Current $600. improve it

Hardware Build a PC
1

my current build to buy is good by my standards, and will play a lot of games well, but i want to see what you guys can come up with.

currently:

FX-4100

Radeon HD 7770

4GB 1333 Ram

WD Blue 1TB

Cougar RX500 500w

Sentey Cobra Extreme division case

windows 7 64 bit

arctic silver 5

Asrock 970de3/u3s3

All shipped to my house for a total of $596.24

i'm willing to change anything but the motherboard, as it comes with an ide connector, and i won't need a disk drive much anyhow, just to install windows.

also if you make suggestions, try to find them on newegg first. I have been using newegg, as it's much easier to find the components and catalouge how much it will cost in total, at least for me.also when you are making one, factor in the cost of windows, as i have no other way to get it.

2

8350

3

Why do you need IDE?

4

not for $600 total build as that would be a third of the money going to the processor, and assuming i want to limit bottlenecking, i should get a graphics card for around $200, and that woule leave me with $100 left, because windows is $100.

5

i have an old ide disk drive i can use, and won't even use disks very often, so i plan to just use the ide drive for installing windows, and thats it.

6

the FX4100 is a horrid chip the amd phenom ii x4 965 outperforms it in every single way and its cheaper.

A old IDE disk isent going to last much longer (there a decade old now) if you need to use IDE get a ide to sata/sata to ide converter (there like $3)

You need to get a better psu that has a single rail and not a dual rail one (a cx500w or a XFX450W come to mind)

7

where have you saw the 965 outperform the fx-4100 because in all the benchmarks and game fps comparisons i've seem, with identical components otherwise,they got VERY similar fps, 1 fps max, and the fx runs on 30 watts less power, which is more efficient.

ide/sata converters are a minimum of $10 on newegg, where i will be buying the components.

also, and this is just me nitpicking you spelled they're wrong twice...

still, i will look into getting a psu with a single rail, as i have heard it typically is better.

8

I am currently running a FX6100 and its barely better than my old phenom...look at the hardware and not my spelling.

The FX chip is a 2 core bulldozer chip(No of Cores: 2 /2 logical cores per physical) that was a fail on amd's part the phenom is a true 4 core cpu.

9

The example is in a synthetic benchmark, where when actually being used in gaming, the fx matches the phenom II and still uses 30w less. As it has a newer core, and the fx (supposedly) is better at overclocking, which i hope to do. I will consider them both.

as for your spelling, again i'm a bit of a prick about spelling. Sorry.

10

Here is what I'd strive for (assuming you can afford the increase in budget):

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/135aD

  • CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
  • Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($68.99 @ Newegg)
  • Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
  • Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
  • Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
  • Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
  • Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
  • Total: $632.92

 

  1. I'd rather upgrade the Mobo to one that supports front USB 3.0 ports, but that would be about $25 more.

Here is what I'd do if I was trying to fit the best build that is as close as possible to the $600 Budget:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1357F

  • CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.99 @ Amazon)
  • Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($95.99 @ NCIX US)
  • Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.99 @ NCIX US)
  • Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
  • Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
  • Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
  • Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.91 @ Amazon)
  • Total: $610.84

 Build above Pro's:

  • CPU is a good buy for the $/performance.
  • Mobo supports front USB 3.0 ports
  • RAM has a LOW PROFILE heat spreader, so you can add just about any aftermarket CPU HSF.
  • GPU is one of the best you can get for the $ (better than the 7770).
  • Case supports 2 x front USB 3.0 ports and comes w/2 x 120 mm fans and is built well for this budget.
  • PSU is 80 PLUS Bronze Certified and should last for a couple builds or more.
11

i don't see the psu you listed, or it's higher than you listed, because the only corsair builder on newegg is 59.99. can you link me to it.

EDIT: okay there are 3 corsair builders on newegg, but none of them are 29.99

12

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

$60 - $10 Promo code - $20 MIRc = $30! So you pay $50 for it and then wait for the MIRc, but essentially is a $30 price (assuming you fill out the rebate info and get the $ from it).

13

Thanks.

 

14

You can always click on the PCPartPicker link in my original post and see where the part is located. Then just click on the part listed and your good to go :)

15

Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - $85

CPU:AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX - $85

GPU: HIS IceQ Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card - $220

Ram: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory Blue - $69

PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX600 - $70

Case: NZXT Phantom 410 White Blue Trim - $100

HDD:Western Digital WD Black WD5003AZEX 500GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - $75

Total: $709

This would be my ideal build. The AM3+ mobo is more futureproof because you can switch it out later for a FX cpu.  Here's how to make it cheaper:

-Cheaper Case ~-$60

-4 GB ram ~-$30

-Cheaper hard drive ~-$25

16

Mattsoft1,

You also forgot to include the OS, which is ~$90, so you'd need to adjust the build to include that.

17

OK. Use Ubuntu (or other type of linux) until he gets enough money to buy windows. Or he could downgrade to the radeon 7770. Or torrent OS, which I do not endorse.

18

I included a 7850 in my build(s), so that would be better than the 7770 that you suggest. I also don't endorse torrenting the OS, so I included it into both of my builds, so everything is legit.

19

i would save up for the 7850 over the 7770, it's worth the extra couple of bucks.

20

the fx 4100, is terrible it's out performed by an i3 dual core. The phenom II X4 965 BE is  cheaper, better and has 4 physical cores and overclocks pretty damn well. My little brother has the fx 4100, i have the 965 be and we have the same graphics cards, yet i am getting better performance. Bulldozer is bullcrap, at least go with piledriver if you want to get FX