Building a "balanced" PC

[meeemst]

Hey guys,

let me say i really appreciate [H], it’s been a while since I discovered this site and i regularly take my time to read all the stuff you guys put in here. This is simply the best site on the net 

Here is my problem:

I want to set up a brand new pc but I want to build it to be “perfectly” balanced: I mean, I want to put together a combination of hardware where every piece matches the potential performance of the others, avoiding bottlenecks and waste of money…

The starting point is this:
1)USE
I am not a extreme player, I play a lot o RTS and some FPS and simulation games, so I do not need extreme hardware (i.e. dual gpus card or high end hardware).
2)MONEY
My budget is quite limited (between 500 and 800 euro, that is 600-950 dollars) so I’ll try to obtain the best performance/cost ratio possible. I will purchase the parts in a hardware shop so no shipping or similar expenses will be afforded.
3)WHERE
Italy
4)PARTS
CPU, Video Card, MoBo, Memory, PSU, HD
5)REUSED PARTS
Case, DVD player
6)OVERCLOCK
No
7)DISPLAY
50" plasma TV full HD 1920x1080 (Samsung PS50c530) and 19" LCD display
8)WHEN
1-3 months
9)MOBO FEATURES
N/D
nothing special, maybe good audio
10)OS
Win XP and 7 available

Here are some personal ideas
CPU: intel i5/i7 or AMD phenom II, model?
Video card: ATI 5770
RAM: 4 gb, frequency?
Motherboard: ?
Other…

So, I know you guys are the best experts of this kind of stuff around the net and I want to know from you what you think about: what should be the right combination of hardware?

Stay [H]!

 

[Shadowssong]

Ciao, meeemst, come stai? Haha sorry I couldn't resist, I just started italian 1.

Anyways, 1-3 months is too early to get the parts you want. Assuming you take the middle, in 2 months parts and prices will most likely change. That being said, for $600-$900 I would go with (right now):

Phenom II X4 925
Gigabyte 770TA
G.Skill DDR3-1333/1600 4GB (whichever freq is cheaper, most likely 1333 will be)
Not sure about XFX's warranty in Italy so:
[brand] HD5770
Samsung F3 500GB / Caviar Blue 500GB
Corsair 400CX / Antec Neo Eco 520w
CM RC692 690 II Case

You may even have a spare budget to upgrade the GPU to an HD5850 which I would suggest for 1920x1080 but the 5770 would be fine for your 19" (assuming its 1680x1050 or below).

 

[slaya]

Hey guys, I don't mean to threadjack but I've got a quick question. I recently purchased a Corsair 400w CX series power supply, and was wondering if I would be able to get away with this power supply for the above mentioned setup.

Thanks

 

[Shadowssong]

It is fine for a quad + 5770 but you may want to upgrade it to a higher watt/amp psu for the 5850.

 

[engiNURD]

It is fine for a quad + 5770 but you may want to upgrade it to a higher watt/amp psu for the 5850.

... and/or if you plan on oc'ing and/or adding more drives.

 

[meeemst]

Ciao, meeemst, come stai? Haha sorry I couldn't resist, I just started italian 1.

Ciao Shadowssong, tutto bene grazie e tu?

Anyways, 1-3 months is too early to get the parts you want. Assuming you take the middle, in 2 months parts and prices will most likely change. That being said, for $600-$900 I would go with (right now):

So you suggest to wait until the end of the summer to get better prices?

Phenom II X4 925
Gigabyte 770TA
G.Skill DDR3-1333/1600 4GB (whichever freq is cheaper, most likely 1333 will be)
Not sure about XFX's warranty in Italy so:
[brand] HD5770
Samsung F3 500GB / Caviar Blue 500GB
Corsair 400CX / Antec Neo Eco 520w
CM RC692 690 II Case

You may even have a spare budget to upgrade the GPU to an HD5850 which I would suggest for 1920x1080 but the 5770 would be fine for your 19" (assuming its 1680x1050 or below).

About the video card, are you saying that a 5770 doesn't have enough horsepower for a 1920x1080?
Here in Italy the 5850 is quite expensive, priced at about € 300!!!. Moreover, are a 5850 and a PII 925 matched in terms of performance?I mean, won't the 925 be too slow for a 5850?

Thanks!

 

[Deluded]

About the video card, are you saying that a 5770 doesn't have enough horsepower for a 1920x1080?
Here in Italy the 5850 is quite expensive, priced at about € 300!!!. Moreover, are a 5850 and a PII 925 matched in terms of performance?I mean, won't the 925 be too slow for a 5850?

Thanks!

On the contary, the 5770 is more than enough at 1920x1080 -- it's a little bit more powerful than a 4870 and THAT GPU was plenty powerful already at 1920x1200.

