cheap gaming cpu/mobo

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master noran

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Hey, a friend is looking for a new mobo/cpu for gaming and general usage.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$230 all in
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
USA, FLORIDA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word
"Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, MOBO
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific
about the power supply. List make and model.
Everything including case, HD, a newly purchased 8GB 1600mhz ddr3 kit, 5670 2 gig and the psu from a dell xps 600, pretty sure its a 600W psu, he couldn't find more info then that.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Probably not.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
max res is 1440x900
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? etc.
Some future proof features would be good bit nothing in particular is "needed"]
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
64bit WIN7
 
Which games does your friend play? Some of today's games benefit from a quad-core processor as much as they do a good video card.

Do you (or your friend) live near a Tiger Direct or CompUSA (both owned by the same company) store?
 
tiraides said:
Which games does your friend play? Some of today's games benefit from a quad-core processor as much as they do a good video card.

Do you (or your friend) live near a Tiger Direct or CompUSA (both owned by the same company) store?
Click to expand...

Just about everything, the witcher 2, steam games, serious sam and etc. He's a p4 right now so a cpu/mobo upgrade is long overdue. New card is coming later.

edit: Ordering online is preferred
 
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If you're ready to buy this weekend, consider the following:

$218 - Intel Core i3-2120 and Biostar TZ68A+ combo deal

The above combo deal expires on Saturday, and NewEgg normally doesn't reveal its better combo deals until the second week of the month.

Intel performs better in gaming than AMD, especially once you start spending over $100 on the processor, but the cheapest Sandy Bridge quad-core processor costs nearly $200. The dual-core i3-2120 can compete in gaming benchmarks with AMD's Socket AM3/AM3+ processors, so it should be good enough for most Steam games. (IIRC, The Witcher 2 is one of those games that also benefit from a quad-core.)

With the Biostar TZ68A+, you get most of the benefits of the Intel Z68 platform at a relatively low price. I chose that board as more of a long-term option should you decide to go with a quad-core processor (or possibly one of the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors) in the future. The only true weaknesses of that particular board are its unknown overclocking capabilities (should you or your friend decide to overclock in the future) and the second PCI-E x16 slot running at x4.
 
tiraides said:
If you're ready to buy this weekend, consider the following:

$218 - Intel Core i3-2120 and Biostar TZ68A+ combo deal

The above combo deal expires on Saturday, and NewEgg normally doesn't reveal its better combo deals until the second week of the month.

Intel performs better in gaming than AMD, especially once you start spending over $100 on the processor, but the cheapest Sandy Bridge quad-core processor costs nearly $200. The dual-core i3-2120 can compete in gaming benchmarks with AMD's Socket AM3/AM3+ processors, so it should be good enough for most Steam games. (IIRC, The Witcher 2 is one of those games that also benefit from a quad-core.)

With the Biostar TZ68A+, you get most of the benefits of the Intel Z68 platform at a relatively low price. I chose that board as more of a long-term option should you decide to go with a quad-core processor (or possibly one of the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors) in the future. The only true weaknesses of that particular board are its unknown overclocking capabilities (should you or your friend decide to overclock in the future) and the second PCI-E x16 slot running at x4.
Click to expand...

z68 would be nice but he does not have plans to upgrade anytime soon, I'm looking for good used alternatives but how would something like this compare in the long run?

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=65968&vpn=1055T & M5A97&manufacture=Bundle Deals&promoid=1301
 
Danny Bui said:
The Core i3 2100 outperforms the 1055T in games at stock speed. So the slightly higher clocked Core i3 2120 should definitely outperform the 1055T.
Click to expand...

He went ahead and ordered that 1055T combo, think those extra cores will help with The witcher 2 and even more if he overclocks.

Thanks guys, I'll bump this again when he needs a new case,psu and GPU
 
He had issues purchasing from ncix so he's going to stick with newegg or some other USA based website. Is there a more value oriented quad core combo out there in his price range? I tried searching for combo's on newegg and that whole section is one giant cluster fuck with little filtering options.
 
I guess I was wrong on Witcher 2: After reviewing various benchmarks, I realize that it wasn't the multithreaded game that I was trying to concern you about. I know that GTA IV is one of those games, but I can't remember the complete list of the more modern multithreaded games.

Here's an Intel option:

$120 - Intel Core i3 2120
$80 - Biostar TH67B

... And an AMD option:

$110 - AMD Phenom II X4 960T
$90 - Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3

Both options total $200 each with free ground shipping. However, as it's now January, some new combo deals and other specials will probably start arriving within the next few days.
 
tiraides said:
I guess I was wrong on Witcher 2: After reviewing various benchmarks, I realize that it wasn't the multithreaded game that I was trying to concern you about. I know that GTA IV is one of those games, but I can't remember the complete list of the more modern multithreaded games.

Here's an Intel option:

$120 - Intel Core i3 2120
$80 - Biostar TH67B

... And an AMD option:

$110 - AMD Phenom II X4 960T
$90 - Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3

Both options total $200 each with free ground shipping. However, as it's now January, some new combo deals and other specials will probably start arriving within the next few days.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links, he actually picked out that AMD proc at $109 right before the price went up, along with this mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128519
 
That's one advantage that AMD still has over Intel: more feature-packed motherboards available for a comparatively lower price.
 
The proc easily unlocked to a phenom x6. He picked up an overpriced 600W thermaltake from best buy for almost $90 since the new build needed one. Any recommendations for a better priced PSU that can handle a gpu upgrade in time? Going to try to get him to return the thermaltake.
 
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Consider this instead:

$70 - Seasonic S12II 620 Bronze 620W PSU

It has more than enough power for any single-GPU video card out there. If you're planning a dual-GPU setup, consider:

$130 - Antec HCG-900 900W PSU
 
I think the best deals in recent history (on power supplies) have been on Antec's Neo Eco series. I bought mine for $30AR (a 520W model) They go on sale a lot. Usually at least once a month over at newegg.
 
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