Gaming PC under $900 - phenom or FX

[ericjr85]

So I am building a gaming PC and want to keep it as close to $800 as possible. This is what I have so far.


My biggest doubt was with either getting an AMD FX-4170 or the Phenom II x4 965 BE

I have already looked into an i5 2500k but decided it was out of my price range...

Please give me some pros and cons. Thanks guys and gals.

SAMSUNG DVD Burner SATA Model SH-224BB/RSBS
-$4.00 Instant
$20.99
$16.99


Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm ...
-$20.00 Instant
$59.99
$39.99


Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
-$30.00 Instant
$109.99
$79.99


ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
-$5.00 Instant
$99.99
$94.99


2 x XFX Core Edition FX-785A-ZNFC Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814150617
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$10.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$359.98
$339.98
($169.99 each)

COOLMAX NW-650B 650W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Ready / CrossFire Ready and Compatible with Core i3/i5/i7 Power Supply
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$69.99


Microsoft Wireless Desktop 2000 M7J-00001 Black USB RF Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard & Mouse
-$15.00 Instant
$37.99
$22.99


G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C10D-16GAO
-$15.00 Instant
$69.99
$54.99


AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
-$10.00 Instant
$99.99
$89.99


COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler
$34.99

Subtotal: $844.89

 

[Outlander_04]

Neither of those processors for an AMD build
The FX 6300 is the budget processor of choice

Asrock 970 extreme4 motherboard has excellent features , including front USB 3 which your asus board doesnt
http://www.overclock.net/t/1144067/amd-990x-970-am3-motherboard-buyers-guide-help-thread
Your asus board cant even crossfire properly since the second pci-e x16 slot is limited to x4 speed

You need 2 x4 gig of RAM maximum for a gamer

The rosewill challenger won an award for being cheap and as they handed it the award they wished they had enough money in the budget for an Antec 300 because the challenger was made of cheap plastic and thin metal
Today antecs budget case is the Antec ONE , The CM 430 elite is another option but doesnt have front usb3

The coolmax psu is junk .

and even at 1080p resolution its unlikely you will get the most benefit from crossfiring two cheaper cards . Buy a single radeon 7950 . The gigabyte windforce is quieter and cooler than the rest