First budget gaming rig build

[jon99]

I have an old pentium 4 im getting rid of(slow) and have done some research for a new build I am looking for critique on the parts I have in mind and advice for better parts that are cheaper. I plan to base my build around the i3 2120cpu since it beats most phenom 4s for gaming and has lower heat output. Heres my build.
i3 2120 $130
sapphire radeon 6770gpu $100
antec 300 illusion case $65
corsair 500w builder series $50
gigabyte z68 mobo $130
seagate 500gb hd $95
corsair vengeance 2x4gb $50
Taxes and shipping total $670


I have also considered building around an athlon 631 llano which is best price performance on cpubenchmark not many reviews on it but might suit my budget better. The i5 2500k seems to get recommended alot but is it overkill for gaming .

Thank you in advance

MOD EDIT: Moved to General Hardware. - Zap

 

[fffblackmage]

This really belongs to the General Hardware subforum, but anyways....

Cheaper ram:
$35 - Crucial 2x4GB DDR3-1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148476

Case and PSU:
Well, this is a cheaper combo, and there are tradeoffs. The BP430 has a stronger 12V rail, which is good, but you do lose out on a couple fans for the 300. Do the two fans really make a difference here? Not really - the i3 runs super cool, and the mid-range 6770 isn't a space heater like high-end GPUs are.
$60 after promo code - Antec 300 + BP430
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129065

I feel like you should be getting a 1TB HDD for the price of the Seagate 500GB HDD there, at least, but with HDD prices so screwed up right now, I don't really know what to suggest.


And welcome to the Anandtech forums.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Unless you positively plan on upgrading the CPU at a later date or need a paticular feature the z68 mobo is overkill for that CPU

 

[DaveSimmons]

If you take the RAM suggestion above and switch to a H61 or H67 motherboard, you could move up to an i5-2400 or -2500. No overclocking, but the extra 2 cores are starting to be useful for some games.

 

[Ken g6]

If you take the RAM suggestion above and switch to a H61 or H67 motherboard, you could instead move up to a 6850 or a 6870 which would probably benefit you more in most games.

 

[jon99]

Ive been told by several people to avoid combo deals that come with power supplies as it was the component that most likely fried there systems and would a 430w power supply be able to handle the load alright. As for the ram since the 13-2120 is not overclockable the 1333 wouldnt make much difference with the 1600 right just save me a bit of money for something better. I just checked out the i5-2500k $230, 15-2500 $210, and the i5-2400 $190. One of these paired with ASRock H61m-VS $55 would be close to my build in price and would be much better would it not. I have not overclocked before so am not looking seriously at the 2500k but Ive read that it is futureproof for 4-5 years because of its great performance. Also I found a sapphire 6870 for $145 after rebate would this stay current longer, if so I might be able to push my budget up a bit but is pretty firm. As far as the 1 TB HD cheapest is $130 all because of the flooding in Thailand I believe. Thank you again for the posts I am still noob but am learning.

 

[jon99]

Out of curiosity I just benchmarked the A6-3670(631 llano) against the i3-2100 and the llano gets beat pretty bad in just about every category and in every game. I then benchmarked the $70 Intel Pentium G620 against same llano and pretty much same results even beats the a8-3870(651 llano) in games so llano build seems completely out of the question. The x4 Athlons also lose to Intel in gaming and the phenom 4s do a bit better but still losing some benchmarks.
Why is it these Intel sandy bridge processors seem to win most benchmarks quite easily against Amd but most people I know build amd systems for gaming and OC them and recommend me do the same. If i do that i need a case with more fans, a better cpu cooler than stock and a bigger power supply to run it efficiently. I have a friend that runs a phenom 4 960T overclocked at 3.6ghz which usually runs in excess of 70C and I have seen it spike into the 90s at times, I believe it can be damaged around 110C can it not. He has a Lian Li case with 4 120mm fans, a V6 Cooler Master cpu cooler with arctic thermal compound applied 4-5 times now and I have seen him take side panel off to put a big house fan on it to keeps temps while still running case fans lol. I know this must not be the case for most Amd builds but it seems to me Amd builders have to oc to catch Intel in performance. Correct me if i am wrong I am just trying to gain some knowledge before this build.
Any help or suggestions appreciated!

 

[mfenn]

Paragraphs man, use them.

Anyway, an Intel build is definitely the way to go here. You should not expect $670 system to be "futureproof" for 5 years unless you have really low needs.

Some thoughts:
- CPU/Mobo; I agree that an i5 2400 + H61 is better for you in terms of overall performance than an i3 + Z68.
- Case/PSU: It's not that you want to avoid bundled cases and power supplies, it's that you want to avoid bad power supplies. The BP430 that fffblackmage suggested definitely doesn't fall into that category
- HDD : You can get a 750GB single-platter for $100.