# $800 build, which path to take?



## ebolamonkey3 (Oct 23, 2010)

So my pastor asked me to build him a new computer roll and his budget is $800 not including peripherals and monitor. He can stretch up to $1000 (max) but would prefer not to go beyond $800.

Computer is for normal multimedia use, some light photoshop, and some light gaming. He plays mostly strategy games like Company of Heroes and Civ 5, so nothing to extreme, I figure that a single GTX 460 768mb would be plenty in terms of graphical horsepower, and he can always SLI in the future.

So which platform should I take? On the one hand, P55 seems perfect, but it's a doomed platform. On the other, X58 is awesome, but probably out of his budget. Then there's AMD, but AM3 is also going to be replaced shortly. So what do you guys think?

Oh, he can wait till end of Nov, for the Black Friday sale, so I have some time to decide what to build for him.

*Edit: Oh, since my pastor's 40 something and don't know anything about computer, he won't be overclocking.


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## 1nf3rn0x (Oct 23, 2010)

Hmm, a nice AMD 965 would be good. It's good for photoshop and good bang for buck. I would go with this:
Amd 965
4gb ddr3 ram 
650w (ish) psu
AM3 890x with sli capability so if he wants to get into some serious gaming he can just buy another gtx 460
Case, whatever he wants
HDD: two 500gb wd cav blacks would do fine.
Thats about it, great and cheap. It can easily do what he's asking and more.


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## Deleted member 74752 (Oct 23, 2010)

Why does everyone think i3/i5 is doomed? Socket 1156 is the perfect example of balance between cost/performance. Get him a 530, cheap Gigabyte mb and a decent video card and he can do most anything he wants. (And can do it on the stock hsf as well)


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## Dent1 (Oct 23, 2010)

rickss69 said:


> Why does everyone think i3/i5 is doomed? Socket 1156 is the perfect example of balance between cost/performance. Get him a 530, cheap Gigabyte mb and a decent video card and he can do most anything he wants. (And can do it on the stock hsf as well)



Because for the most part the i3 5xx is doomed, although its enough for every day tasks, in terms of value for money it costs more than and Athlon X4 which outperforms it in most tasks with ease which is why we all avoid the i3. The Phenom II X4 costs almost the same as the i3 which makes me wonder why the i3 even exists?


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## Fishymachine (Oct 23, 2010)

LGA 1156 is first to die(as close as shopping season),followed by AM3 and X58(both late 2011)...also swap the GTX 460 for a HD 6850 http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/28.html


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## Deleted member 74752 (Oct 23, 2010)

Dent1 said:


> Because for the most part the i3 5xx is doomed, although its enough for every day tasks, in terms of value for money it costs more than and Athlon X4 which outperforms it in most tasks with ease which is why we all aoid the i3. The Phenom II X4 costs almost the same as the i3 which makes me wonder why the i3 even exists?



Can your X4 do this?


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## Fishymachine (Oct 23, 2010)

no...but than again if pure clocks is your game go for a Pentium D...otherwise a unlocked Phenom II or even a Athlon II would do the trick


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## Deleted member 74752 (Oct 23, 2010)

Clock for clock it will run much cooler than any other chip out there.


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## ebolamonkey3 (Oct 23, 2010)

Hmm.. maybe a cheap Phenom II 955 would be the better route. 

Reason I'm not going w/ 6850 is b/c it's $50 more than a GTX 460 768mb, which is already more than plenty for him.


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## Dent1 (Oct 23, 2010)

rickss69 said:


> Can your X4 do this?
> 
> http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/ScreenHunter_01Oct091843.jpg



What has a synthetic benchmark got to do with anything. I'd rather have a processor that is crap at benching but is better in actual applications.


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## Fishymachine (Oct 23, 2010)

SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 ...
20$ more than the cheapest 460 and has stock volt regulation


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## genta3d (Oct 23, 2010)

Im a little confusing here, is it really a $800 PC needed ?

Because with this build :

G.SKILL ripjaws series 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666   at $70
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB for $88
MSI 460GTX cyclone 768MB for $165
COOLER MASTER 460W   for $30
BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 for $58
AMD Phenom II X4 810 AM3 for $116

GRAND TOTAL $527

Mostly you can play smooth any games at HD resolution, 1920x1080 (MSI Cyclone is rocks !!). Especially your friend only want to do "normal multimedia use, some light photoshop, and some light gaming". Even if a X58 on his budget, its just a waste of money (just my opinion). 

