EggXpert

uninformed:

Hi Jsv,

 I'm looking to build my own Gaming PC and I am looking in the 500-600 dollar price range.  I found your builds and basically have one question.  For someone who is not planning on overclock or tweaking specs much and wants a powerful performance would you recommend the AMD or the Intel system at this point?  Please feel free to tell me the benefits of minimal tweaking on either.  I really would be able to make the tweaks, I just have no plans from the get-go to do so.
I appreciate any help anyone could provide, and will let you know how everything goes afterwards.  Thanks so much for keeping this up to date and answering all of our questions.

Hi uninformed,

I think that you would be satisfied with either the AMD or Intel builds, they really are quite competitive with each other.  The minor differences between them is that the Intel system will overclock much higher but with an aftermarket cooler.  AMD's stock coolers are pretty sufficient for doing a bit of playing around with and a medium overclock.

The Intel CPU is also going to use much less energy than the AMD as it is made on the 45nm process and the AMD is still on the aging 65nm process.  Basically, the smaller the process, the less heat which generally translates to better overclocking.

If you've got any other questions, don't hesitate to post them!

jsv

According to Tom's Hardware, Them in crossfire are better than the 4890 and par with the gtx280. lol.

Hey Jsv35,

Just a thought but could you add some builds in the HTPC category?  Or am I missing them on this super thread?

~TK

Hey all, i need help with a build I have in mind. Looking at about $1200 budget.

 I would like to have crossfired two saphire Radeon HD 4890 1GB's in the machine. Would like to have the Q6600 in there as I heard with proper cooling I can overclock the son B pretty good.. Other than those two items, I have no idea what I need/should get.. I imagine I will need a full tower case with plenty of room for cooling..

 I dont know if any more than 4gb of ram is necessary... I don't play Crysis but if I had those two video cards crossfired with a Q6600 OC'd just over 3.0ghz, what FPS do you imagine I would be getting on highest settings?

 Thanks friends!

Greetings, this is what makes this such a great forum. People  giving of their time and ideas to others.This is a very useful thread and I have learned much.

Thank You

 cuggie

 

What..No RaidMax Tornado cases???    They are fantanstic cases for the money (under 40 bucks) and offer great cooling for OCing...Plus they will take a full Mobo and a Freezer Pro 7 cooler....

 

 

Very nice job you have done here....   Can a i7 with 3X1 get by for gaming?

bevelboy:

Hey all, i need help with a build I have in mind. Looking at about $1200 budget.

 I would like to have crossfired two saphire Radeon HD 4890 1GB's in the machine. Would like to have the Q6600 in there as I heard with proper cooling I can overclock the son B pretty good.. Other than those two items, I have no idea what I need/should get.. I imagine I will need a full tower case with plenty of room for cooling..

 I dont know if any more than 4gb of ram is necessary... I don't play Crysis but if I had those two video cards crossfired with a Q6600 OC'd just over 3.0ghz, what FPS do you imagine I would be getting on highest settings?

 Thanks friends!

 

What OS are you going to run? 32 bit OS's can't access more than 3.something GB of RAM, so unless you get an x64 OS of some type, it doesn't matter. With that said, I always think that more RAM is better, no matter what. If you're running 8GB of RAM with those specs that you laid out, you're probably looking at 70+ FPS, just off the top of my head.

It's been 3 months and still no word. What? we don't deserve it? ...I know you got my last two PMs ...I wrote the addresses on them perfect.

Jsv hasn't updated probably because he doesn't have the time. When he first started he was able to do monthly updates, but that's no longer the case. Heck, he changed the format to make it so the list wasn't as easily outdated.

It's not that he's ignoring us, its probably more accurate to say he hasn't visited the site long enough to do anything. Be patient. He'll update when he can.

Carcharocles58:

Jsv hasn't updated probably because he doesn't have the time. When he first started he was able to do monthly updates, but that's no longer the case. Heck, he changed the format to make it so the list wasn't as easily outdated.

It's not that he's ignoring us, its probably more accurate to say he hasn't visited the site long enough to do anything. Be patient. He'll update when he can.

You're quite right, haven't had very much free time over the summer months and its been a matter of choosing priorities.  I hope to get back to updating things this week!

Thanks for understanding Carcharocles58!  Of course it sucks that I haven't been able to be on here.  I'm really looking forward to being able to put Core i5 and ATI's DX11 cards up soon!

I hope you don't mind if I make a couple suggestions.

 

For either the 80 dollar or the 115 dollar AMD CPU, you might consider listing the Phenom II X2 545. Right now its 89.99 on Newegg, and not strictly an 80 dollar processor, but should be close enough. It also falls only 0.1ghz behind its big brother, the X2 550. Very nice processor for the money.

 

There is now a 95 watt variant of the Phenom II X4 945. I can't find any reviews on it, but supposedly it is just a lower power version of the old 125 watt model. They can both be posted together, as they likely perform similar. They are also very similar in price; in fact, the new version is only 179 dollars and currently on sale for the 125 watt's 169.

Carcharocles58:

I hope you don't mind if I make a couple suggestions.

For either the 80 dollar or the 115 dollar AMD CPU, you might consider listing the Phenom II X2 545. Right now its 89.99 on Newegg, and not strictly an 80 dollar processor, but should be close enough. It also falls only 0.1ghz behind its big brother, the X2 550. Very nice processor for the money.

