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Your Better than i-7 rig for $500, no bullshit
luckypotato
Member Posts: 251
Here you go, this is all under 600$ and is the best bang for your buck you can buy, all parts are quality and you wont have to worry about anything
(not included is thermal paste, optical drives, monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, external graphics card, OS, and case as ill leave this up to you)
* Mother Board & CPU : www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx
* Power Supply: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* Memory: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* CPU cooler: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* Hard Drive: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx OR www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
Cost: $500 bucks!
Stats for above:
* Amd quad core phenom II at 3 ghz black edition
* 700W psu (lots of headroom, very quiet psu)
* 1TB Hard Drive
* 4G Ram @ 1066 stock (remember you basicially have 8M cache)
* Amd 970gx chipset with 3300 HD graphics
Notes: Due to large cache, and amd 970gx graphics chipset, this rig will preform better than An i7 rig in games (More FPS). 970gx graphics chipset makes it very easy to OC and also creates the ability to OC 30% more than with BIOS.
_________
Cost: $499 without rebates
Oh and for you non believers, here are benchmarks: LINK
++ Special thanks to Phelcher for creating this more user-friendly overview.
Comments
A fairly good system.
Can toss in a ATI 4XXX card on the cheap and have a fairly capable system.
Hey TSW Players http://www.unfair.co/ for Mission guides, Lore Locations and stuff....
Again, just for skimmers:
Benchmarks: www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-920-and-940-review-test/17
8 gigabyte of cache mm???????
8 gigabyte of cache mm???????
lol! sorry i ment M not G. thanks :]
L1 Cache 4 x 128KB
L2 Cache 4 x 512KB
L3 Cache 6MB
I just built a new rig with the a Phenom II. It was my first AMD cpu and I have to say I am amazed. I got the 955 BE and can OC it to 4.0 w/o changing anything other than the FSB ( and its stable). I have to say AMD isn't as bad as I thought it was. I would recommend trying one out if you need a cheaper rig.
The only thing I made a mistake on was I got a mobo that only support up to DDR2 and with 2 DIMMs it like...doesn't run at full speed or something ( I got the M4a79 D when the one I wanted has a -T after it -_-) just be sure to watch out for that.
believe it or not i actually just bought this sytem off of newegg, except i got it with a western digital black hard drive.. bought everything the day before the deal for that hard drive i posted came out -.-
Oh that sucks. What cooler are you using? mind telling me how to OC to 4.0 because i am clueless when it comes to PII oc'ing
Oh that sucks. What cooler are you using? mind telling me how to OC to 4.0 because i am clueless when it comes to PII oc'ing
lol, I'm running on the stock cooler....It's solid for now...waiting for my new case to come so I can switch to a liquid system (currently in a benchmarking setup). Clocking it to 4.0 was easy. Since the software for my Mobo and CPU don't work on my OS (windows server 2008) I ; go into the BIOS, set manual for CPU setting, scroll down to FSB, set to 255, save and exit. The FSB is the only thing I have changed so far since I dont know enough to where I feel safe messing with any of the other setting like the voltage, multiplier, NB SB, and the other stuff.
Oh that sucks. What cooler are you using? mind telling me how to OC to 4.0 because i am clueless when it comes to PII oc'ing
lol, I'm running on the stock cooler....It's solid for now...waiting for my new case to come so I can switch to a liquid system (currently in a benchmarking setup). Clocking it to 4.0 was easy. Since the software for my Mobo and CPU don't work on my OS (windows server 2008) I ; go into the BIOS, set manual for CPU setting, scroll down to FSB, set to 255, save and exit. The FSB is the only thing I have changed so far since I dont know enough to where I feel safe messing with any of the other setting like the voltage, multiplier, NB SB, and the other stuff.
Im suprised it isnt unstable as you havent increased the voltage..
Well maybe you just got lucky with a good CPU..especially with 4ghz with a stock cooler.. most people have trouble getting past 3.6, and if there lucky 3.8
Oh that sucks. What cooler are you using? mind telling me how to OC to 4.0 because i am clueless when it comes to PII oc'ing
lol, I'm running on the stock cooler....It's solid for now...waiting for my new case to come so I can switch to a liquid system (currently in a benchmarking setup). Clocking it to 4.0 was easy. Since the software for my Mobo and CPU don't work on my OS (windows server 2008) I ; go into the BIOS, set manual for CPU setting, scroll down to FSB, set to 255, save and exit. The FSB is the only thing I have changed so far since I dont know enough to where I feel safe messing with any of the other setting like the voltage, multiplier, NB SB, and the other stuff.
Im suprised it isnt unstable as you havent increased the voltage..
Well maybe you just got lucky with a good CPU..especially with 4ghz with a stock cooler.. most people have trouble getting past 3.6, and if there lucky 3.8
One thing I did do was move the jumper on my mobo that overvolts the CPU, but I didn't change the settings. Once I get my case and liquid cooling system I will really look into the world of over clocking and post something here.