But hey, you want a $800 so be it :

G.SKILL ripjaws series 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666   at $70
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB for $88
MSI 460GTX cyclone 768MB for $165
COOLER MASTER SIlent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W SLI   at $80
MSI NF980-G65 AM3 NVDIA nForce 980a SLI Ready for $150
AMD Phenom II X4 970 BE   for $181

GRAND TOTAL $734

It has an SLI ready motherboard, SLI ready power supply, and the CPU have enough power to take on SLI if you want to attach another 460GTX.

Hope you like it...


*EDIT :*
For case, mostly is possible. Just pick up some $50 case with good brand like coolermaster, antec, etc. They good for you. Or a $100 COOLER MASTER 922 for your ready SLI....


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## Kenshai (Oct 23, 2010)

rickss69 said:


> Why does everyone think i3/i5 is doomed? Socket 1156 is the perfect example of balance between cost/performance. Get him a 530, cheap Gigabyte mb and a decent video card and he can do most anything he wants. (And can do it on the stock hsf as well)



Because Socket 1155 is already slated to be released this quarter or the next.



genta3d said:


> Im a little confusing here, is it really a $800 PC needed ?
> 
> Because with this build :
> 
> ...



Leave room for an operating system. Not everyone steals them


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## Dent1 (Oct 23, 2010)

^

I agree, this rig can be built on sub $600. The second rig with the X4 970 can be swapped with the X6 1055T which is $10 more.


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## genta3d (Oct 23, 2010)

Kenshai said:


> Leave room for an operating system. Not everyone steals them



Im forget about that @_@

But dont know, since he says :


> his budget is $800 not including peripherals and monitor


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## Deleted member 74752 (Oct 23, 2010)

Dent1 said:


> What has a synthetic benchmark got to do with anything. I'd rather have a processor that is crap at benching but is better in actual applications.



"Computer is for normal multimedia use, some light photoshop, and some light gaming."

That be the case then just upgrade to the i5 750...it won't be beaten down by any of the above offerings in any application.

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache L...


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## Reventon (Oct 23, 2010)

460 with an i5 is more than enough. My rig is outdated and I run Dirt 2 with mostly high settings at 30fps+


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## ebolamonkey3 (Oct 23, 2010)

Wow, thanks for all the responses guys!



Fishymachine said:


> SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 ...
> 20$ more than the cheapest 460 and has stock volt regulation



A 460 768mb is $40 cheaper today. But all depends on the price on black friday I guess.



Dent1 said:


> What has a synthetic benchmark got to do with anything. I'd rather have a processor that is crap at benching but is better in actual applications.



Very true!



genta3d said:


> Im a little confusing here, is it really a $800 PC needed ?
> 
> Because with this build :
> 
> ...



Many thanks for the build list! I guess I should've elaborated, he's the kind of person that would keep a pc and use it for 6 or 7 years w/o upgrades except for adding RAM and hard drives, so I want to max it out as much as possible given the budget constraints.



Dent1 said:


> ^
> 
> I agree, this rig can be built on sub $600. The second rig with the X4 970 can be swapped with the X6 1055T which is $10 more.



Yup, will probably go w/ Thuban if I go the AMD route.



genta3d said:


> Im forget about that @_@
> 
> But dont know, since he says :



Haha, he's buying the Win7 family 3 pack. It would be hugely ironic if my pastor's computer is running on pirated OS


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## Dent1 (Oct 23, 2010)

rickss69 said:


> "Computer is for normal multimedia use, some light photoshop, and some light gaming."
> 
> That be the case then just upgrade to the i5 750...it won't be beaten down by any of the above offerings in any application.
> 
> Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache L...



The i5 750 would be a much better choice than a dual core i3. The i5 750 is arguably one of the better processors discussed thus far, but in "any" application I'm not sure, it still has weaknesses.


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## Deleted member 74752 (Oct 23, 2010)

Dent1 said:


> The i5 750 would be a much better choice than a dual core i3. The i5 750 is arguably one of the better processors discussed thus far, but in "any" application I'm not sure, it still has weaknesses.



"Computer is for normal multimedia use, some light photoshop, and some light gaming."

As does any processor, but not weaker than anything that has been offered here.


