Need a cheap computer

[Crunchiie620]

Well, I don't have that much money to spend, and I really need a PC.
I know that AMD right now, isn't the ideal path to take, but with a really low budget, I think it has to be somewhat viable.

Anyways, I have found 2 barebone kits on tigerdirect, and just wanted to know which one is a better buy?

Barebones #1 http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2428844&CatId=332
$339.97 - $50 Rebate = $289.97
ASUS M5A78L-M LX Motherboard
Phenom II X4 965 BE
Corsair XMS3 1333 8GB(2x4GB) DDR3 RAM Kit
Lite-On Internal 24X DVD Writer
Seagate Barracuda 1TB Hard Drive
Thermaltake V2 ATX Mid Tower Case with 450W PSU
Thermaltake TR2-R1 Socket AM2/939/754 CPU Cooler

Barebones #2 http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1824466&CatId=332
$469.99 - $70 Rebate = $399.99
ASUS M4A88T-M Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X6 1035T
Corsair XMS3 1333 8GB(2x4GB) DDR3 RAM Kit
Lite-On Internal 24X DVD Writer
Seagate 2TB HDD
Thermaltake V2 ATX Mid Tower Case with 450W PSU

So again, which one is a better buy?

 

[smorizio]

the top one if both have the same video card. most games and aps dont uses more then 2 cores on a cpu. so having 6 cores is a little over kill. your better off tossing in a nvidia or ati card on the first build if there not one. most games now look for ati or nvidia..very few wil run on the new intel gpu.

 

[joethetfrod]

What is your maximum budget?

 

[Crunchiie620]

My maximum budget is $650.
And it would also be nice if I could squeeze in a new monitor.

 

[goodguy713]

im calling bs on the most games only use 2 cores bit .. battle field 3 uses 6 for multi player and i know that skyrim uses 4 if not 6..supreme commander uses 4 cores and left for dead 2 .. im just saying theres more games out there now that use 6 core processors and no to mention the benefit from media transcoding.. try to squeeze in a 6770 or a 6850 and you will have a decent rigg

 

[SingingThroughTheStorm]

im calling bs on the most games only use 2 cores bit .. battle field 3 uses 6 for multi player and i know that skyrim uses 4 if not 6..supreme commander uses 4 cores and left for dead 2 .. im just saying theres more games out there now that use 6 core processors and no to mention the benefit from media transcoding.. try to squeeze in a 6770 or a 6850 and you will have a decent rigg

You are wrong about Skyrim. Look at Skyrim Benchmarks for CPUs.
It doesn't run good on AMD CPUs because of the Performance Per Core is lower than Intel.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/X/N/323915/original/Skyrim.png

I am pretty sure the total performance power of the Phenom is higher than Intel G630,
but you can see it is beaten out by the Pentium here. The game utilizes 2 Cores, there ya go.

 

[Crunchiie620]

But doesn't an overclocked Phenom just stomps on a Pentium?

 

[Merueth]

But doesn't an overclocked Phenom just stomps on a Pentium?

Meh, the OC'd 965 BE should usually beat out the G630, but I wouldn't say stomps it, as the Pentium can keep up with the non-overclocked 965 in games that use less than 2 cores.