A beginners first build...

Biz.Kid09 said:
Remember though there is not a certain unlock :/ If you need a quad just stay with a Phenom x4
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I don't desperatley need a quad core CPU, however having one would be nice so i think i might as well save some money, upgrade the graphics and cooling, and take my chances with unlocing an X2 550 CPU
 
Another Update

I have bought Windows 7 to install on this PC and I have found two old 2.5" hard drives from two Apple MacBooks.

One is 160gb and the other is 80gb. I already have a windows partition of 100gb on my MacBook just for gaming and have so far only used around 70gb so I know that 240gb is more than enough for my needs.

Also, when this build is done, I can always save up more money and buy an SSD to speed things up.
 
Another Update

After much consideration on another thread, I have decided to now use intel components instead of AMD ones as intel CPU's are better for the main game i want to play, FSX.

Here is what i now plan to use...

This overclocked bundle - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-035-OB&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=

This graphics care - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-129-GW

This dvd drive - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-099-SA&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=

All together it comes to just under £400 and it is pre overclocked.

What do you think?
 
Get the PII X2 555BE and try and unlock it. No it's not a guaranteed unlock but you may get an X3 or X4, just make sure you have an aftermarket cooler.

You did consider this option and I don't understand why you have dropped it. You said you could afford a 5770 if you went this route. The 5770 supports directx 11 and the nvidia card you can afford with the intel bundle is directx10. If you can afford a mobo with xfire capabilities you could drop another card in once the prices drop and reach (and in some cases pip) a 5870.

The i3 is the lowest of the intel processors and the socket will be a dead end once the new CPU (sandybridge) is released. It's your money and choice, i just feel AMD is going to give you more options in the future.

Good luck with the build
 
honosuseri said:
Get the PII X2 555BE and try and unlock it. No it's not a guaranteed unlock but you may get an X3 or X4, just make sure you have an aftermarket cooler.

You did consider this option and I don't understand why you have dropped it. You said you could afford a 5770 if you went this route. The 5770 supports directx 11 and the nvidia card you can afford with the intel bundle is directx10. If you can afford a mobo with xfire capabilities you could drop another card in once the prices drop and reach (and in some cases pip) a 5870.

The i3 is the lowest of the intel processors and the socket will be a dead end once the new CPU (sandybridge) is released. It's your money and choice, i just feel AMD is going to give you more options in the future.

Good luck with the build
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Thank you for your help and reccommendations however...

I don't need any more cores than two because the game i want to play on this PC only utilises 2 cores at most.

I can afford a 5770 however i want an Nvidia card and the game i want to play, FSX, works best with these cards. Also, FSX hardly relies on the GPU, it mainly relies on CPU speed which is good as the i3 will be OC'ed to 4.20GHz. Plus theres no point spending any more than i need too if it won't make a difference.

As for Xfire or SLI, i have no need for this whatsoever as one graphics card is enough for this game.

As for the i3 being "the lowest of the intel processors", it is still absolutley fine for my needs. Even when the new CPU's are released, it doesn't mean that my CPU is just going to instantly die, it will still be fine for what i need it for.

Also, i'm not too worried about the future as this rig will only be used for playing FSX and a couple older games. As FSX is no longer being updated by Microsoft, there is no worry that my PC will eventually not be good enough to play it well.
 
That's fair enough, I was only working from your previous posts.

I feel (and many others too) that AMD tick the boxes for good "budget" gaming rigs. Most games don't use more than 2 cores but the chance of getting 4 cores for the price of 2 is not to be sniffed at ;p Most people have got the 550 running at 4GHz although the i3 is meant to be easy to OC even though the BE phenoms are multiplier unlocked.

You have obviously done your homework, if i was buying a new rig i'd like a lil "wiggle" room for future titles but if your happy and it fits your needs.....I hope the build goes well without too many hassles.