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## Dent1 (Oct 23, 2010)

ebolamonkey3 said:


> Many thanks for the build list! I guess I should've elaborated, he's the kind of person that would keep a pc and use it for 6 or 7 years w/o upgrades except for adding RAM and hard drives, so I want to max it out as much as possible given the budget constraints.



I wouldn’t advise that he keeps the rig 7 years, from trends we can see that multithreaded applications is rising in popularity so IMO thuban is the best bet for anyone that's keeping a rig for almost a decade. Also according to many tech sites socket AM3 will be supported with variants of Bulldozers which are around the corner if he feels that more power is needed. In this situation, I would either get one of the two fastest from AMD or Intel, or I would get a budget Athlon II X3 or X4 and deliver a rig way under budget and offer to build a new rig in another 4 years.


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## overclocking101 (Oct 23, 2010)

1156 is not a doomed platform whatsoever. when 1155 launches and everyone see how terrible it is that you cant overclock unless you buy specific cpu's sandy bridge will flop. k cpu's are nice but overclocking has always been about manipulating the buss speed for more performance and taking that away well is a big mistake. I would get him a nice P55 setup. p55 performance is much better the amd's and about the same cost. going amd is an absolute last resort option.


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## Kenshai (Oct 23, 2010)

overclocking101 said:


> 1156 is not a doomed platform whatsoever. when 1155 launches and everyone see how terrible it is that you cant overclock unless you buy specific cpu's sandy bridge will flop. k cpu's are nice but overclocking has always been about manipulating the buss speed for more performance and taking that away well is a big mistake. I would get him a nice P55 setup. p55 performance is much better the amd's and about the same cost. going amd is an absolute last resort option.




You seem to think that the majority of people who own computers overclock it. This is simply not the case and a sandy bridge chip would be absolutely perfect for this pc that will never be overclocked and the performance it offers.


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## Deleted member 74752 (Oct 23, 2010)

Aw heck, go all out on it and there will be no need to think upgrade...


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## TSX420J (Oct 23, 2010)

I am building a htpc saw this thread and thought if I substituted some parts you can 
get a killer PC for around 660. Shipped

You can unlock the cores to make the x2 into a x4. 


COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / ...

Rosewill Green Series RG530-S12 530W Continuous @4...

MSI 760GM-E51 AM3 AMD 760G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Moth...

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Callisto 3.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 ...

G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1...

EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB...

LG Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-...

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 ...


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## Kantastic (Oct 23, 2010)

ebola, you pretty much live at MicroCenter & Fry's, is there a reason you can't go down there and pick up a hot combo deal? It'd ease the budget restrictions and you can plan the rest of the parts afterwards.


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## Dent1 (Oct 23, 2010)

TSX420J said:


> I am building a htpc saw this thread and thought if I substituted some parts you can
> get a killer PC for around 660. Shipped
> 
> You can unlock the cores to make the x2 into a x4.



Sometimes, you need a lucky batch to unlock and these batches are becoming hard to get due to AMD's improvements in fabrication process. Even so one of the two cores, or both of the two cores can be unstable. Its luck. And if you are unlucky, that $84 could be better spent on a Athlon II X3 which would outperform it the Phenom II X2.

But overall the rig you posted looks good for $660 I'm loving the GTX 470 they're bad ass


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## TSX420J (Oct 23, 2010)

Dent1 said:


> Sometimes, you need a lucky batch to unlock and these batches are becoming hard to get due to AMD's improvements in fabrication process. Even so one of the two cores, or both of the two cores can be unstable. Its luck. And if you are unlucky, that $84 could be better spent on a Athlon II X3 which would outperform it the Phenom II X2.
> 
> But overall the rig you posted looks good for $660 I'm loving the GTX 470 they're bad ass



Ahh, ok I thought it'd be easier. NM then. Athlon II X3 it is.


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## Kantastic (Oct 23, 2010)

Dent1 said:


> Sometimes, you need a lucky batch to unlock and these batches are becoming hard to get due to AMD's improvements in fabrication process. Even so one of the two cores, or both of the two cores can be unstable. Its luck. And if you are unlucky, that $84 could be better spent on a Athlon II X3 which would outperform it the Phenom II X2.
> 
> But overall the rig you posted looks good for $660 I'm loving the GTX 470 they're bad ass



If their yields are getting better, that would mean less defective cores, and more disabled cores. At least, in terms of the Phenom II line that's true, because they're pretty much all native quads.


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## Dent1 (Oct 23, 2010)

TSX420J said:


> Ahh, ok I thought it'd be easier. NM then. Athlon II X3 it is.



