Overhauling old desktop - what CPU?

[ConstipatedVigilante]

My laptop doesn't cut it anymore for new games, even on low settings (The Witcher 2 is barely playable). I've finally got some money to spend on computer parts. I have an old desktop sitting in my closet with an AMD 3500+, other old parts, etc. The only usable things are an 8800GT and the 450W Earthwatts PSU along with the case. So I need a new CPU and mobo/RAM to go with it. I'm trying to stay under $250 total. Would I be best off with a Phenom X4? I have my eye on the 955 on Newegg. Is the 8800GT even worth using anymore, or should I sell it on ebay and get something better?

Edit: Specifics at my most recent post. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Edit 2: I decided to go with the following:

1 x ($59.99) MB ASROCK M3A770DE 770+SB710 RT
$59.99


1 x ($35.99) MEM 2Gx2|KST KHX1600C9D3B1K2/4GX R
$35.99


1 x ($14.99) CPU COOLER THERMALTAKE| A4022 RT
$14.99


1 x ($74.99) CPU AMD|PH II X3 720 AM3 % - OEM
$74.99



1 x ($-10.00) DISCOUNT FOR COMBO #678517
$-10.00

It cost $186.79, including a can of airduster (my case is grungy). I figure the PhII 720 is plenty powerful for me, and unlocking an extra core would be nice. I also remembered that I want eSATA, so I had to spring for a slightly more expensive board. I didn't want to go for AM3+ because I only upgrade every ~3 years and bulldozer might not be the best thing then; I would rather spend less on a board that has what I need now. Thanks for all the help guys - lots of interesting budget builds in this thread.

 

[lifeblood]

The power supply is still usable. You will need to keep using your 8800GT as you cannot afford to upgrade it and the CPU/MB/RAM at the same time. I suggest sinking the whole $250 in the CPU/MB/RAM and rolling with that until you can afford to buy a new vid card. Try selling your current CPU/MB/RAM on ebay or something then use whatever you get from it to add to the $250.

Also, go with 4Gb RAM initially as you can add more later.

 

[nyker96]

$250 is bit tight, cpu 120, board 80, ram 50. looks like you can get a x4 955BE for $120, select a AM3 board for 80AR or so, then 4gb ram for 50AR. you can work it out for 250. or if you manage to sell your old gear for 50 bucks or so, maybe you can get a little more ram or something.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

$250 is bit tight, cpu 120, board 80, ram 50. looks like you can get a x4 955BE for $120, select a AM3 board for 80AR or so, then 4gb ram for 50AR. you can work it out for 250. or if you manage to sell your old gear for 50 bucks or so, maybe you can get a little more ram or something.

That's exactly the plan I had in mind. Newegg also has a $10 off rebate right now. And I can get a mobo for $60 or less.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Not really sure on the current benefits of more cores for the games you wish to play but would any of them operate worse with a tri-core? Could save some money if you don't need all 4 cores. Otherwise I think the 955 is a pretty good choice since I'm assuming you plan on overclocking it.

And you can easily grab a board for around 40-50 dollars, and about 4GB of ram for around 30. This puts the total around 200 or so it seems.

However should you choose to go with a tri-core instead of the quad, for instance: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103652
Then you'd shave another 50 off the total cost, sell your 8800GT for (honestly no idea how much it realistically sells for) and you might be able to afford a video card upgrade to something like a GTS450 or so.

 

[Blue Shift]

TWII spikes up close to 80% cpu usage on my system, so if you'd like seamless performance while moving between environments then you might need a better processor than a tri-core Phenom II. It definitely uses all cores on my system. Then again, you'll be highly GPU-limited in the immediate future anyway.

 

[nextuszerodmd]

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/...ndlePROMO.html

if you have a microcenter near by
Phenom™ II X4 975 Black Edition Phenom™ II
880G-E45 Socket AM3 880G ATX AMD**

for $150

then $50-60 on 8 gigs of ram

then get a used gtx 260 for around $60 bucks

youre set

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

I don't have a decent B&M store nearby, so this is all shipped. I should have specified what games I want to play of course (but I did the OP while I was at work, naturally ). So, the following are what I like/need to do:

Adobe Dreamweaver/Photoshop (a little slow on my C2D P8600/9650M GT laptop)
COD : MW
The Witcher 2
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Just Cause 2
Company of Heroes
Mass Effect 2
Starcraft 2
Oblivion + TES 5

I have varied tastes for games, mostly RPGs+FPS, but I like to play RTSs w/ friends. So I want my rig to be somewhat future-proof, thus why I'm leaning towards a quad-core. Do you guys think the AM3 socket is future-proof for at least a couple years? I'd like to be able to upgrade at least a couple generations down the road.

Sorry I'm being a bit vague; I've been out of the hardware loop for awhile. And thanks for all the input!

 

[Blue Shift]

Do you guys think the AM3 socket is future-proof for at least a couple years? I'd like to be able to upgrade at least a couple generations down the road.

Definitely not. AMD's next line of performance CPUs will work with socket AM3+ boards. There are also a couple of AM3 boards that might fit them; and you'll see those labeled as "Bulldozer-compatable."

There's competing going around as to whether or not the CPU generation after Bulldozer will also use the AM3+ socket, so AM3+ boards cannot be relied upon to fit CPUs that will be released in 2012 or 2013. The FX-branded chips coming out this fall, however, will use AM3+ boards.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

If you get an AM3+ board, which should support Bulldozer, then you'll have a nice upgrade path, but you may need to sacrifice the CPU to an Athlon II to fit under budget. Alternatively an Intel socket 1155 board should have a decent upgrade path, but you'll be limited to a dual core or dual core with hyperthreading.

