New AMD Build

[Jowiso]

Hey guys -

I have a pretty solid deal on the following parts, and just wanted to see the opinion of more experienced builders. This will be my first.

It will be used for a variety of basic computer functions, multimedia, and some gaming (Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3, CoD/BF). I know the GPU is likely overkill for all of the mentioned games (minus BF3, probably), but what about the other parts? CPU quality/bottlenecking?

I've seen people say that the X4 975 + high end GPU (7850) will be better for gaming than the i5-2500k + mid range GPU (6870), so it's worth it to put less money into the CPU and spend that on the GPU. Thoughts?

Thanks all.



MOBO:
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition Deneb 3.6GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ975FBGMBOX

GPU:
SAPPHIRE 11200-00-20G Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

PSU:
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power ...

MEMORY:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

 

[Jowiso]

Thanks for your help.

And this should play the mentioned games (specifically GW2/Diablo 3) on highest settings in 1080p?

And last question - the AM3+ socket should be compatible with next gen AMD hardware, if I wanted to upgrade later? Any reason that the mentioned MoBo will not suffice for Piledriver?

EDIT: Link to the MoBo, if needed:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

 

[michxymi]

I would prefer to go with 960T as CPU because a)It runs cooler b)It has better IMC c)There are good chances to unlock into Six Core d)It overclocks higher e)It's cheaper!

AMD Phenom II X4 960T Zosma 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HD96ZTWFGRBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103995

Check at this motherboard, if you want to save some money without loosing perfomance (atleast when we talk for single GPU, but either way difference between 8X/8X and 16X/16X isn't that much). To answer your question yes, AM3+ will be compatible with Next Generation (Vishera) CPUs!

ASRock 970 EXTREME4 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262

Again a money saving change for RAM. The next kit is the cheapest 8GB/1600MHz at Newegg.

Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PGD38G1600ELK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220558

Spend the saved money to an SSD...the next one seems a great deal for 100$

ADATA S510 Series AS510S3-120GM-O 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211588

And a final question...what's your PSU?

 

[Jowiso]

Here's the PSU I'm considering:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020


Could be overkill, though, I imagine. Probably a 500W would do? Thanks for your help so far.



EDIT: After checking out Newegg - here's a 500W PSU. Thoughts?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182044

Also, as related to RAM. What's the real difference between 1600 and 1333 with this specific build? Anything noticiable?

 

[michxymi]

There's a better and more reliable choice!

SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093

It's 80+ bronze, modular and with enough watts for your system! Plus it's a branded product from Seasonic, maybe the best PSU manufacturer


I'm also thinking that you may need a case, so I'll suggest the next one from Antec with USB III in front panel plus great features!

Antec Gaming Series One Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129181


As for RAM, there's not a huge difference, but it's better for overclocking (FSB) to have high frequency RAM! Plus the difference in price is 2$ the most

 

[vitornob]

Thanks for your help.

And this should play the mentioned games (specifically GW2/Diablo 3) on highest settings in 1080p?

And last question - the AM3+ socket should be compatible with next gen AMD hardware, if I wanted to upgrade later? Any reason that the mentioned MoBo will not suffice for Piledriver?

EDIT: Link to the MoBo, if needed:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

If I'm not mistaken Piledriver WON'T be using the AM3+ socket.
Of course needs confirmation but a simple google search shall answer this.

 

[pfunkmd]

Here's the PSU I'm considering:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020


Could be overkill, though, I imagine. Probably a 500W would do? Thanks for your help so far.



EDIT: After checking out Newegg - here's a 500W PSU. Thoughts?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182044

Also, as related to RAM. What's the real difference between 1600 and 1333 with this specific build? Anything noticiable?

