Mid-Range AMD Phenom II PC - Opinions

jancz3rt

<b>VIP Member</b>
Mid-Range AMD Phenom II X2 PC - Opinions

Hi guys,

I am putting a mid-range PC together for my friend on a budget. It should be able to handle new games. My main question is do you believe it is balanced in terms of performance? Here it goes:

Processor: AMD Phenom X2 550 Black Edition (3.1Ghz) - I will unlock the remaining 2 cores.
RAM: 4096MB DDR III 2000MHz (Kingston) - great deal
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P - AMD 770
GPU: Sapphire HD5770 1GB
Case: CoolerMaster Elite 335
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS - 500GB
Monitor: LG W2243T-PF - LCD 22" - 1920 x 1080
PSU: Arctic Cooling Fusion 550
DVD Burner: Samsung SH-S223C

Please let me know whether there is anything that's standing out or would need improvement. Remember that I am looking at having a usable system even for some newer games. Thanks.

JAN :D
 
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bomberboysk

Active Member
If you want to unlock, get the Phenom II X3, you have a better chance at unlocking it, and if it doesnt unlock you still have three cores vs two.

Arctic cooling power supplies arent that great, look into a corsair/BFG/Antec/Xclio/XFX/Thermaltake/Zalman/Seasonic/Silverstone/Tagan/Pc power and cooling unit.

Id say save the money and get DDR3 1600 or 1866mhz unless its super on sale for cheaper than 1600mhz memory, as you need to clock the cpu pretty high to take advantage of 2000mhz memory, and i dont see you including an aftermarket cpu cooler in your list.
 
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StrangleHold

Moderator
Staff member
Dont know what price you can get it for, but if you can find the GA 770TA UD3 look at it. The same board but updated to SATA 6.0 and USB 3.0. And they moved the 8 pin CPU power connector to the edge where it suppost to be.
 

jancz3rt

<b>VIP Member</b>
If you want to unlock, get the Phenom II X3, you have a better chance at unlocking it, and if it doesnt unlock you still have three cores vs two.

Arctic cooling power supplies arent that great, look into a corsair/BFG/Antec/Xclio/XFX/Thermaltake/Zalman/Seasonic/Silverstone/Tagan/Pc power and cooling unit.

Id say save the money and get DDR3 1600 or 1866mhz unless its super on sale for cheaper than 1600mhz memory, as you need to clock the cpu pretty high to take advantage of 2000mhz memory, and i dont see you including an aftermarket cpu cooler in your list.

Heya,

thanks for the info. First things first, I will look for an alternative PSU and the Phenom II X3 - I read numerous reviews about the Phenom II X2 and from one source, some 89% of the pieces they had unlocked fine to 4 cores - these were the 550s, Black Editions.

The RAM I have included costs as much as 1600Mhz RAM, hence why I opted for it. I wanted a lot of headroom so to say, to be able to use it at higher frequencies if ever needed.

Finally, are the stock coolers on Phenom IIs bad? I know they tend to be loud, but do they perform badly - hence needing a new aftermarket cooler to be installed instead. I am on a tight budget and these are not cheap.

JAN :D
 

bomberboysk

Active Member
Heya,

thanks for the info. First things first, I will look for an alternative PSU and the Phenom II X3 - I read numerous reviews about the Phenom II X2 and from one source, some 89% of the pieces they had unlocked fine to 4 cores - these were the 550s, Black Editions.

The RAM I have included costs as much as 1600Mhz RAM, hence why I opted for it. I wanted a lot of headroom so to say, to be able to use it at higher frequencies if ever needed.

Finally, are the stock coolers on Phenom IIs bad? I know they tend to be loud, but do they perform badly - hence needing a new aftermarket cooler to be installed instead. I am on a tight budget and these are not cheap.

JAN :D

The cpu's are only going to unlock if the other cores in them are good, which in a dual core you have to hope 2 cores will unlock while on a tri you only need to hope for one. The X2 and X3 are how amd gets rid of their cpu's with a bad core or whatnot, so recent X2's more than likely will have at least one bad core. The stock cooler is fine for stock.
 

newguy

New Member
Yes, thanks for the input. I see that the one you have suggested came up better.

Is there anything else any of you think sticks out as either not being good enough or too good in light of the rest?

JAN :D

i can vouce for the 7200.12, i have 4 running in raid 1+0. works like a dream. i bought mine at like $79.99 though.
 

jancz3rt

<b>VIP Member</b>
Dont know what price you can get it for, but if you can find the GA 770TA UD3 look at it. The same board but updated to SATA 6.0 and USB 3.0. And they moved the 8 pin CPU power connector to the edge where it suppost to be.

Thanks you guys. All advice much appreciated. I have decided to purchase the above recommended mobo as it has USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0, which should help in terms of compatibility for the near future. I will go for the Seagate HDD as well.

I think I can safely say now that the above discussed rig will do a good enough job for what my friend needs it for.

JAN :D
 
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