Yeah, the Athlon II X3 is the safe bet. The Athlon II X3s can potentially unlock to X4's or even unlock hidden L3 cache or both. Again its luck though. But  if the X3 fails to unlock its still be faster than the Phenom II X2 out of the box for the same price.



Kantastic said:


> If their yields are getting better, that would mean less defective cores, and more disabled cores. At least, in terms of the Phenom II line that's true, because they're pretty much all native quads.



Its possible. I believe they would only disable a working cores to meet supplier demmands now the fabrication has improved. In the last few months I've noticed that a lot of people on this forum have complained about ACC not unlocking anything, not even a unstable core.


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## genta3d (Oct 24, 2010)

So, about your friend, will he overclock that Athon II X3 ?
Its nice to have some boost to balance the GPU.


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## ebolamonkey3 (Oct 25, 2010)

Dent1 said:


> The i5 750 would be a much better choice than a dual core i3. The i5 750 is arguably one of the better processors discussed thus far, but in "any" application I'm not sure, it still has weaknesses.



Well, considering he's going to keep this computer for the better part of a decade, I figured going for the hyperthreading on an i7 860 would be worth it.



Dent1 said:


> I wouldn’t advise that he keeps the rig 7 years, from trends we can see that multithreaded applications is rising in popularity so IMO thuban is the best bet for anyone that's keeping a rig for almost a decade. Also according to many tech sites socket AM3 will be supported with variants of Bulldozers which are around the corner if he feels that more power is needed. In this situation, I would either get one of the two fastest from AMD or Intel, or I would get a budget Athlon II X3 or X4 and deliver a rig way under budget and offer to build a new rig in another 4 years.



Yea, multi-threading is only going to get more popular, and if I decide on AM3 I'll definitely be going Thuban. Btw, are you sure that AM3 will be able to work with variants of Bulldozer? I thought that was for AM3+ only?



Kenshai said:


> You seem to think that the majority of people who own computers overclock it. This is simply not the case and a sandy bridge chip would be absolutely perfect for this pc that will never be overclocked and the performance it offers.



Thank you Kenshai, my pastor is definitely not the overclocking sort 



rickss69 said:


> Aw heck, go all out on it and there will be no need to think upgrade...
> 
> http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/DSC00574.jpg
> 
> http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/ScreenHunter_01Oct221445.jpg



Heh, if only I can buy all that hardware for $800...



TSX420J said:


> I am building a htpc saw this thread and thought if I substituted some parts you can
> get a killer PC for around 660. Shipped
> 
> You can unlock the cores to make the x2 into a x4.
> ...



Thanks for the suggestion! But I'd probably pick a better PSU so he can SLI or Crossfire in the future. And unlocking isn't that reliable, I think it might be better to just get a quad to begin with, especially given the X4 630's low price.



Kantastic said:


> ebola, you pretty much live at MicroCenter & Fry's, is there a reason you can't go down there and pick up a hot combo deal? It'd ease the budget restrictions and you can plan the rest of the parts afterwards.



Of course I can! But MC doesn't have Intel combo deals, and Fry's hasn't been posting any good ones lately 



genta3d said:


> So, about your friend, will he overclock that Athon II X3 ?
> Its nice to have some boost to balance the GPU.



Genta, my friend will not be overclocking anything in his computer, which is why I'm trying to get him a better CPU (X6 or i7) and a less powerful GPU (GTX 460 768mb) since he plays mostly strategy games (think CoH and Civ 5).


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## de.das.dude (Oct 25, 2010)

give him an AMD X6 an Ati 5770 4gigs or RAM, get the cheapest mobo with PCIe, buy a Creative Sound card, 22" TFT, DVD burner, mouse keyboard, and spend the rest on speakers.


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## yogurt_21 (Oct 25, 2010)

no point in an x6 over an x4, especially when an x4 can be had for 100$ 

and I'd recomend the athlon II X4 640 if he's not overclocking, the extra 6$ will be worth the 200MHZ bump. 
AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Ca...
cheap mobo
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherb...

ddr3, you can down clock them to 1333 and tighten timings or setup a mult on the cpu to make them run at default
OCZ Special Ops Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3...
wd 1tb
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALS 1TB 7200 RPM ...
cooler master haf 912
COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS ...
cheap burner
ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DV...
windows 7 home premium
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for...