Do not get that 500 watt psu it is only 12volts @15 amps and most new gaming rigs require 12v@40 or 50 amps

Here art the specs for the 500 watt have a look its not so much the watts as it is the amps. My 6870 gpu recommends minimum of 12v@40a
I ordered a cheap psu for my pc at first and had to return it. you can go with a 500 watt psu just make sure it is a 12v@40a model

(500 watt Rosewill Stallion) 3.3V@22A, +5V@16A, +12V1@15A, +12V2@16A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A

(CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 ) +3.3V@25A, +5V@25A, +12V@53A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@3.0A

I ordered a cheap psu for my pc at first and had to return it. you can go with a 500 watt just make sure it is a 12v@40@ model

 

[pfunkmd]

Read this if you have time be for you pick a power supply
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_pick_right_power_supply

 

[Jowiso]

If I'm not mistaken Piledriver WON'T be using the AM3+ socket.
Of course needs confirmation but a simple google search shall answer this.

Yeah. I've seen some sites that say it WILL use AM3+ and others saying the opposite. I guess clearly we won't know for sure until close to release.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

why invest money in a dead end AMD setup? better off with intel i5. it doesn't need to be the 2500k. even the 2400 or 2320 will be faster than any overclocked phenom II. And it leaves you room for an upgrade when they release faster cpu's. You can also get pretty good motherboards quite cheap, like the asrock extreme 3.

 

[Jowiso]

why invest money in a dead end AMD setup? better off with intel i5. it doesn't need to be the 2500k. even the 2400 or 2320 will be faster than any overclocked phenom II. And it leaves you room for an upgrade when they release faster cpu's. You can also get pretty good motherboards quite cheap, like the asrock extreme 3.

Right. This has been part of my consideration. As I mentioned, though, I was under the impression that AM3+ would be utilized in the next gen, thus it would not be a "dead end AMD setup". However, if that's false, I'm likely to go i5 quad, since Ivy Bridge will work on 1155, correct?

Thanks for helping out the noob

 

[pfunkmd]

The 2500k is by all means the better cpu.
I would have mentioned it earlier in this thread but certain members are being arsey, about what my answers are...

Do not know why people get upset the i5 is superior to any of amd's offerings. I think when someone asks for an opinion on the best performing chip out now you should be honest. When amd gets on the ball and comes out with a good chip I will recommend it. Don't get me wrong I am not saying amd's are total crap just cant compete with Intel. It really Stinks because when I ordered my fx6100 I really wanted to believe everyone was wrong but unfortunately for me they were all correct. The fx6100 a 6 core chip did not run as good as my i3 dual or my i5 dual core. The gaming performance is really poor I even had it overclocked to 4800 and still no good.

 

[dish_moose]

Truth hurts sometimes... I had many AMD cpus when they were better than Intel just not main stream. I go with what performs the best within my budget. 1155 seems the best option at this point in time - best perf/$$. About the PSU - there are several great manufacturers - Corsair, Seasonic, Silverstone, XFX..., even Rosewill makes some good units. Jonnyguru.com tells it straight as far as far as how well they work - check out that site and you should learn plenty. Not all PSUs are created equal.
-Bruce
-Bruce

 

[Jowiso]

Truth hurts sometimes... I had many AMD cpus when they were better than Intel just not main stream. I go with what performs the best within my budget. 1155 seems the best option at this point in time - best perf/$$. About the PSU - there are several great manufacturers - Corsair, Seasonic, Silverstone, XFX..., even Rosewill makes some good units. Jonnyguru.com tells it straight as far as far as how well they work - check out that site and you should learn plenty. Not all PSUs are created equal.
-Bruce
-Bruce

Any thoughts on this PSU?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

Great overall reviews and it seems to meet all my needs as far as specs. Any personal experience with Antec quality?

 

[pfunkmd]

Any thoughts on this PSU?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

Great overall reviews and it seems to meet all my needs as far as specs. Any personal experience with Antec quality?

