New pc build

guessoso

Honorable
May 16, 2012
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I was pm'd by 'vrumor' from these forums. He sells on ebay. This doesn't include shipping and he doesn't mention windows 7. What do you think of this build for $1000 ?

1. Also when I look at the gaming cpu heirarchy, I see that the entry level intel i3 (which are dual core right?) are better than the best AMD chips? Why is that?

2. Also, these are in tier two also? Core i7-980, -970, -960 Core i7-870, -875K
These are laptop cpus right? Why would they be better than the top of the line AMD? I am not sure why AMD is so far behind.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html


Here is the build. Don't think it includes windows 7 since it wasn't mentioned. I am thinking of dropping to 2x500 gb hard drives. I won't fill them up. I only did 1 TB because the price was so close. I want to go up to 8 gbs RAM. Not sure if that swap will cover the RAM.

Would I be better off going down a little on video card and up on cpu to an i5?


Intel i3-2120 Dual Core 3.3 ghz CPU (check the gaming CPU hierarchy chart, its tier 2)
ASUS P8H61 mobo (has 2 USB 3.0 ports on back panel)
4 gb GSkill 1600 RAM (upgradeable to 16 on mobo)
2 x1 TB Western Digital Caviar Blue in Raid 0
Sapphire 7850 2 gb DDR5 vid card (will blast anything at 1080p or less) Comes with free Dirt 3 Showdown Coupon
Antec 520w ECO power supply
Thermaltake V3 Black mid sized case
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
1. Also when I look at the gaming cpu heirarchy, I see that the entry level intel i3 (which are dual core right?) are better than the best AMD chips? Why is that?

Because the design of the AMD FX series took a lot of the instructions off the CPU and put them in the operating system - which was a major design flaw to begin with. Add that they're building new CPUs around an aging socket and motherboard technology that's been around for years and you basically have a disaster waiting to happen.

2. Also, these are in tier two also? Core i7-980, -970, -960 Core i7-870, -875K
These are laptop cpus right? Why would they be better than the top of the line AMD? I am not sure why AMD is so far behind.

Those are desktop CPUs - they're the older generation Intel Core CPUs (2008- 2009) that run on the LGA 1366 socket which has been discontinued.

Would I be better off going down a little on video card and up on cpu to an i5?

No - the GPU is where you'll notice the most improvement on any build - not necessarily the CPU. As FX and IB have proved that CPUs have pretty much bottomed out in terms of performance. Unless you're going X79 you won't notice huge increments in the number of cores and processor speed in one CPU vs. the other.


Here is the build. Don't think it includes windows 7 since it wasn't mentioned. I am thinking of dropping to 2x500 gb hard drives. I won't fill them up. I only did 1 TB because the price was so close. I want to go up to 8 gbs RAM. Not sure if that swap will cover the RAM.

What's your budget? I wouldn't go with H61 because your expansion options will be incredibly limited and you forfeit access to the multiplier on your CPU so if you ever want to overclock, run more than 16gb RAM, multiple HDs, multiple GPUs, you're SOL.

For $1K you can do *WAY* better than that. You get really ripped off with H61 on a $1K build. Here's what I would suggest:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - $59.99
PSU: Corsair TX650 V2 - $89.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H - $159.99
CPU: 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-3570K - $249.99
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - $29.99
RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaw X 1600MHz 1.5V - $46.99
HD: 500GB Samsung Spinpoint F3 - $79.99
Optical: Lite On DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 - $249.99
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium - $99.99

Total: $1084.90

With this build you get a stronger PSU and motherboard and you get an unlocked CPU.
 

guessoso

Honorable
May 16, 2012
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Thanks. I would be paying someone to put the parts together. So there would be a bit of a premium. So I couldn't get all that at this price.

I wanted to keep it at $1000 so that is why I think he dropped down on the motherboard. What do you mean by constrained? He said I can upgrade to 16 gb RAM. I can't see needing more than that for years. I generally turn down the graphics over time and 16 gb is larger than any games are today. What else would it be constrained on?

couple of questions in response to what you said.

1. . Also, these are in tier two also? Core i7-980, -970, -960 Core i7-870, -875K
These are older generation i7s? What is the difference between the newer generation and older ones? Are the i7s from 2008-2009 better than the newer generation i3s? Why would that be?

2. No - the GPU is where you'll notice the most improvement on any build - not necessarily the CPU. As FX and IB have proved that CPUs have pretty much bottomed out in terms of performance. Unless you're going X79 you won't notice huge increments in the number of cores and processor speed in one CPU vs. the other.

What is FX and IB? What is X79?
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
I wanted to keep it at $1000 so that is why I think he dropped down on the motherboard. What do you mean by constrained? He said I can upgrade to 16 gb RAM. I can't see needing more than that for years. I generally turn down the graphics over time and 16 gb is larger than any games are today. What else would it be constrained on?

What you would be constrianed on by going with H61 is that you forfeit extra SATA ports, access to the CPU multiplier, extra PCI x 16 slots, and things of that nature.

1. . Also, these are in tier two also? Core i7-980, -970, -960 Core i7-870, -875K

They're in tier two because they're still perfectly capable CPUs. The people that own them aren't looking to get rid of them so they keep their systems around. X58 (the platform) is what they're based on and it was a performance enthusiast line just like X79 is. If you buy new you want the newest hardware you can get for your money.

What is FX and IB? What is X79?

FX is the current generation of AMD CPU and IB is Ivy Bridge the current generation of Intel CPU. X79 is known as Sandy Bridge E, the Intel performance enthusiast line, it's quite a bit more expensive than the former CPUs I mentioned.
 

guessoso

Honorable
May 16, 2012
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1. Now I am confused about the motherboard. You said that x79 is the newest motherboard. Which Intel chips are compatible with that? Is the chip you mentioned CPU: 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-3570K - $249.99 compatible with it?

What is better about the motherboard?

2. so extra SATA slots are for extra disks right? I only need enough for 2 disks. What else would I use it for? It has a USB 3.0 which is fine for backups. So any other use than that?

What would I use PCI x16 slots for?

3. how much of a difference in performance would I get with the i3-2120 chip vs. the i5 chip you recommended? I am looking to keep the price down.