Budget AMD Gaming Build $600-650

[FortheLove]

1. Gaming, Surfing, Document Writing

2. $600-650 before rebates

3. USA

4. AMD, Nvidia. Have always had great success with these.

5. Monitor (Hp w2007 1680x1050) Keyboard, Mouse, Headset

7. No overclocking.

8. 1680x1050

9. Approximately 2 weeks

Doing student upgrade from XP to Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit


Hi,

My current desktop is a dinosaur (built it in 2002). Building a new rig so I can play Diablo 3. I want something that will be quiet. Also want something that will allow me to play future games (FPS, MMORPG) on above average settings.

I've been reading a lot of information on this site regarding hardware. I've assembled this build:


G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4 GB) 240 Pinn DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231314

Cooler MAster HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119233

ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157176

EVGA 01G-P3-1370-KR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130752

Antex BP550 Plus 550W COntinous Power ATX12V 80 Plus Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371016

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103727

Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152181

TOTAL: $601.94


Just hoping I can get some feedback on it. My main concerns are if I'm using some hardware that is becoming too outdated. (Vid Card, CPU, Mobo) Not sure if I should stick with the Phenom II or go to an FX processor. Also unsure on my mobo selection. I dont want to be too outdated in a cpl years...to the point where its time to rebuild again.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[lehtv]

PII 965 is better price/performance than FX and it performs equally to i3-2100 at stock. But once overclocked, it'll outperform it, so it's not a bad choice (i3 cannot be overclocked). The only downside really is that at stock it consumes twice as much power as Intel i3, and up to three times as much when heavily overclocked/overvolted.

The motherboard is a bit outdated as it's an old chipset and does not support USB3.0 or SATA 6gb/s.

The graphics card is still capable, but a Radeon 6850 performs the same while consuming a lot less power. Gigabyte 6850 is only $120 AR and has a better cooler than EVGA's 460.

For gaming at 1680x1050 this is a decent setup, but I don't know if you'll be able to maintain High settings in the most demanding games. You certainly won't be able to do that in two years time, but the CPU can handle a graphics card twice as fast as a GTX460 except in particularly CPU heavy games.

 

[DSF]

For gaming at 1680x1050 this is a decent setup, but I don't know if you'll be able to maintain High settings in the most demanding games. You certainly won't be able to do that in two years time, but the CPU can handle a graphics card twice as fast as a GTX460 except in particularly CPU heavy games.

I run an E4500 (Allendale Core2Duo) at 2.93 GHz with a GTX460, and I have to agree with this. Granted, my CPU is not as powerful as a PhII, but I'm not able to turn on high graphics settings in the latest games. I can still get playable frame rates at 16x10 in BF3 without a problem, but I wouldn't expect that setup to last you very long for future games unless your standards are lower.

 

[FortheLove]

Appreciate the feedback thus far.

Do you have any reccomendations/suggestions on what components I might consider instead of what's listed?

Thanks

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

1. Gaming, Surfing, Document Writing

2. $600-650 before rebates

3. USA

4. AMD, Nvidia. Have always had great success with these.

5. Monitor (Hp w2007 1680x1050) Keyboard, Mouse, Headset

7. No overclocking.

8. 1680x1050

9. Approximately 2 weeks

Doing student upgrade from XP to Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit


Hi,

My current desktop is a dinosaur (built it in 2002). Building a new rig so I can play Diablo 3. I want something that will be quiet. Also want something that will allow me to play future games (FPS, MMORPG) on above average settings.

I've been reading a lot of information on this site regarding hardware. I've assembled this build:


G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4 GB) 240 Pinn DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231314

Cooler MAster HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119233

ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157176

EVGA 01G-P3-1370-KR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130752

Antex BP550 Plus 550W COntinous Power ATX12V 80 Plus Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371016

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103727

Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152181

TOTAL: $601.94


Just hoping I can get some feedback on it. My main concerns are if I'm using some hardware that is becoming too outdated. (Vid Card, CPU, Mobo) Not sure if I should stick with the Phenom II or go to an FX processor. Also unsure on my mobo selection. I dont want to be too outdated in a cpl years...to the point where its time to rebuild again.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

If this is mainly for gaming, forget about AMD CPUs for gaming because they suck in comparison to their Intel counterparts. The Phenom II X4 965 can only match a Pentium G850 in gaming, and at much higher power consumption. At stock the 965 trails the i3-2120 in gaming and at 3.8GHz it matches it, but again at much, much higher power consumption. Since you said you won't overclock, it'll be slower.

With that as well as your budget in mind, this would be the best you'd be able to do for a gaming PC for $600:

Intel Core i3-2120: $128
ASRock H61 iCafe ATX: $70
Sapphire Radeon HD 6870: $160
G.Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz: $38
Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB: $80 with code EMCNGHC57
Antec EA-650 GREEN 650W: $60
Rosewill Blackbone or NCXT Source 210 ATX Case: $40
LG 24X DVD Burner: $17

Total: $593
Including shipping: $606

The Core i3-2120 is currently the best inexpensive gaming CPU. It beats the Phenom II X4 965 in gaming both stock, and overclocked the 965 can only match it. The Core i3 also consumes considerably less power than the Phenom II X4 due to its more efficient architecture. Easy choice.

The ASRock H61 iCafe has great reviews and it's the best budget board you're gonna find. It has a ton of features found on more expensive boards including USB 3.0, SATA 6Gbps, 7.1 channel audio, four memory slots, and 2x PCIe 1x. For $70 it's a no brainer, really.

The Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 represents great bang-for-buck. It has low power consumption, is quiet, and the same performance as the $180 GeForce GTX 560. The GTX 460 you linked is a decent choice, but for $10 more the HD 6870 is 15% faster and consumes less power.

The RAM is standard fare at 1.5V and 1333MHz speed. That's the fastest you can run RAM at with H61 and you wouldn't gain any meaningful performance in games going to 1600MHz, so this is the best choice. Since 2x4GB DIMMs are used you have a dual-channel configuration and a healthy amount of 8GB, which is plenty for multi-tasking and gaming. Also very inexpensive at just $38.

Spinpoint F3 is probably one of the best Hard Drive series ever released because of its high reliability and fast speed (for a Hard Drive). At $80 it's cheaper than most other 500GB models, too, and will give you the ability to install quite a few games.

The Power Supply may seem overkill, but it's only $60 and has high efficiency because it's 80 Plus Bronze. You have quite a bit of room for upgrades in the future and you can still use it five years from now. If you want to spend a bit less, you can get the Antec NEO ECO 400C but you'll need to use a single PCIe power adapter because the 6870 requires 2x 6-pin PCIe connectors.

Cases are pretty subjective, but I think for inexpensive models these two are the best. If you want high airflow, good interior space and flashy looks, go for the Rosewill Blackbone. If you want something classy and elegant with a painted interior and decent airflow, get the NZXT Source 210.

The LG DVD Burner is the least-expensive on Newegg and has good speed and reliability.

 

[lehtv]

^ Looks good! Listen to this guy OP

 

[T_Yamamoto]

wow. he got on it

 

[bononos]

Another thumbs-up for the i3 recommendation for budget gaming. AMD doesn't have a good competitor in this segment.

 

[FortheLove]

I appreciate the information Axel. You definitely got the wheels turning. I hadn't really considered an Intel chip, just because of price I guess. But, the i3-2120 benchmarks look great for the money. (Made tomshardware's list of best budget gaming cpu's this month)

Man, I wish I lived anywhere remotely close to a Microcenter. They have the i5-2500k's for 179.99.

 

[mfenn]

Another vote for Axel's build.