No its not powerful enough for a good gpu you see where the 12volt rail only goes up to 25.a

3.3V@28A, +5V@26A, +12V1@22A, +12V2@22A, +12V3@25A, -12V@0.5A, +5VSB@2.5A


Corsair gs 600 is a much better bet for your pc
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139023 +3.3V@25A, +5V@25A, +12V@48A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@3.0A

 

[Jowiso]

No its not powerful enough for a good gpu you see where the 12volt rail only goes up to 25.a

3.3V@28A, +5V@26A, +12V1@22A, +12V2@22A, +12V3@25A, -12V@0.5A, +5VSB@2.5A


Corsair gs 600 is a much better bet for your pc
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139023 +3.3V@25A, +5V@25A, +12V@48A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@3.0A

Great - I see it now. Thanks for your help. PSUs are something I'm pretty inexperienced with, so thanks for the advice. I'm probably going to end up spending the extra $100-ish for a i5-2500k build at this point. Seems like no matter what I do, I always end up finding that it's the best CPU around.

Any motherboard advice? I know a Z68 - but I see that the Pro/Gen 3 are over $200.

How about these two?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131773

Is it really worth it to spend the extra $80+ on http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790 ?

Thanks again. You guys are saving a noob builder's life.

 

[pfunkmd]

Great - I see it now. Thanks for your help. PSUs are something I'm pretty inexperienced with, so thanks for the advice. I'm probably going to end up spending the extra $100-ish for a i5-2500k build at this point. Seems like no matter what I do, I always end up finding that it's the best CPU around.

Any motherboard advice? I know a Z68 - but I see that the Pro/Gen 3 are over $200.

How about these two?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131773

Is it really worth it to spend the extra $80+ on http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790 ?

Thanks again. You guys are saving a noob builder's life.

I have the Asrock and it is great its the best bang for the buck just read some reviews. Also tom's hardware gave it a best buy of 2011 just google reviews for the board

 

[Tavo_Nova]

lol doesn't matter if you get a phenomii x4 or a i5 2500k when your gaming so long as you have a 7850 or higher level graphics card you will be blown away.

corsair cx600W on newegg got a great deal now, or if you want corsair tx650v2 or something is a great choice.

make sure you grab your self some 7850 before deciding on the cpu.

just so you know 1155 will be dead after ivy or so what intel says. make sure you get either sandy or ivy. either way get what your pocket can afford, then upgrade to the next tock (the oen after ivy is a tock and then a tick then a tock) for better performance on both money wise and hardware wise.

go ASRock extreme3 gen3 1155 socket intel mobo
or ASRock extreme4 gen3 or 4 or something, should be around 120-160bucks or so save you more cash.

 

[Phyrexiancure]

Either the i5 2500k or a phenom ii x4 give you good value. It for the most part comes down to your budget, features and future upgrade support. AM3 board gives your more sata III, pci express ii x16 which could also be a deciding factor and the ability to upgrade to the 8 core piledriver processors. Having pci express x16 slots might matter if you plan to crossfire since are 7970 are already bottlenecked by pci express x8 at low below 1920x1080 resolutions, it'll get worst with later cards. If battlefield 3 is any indicator of future games, EA is using its engine in many of its future releases, 8 cores will be used in future games. According to this link an i5 2500k overclocked to 4.6ghz bottlenecks crossfired 7970's while a i7 2700k doesn't at the same frequency. So amd's next gen fx processors probably won't be a bad upgrade after your phenom gets dated. If you go with an i5 2500k you'd probably be best off skipping ivy bridge even though it'll give you more room crossfire and its assumed all round performance improvement. Again both are not bad, just depends on budget and motherboard features you'd need.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1038504407

 

[pfunkmd]