There is now a 95 watt variant of the Phenom II X4 945. I can't find any reviews on it, but supposedly it is just a lower power version of the old 125 watt model. They can both be posted together, as they likely perform similar. They are also very similar in price; in fact, the new version is only 179 dollars and currently on sale for the 125 watt's 169.

Thank you for the feedback!

I don't know why I didn't include the Phenom II X2 545 in the first place, I've added it along with the Athlon II.  I also didn't even realize there was a different version of the X4 945, so I've added that in there as well.

I'm looking at the $600-800 AMD builds and can't decide on a processor.  I'm leaning towards the Phenom II X2 550 for the higher speed (3.1GHz as opposed to 2.8 on the X3) and lower cost.  Though, the Gigabyte mobo listed on those builds says that it supports X3 and X4 CPU types?  Which doesn't include the X2 550 processor that I'm looking at?  Those aren't questions?

So, will the Phenom II X2 550 work with the mobo?  Is there any reason to get the X3 instead?

The X3 is going to perform much better then the 550. I had the 545 and it was a dog. My Core2 intel 8400 blows it away.

Hey man, thanks for the builds. Got rid of my old $800.00 budget build and replaced it with your AMD build. But, It went to $811.00 with shipping, so I got a 320GB Blue Caviar HardDrive.

I just wanted to post and say thanks for this post and keeping it updated, ive built at least 13 machines over the last year using the whole spectrum of build budgets you have listed.  It lets me know im buying compatible parts that are good quality and have held up to scrutiny of the forum members.  In the end I can spec out a machine faster and ultimately the quality parts allow fast and easy assembly of the machine and good stability.  Thanks again, great job and keep up the good work!

hey jsv35, I was just wondering when are you going to be updating this build list next? hoping to do my first build in the next upcoming month. hopefully you'll have the builds updated by then. 

jakeummsi:

hey jsv35, I was just wondering when are you going to be updating this build list next? hoping to do my first build in the next upcoming month. hopefully you'll have the builds updated by then. 

It could be awhile. If I remember right, he's at school and it might not leave him much time for other things.

When you're ready, just start a thread in the System Builds Forum. There are a lot of people to help you with a build.

thanks bro

No Problem!

Eggxpert is here to help.

Well, it has been a while but I've finally got around to updating the list.  Quite difficult this time around.  The rise in memory prices, not to mention not too many quality boards for the LGA1156 and LGA1366 on the low end like previously with P35/P45 is disappointing.  Hopefully prices will drop and newer products will come out that will come in at lower price points without sacrificing too much quality.  Mainly thinking of the GA-P35-DS3L and GA-EP45-UD3R/UD3P of the last two generations.

Please tell me what you think and leave some ideas!

Hey, JSV, good to see you back.

I'd like to point out a couple things. First, your 900 dollar AMD build still uses the 945. that's a good processor, but your 800 dollar build is using the newer bin of the 955. Seems a little awkward is all.

Second, other than your 800 dollar build, all of the Phenom II 955 builds listed use the older version, . The 955 is an HDZ955FBGIBOX model (phrased used in product number), while the newer version, labeled MBOX is more overclock friendly and is even supported by older AM2+ boards that couldn't handle the previous IBOX (such as my revision 1.1 GA-MA78G-DS3H). They're both 125watt TDP, and the newer HDZ955FBGMBOX model is about 10 dollars more expensive than the old one. maybe you should group them both together so the customer can choose which one they want.

 

Carcharocles58:

Hey, JSV, good to see you back.

I'd like to point out a couple things. First, your 900 dollar AMD build still uses the 945. that's a good processor, but your 800 dollar build is using the newer bin of the 955. Seems a little awkward is all.

Second, other than your 800 dollar build, all of the Phenom II 955 builds listed use the older version, . The 955 is an HDZ955FBGIBOX model (phrased used in product number), while the newer version, labeled MBOX is more overclock friendly and is even supported by older AM2+ boards that couldn't handle the previous IBOX (such as my revision 1.1 GA-MA78G-DS3H). They're both 125watt TDP, and the newer HDZ955FBGMBOX model is about 10 dollars more expensive than the old one. maybe you should group them both together so the customer can choose which one they want.

 

Haha, thanks for pointing that out.  I must have skipped over the $900 AMD CPU briefly seeing it and thinking it was the same.

I noticed that there was that newer revision of the 955, I just forgot to replace the link.  I did link both of them though like you suggested, thanks!

Glad to see you back, jsv35. People were wondering if you fell off the face of the earth. LOL!

Don't forget to include all the new Intel Core i3 and Core i5 Dual Core CPUs that just came out in your builds. There kind of stuck using the H55 motherboards for now though.

n0lxx:

Glad to see you back, jsv35. People were wondering if you fell off the face of the earth. LOL!

Don't forget to include all the new Intel Core i3 and Core i5 Dual Core CPUs that just came out in your builds. There kind of stuck using the H55 motherboards for now though.

Haha, thanks!  It's good to be back and have it updated.  I have managed to keep up to date for the most part on the whole i3/i5 release and other hardware.  It's a shame that we only have H55 boards out right now and they are already so expensive, makes me wonder about H57...

Yeah, right now its not really worth getting a dual core Clarkdale for anything that the H55, might as well get a i5-750 if you're wanting P55, unless you've got a friend that can update the bios or something.