And the 925 is actually plenty powerful in its own right. While yes it is a little slow compared to other higher priced processors, its nothing overclocking cant solve, though I see you don't want to overclock.

Hm.

If you are on a very tight budget, you could go with a i3 setup.

i3-530
H55 motherboard, perhaps H55M-SD2H
4Gb DDR3-1600
Samsung F2 or Seagate HDD or WD Black 640
5770
500W PSU

Or:

Athlon X4 630
790X motherboard, perhaps 790XT-UD3L or UD3P
Same everything else.

I doubt a i5 build can be accomplished given your budget unless you're aiming for the dualcore i5 (i5-661 or i5-665K).

 

[Dangman]

About the video card, are you saying that a 5770 doesn't have enough horsepower for a 1920x1080?
Here in Italy the 5850 is quite expensive, priced at about € 300!!!. Moreover, are a 5850 and a PII 925 matched in terms of performance?I mean, won't the 925 be too slow for a 5850?

Thanks!

The HD 5770 is enough for 1920x1080 if you only/want need low to medium settings. For high to near max settings, the HD 5850 is the far better fit. However for medium to high settings, check out the HD 5830. At least here in the U.S, the HD 5830 is the exact middle between the HD 5850 and HD 5770 both in price and performance. However both the HD 5850 and HD 5830 would require a larger PSU than the Corsair 400CX.

The Phenom II 925 isn't that much of a bottleneck. With that said, a Phenom II 955 would be a better choice. If you can spring the extra cash, the Core i5 750 is also good choice.

EDIT: I don't recommend the Core i3 or Core i5 dual core route. Both have piss poor price to performance ratio IMO.

 

[meeemst]

And the 925 is actually plenty powerful in its own right. While yes it is a little slow compared to other higher priced processors, its nothing overclocking cant solve, though I see you don't want to overclock.

I meant that I have no plans for "serious" overclocking: i have very poor expertise on that issue but as i red around the web such kind of processors are quite easy to overclock in moderate ways (i mean gaining some hundred of Mhz without adding special coolers or changing vcores and so on)
If some gains could be achieved easily they are welcome

 

[Shadowssong]

The HD 5770 is enough for 1920x1080 if you only/want need low to medium settings. For high to near max settings, the HD 5850 is the far better fit. However for medium to high settings, check out the HD 5830. At least here in the U.S, the HD 5830 is the exact middle between the HD 5850 and HD 5770 both in price and performance. However both the HD 5850 and HD 5830 would require a larger PSU than the Corsair 400CX.

The Phenom II 925 isn't that much of a bottleneck. With that said, a Phenom II 955 would be a better choice. If you can spring the extra cash, the Core i5 750 is also good choice.

EDIT: I don't recommend the Core i3 or Core i5 dual core route. Both have piss poor price to performance ratio IMO.

^This. And extra +1 to no on the i3/i5 unless its the i5 750.

 

[meeemst]

I will gather some information about the 5830

another question: i can't figure if having 4 cores instead of 2 is a huge benefit when gaming
i red some articles that said that there are few games that really benefit from multi-core configuration and that the main factor in this case is the clock frequency

what about a intel core duo @ 3 ghz?may it be a good deal since it is cheaper than a 4 core @ the same frequency?

 

[Shadowssong]

I will gather some information about the 5830

another question: i can't figure if having 4 cores instead of 2 is a huge benefit when gaming
i red some articles that said that there are few games that really benefit from multi-core configuration and that the main factor in this case is the clock frequency

what about a intel core duo @ 3 ghz?may it be a good deal since it is cheaper than a 4 core @ the same frequency?

No, get a quad or better. Dual cores are now old tech, no point in building a new computer that is already behind the curve.

 

[E4g1e]

what about a intel core duo @ 3 ghz?may it be a good deal since it is cheaper than a 4 core @ the same frequency?

I wouldn't go this route at this point because the dual-core processors now cost almost the same price as a quad-core at the same clock speed with the same FSB frequency and a comparable amount of L2 cache per core. In fact, I wouldn't buy a "new" LGA775 CPU at all unless you can find a Q9550 for less than $180. Plus, that "Core Duo" that you mentioned (or the Q9550, for that matter) would not fit any motherboards designed for the i5/i7 (LGA1156) at all.

 

[Dangman]

I will gather some information about the 5830

another question: i can't figure if having 4 cores instead of 2 is a huge benefit when gaming
i red some articles that said that there are few games that really benefit from multi-core configuration and that the main factor in this case is the clock frequency

what about a intel core duo @ 3 ghz?may it be a good deal since it is cheaper than a 4 core @ the same frequency?