 

[HumblePie]

Well I decided to put a cheapie system together for a new HTPC. I already had some parts so all I really needed was a new CPU, motherboard, ram, and power supply. Had everything else. So this is what I did and what I paid.

CPU: AMD Athlon II x2 215 AM3 socket

I got it for $30 with free shipping using a coupon a few weeks ago. I unlocked this bad boy to a quad core. Which made it about the same as a AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb before I overclocked it up to 3.4Ghz. Quite the deal I would say.

MOBO: Asrock 880GM-LE

I got it for $45 shipped as a deal also a few weeks back.

Memory: 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600

I got this from the shell shocker a couple of weeks back for $25

PSU: Xigmatek 400 watt 80+ bronze

Had a mail in rebate and used $10 off new customer coupon trick to get it for $20.



Total cost to me for this system was 30 + 45 + 25 + 20 = $120.

For reference if I wanted to I purchased recently a few damn decent computer cases in the sub $30 range. DVD drives go for sub $20 from new egg all the time. Hard drives can be had cheap. I picked up a few 1TB drives from Target clearance for $25 each a few weeks back as well. These were external drives, but it was easy enough to pop the case open and use the drives inside as internal drives afterward.

Since the motherboard has an ATI Radeon HD 4250 built on to it, the motherboard is capable of some very light gaming such as playing League of Legends. Also I got lucky with the CPU unlocking as that is never a guarantee thing to accomplish either. Still, statistically speaking it is more likely to be unlockable than not from what I've read around.

For now I don't plan on putting in a video card, but the system is certainly capable of handling some much better. The 4250 is really only good for flash video and low graphic kind of games like minecraft and such. Still it is a very capable system that with a decent video card like an ATI 6850 it should be able to play any game out there at high settings 1080p resolutions.

I suggest to anyone looking to put a sub $200 system to go this route. It's cheap and effective. A little patience and shopping around can also save you a bit more. Still if you need everything right now, the price for the parts I purchased is still sub $200. Current prices for those parts bring them to $170 so it is a nice deal. Since I purchased a technet subscription a few years back I still have plenty of official windows 7 keys I can activate so I don't have to purchase an additional OS either.

 

[sm625]

I doubt you can expect to get as lucky as HumblePie, but I think it is worth a shot to buy a cheap dual core in the hopes of unlocking a quad. But I would make sure I got a BD capable motherboard so I could drop in a BD later on. Or sooner if the cheap chip doesnt unlock. In theory you should be able to buy a cheap dual core + mobo + 4GB of RAM and also be able to buy the cheapest bulldozer (when it comes out) all for about $250.

 

[Ken g6]

Allow me to present the case for cheap Intel:

CPU: i3 2120 $140
Board: H61 Micro-ATX $53 AMR
RAM: Mushkin 4GB $21 AMR
Total: $214 including shipping.

Main bad news: You can't get a quad core or an overclockable core or motherboard for this price range.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I'd say not bother with BullDozer boards since those come at pretty high price premium.

Go for an AM3 board that supports unlocking, snag a Phenom II x2 or x3 and hope an unlock. 4gb of some ddr3 and you are set.

 

[kowalabearhugs]

I wouldn't bother buying a dual core and hoping for an unlock + overclock. I'd get a i3-2100-2120 setup unless you can snag a Microcenter AMD combo deal.

 

[mrcmtl]

From newegg canada, here we can get X4 955, ASUS M5A97 BD compatible board and 4GB of 1600 Ram for 277$-20$ rebate = 257$

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16819103808
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813131767
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820178265

 

[daveybrat]

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-808-_-Product

$109 after promo code: EMCKCJH24

GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128521

$107.55 Shipped

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-311-_-Product

$62.99 Shipped

For $279.54 Shipped you can have a kick-ass gaming system with 8GB of ram and an awesome motherboard with AM3+ socket for future upgrades to Bulldozer cpu's.

I know it's almost $30 more than your budget, but trust me, if you can squeeze it in, it's worth it!

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

This is pretty easy. I'm not counting MIRs and promos into the final price, though I will mention if there are any.

AMD Phenom II X4 945: $110; $100 with promo
G.Skill NS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3: $32
ASUS M5A97 AM3+ : $100

Total: $242; $232 with savings.

The Phenom II X4 945 C3 OCs the same as the Phenom II X4 955 C3, so I wouldn't bother with the 955 unless you know very little about over-clocking. You'll be getting a very powerful CPU for the price.

The RAM is generic, but good quality. It has great reviews and is very cheap. Getting more expensive 1600MHz RAM will make a performance difference of under 2% overall.

Now, the motherboard. It's a true AM3+ socket with the 970 chipset, so you'll be able to take advantage of Bulldozer in the future and all its features. Speaking of features, it has USB 3, a good 6+2 phase power delivery which will allow you to do good OCing with over-volting, U-EFI (unlike the older 800 chipset boards), and SATA 6Gbps (for the newer SSDs).

With this you'll be future proof for everything aside from adding another graphics card.

If you want that, coupled with more features like eSATA, you should get something like this:

Phenom II X3 720: $75
G.Skill NS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3: $32
ASUS M5A99X EVO AM3+ : $145
Total: $252

With this you'll get a lesser CPU, but a better motherboard. I recommend this option the most of the two, because later on you'll probably to upgrade the CPU whether you get an X3 or X4 with an FX anyway, not to mention the extra features and true CrossFire/SLI support will make it much better in the future. Also, the change from going from a dual-core to a tri-core is MUCH bigger than going from a tri-core to a quad-core. Most games take advantage of three cores, and some of four. In Dreamweaver and other multi-threaded apps it won't make much difference unless you use them for a living or spend a great time of your day using them. The 720 will still be a huge amount faster than the 3500+ overall.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Crap, double post.