New build for brother in law, have mobo and cpu questions

[Spike]

I'm building (remotely) a gamer box for my brother in law who wants something middle of the line. We have most of the parts but are stuck on CPU and mobo right now and I'm not sure exactly which way to go and the only stipulation is it needs to be a quad for longevity. He does not have a strict budget per se but keeping the mobo and cpu at $300 or less would be preferred... $250 is a nice goal there. I am also curious about the PSU powering the system so if anyone has info on that I would like it.

Case: Antec 900
PSU: Earthwatts 500 (older Seasonic built version)
Monitor: Acer 21.5" 1080P
Vid: Sapphire 5770
Ram: Corsair XMS DDR3 1333 2x2GB
Drive: Samsung F2 1TB
OS: Windows 7

For CPU's we of course have Intel and AMD. We are both leaning towards a Phenom 2 X4 945 ($150) and would probably get some ~$100-120 Gigabyte UD mobo as I have had good luck with those. That would put us at around $270 for both and would finish the system off. What are your thoughts on that?

On the other hand we have the I5-750 for $200 but I don't know much about the current P55 mobos. I found a combo on newegg for one with a Gigabyte board for $284... I assume this would beat out the Phenom 2 for roughly the same price?

Anyway, here are my questions:
1) CPU/Mobo, I5 or Phenom 2 for best bang/buck under $300 and preferably $250
2) With either setup will a Earthwatts 500 have any issue powering them?
3) If we went the Phenom route, what is the difference between the 125w and 95w versions of the 945?

Thanks!

 

[fffblackmage]

1) CPU/Mobo, I5 or Phenom 2 for best bang/buck under $300 and preferably $250
2) With either setup will a Earthwatts 500 have any issue powering them?
3) If we went the Phenom route, what is the difference between the 125w and 95w versions of the 945?

1) I would go with the i5. The i5 should be even more awesome when OC'ed.

2) 500W should be sufficient, as long as you're not going to try breaking any OCing records.

3) I believe the 95W version is a newer revised chip. IIRC, it's the C3 stepping, which offers improved overclockability.

 

[Spike]

1) I would go with the i5. The i5 should be even more awesome when OC'ed.

2) 500W should be sufficient, as long as you're not going to try breaking any OCing records.

3) I believe the 95W version is a newer revised chip. IIRC, it's the C3 stepping, which offers improved overclockability.

Thanks for the info. On the I5 reccomendation can we get a good mobo for less than $100? I know there are some good AMD mobo's in that range but I'm less familier with the current Intel side of things. I don't want to sacrifice stability and features for a cheaper price tag, especially if the performance difference between the Phenom 2 and I5 are not all that great when both are stock.

As for the PSU one thing I thought about was the plug... the psu only has a 4 pin 12v CPU plug I believe and I assume both the Phenom 2 and i5 mobos requre the 8 pin. How well would an adapter work, either a 4pin - 8pin EPS12v or a molex to 8pin?

 

[NoQuarter]

You don't need an i5-750 to run a 5770 though. I'd get an i5-750 if you were pairing it up with a 5850 but with that setup I'd save the $50 and get the Phenom II. Unless you plan to Crossfire the 5770's down the line.. then you'll probably want a Phenom II 955 or i5-750.

 

[Blain]

I'm building (remotely) a gamer box for my brother in law who wants something middle of the line.

* Please explain "remotely".
* Does that mean that your brother-in-law, which can't pick his own components, will be assembling the PC?

 

[Spike]

* Please explain "remotely".
* Does that mean that your brother-in-law, which can't pick his own components, will be assembling the PC?

Thats correct, though he has picked a majority of the components. I just have supplied him with some personal opinions, sites to look at for reviews, and direction as to retailers. The mobo CPU is normally my hardest choice so this was expected to be the last items we pick out.

As for the I5/5770 pairing the idea is for the pc to last as long as possible with only a GPU upgrade down the road for gaming improvement. That being said should I still stick with the Phenom 2? Does anyone have what they consider the "best" mobo for each (i5 and Ph 2) at around $100? I would love to see that...

Thanks!

 

[fffblackmage]

Thanks for the info. On the I5 reccomendation can we get a good mobo for less than $100? I know there are some good AMD mobo's in that range but I'm less familier with the current Intel side of things. I don't want to sacrifice stability and features for a cheaper price tag, especially if the performance difference between the Phenom 2 and I5 are not all that great when both are stock.

