Help needed, returning to gaming.

keeton.

New Member
Hi guys, several years ago i built a rig intended for gaming. Due to family and work commitments it never got finished, and since then have lost touch with all the new hardware. Now that i have alittle more time on my hand's i fancy building another rig to play some of the current games. My budgets not massive but i dont intend on maxing everything if you get my drift. A decent but happy medium.
Thoughts so far:

AMD Athlon II X3 450 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95w 1.5MB L2 Cache or AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition 3.2GHz Socket AM3 6MB Cache (which is better?)
MSI 870-C45 AMD 770 Socket AM3 GB LAN 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
# Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V unbuffered
KFA2 GT 430 1GB DDR3 64bit VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E Low Profile Graphics Card (suggestions welcome on graphics card?)
And a 700W power supply if thats enough?

links to above stuff below:
http://www.ebuyer.com/238326-amd-athlon-ii-x3-450-3-2ghz-socket-am3-95w-1-5mb-l2-cache-adx450wfgmbox
http://www.ebuyer.com/198349-amd-ph...ion-3-2ghz-socket-am3-6mb-cache-hdz555wfgmbox
http://www.ebuyer.com/241003-msi-870-c45-amd-770-socket-am3-gb-lan-8-channel-audio-atx-870-c45
http://www.ebuyer.com/247674-corsai...mory-kit-cl9-1-5v-unbuffered-cmx8gx3m2a1333c9
http://www.ebuyer.com/269207-kfa2-gt-430-1gb-ddr3-64bit-vga-dvi-hdmi-pci-e-low-profile-43ggs8hx3xfz

cheers
keeton
 
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it should play games fine, but that won't get hardly any good settings, if you can i'd say at least try for a hd5670 over that thing. also all you need a a good quality 500w or even a 450, like this, looked on ebuyer and here and this was the best deal on a good quality one

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1497

also you would be better off if you saved up over the next month and through in a couple extra bucks, every 50 bucks can make a big difference with computers, or in euros i guess it'd be closer to 35 or 40.
 
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Thanks for the quick reply. Whats actually letting the rig down then, or is it overall low spec's? Also which is the better processor? suggestions for others are welcome
 
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are you talking about your current rig or this build, if you were confused i was talking about the build, cuz your current rig is just old and slow for todays stuff.
 
yeah, the new build is just so low end. really it depends on what resolution you plan to play at, like if you wanted 1080p, then there's no way in hell you can play that unless it's on an older game with bottomed out settings other than the res, you might be able to get the details or something up but not the shading or anistropic filtering or antialiasing. also both cpus you linked are going to hold you back at higher reses and settings, the min cpu you want for high settings is a phenom ii x4 955, and lately they've been getting a little bit smashed by some of the newer games. and that gfx card is just really low end also, it is only suitable for low res gaming or low dteail medium to good res gaming.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. Whats actually letting the rig down then, or is it overall low spec's? Also which is the better processor? suggestions for others are welcome


In my overall option on the processor,

I had heard some rumors of the great vine that the am3 Tricores aren't exactly... top shape. So I've stuck my quads and dual cores, Still an AMD fan though.

But I haven't tried the am3 tri cores, so have people might have a better say over me.

But my recommendation is the dual or a quad.
 
The stuff you selected is mostly outdated. Especially the motherboard. You really want 1600MHz memory as well.

Brand and model of 700w power supply?

You'll want the following:

Phenom II/FX/ i5/i7 2x00k CPU
990FX/P67 Motherboard
4GB-8GB of DDR3 1600MHz
GTX 500 series/Radeon 6000 series GPU
SSD/ Samsung F3 1TB HDD
Antec/Corsair/Silverstone/XFX/Seasonic PSU
Your choice of case
 
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Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm not looking to run stuff at max, but kind of medium ground kind of thing.
How about something like this:

AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition 3.2GHz Socket AM3 6MB Cache (and unlocking to quad and overclocking)
Asus M4A88T-M 880G Socket AM3 Onboard Graphics 8 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard
G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL7 (7-8-7-24) 1.5V (4gb enough?)
Sapphire HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 HDMI DVI VGA PCI-E Graphics Card or Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6570 Ultimate Edition 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express SILENT Graphics Card ?

I know unlocking and overclocking the phenom will make it run alot hotter, suggestions on a decent heatsink please?

cheers
 
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heatsink, the coolermaster 212+ is great, also look for an am3+ mobo, and i think the 5670 will be better, those will do fine on medium settings but not at a high resolution.
 
actually i'm not too sure, i think the 5670 is but i can't say it definitely is, and for the next step up it's go to the 57 and 67 cards, mainly the 70's, so the 5770 or 6770, they're around 115 and normally rebate below 100 if you get it.
 
1. Unlocking the 555 is not guaranteed. If you think you need a quad core, buy one.
2. The ATI cards are generally equal stepups. 5670 = 6670, and thus are better than the 6570. A 5770 is a better card than either of them. If you can afford it, go to a 5850 or a 6850/6870.
 
well depends on the res for the settings, won't max anything newer at 1080p, any lower and it will get pretty close.
 
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