That AMD processor is pretty good. I love AMD's although I decided to go with an i7 this time around.
After skimming through the article though, I think it's a bit misleading.
The i7 920 in that article was not OC'ed, while the AMD processor was OC'ed to 3.8GHz.
While I realize that the article was meant to show that the Phenom II x4 940 is a very competitive CPU, which it is, I would like to see how a similarly OC'ed i7 920 fares in those same benchmarks.
Though, The AMD can OC a lot higher on air than the i7. That is probably why.
overclocking an i7 920 is easy too. got mine to 3,8 from 2,66 on air without probs.
Well an i7 is no gaming cpu, as you can see in application benchmarks.
For low budget and gaming amd is the way to go
Newegg always has new deals. You're bound to just miss one somewhere. I actually just put together a very similar system to what you originally posted about a month ago and my model of EVGA GTX260 is already a deactive item. Thats how technology goes I guess. On the upside, I upgraded from a very old P4 system and I'm extremely happy that I did.
I have a question....when it comes to Intel and Amd processors. Are there any big differences ; be it price for performance differences or just better performance overall in one or another. I ask this because I have had Intel processors in all computers I use and it just doesnt feel right buying an Amd processor(s) and I know nothing about them.
(Figured there are a lot of knowledgeable people in this thread to answer me)
Thanks in advance!
From my personal experience, and I may be wrong, AMDs are generally good for gaming and Intels are good for applications which rely heavily on the CPU. That is not to say that Intel's i7 is bad for gaming, it's the best CPU family on the market right now and even the 920 will outperform most AMD and Intel CPUs. Plus it is extremely easy to overclock as well.
They are both good CPU manufacturers though, and the Intel's i7 and AMD's Phenom II X4 are both very good processors. AMDs are also generally cheaper and buying an i7 brings with it additional costs of compatible motherboards and DDR3 ram, which are generally a bit pricey.
That being said, I am extremely happy with my i7 system. It brings most games to their knees and allows me to play everything on max settings.
I have 3, i7 920 running 3.6 on stock cooling with zero issues.
For the average person, when it comes down to it, the answer is no there isn't a big dfiference. Currently the I7 from Intel has better benchmark results (according to tomshardware.com) and intel is definitely on top of their game with overclocking potential lately. However, the I7, motherboard and RAM can cost you a lot. AMD is known for making great processors at resonable prices that have excellent overclocking abilities. Some results show that they are more energy efficient and run cooler. (My opinion: I think that depends on the test and whos running it.)
I have always had Intel processors too until recently. I have a Phenom II X4 940 now and I'm really happy with it.
A good read: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-phenom-ii,2119.html
The point that seems to have escaped many of you is that while the I7 is a very fine processor, it is made by Intel whose business practices can even make Microsoft look good.
My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive. If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry.
I agree with this, normally I buy AMD as well, however my last system I got a Q6700 for free so I used that instead. But I like this build this fine poster put up, I may just use it for my 2nd machine.
TwitchTV: iNeoki
So just because it's made by Intel, I should not purchase one of the best CPUs on the market right now?
Besides, do you honestly believe that if Intel closed it's doors, AMD would not do the same thing?
So just because it's made by Intel, I should not purchase one of the best CPUs on the market right now?
Besides, do you honestly believe that if Intel closed it's doors, AMD would not do the same thing?
He simply said "My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive. If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry." meaning that if AMD shut down intel would raise it's prices. So he likes to support the competition, nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with you wanting the best product as well.
TwitchTV: iNeoki
So just because it's made by Intel, I should not purchase one of the best CPUs on the market right now?
Besides, do you honestly believe that if Intel closed it's doors, AMD would not do the same thing?
He simply said "My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive. If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry." meaning that if AMD shut down intel would raise it's prices. So he likes to support the competition, nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with you wanting the best product as well.
His first paragraph is what I was replying to. It reads like he's attempting to talk people into not buying an i7 because it's made by Intel.
On the other hand, I have absolutely no problems with him wanting to purchase from AMD to keep competition healthy. I actually buy both AMD and Intel.
My last 3 PCs have been AMDs and have always been extremely solid, and fast. I am on the verge right now of getting a new PC and I think right now is one of the largest gaps between AMD and Intel that have existed in many years. However this is compensated by just how overpriced the i 7 chips are.
You can put together an AMD machine that can run any game that exists/will exist in the near future, for significantly less then an intel machine. However if you do other things on top of gaming that requires high performance the cost increase might be worth it (render 3D movies. do extremely hi res 3D art). The truth is very few people ever need that extra push, and with the money you will save on your AMD machine you can upgrade it in a year or two to be very high end again and still be saving money.