I said I'd lean towards the i5 mostly because you said it was just a few more $$$ than the AMD route.

You didn't mention which mobo you'd be going with, so I'm not sure which mobo on the Intel side would be most comparable. I noticed a couple i5+Gigabyte mobo combos on newegg though.

So there's that $285 combo you mentioned, the i5-750 + GA-P55-UD3L. That seems like a decent budget i5 mobo.

And then there's the i5 + GA-P55A-UD3P, with USB3, 6gb sata, and fancier cooling, at $60 more ($345).

Now, whether the PhII or i5 offers better performance at around the same price ($270-ish vs $285), I'm inclined to say the i5.

anandtech i5-750 review

The i5-750 seems to generally trade blows with the PhII X4 at 3.4GHz, and that's while the i5 is at 2.66GHz. Take overclocking into account and the i5 should win in every situation. So that's why I'd go with the i5.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks for the info. On the I5 reccomendation can we get a good mobo for less than $100? I know there are some good AMD mobo's in that range but I'm less familier with the current Intel side of things. I don't want to sacrifice stability and features for a cheaper price tag, especially if the performance difference between the Phenom 2 and I5 are not all that great when both are stock.

As for the PSU one thing I thought about was the plug... the psu only has a 4 pin 12v CPU plug I believe and I assume both the Phenom 2 and i5 mobos requre the 8 pin. How well would an adapter work, either a 4pin - 8pin EPS12v or a molex to 8pin?

I would go with the UD3L + 750 combo.

Regarding the 4pin vs. 8pin 12v connector, if the mobo has a socket for an 8pin, you can actually just plug the 4pin into one side (I forget which) of the connector and it works fine. The connectors are keyed so that you can't screw it up (without a mallet at least). This is kind of a moot point for the UD3L, since it only has a 4pin 12V connector anyway.

 

[Axon]

Thanks for the info. On the I5 reccomendation can we get a good mobo for less than $100? I know there are some good AMD mobo's in that range but I'm less familier with the current Intel side of things. I don't want to sacrifice stability and features for a cheaper price tag, especially if the performance difference between the Phenom 2 and I5 are not all that great when both are stock.

As for the PSU one thing I thought about was the plug... the psu only has a 4 pin 12v CPU plug I believe and I assume both the Phenom 2 and i5 mobos requre the 8 pin. How well would an adapter work, either a 4pin - 8pin EPS12v or a molex to 8pin?

Benches between the two CPUs - remember that turbo mode is a large factor in these assessments at stock for gaming (e.g., you're essentially looking at an "oced" chip v. a stock chip):

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=109&p2=102 No question that the i5 smashes the homey.

As to the motherboard, there is no rhyme or reason to a particular board's stability. I have had both amazing and crap motherboards from the following manufacturers: ASUS, MSI, ASROCK, Biostar, ECS. The only one that has never shit the bed on me is Gigabyte, but I've only bought one board from them.

 

[Blain]

Has your brother-in-law ever assembled a complete PC before?
If not, I would advise against him trying it alone. It's just too many dollars worth of product that could be damaged.
If he has successfully assembled PC's before, then I say "Rock On Dude"!

 

[Spike]

Thanks for all the info. I'm going to advise him to lean towards the i5 but in the end it will be his decision. We will most likely get a Gigabyte UD board of some kind for either.

For the 8pin I had heard of issues using only a 4-pin with a higher powered quad core so that is why I asked. If it was a dual I don't see an issue but the quads normally have a higher TDP.

As for his assebling the pc yes, this will be his first time and he will be alone. The issue is he lives in Montana and I'm in Washington so I can't give him a local hand. I am going to ship him a webcam with the other parts and setup a skype call so I can give him remote advice while he does the build.

Thanks again.

 

[Blain]

Has your brother-in-law ever assembled a complete PC before?
If not, I would advise against him trying it alone. It's just too many dollars worth of product that could be damaged.

As for his assebling the pc yes, this will be his first time and he will be alone. The issue is he lives in Montana and I'm in Washington so I can't give him a local hand. I am going to ship him a webcam with the other parts and setup a skype call so I can give him remote advice while he does the build.

With his budget being so tight, he really shouldn't take a chance on killing some hardware even with webcam/skype support.
Too many little things can go wrong.

Heck, this forum is chocked full of "Help me" threads from builders that have had experience.

But if he's fully aware of the potential pitfalls, I say "Go For It Dude!"