Will it game? Looking for feedback on tight budget gaming rig.

[TylerS]

I may need to build a stop-gap rig due to hardware failure on my current computer and no budget for what I really want. My question is, will this game?

Asus P8H67-M PRO - $60
Intel Core i3-3220 - $125
Patriot Viper Xtreme Series DDR3 1866MHz CL9 (2x4GB) - $45 – overkill I know, but it is actually the cheapest 2x4 RAM set available at my local store.

Even more budget: Intel Pentium G2120 - $99

I want it for playing titles like Skyrim, Civ 5, Fallout 4 when it comes out – I do not play the very demanding FPS games. (I don’t care if this can’t run Crysis.) I will also do some video transcoding.

Can I expect a decent lift on performance from my current build below?

Would you say this would last me 2 to 3 years before hitting a wall?

Existing hardware:
C2D e7500 (trying for stability at +3.6GHz – unsuccessfully so far)
GA-P35-DS4 (v.2.0)
6GB PC 800 Patriot
Asus 7870 (stock)
Corsair HX620 psu
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer w/ 2x Coasair SP120 High Performance

EDIT: Obviously I am not looking to overclock this new build.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I may need to build a stop-gap rig due to hardware failure on my current computer and no budget for what I really want. My question is, will this game?

Asus P8H67-M PRO - $60
Intel Core i3-3220 - $125
Patriot Viper Xtreme Series DDR3 1866MHz CL9 (2x4GB) - $45 – overkill I know, but it is actually the cheapest 2x4 RAM set available at my local store.

Even more budget: Intel Pentium G2120 - $99

I want it for playing titles like Skyrim, Civ 5, Fallout 4 when it comes out – I do not play the very demanding FPS games. (I don’t care if this can’t run Crysis.) I will also do some video transcoding.

Can I expect a decent lift on performance from my current build below?

Would you say this would last me 2 to 3 years before hitting a wall?

Existing hardware:
C2D e7500 (trying for stability at +3.6GHz – unsuccessfully so far)
GA-P35-DS4 (v.2.0)
6GB PC 800 Patriot
Asus 7870 (stock)
Corsair HX620 psu
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer w/ 2x Coasair SP120 High Performance

EDIT: Obviously I am not looking to overclock this.

There are some issues, one of which is that the board you selected probably does not come preinstalled with a BIOS accepting Ivy Bridge CPUs and therefore it won't POST. Do they sell B75 or H77 chipset boards?

Going with a Phenom II X4 955 or 965 could potentially be another good option if it's available.

 

[TylerS]

that the board you selected probably does not come preinstalled with a BIOS accepting Ivy Bridge

Good point. I hadn't check but with a little looking it appears it does. This is the rev 3 version.

However, aside from the one less SATA 6.0 connector is this a better option for $10 more: ASRock B75M-GL

Phenom II X4 955 or 965 could potentially be another good option

Ah, but I know absolutely nothing about AMD. I asume these are comparible preformance wise to the CPU I was looking at?

 

[TylerS]

Okay - for an AMD build:

AMD X6 FX-6300 $130
Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS $55
same RAM

Both platforms are $230

A bit lower budget: AMD Bulldozer X4 FX-4100 $120

No Phenoms on sale where I want to buy. What about the FM2 platform? I am assuming it's less performance.

 

[Durvelle27]

have you considered the FX 4300

 

[TylerS]

have you considered the FX 4300

Newegg.ca has it for sale at $130. $5 more than the i3 3220 and the FX 4300 has roughly the same performance. Since I am already going REALLY cheap on the motherboard there is no platform cost advantage.

With equal performance and cost I woudl stick to Intel. Just my preference.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I want it for playing titles like Skyrim, Civ 5, Fallout 4 when it comes out – I do not play the very demanding FPS games. (I don’t care if this can’t run Crysis.) I will also do some video transcoding.

Unfortunately those games are quite CPU dependent...

Since you mention video encoding, an FX6300 might not be a bad idea.

A couple of suggestions:

The cheapest 970-board I could find. I would not bother with anything less then the 900 series chipsets.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157305

FX6300

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819113286

Its a little over your budget unfortunately, but not by that much. The alternative is the absolute cheapest (Gigabyte H61M-S1 or Asrock H61M-DGS or similar) H61 you can get your hands on, with the i3...

 

[Termie]

For Skyrim specifically, the i3 is better: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...15-amd-vishera-fx-6300-fx-4300-review-12.html

Overall, however, the fx6300 is probably just as good or slightly superior.

 

[loki993]

How far are you from Detroit or do you ever come over? Dont know how customs works but if you could get to microcenter you can buy an AMD processor and they will bundle an AMD board with it for free a lot of the time.

either way you should be fine gaming with what your looking at now. Its not a matter of will it just at what settings. You may not be able to run max settings on everything but you'll be able to get by.

