Help me choose?

[draucia]

I'm trying to get a really cheap build ($400 without HDD). Would it be better to go with the i3-2100 (or phenom II x4 965 BE) and the gtx 550 ti (or gtx 650, not sure) or the Intel Celeron G540 and the gtx 560 ti? I don't know if going with a processer that low will be bad or not. It's mainly going to be doing gaming, but I also want the system to be able to multitask well and not lock up a lot. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

For a GAMING machine you want to be spending more than that on the graphics card ALONE...

All the best Brett

 

[swifty_morgan]

$400 isn't a lot. you should have mentioned your monitor/resolution and the games you play.

However, with such a tight budget looking into the FM1 motherboard processor combos ( 4core processor ) with 8gigs of ddr3 1866 memory and windows 7 64bit would be something to look into. Buying an appropriate video card to crossfire with the existing on die video and you would have something to work with.

 

[draucia]

$400 isn't a lot. you should have mentioned your monitor/resolution and the games you play.

However, with such a tight budget looking into the FM1 motherboard processor combos ( 4core processor ) with 8gigs of ddr3 1866 memory and windows 7 64bit would be something to look into. Buying an appropriate video card to crossfire with the existing on die video and you would have something to work with.

I want to get a monitor that is 1920x1080 but if I have to, I can get a lower resolution. I was just wondering, what would be better?I3/Phenom + gtx 550ti (or similar priced graphics cards) or A cheaper intel $50 CPU with a higher end graphics card like the gtx 560 ti. I just don't want to bottleneck it too bad.

I don't really want to go the APU route, but if you can show me any benchmarks showing that crossfiring the APU with a 6670 or something beats a single gtx 550ti or similar, I might go that route.

 

[mocchan]

Intel Pentium G8XX Series of CPU's paired with a GTX560 Ti would bring more performance than something like an i3/Phenom II X4 paired with a GTX550 Ti if that's what you're asking.

For a budget gaming rig, this is the route I would personally take.

 

[draucia]

Intel Pentium G8XX Series of CPU's paired with a GTX560 Ti would bring more performance than something like an i3/Phenom II X4 paired with a GTX550 Ti if that's what you're asking.

For a budget gaming rig, this is the route I would personally take.

Exactly what I'm asking, thanks. And would a G540 be sufficient? It's 2.5 GHz instead of 2.9. And one more thing, would this G540 (or g850) be good in overall system responsiveness and multitasking? I have the i3-2100/6870 and my computer is really responsive, fast, and I can multitask really well. Will it be the same for this processer and the gtx 560 ti? It just seems to me that the Pentium/Celeron processers are very low end.

 

[mocchan]

The Pentium series of CPU's on LGA1155 are essentially downclocked i3's without Hyperthreading. They're VERY fast for what they're worth..nothing to worry about

I would generally say overall system responsiveness would depend on your OS drive. If you have an SSD, you'll have a better experience on a Pentium machine than with an i7 machine with a normal HDD.

Also, yes, I can imagine the G540 to be sufficient for a very tight budget build. It's a little slower than what I would prefer, but it would still provide a smooth computing experience IMO.

 

[draucia]

The Pentium series of CPU's on LGA1155 are essentially downclocked i3's without Hyperthreading. They're VERY fast for what they're worth..nothing to worry about

I would generally say overall system responsiveness would depend on your OS drive. If you have an SSD, you'll have a better experience on a Pentium machine than with an i7 machine with a normal HDD.

Also, yes, I can imagine the G540 to be sufficient for a very tight budget build. It's a little slower than what I would prefer, but it would still provide a smooth computing experience IMO.

Ok thanks a lot dude. One question: If I will be recording with fraps and/or camtasia (of gameplay), will the pentium be able to hold up? I want decent fps while recording and not have any lag spikes or anything.

 

[mocchan]

Recording with fraps would really depend on your HDD speeds more than anything, it's best to run your game off of one HDD and record on another to provide the smoothest recording experience possible.

Also, I haven't noticed a real CPU usage increase when recording with fraps; maybe some other people may be able to enlighten me here. (I've only used Quad Core CPU's after I got into recording gameplay and such, so I didn't really see a big performance hit)

From what I noticed, Camtasia will often times use a lot of your CPU and not provide the smoothest recording experience possible. I may be wrong here as well, so don't take my word for it.

 

[draucia]

Best answer selected by draucia.

 

[draucia]

Recording with fraps would really depend on your HDD speeds more than anything, it's best to run your game off of one HDD and record on another to provide the smoothest recording experience possible.

Also, I haven't noticed a real CPU usage increase when recording with fraps; maybe some other people may be able to enlighten me here. (I've only used Quad Core CPU's after I got into recording gameplay and such, so I didn't really see a big performance hit)

From what I noticed, Camtasia will often times use a lot of your CPU and not provide the smoothest recording experience possible. I may be wrong here as well, so don't take my word for it.

Alright, thanks.