Either the i5 2500k or a phenom ii x4 give you good value. It for the most part comes down to your budget, features and future upgrade support. AM3 board gives your more sata III, pci express ii x16 which could also be a deciding factor and the ability to upgrade to the 8 core piledriver processors. Having pci express x16 slots might matter if you plan to crossfire since are 7970 are already bottlenecked by pci express x8 at low below 1920x1080 resolutions, it'll get worst with later cards. If battlefield 3 is any indicator of future games, EA is using its engine in many of its future releases, 8 cores will be used in future games. According to this link an i5 2500k overclocked to 4.6ghz bottlenecks crossfired 7970's while a i7 2700k doesn't at the same frequency. So amd's next gen fx processors probably won't be a bad upgrade after your phenom gets dated. If you go with an i5 2500k you'd probably be best off skipping ivy bridge even though it'll give you more room crossfire and its assumed all round performance improvement. Again both are not bad, just depends on budget and motherboard features you'd need.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1038504407

I had a fx 6100 and it was crap for gaming i really hope the next gen chips are better. If the steamroller is better I will switch back Intel is pissing me off you need to be rich to afford one. The i7 2700k 330 dollars come on guys wtf oh and if you want six core its only 600 dollars the same price as a whole budget gaming system from AMD. I just hope Amd comes up with something good soon to keep intel in check

 

[ismaeljrp]

The high end Phenom II's perform pretty much par with Sandy bridge when it comes to 1080p, on a single GPU setup.

If multi gpu, that's where intel gets the lead...also if resolutions are lower or higher than the 1600x1200 - 1920x1200 range.

But if you are in that range of resolution, than really you won't notice any significant diference.

 

[michxymi]

When you game at Full HD with filters on (AA,AF) the whole job is done by the GPU and not the CPU! That means that the difference between the processors isn't a lot! Especially at DX11 titles the difference is even lower!

From my point of view, the best gaming platform is the one that with your budget It will give you the most powerful GPU you can get and a CPU that It won't bottleneck it!

So for this price AMD platform gives you a great platform, UPGRADEABLE, with 4 core CPU (which may unlock into a 6 Core), a powerful GPU, plus it allows the use of an 120GB SSD..

In my opinion, Intel starts at higher price points to get similar futures to the AMD platform

 

[Jowiso]

Going with a Phenom II X4 975 (or 960, as someone mentioned above), combined with a single 7850, 1080p single monitor - this would give me excellent results equal to the 2500k in most gaming situations (GW2, D3)?

If so, I find no reason to spend the extra $90 to get a 2500k when that money could be put toward a GPU or SSD. However, some people are saying that I WILL notice a difference, and that the AMD platform wouldn't be upgradable to next gen (even though no one seems to know - two people in this forum said the exact opposite things about AM3+being compatible with next gen)

I suppose my biggest concerns lie in upgradability. If I'm going to want to spend for a new MoBo and CPU in a year, if I go with AMD, I might as well go Intel and be able to hang onto it for a longer period.

Ah.... the great debate rages on....

 

[pfunkmd]

I would say go with the i3 and the asrock z68 gen3 I have the combo and it is a really good combo for gaming. I would still recommend getting the 7850 card. And later if you feel like you need to upgrade to a i5 or the new ivy bridge processors you can do so. Check out this review on the board. the price for the board and the i3 will set you back 250 dollars

http://www.hardwarelook.com/reviews/asrock-z68-extreme3-gen3-review_125_1.html

 

[Phyrexiancure]

I would say go with the i3 and the asrock z68 gen3 I have the combo and it is a really good combo for gaming. I would still recommend getting the 7850 card. And later if you feel like you need to upgrade to a i5 or the new ivy bridge processors you can do so. Check out this review on the board. the price for the board and the i3 will set you back 250 dollars

http://www.hardwarelook.com/reviews/asrock-z68-extreme3-gen3-review_125_1.html

The i3 is better in low threaded games like starcraft II than the phenom at factory settings. The phenom ii beats the i3 in games like battlefield 3, 64 player caspian border is were its most noticeable. The phenom II advantage is widened when you overclock the phenoms II's core and cpu-nb frquency. I don't think the i3 is worth it because the phenom II can easily gain a 15% boost without buying an aftermarket heatsink.