Many games these days are taking advantage of quad-core CPUs. Such games include Arma II, BF:BC2, GTA 4, Supreme Commander 2, etc, etc. Those articles you read are more than likely outdated.

No, an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU would be an absurdly stupid buy at this point in time considering that equally fast or faster AMD Phenom II CPUs can be had for significantly less than many Core 2 Duo CPUs. Not to mention that many games are taking advantage of quad-cores so no poing in getting a dual-core these days unless you have a very very limited budget ($500 and below).

 

[HardwareGuru]

A dual core cpu would not be a good buy unless you have a very very tight budget and you have no choice but to get a dual core cpu. If your budget permits, get at least a quad core cpu. They already have a 6 core cpu like Intels Core i7 980X (Gulftownand) and AMDs 1055t (Thuban) 6 cores out already. Why bother getting a dual core nowdays? However, if you're someone who doesn't do intensive things on the pc then, I can see why he/she need only a dual core.

 

[Deluded]

EDIT: I don't recommend the Core i3 or Core i5 dual core route. Both have piss poor price to performance ratio IMO.

I happen to run a budget i3 gaming system (see sig) and its been very good to me.... though I did get the motherboard and CPU as part of a bundle deal from Fry's. Plus, I've seen plenty of reviews that shows i3 hanging with the big boys (PhII 965, i5 750, i7 860) just fine when overclocked.

Really, I can see that if you're buying parts separately, you can probably snag a quadcore for the same price as the i3 or i5 dualcores, but not unless you can snag a deal like I did (free mobo with CPU purchase from Fry's). Really, your aversion to i3 is unwarranted.

 

[Dangman]

Really, I can see that if you're buying parts separately, you can probably snag a quadcore for the same price as the i3 or i5 dualcores, but not unless you can snag a deal like I did (free mobo with CPU purchase from Fry's). Really, your aversion to i3 is unwarranted.

My aversion to the i3 is warranted since not many people here on the forums actually live near a Fry's. As such, they can't take advantage of a Fry's CPU + mobo combo deal. The OP himself is from Italy.

So while FOR YOU, the Core i3 was a good buy, for the vast majority of people here on the forums, it's not a good buy for the money.

 

[meeemst]

Thanks guys, you are great!

i will let you know when i purchase the stuff and put it togheter

see ya

 

[meeemst]

Buongiorno guys!
i resumed this old post to avoid starting another one with the same subject

so next week i'm buying all the stuff

i also gathered some extra-cash to spend so my budget is a little higher than what previously expected

looking at the stores in my city I found 3 suitable configurations:

common to all the configurations are:
PSU: modular 600w
Heatsink: Hyper TX3 Tower 3 (any suggestion?)
Video: Asus EAH5850
HDD: 1 Tb WD Caviar Green or Caviar Black...?what's the difference?
Mouse & Keyboard: wireless

SETUP N. 1 ----- price: € 1100
CPU: i7 930
MB: Asus p6x58d
RAM: corsair xms3 6gb 1600mhz

SETUP N.2 ----- price: € 910
CPU: i5 760
MB:ASUS P7H55D-M EVO LGA1156
RAM: corsair xms3 4gb 1600mhz

SETUP N.3 ----- price: € 850
CPU: Phenom II 955 BE
MB: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO
RAM: corsair xms3 4gb 1600mhz

which of them would you prefer?
are there any changes i can do within the same price range?

i read that a phenom II @ 3,4 Ghz with this config will do a good job playing at medium high settings and so i will spare about € 250 compared to i7, but if you say the i7 config is worth in terms of extra-performance i will go for it

the i5 config is an open question since i really don't now where it stands compared to the other two...

thanks guys!

Ciao ciao

 

[E4g1e]

At the prices in your country I feel that the i5-760 configuration offers the best balance between performance and price.

 

[Dangman]

I concur with E4g1e

 

[djBon2112]

I'd personally recommend the Phenom II 955. I have the same chip, and can get it to 4.1 GHz on the stock cooler (don't run it for long there though, the reason I stopped was heat; it runs stock right now). Totally worth it, especially considering how cheap they are versus the i5/i7. Plus it's BE so all you do is change the CPU multiplier and reboot! No messing with bus speeds and memory timings

And I don't see it giving me any problems in any games I play. 3.2 GHz on a Phenom II is about equal to 3.2 GHz on a C2Q, which is less performance than an i5/i7, but is all you truly need unless you want to break records/fold/encode/etc. Save the $250 and get a better video card or something

EDIT: Actually, I have almost that EXACT setup, only the video card is a 4850 (different case and PSU too, but meh to those ). I recommend it personally, you save quite a bit of money over Intel.