Let us know how you get on.

p.s does it work out cheaper buying the parts and Overclocking yourself as the i3 is supposed to be so easy to do?
 
honosuseri said:
I feel (and many others too) that AMD tick the boxes for good "budget" gaming rigs. Most games don't use more than 2 cores but the chance of getting 4 cores for the price of 2 is not to be sniffed at ;p Most people have got the 550 running at 4GHz although the i3 is meant to be easy to OC even though the BE phenoms are multiplier unlocked.
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+1 at this price point I'd definitely be reccomending the AMD x4 route. I'm guessing the difference in performance for FSX between intel and amd will be marginal (it usually isn't massive) and longer term more games will be able to use the 4 cores. I'm not saying this because I'm an AMD fanboy, quite the opposite in fact, my main rig is an Intel i7, but at this price level you get so much more from the AMDs.
 
honosuseri said:
That's fair enough, I was only working from your previous posts.

I feel (and many others too) that AMD tick the boxes for good "budget" gaming rigs. Most games don't use more than 2 cores but the chance of getting 4 cores for the price of 2 is not to be sniffed at ;p Most people have got the 550 running at 4GHz although the i3 is meant to be easy to OC even though the BE phenoms are multiplier unlocked.

You have obviously done your homework, if i was buying a new rig i'd like a lil "wiggle" room for future titles but if your happy and it fits your needs.....I hope the build goes well without too many hassles.

Let us know how you get on.

p.s does it work out cheaper buying the parts and Overclocking yourself as the i3 is supposed to be so easy to do?
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It actually works out about 10 pounds cheaper to get the OC'ed bundle. Plus it's done and tested then and i don't have to mess with it myself or return anything that may be faulty.
 
Evil-I said:
+1 at this price point I'd definitely be reccomending the AMD x4 route. I'm guessing the difference in performance for FSX between intel and amd will be marginal (it usually isn't massive) and longer term more games will be able to use the 4 cores. I'm not saying this because I'm an AMD fanboy, quite the opposite in fact, my main rig is an Intel i7, but at this price level you get so much more from the AMDs.
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Well i'm not sure now, it would probabley cost about 40 pounds more though to go down the AMD X4 route.

Could take a look at this thread and let me know if you agree with what has been said? That would help.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18170184&page=2
 
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Well i'm assuming fsx is microsoft flight sim X. I do own it but have never run it on my X2 555BE rig. Sadly im away from home for a month or more so I can't try it to give you an idea of performance.

The 555BE is marginally cheaper than the i3 in the overclocked bundle and coupled with the right mobo (i have an asus m4a785-m pro) you may get an X3 or X4. Hell i got it to 3.8 Ghz without doing much "fiddling" as an X2. If you had a larger budget then a better intel CPU would be preferable but at this kind of price point AMD really does make better sense.

The ati cards also have a feature called eyefinity. Yes this requires 3 screens (one display port or use of an active adapter) whereas nvidia's rival needs sli to pull it off. Watch a clip of tom clancy's Hawx on youtube with eyefinity and tell me your not tempted to have that in FSX ;p
 
honosuseri said:
Well i'm assuming fsx is microsoft flight sim X. I do own it but have never run it on my X2 555BE rig. Sadly im away from home for a month or more so I can't try it to give you an idea of performance.

The 555BE is marginally cheaper than the i3 in the overclocked bundle and coupled with the right mobo (i have an asus m4a785-m pro) you may get an X3 or X4. Hell i got it to 3.8 Ghz without doing much "fiddling" as an X2. If you had a larger budget then a better intel CPU would be preferable but at this kind of price point AMD really does make better sense.

The ati cards also have a feature called eyefinity. Yes this requires 3 screens (one display port or use of an active adapter) whereas nvidia's rival needs sli to pull it off. Watch a clip of tom clancy's Hawx on youtube with eyefinity and tell me your not tempted to have that in FSX ;p
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Well to go for an i5 processor its going to cost at least an extra £70 which i think is too much for the performance i will gain, but not really utilise whilst gaming on FSX. By the way i do mean Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

Anyway, OCUK use the i3 on their Titan PC's and they seem to get great reviews.

Also the eyefinity does look absolutley fantastic however on top of this, i definatley don't have the money to buy any more displays than the 19" i already have. This may be an idea for a future upgrade in a couple years though.
 
lukefinch said:
Well i'm not sure now, it would probabley cost about 40 pounds more though to go down the AMD X4 route.

