit more expensive, or antec/ocz/xfx brands

if there really are no more choice, coolermaster/thermaltake/rosewill/FSP/aerocool psu would be your next bet but i can say they are not a wise choice. except some thermaltake products same with coolermaster products its like 50/50

 

[ahthurungnone]

I overclocked a 955 Black Edition to over 4.0Ghz with air cooling and it posted faster results than an i7 Sandy Bridge I built for my brother. (He's an Intel guy.)

In fact, I took the $200 I saved by not buying the Sandy Bridge and put in a OCZ SSD. This 955 build boots windows before the logo is even present. (You know, those flying colors that form the logo and pulses as it loads. Yeah, I don't see that it's so fast.) It is the most amazing build I have ever done for such little money.

What most people don't realize is that true performance is not just benchmarks. It is responsiveness. The bottleneck on every computer is the hard drive. Not the processor, the RAM, or even the video card anymore. Unless you have an SSD, you can spend $1000 on a CPU and any budget build with an SSD is going to smoke you.

Just my advice, having built over 20+ custom PCs in the last year. So take it for what it is worth.

 

[jerreddredd]

I overclocked a 955 Black Edition to over 4.0Ghz with air cooling and it posted faster results than an i7 Sandy Bridge I built for my brother. (He's an Intel guy.)

I don't want to start a flame war... but really?

So, THG and every other reviewer is totally wrong that the Intel Sandybridges aren't the fastest thing out for the money?

a few thoughts:
you "might" match a stock i7 or i5 SB with a 955BE OC'd in a few bench marks, but not soundly beat it. a K series OC's on air to 4.6G. after that there is no contest with any AMD CPU out.

 

[quicksand10]

you "might" match a stock i7 or i5 SB with a 955BE OC'd in a few bench marks, but not soundly beat it. a K series OC's on air to 4.6G. after that there is no contest with any AMD CPU out.

^+1, an i5-2500k or i7-2600k can probably be beat on some benches stock vs an overclocked 955 black. but like jerreddredd said, there's no way any of the K series Intel processors can be beat when overclocked.

Forde3654Eire, let us know what you decide to go with finally

 

[dalauder]

if there really are no more choice, coolermaster/thermaltake/rosewill/FSP/aerocool psu would be your next bet but i can say they are not a wise choice. except some thermaltake products same with coolermaster products its like 50/50

A lot of foreign countries seem to have FSP and Silverstone PSUs. Those can be viable choices, especially the FSP Aurum series if you can't find an Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, or XFX. Thermaltake is okay, if you have no better alternatives. I don't recommend Coolermaster, Rosewill, or Aerocool, so let us know if that's all you can find.

 

[dalauder]

What most people don't realize is that true performance is not just benchmarks. It is responsiveness. The bottleneck on every computer is the hard drive. Not the processor, the RAM, or even the video card anymore. Unless you have an SSD, you can spend $1000 on a CPU and any budget build with an SSD is going to smoke you.

That really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you're encoding video, a Phenom II @ 4.0GHz might get smoked by an i3-2100. If all you benchmark is program start time, then the SSD wins. For most users, you're right, an SSD makes it *feel* fast. For me though, I'll be missing my i7-2600K @ 4.5GHz when I'm running a structural analysis model. I've built several of the computers at my job and hands-down, my i7-2600K @ stock is faster than the Phenom II x4 @ 3.6GHz I built.

If you're going to say the video card doesn't bottleneck while the hard drive does, we're clearly not talking about a gaming computer, which puts you in a different discussion from everyone else and not really applicable to this thread.

 

[azeem40]

I am the opposite of the above. I do recommend the Cooler Master Silent Pro as it is the only CM PSU that is good.

 

[dalauder]

I am the opposite of the above. I do recommend the Cooler Master Silent Pro as it is the only CM PSU that is good.

While you're right that Cooler Master has made a couple of decent PSUs, I don't expect the OP to find that needle in the haystack, which is precisely why I advise to avoid the brand entirely. "Let us know if that's all you can find" was so that we could tell him to get the Silent Pro if Cooler Master is all that's available.

 

[jerreddredd]

Good going jerreddredd. The Z68 motherboard is DHS 650 - 700 here. The H61 boards are around DHS 200 - 250. That's more than $100 difference!

Tom's just did a system builder on a $650 budget gaming system using the i3 2120 and GIGABYTE GA-H61MA-D3V. they used a much more upscale GPU, but the base cpu platform is the same.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-gaming-pc-overclock,3159.html

edit: fixed the link

 

[dalauder]

OP, PM me if you come back. I've closed this tab in my browser.

 

[Forde3654Eire]

Latest quotation I got:

Pentium G620: $62
Gigabyte H61 Micro ATX board: $60
GTX 550 Ti: $143
RAM 4 GB Kingston: $25
500 GB WD 7200 rpm: $90
DVD/RW Samsung: $21
PSU Gigabte 550W: $61
Case Gigabyte KX1: $30
LCD Samsung 19": $93
Windows 7 HP 64-bit: $110

Total: $695

EDIT:

1) Is this a good budget-gaming build? If not, could you please give me some better suggestions?

2) My budget is $800 max, so I'm feeling pretty good about this build... is it worth bringing the build to $800 (Better CPU, GPU etc) or is this fine as it is?

3) i3 2100 is $120, i5 2300 is $175. Gigabyte GTX 560 and Radeon 6850 are $240 each. P61 board is $120, Z68 board is $180.
Are any of these worth the price over my current configuration?

4) Please note I'll be mainly gaming and using Photoshop and Sony Vegas. Can the G620 handle these fine? If not then should I opt for the i3 2100? Is the i5 2400 overkill?

 

[quicksand10]

It's worth it. But it's only worth it if you can afford it.

It's the best build for the price... It's a really limited budget.