 

[Dangman]

Something that I just noticed: Which modular 600W PSU were you planning to get?

 

[meeemst]

Something that I just noticed: Which modular 600W PSU were you planning to get?

Unfortunately here where I live the shops have a limite supply of PSUs...
One of the best deals I found was the Cooler Master Silent PRO 600W for € 109...but yesterday i found another shop that for the same price offers the 700W model

another question...i am a bit confused about the MB chipset
what's the difference between AMD 790, 880GM 890FX or 890GX???

 

[Dangman]

Unfortunately here where I live the shops have a limite supply of PSUs...
One of the best deals I found was the Cooler Master Silent PRO 600W for € 109...but yesterday i found another shop that for the same price offers the 700W model

The Silent Pro series is a decent enough series even if a little light on the +12V rail.

another question...i am a bit confused about the MB chipset
what's the difference between AMD 790, 880GM 890FX or 890GX???

880G has onboard video but limited to one PCI-E x16 slot at x16 speed and a second PCI-E x16 or x4 slot at x4 speeds.

890GX is basically the 880G but with a slightly faster onboard video, more overclocking options, and the capability to have two physical PCI-E x16 slots operating at x8/x8 speeds when both are used..

890FX is basically the same as the 890GX but with more PCI-E lanes for x16/x16 Crossfire capability and no onboard video. With that said, that doesn't really matter as HardOCP has shown that there's very little difference between x16/16 and x4/x4 performance let alone x8/x8.

The 790GX predates all of the above chipsets and is somewhat similar to the 890GX but uses an older and slower onboard video, overclocks a little worse, and generally doesn't have USB 3.0 and and full native SATA 6Gb/s support (meaning all of the SATA slots are SATA 6Gb/s) like most of the 800 series chipsets do.

 

[meeemst]

The Silent Pro series is a decent enough series even if a little light on the +12V rail.



880G has onboard video but limited to one PCI-E x16 slot at x16 speed and a second PCI-E x16 or x4 slot at x4 speeds.

890GX is basically the 880G but with a slightly faster onboard video, more overclocking options, and the capability to have two physical PCI-E x16 slots operating at x8/x8 speeds when both are used..

890FX is basically the same as the 890GX but with more PCI-E lanes for x16/x16 Crossfire capability and no onboard video. With that said, that doesn't really matter as HardOCP has shown that there's very little difference between x16/16 and x4/x4 performance let alone x8/x8.

The 790GX predates all of the above chipsets and is somewhat similar to the 890GX but uses an older and slower onboard video, overclocks a little worse, and generally doesn't have USB 3.0 and and full native SATA 6Gb/s support (meaning all of the SATA slots are SATA 6Gb/s) like most of the 800 series chipsets do.

Got it, so given the fact i will go for a discrete video card, what chipset would you suggest?
the 890FX?

 

[Dangman]

Got it, so given the fact i will go for a discrete video card, what chipset would you suggest?
the 890FX?

Well it also depends on any other features that you may want in a motherboard. So far, for your sole requirement of single GPU support, any of the chipsets mentioned will do that just fine.

But I generally recommend motherboard, not chipsets, that fits the OP's needs and budget.

 

[meeemst]

Well it also depends on any other features that you may want in a motherboard. So far, for your sole requirement of single GPU support, any of the chipsets mentioned will do that just fine.

But I generally recommend motherboard, not chipsets, that fits the OP's needs and budget.

Well, talking about MB features what i really need is a good integrated audio, and good memory performance (no integrated video possibly)
if i go phenom II i will OC it through multiplier adjustment rather than bus clock or vcore changes
i don't think i will ever need SLI/CFX...

Here i can find:
ASUS M4A89-TD PRO (890FX)
ASROCK 890-FX DELUXE4
ASUS M4A79T DELUXE
all for around €160
or
ASUS M4N98TD EVO for €125
ASROCK 880 GXH USB3 for €99

other

 

[djBon2112]

Well, talking about MB features what i really need is a good integrated audio, and good memory performance (no integrated video possibly)
if i go phenom II i will OC it through multiplier adjustment rather than bus clock or vcore changes
i don't think i will ever need SLI/CFX...

Here i can find:
ASUS M4A89-TD PRO (890FX)
ASROCK 890-FX DELUXE4
ASUS M4A79T DELUXE
all for around €160
or
ASUS M4N98TD EVO for €125
ASROCK 880 GXH USB3 for €99

other

As long as you have a discrete video card on a GX/G your onboard isn't touched; I have the GX mobo you mentioned and the memory performance is great. Plus, if you want to enable it CrossfireX can give you a bit more performance by utilizing the onboard GPU with the discrete one.