How long of a stopgap?

 

[TylerS]

I am in Canada, so the prices are a bit higher than shown there too.

I think the H61/B75 and i3 3220 is my best bet. Might be able to find some cheaper RAM w/ cheap/free shipping too. When you are going this low every $ counts.

Also, will I see noticable improvements over my current set up? To answer loki993 I would need this to last at least 2 years, preferably 3, before I build again. I was actually hoping to keep my current rig another year, and in theory it shoudl be okay, but I am running into hardware failure (RAM I think) and it doesn't make sense to throw any more money at this dinosaur. I've spent quite a bit recently (GPU and Cooler), but all of it is expected to carry over to the next build.

The build I really want would cost me $518 CAD: 3570K, Z77 Extremem 6, Same Ram. Given the difference in cost is only ~$260 so a) going cheap has to be cheap enough to be worth it and b) I still need to get a big improvement over what I have now.

 

[Termie]

I am in Canada, so the prices are a bit higher than shown there too.

I think the H61/B75 and i3 3220 is my best bet. Might be able to find some cheaper RAM w/ cheap/free shipping too. When you are going this low every $ counts.

Also, will I see noticable improvements over my current set up? To answer loki993 I would need this to last at least 2 years, preferably 3, before I build again. I was actually hoping to keep my current rig another year, and in theory it shoudl be okay, but I am running into hardware failure (RAM I think) and it doesn't make sense to throw any more money at this dinosaur. I've spent quite a bit recently (GPU and Cooler), but all of it is expected to carry over to the next build.

The build I really want would cost me $518 CAD: 3570K, Z77 Extremem 6, Same Ram. Given the difference in cost is only ~$260 so a) going cheap has to be cheap enough to be worth it and b) I still need to get a big improvement over what I have now.

Any of the options you're looking at would be huge upgrades from the old C2D you're running. Well worth the upgrade.

And as to the AMD vs. Intel question, if there's any chance you'll upgrade to quad-core in the next year or two, definitely go Intel. You have a drop-in upgrade to a 3570 or something similar, like the 3350. Are you sure you can't stretch another $50 now and pick that kind of chip up? Just don't get the H61 - you need an H77, B75 or Z75/77 to run those chips.

 

[loki993]

.

Also, will I see noticable improvements over my current set up? To answer loki993 I would need this to last at least 2 years, preferably 3, before I build again. I was actually hoping to keep my current rig another

I wouldn't call 2 or 3 years a stopgap.

I'm not sure what the price difference would be but why not go with say like a Asrock pro3 or 4, since you wanted the extreme 6, Im pretty sure they only difference is ports and then put the i3 in that. Down to road you would have the room to upgrade to an i5 or even i7 and you have a decent board that wouldn't be holding you back.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Good point. I hadn't check but with a little looking it appears it does. This is the rev 3 version.

However, aside from the one less SATA 6.0 connector is this a better option for $10 more: ASRock B75M-GL


Ah, but I know absolutely nothing about AMD. I asume these are comparible preformance wise to the CPU I was looking at?

It supports Ivy Bridge since BIOS revision 3802, released in May 2012. The board originally comes with 0307, dating back to Dec 2010. If ASUS has updated the BIOS already then you're good to go, but if not then you'll have to change it for the ASRock. I think the risk is not worth the $10, so I'd go for the ASRock if you'll be going with the i3.

As for whether AMD is a good option or not depends on if where you're shopping has it and at what price. Since you mention the FX-6300 at $130, that is a very, very good buy. If you're tight on money I'd go for that instead of the i3.

 

[mfenn]

It supports Ivy Bridge since BIOS revision 3802, released in May 2012. The board originally comes with 0307, dating back to Dec 2010. If ASUS has updated the BIOS already then you're good to go, but if not then you'll have to change it for the ASRock. I think the risk is not worth the $10, so I'd go for the ASRock if you'll be going with the i3.

Agree that it's not worth the risk. Any new stock would be fine, but those old 6-series boards do not move very fast and retailers are probably sitting on a bunch of old stock.

OP, I would probaby go for the i3 3220 + ASRock B75M-GL build.

The i3 has better single-threaded performance, which matters for poorly-coded games (i.e. the majority) and general usage.

When it comes to multithreaded floating point performance, the AMD has a slight lead, but not as much as you might thing because the "6-core" only has 3 cores capable of floating point and Intel's floating point is better than AMDs on a clock-for-clock basis. Multithreaded floating point matters a lot on well-coded games since pretty much anything dealing with simulating a physical world is floating point.

Where the AMD absolutely dominates the Intel is in multithreaded integer performance, because that's where all 6 of the AMD's cores can actually do something. That matters a lot if you're running a server, but not so much for desktop tasks.