Could take a look at this thread and let me know if you agree with what has been said? That would help.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18170184&page=2
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Hi Luke,

I've had a look through that thread and I can see why you are undecided. I'm not familiar with FSX so can't really advise on that front specifically.

I guess my reasoning is the choice appears to be between a low end intel based dual core cpu with HT (albeit pre-overclocked) that 'may' give a performance improvement over an AMD based cpu in FSX.

On the other hand the AMD is a quad core based unit from the upper end of their range (the black edition) which even though it 'may' not be as quick in FSX, would almost certainly be better in most modern games than the i3 and would probably give your system more longevity. I also gather that it overcocks fairly well too, so clock for clock there shouldn't be too much difference.

There are of course differences between CPU architectures that make one or other better at specific games, but typically this usually isn't as big a performance difference as people might suggest. I think we all suffer from benchmark syndrome, where a five percent speed increase seems a massive improvement, but in real life may not even be noticeable.

I know you have posted that you are only interested in playing FSX, but I'd be very surprised if once you have your new gaming rig you don't broaden you games collection. And although relatively few games can use more than 2 cores still, I'd say its a safe bet that most new games will be able to use more.

In my opinion the AMD would give you a more balanced system that would keep you happy for at least a couple of years, whereas I would suspect the i3 CPU would probably get swapped out within a year or so.

I'm not sure we're all helping you make a decision though.....

E-I
 
Evil-I said:
Hi Luke,

I've had a look through that thread and I can see why you are undecided. I'm not familiar with FSX so can't really advise on that front specifically.

I guess my reasoning is the choice appears to be between a low end intel based dual core cpu with HT (albeit pre-overclocked) that 'may' give a performance improvement over an AMD based cpu in FSX.

On the other hand the AMD is a quad core based unit from the upper end of their range (the black edition) which even though it 'may' not be as quick in FSX, would almost certainly be better in most modern games than the i3 and would probably give your system more longevity. I also gather that it overcocks fairly well too, so clock for clock there shouldn't be too much difference.

There are of course differences between CPU architectures that make one or other better at specific games, but typically this usually isn't as big a performance difference as people might suggest. I think we all suffer from benchmark syndrome, where a five percent speed increase seems a massive improvement, but in real life may not even be noticeable.

I know you have posted that you are only interested in playing FSX, but I'd be very surprised if once you have your new gaming rig you don't broaden you games collection. And although relatively few games can use more than 2 cores still, I'd say its a safe bet that most new games will be able to use more.

In my opinion the AMD would give you a more balanced system that would keep you happy for at least a couple of years, whereas I would suspect the i3 CPU would probably get swapped out within a year or so.

I'm not sure we're all helping you make a decision though.....

E-I
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You are all definatley helping me. I am learning more and more every day.

Basically then, an X4 955 will last longer and will be as fast as an i3? If this is the case, i guess i could spend more and go for it, maybe upgrading the graphics after about a year too.
 
It's a shame i can't install fsx and see how it runs, im going to do this and even try my IGP (ati 4200) just out of interest.

I know we are causing headaches, i'm just trying to keep your options open for future upgrades. A 5770 is a great budget card and will do eyefinity. I have two 20" screens and couldn't go back to one. I'm not suggesting you buy two extra screens now just keep your mind open to future possibilties.

Let us know how it goes which ever way you go. I'm interested to see how it pans out for you.
 
Hi Luke,

I'd say it's more accurate to say that the AMD x4 once overclocked won't be far behind the overclocked i3 (if at all) in FSX, but would certainly be faster in most other games and mean that your computer is more future proof for future games than with the i3.

To be honest for a straight gaming rig, a new gfx card in a years time probably wouldn't make much difference to you if you are still using your 19" monitor. Typically the native resolution of a 19" monitor is low enough that a relatively low end graphics card would happily run at that resolution and fairly high graphics setting without too much difficulty.

I'd almost suggest you next upgrade should be a nice hi resolution monitor?

Best,

E-I
 
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