PSU Corsair 500w should be plenty
CORSAIR Builder Series CMPSU-500CX 500W ATX12V v2....

leaves ~ 180 for the gpu if you have to pay taxes, or 230 if you don't. if you don't have to pay taxes when buying from the egg like me I'd say 

6870 tell him the card is worth the 10$ over 800$.
HIS H687F1G2M Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI...
or sapphire if it's in stock when you order

if you do have to pay taxes I'd say 6850
GIGABYTE GV-R685D5-1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit ...

or for the green camp if that's yours/his preference

gtx460 768MB for the with tax budget
MSI N460GTX Twin Frozr II SOC GeForce GTX 460 (Fer...

for the without tax budget, tell him you went 20$ over but there's a free game
Palit NE5TX470F09DA GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB...

either way it'll be one hell of a rig for 800$

edit: also if you've got a student email account you can get the os from the ultimate steal for 35$ cheaper and it'll be pro, also if you've another dvd drive laying about that'll save 19$, the more you can tick away, the better gpu you can get him.


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## genta3d (Oct 25, 2010)

ebolamonkey3 said:


> Genta, my friend will not be overclocking anything in his computer, which is why I'm trying to get him a better CPU (X6 or i7) and a less powerful GPU (GTX 460 768mb) since he plays mostly strategy games (think CoH and Civ 5).



I see, Im just thinking you need some OC the X3 if you want to put a 470 GTX with it .


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## Dent1 (Oct 25, 2010)

ebolamonkey3 said:


> if I decide on AM3 I'll definitely be going Thuban. Btw, are you sure that AM3 will be able to work with variants of Bulldozer? I thought that was for AM3+ only?



AMD have stated that there will be a backward compatible version the Bulldozer for AM3, they've said this many times and its in documentation which can be found on the internet. They can change their minds between now and Bulldozer's release.

As you can see below, the image claims that the Scorpius Platform will feature Bulldozer on AM3 in 2011.


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## Kantastic (Oct 25, 2010)

It has been established that Bulldozer will not be compatible with AM3, though rumor has it that current AM3 CPU's will be compatible with whatever platform Bulldozer runs on. Current 890FX chipsets supposedly lack some features for Bulldozer to be taken advantage of.


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## Dent1 (Oct 25, 2010)

So their roadmap has changed since November 2009? :s


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## Kantastic (Oct 25, 2010)

Dent1 said:


> So their roadmap has changed since November 2009? :s



It's been a year, no surprise that they've made some (major) changes. AM2-AM3 was a good run, but if it takes a new socket to maximize performance, I'm all for it.


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## Fourstaff (Oct 25, 2010)

From what I know, AMD is going to increase the prices of the 68xx soon, so I think you better pick up the graphics card first. Source:http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,2776-23.html

Get a low maintenance case with less holes, less holes=less dust and I think Mr. Pastor would not be too keen to clean up his computer every so often (if he does at all). Also, if you have some money to spare, get the Phenom II instead, I think its better. 

I don't see why all the hate is directed to the 1156, while the i3 is somewhat less powerful than the Athlon II, he get the option to upgrade to a respectable i7 870 which will completely destroy the Phenom II.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Oct 26, 2010)

Kenshai said:


> Leave room for an operating system. Not everyone steals them



Typically I find people don't need to steal them. Most everyone has come into possession of a windows key of some sort.

I hate how every single time there's one of these threads people need to be reminded that their isn't a notable price difference for similarly performing parts. And all consumer sockets out are going to be replaced in the next year, so one pick isn't really any better than another. Cpu comparison http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/109?vs=147

Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147144

HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139018

Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226154

Board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157203

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

$768 after shipping, $743 after rebates.

If you want to beef up the card switch to 6870 with this cpu/card combo
Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, L...

Which would put it at $824 after ship, $814 w/rebate.


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## Dent1 (Oct 26, 2010)

Fourstaff said:


> I don't see why all the hate is directed to the 1156, while the i3 is somewhat less powerful than the Athlon II, he get the option to upgrade to a respectable i7 870 which will completely destroy the Phenom II.



That is subjective, yes there i7 870 is probably more suitable CPU for the OP's needs, but there is plenty of applications which the Phenom II, X6 in particular would also destroy the i7 870. Going from a Athlon II X3/X4 to a Phenom II X6 is almost a big a jump as going from a i3 to a i7, if it means saving a few bob along the way it seems more appealing. Saying that i7s are appealing by default.


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