advice please + spec check

[Sunny Squash]

This setup is for gaming max buget 625 nothing over 640 already have a


Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 microATX Motherboard
+
AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition
+
hdd
+optical drive and a 120mm dust filter

if I really need to i could overclock the cpu but haven't really done anything like that before.

here is what i came up with would like to stick with the gtx 470. Question can i get away with this cpu for a while until i get a quad?

 

[stulid]

looks good, apart from the psu, the GX range reviews I have seen aren't to great.

and you may be able to unlock some cores on your 555cpu

 

[Sunny Squash]

would be kind enough to recommend a different psu ?

 

[stulid]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-032-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-007-SP&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1806

modular too

 

[Sunny Squash]

thank you for the quick response

 

[Redmint]

Antec Truepower 650W is a very nice PSU, but annoyingly it's currently out of stock.

Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W should also be fine.

 

[Harvey616]

Maybe look at a Zalman Z7 Plus- a nice case with excellent airflow.

 

[Sunny Squash]

Maybe look at a Zalman Z7 Plus- a nice case with excellent airflow.

I did have a look at this case but I like to have the psu at the bottom of the case. This also Brings me to another question is the antec 300 good case for cooling? I picked it because it hase some side cooling for the gpu as i know the gtx 470 does get a bit hot.

 

[stulid]

the antec 300 is good, this is suppose to be a little bit better,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-068-SV&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1092

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_photo.php?pno=PS03&area=usa

 

[Sunny Squash]

Second link not working. Would the case be better at cooling overall without the side fan?

 

[stulid]

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=PS03&area=usa

 

[Sunny Squash]

Thanks for the advice but ill stick with antec 300 as I like the design and i will go with the OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply

 

[cmndr_andi]

I would drop the graphics card down to the 5850 (almost the same performance in games) and use the money saved to buy a Phenom II X4.

 

[Sunny Squash]

That was my 1st choice but i really like the look of physx is it worth sacrificing physx or does it not matter so much?

 

[stulid]

@cmdr He already has the 550 according to the OP.

phsyx is sometime s good, only a handful of games use it.

 

[Sunny Squash]

@cmdr

He already has the 550 according to the OP.

phsyx is sometime s good, only a handful of games use it.

is the cpu good enough for gaming I,ve heard most games dont use all 4 cores

think the 5850 is a better idear as just did some looking up and I dont play much games with psyx anyway

 

[stulid]

is the cpu good enough for gaming I,ve heard most games dont use all 4 cores

The cpu is fine.

 

[stulid]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/97?vs=88

game graphs are at the bottom

 

[Sunny Squash]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/97?vs=88

game graphs are at the bottom

thanks

 

[cmndr_andi]

Ah, I misread the bit with the 550, my bad. As you say, he should try and unlock the other cores when the system is complete.

To the OP: TBH, PhysX doesn't really matter that much. The best game that we have seen proper use of PhysX technology is Batman AA, so the titles are not exactly coming in thick and fast. Personally,I'm hoping we see PhysX die off and we get an open standard Physics engine that can use GPU power.

As for the Phenom II X4 955 I linked to - it is excellent for gaming. It uses the same architecture as your dual core - but with all four cores enabled. Also, the chip is clocked slightly higher than the X2 550 - so even in single threaded apps this CPU will be faster. It is true that most games do not make full use of Quad cores yet - however some do and this number is growing all the time. Battlefield Bad Company 2 is an example of a modern game that makes good use of multi-core CPUs. That said, your dual core will be great for the vast majority of modern games.