Help, i'm new to PC building

[lonlyantsy]

I have been trying to choose the parts to my budget gaming PC for about 3 months now. I'm not trying to go over $600 or $700. I know i cant get the greatest for that but I have done my research, i can get some quality stuff. My biggest gripe is the processor. I'm looking at AMD because of my price range but cant seem to settle on which processor to get. I want the FX-8120, but i have heard that it is overrated and cant really out do some of the phenom processors plus i understand there are some BIOS problems with AM3+ MB. I then looked at the Phenom processors and found some good ones but i dont know how they run cuz ive never owned one. What im asking for is help from some experience. If you have owned or used any of these processors on the list below can you tell me which is the best. On paper all these look like the best in there price range but do they run like they say.

Phenom II X4 965
Phenom II X4 980
FX-4100
FX-8020

I might just crack and get an intel, but i dont know were ill get the cash from.

 

[amkronos]

You can built a very decent intel i5 system for the range you are looking for. I built mine for $650 taking advantage of specials, and combo deals. You need to shop well, and try to avoid low balling yourself on cheap brands to avoid costly mistakes.

Newegg will have some i5 combo with an Asus/ASRock motherboard combo for around $250 usually. Example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.989354

So toss in a decent case, power supply, 8gb of memory and that's usually another $150
There is room here to find combo deals to bring that price lower.


That leaves you with $200 to get a HDD and video card. RIght off the bat forget about SSD, and you do not need 1TB of drive space unless you plan on downloading and storing a few hundred full length movies...

So get a decent 500GB 7200 SATA based HDD for around $60-70 Newegg will always have one on rebate/codes etc in that range.

So for $150ish in range for a GPU you'll be looking at an HD6850 or HD7770 or a GTX 560.

All this for around $600.

 

[lonlyantsy]

I like the combo idea but that MB doesn't offer to much future proofing, and how does the Phenom II X4 965 Compare to the i5 2300

 

[lonlyantsy]

I like the combo idea but that MB doesn't offer to much future proofing, and how does the Phenom II X4 965 Compare to the i5 2300

 

[amkronos]

I agree the H61 is getting to end of life. For $30 more you could get a decent Gigabyte z68 board combo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.987752


This article might help with your other question:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-3.html

Even the i3 2300 has shown better results over the Phenom II's and it only has 2 cores.

 

[lonlyantsy]

So how does this setup sound

CPU - Phenom II X4 965
GPU - HD 6850
MB - Asus M5A97
Ram - 8gb G.skill Ripjaws X series
HDD - 500gb
PSU - non modular 700 watt

To me this looks good for gaming, Is it?

 

[amkronos]

That would be fine. Do you plan on using 2 video cards eventually? If not you would be fine with something like this: CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

Take the money saved there and get HD6870