New system for a friend

[BlurryS]

Hey guys. My friend has asked me to put together a pc. He isn't very hardcore gamer, some casual games and he does'nt want to max them out. Also he was under the budget of 240€. Here is what i've put together. What do you think ?

Mobo:GIGA-BYTE MB GF7025/NF630A SAM3 MATX/GA-M68MT-S2P GIGA-BYTE 36.75€
PSU:CHIEFTEC GPA PSU 500W 12CM ATX2.3 80PLUS GPA-500S8 26.50 €
CPU:AMD CPU ATH II X2 255 SAM3 BOX/65W 3100 ADX255OCGMBOX AMD 49.90€
GPU:SAPPHIRE VGA PCIE16 HD5670 1GB GDDR3 59.70€
HDD:WD HDD SATA 500GB 7200RPM 6GB/S/16MB WD5000AAKX 35.50€
RAM:KINGSTON 2GB PC10600 DDR3 1333MHz CL9 KVR1333D3N9/2G x2 20.50€

228.85€

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Hey guys. My friend has asked me to put together a pc. He isn't very hardcore gamer, some casual games and he does'nt want to max them out. Also he was under the budget of 240€. Here is what i've put together. What do you think ?

Mobo:GIGA-BYTE MB GF7025/NF630A SAM3 MATX/GA-M68MT-S2P GIGA-BYTE 36.75€
PSU:CHIEFTEC GPA PSU 500W 12CM ATX2.3 80PLUS GPA-500S8 26.50 €
CPU:AMD CPU ATH II X2 255 SAM3 BOX/65W 3100 ADX255OCGMBOX AMD 49.90€
GPU:SAPPHIRE VGA PCIE16 HD5670 1GB GDDR3 59.70€
HDD:WD HDD SATA 500GB 7200RPM 6GB/S/16MB WD5000AAKX 35.50€
RAM:KINGSTON 2GB PC10600 DDR3 1333MHz CL9 KVR1333D3N9/2G x2 20.50€

228.85€

Maybe try and get a better mobo but for what you described, it's perfect. I assume he already has a case and ODD?

 

[BlurryS]

Yeah, case and ODD, both

 

[BlurryS]

Btw, whats wrong with the mobo ? i couldnt find any AM3+ boards and Intel system would have been more expensive

 

[NdMk2o1o]

The chipset is rather old there are better boards for 10-20euros more, either that or spend the extra 20euro on an x3

 

[BlurryS]

K, what about
ASUS AM3 NF630A DDR3 SATA2 RAID ATX M4N68T LE V2

or

GIGA-BYTE MB AMD 760G/SB710 SAM3+ MATX/GA-78LMT-S2P GIGA-BYTE

 

[Fourstaff]

Have you considered the APU chips? The AMD A8-3850 has 400 stream processors, same as the 5670, but has 4 cores and should come out more or less the same price as the GPU+processor, maybe a bit cheaper. Motherboards is going to cost a bit more though.

 

[BlurryS]

I didn't see any of these in the sale. Probably gonna go with the X2 Athlon, he wants to order it tomorrow. Looks like he is glad tho

 

[Fourstaff]

If you are going for Athlon might as well follow NdMk's advice, you will want the extra core(s). As for the motherboards, I will take the 760G chipset.

 

[BlurryS]

It's not for me. My friend said that 2 cores is all he needs. Im gonna pick 760G chipset then.

 

[Dent1]

It's not for me. My friend said that 2 cores is all he needs. Im gonna pick 760G chipset then.

Forget what your friend says. It's you he'll bug if the system is below expectations lol

The 760G chipset is borderline OK. You shoudl be able to find a 785G chipset for almost the same price.

You can also find a Athlon II X3 for almost the same price as the X2.


2GBs of ram is the minimum you want to be running on a modern operating system. I'd recommend you install 4GB minimum.

As for video card, see if you can find a cheap or used ATI 5770, 4870 1GB or better yet a 6790

 

[Fourstaff]

It's not for me. My friend said that 2 cores is all he needs. Im gonna pick 760G chipset then.

Well, I thought I needed 2 cores and it turned out that I needed >8 threads (long story). Try not to cheap out here, you really want to at least hit the sweet spot in price/perf.

[Dent1] 760G chipset is fine, for a basic rig you don't need features you can find in the 785G chipset, 2gb of ram is fine too if you are not playing anything major. On the same line, the 5670 with 400 stream processors is ok, I can play Starcraft 2 quite comfortably with my 160 stream processors.

 

[BlurryS]

Ofcourse i would give them something better but 240€ budget is quite low. It was hard enough to put a system together like this lol. And since he didn't give me any time, he told me yesterday to put together a system and today he wants to order it.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Whats so hard, this is a quad core build with 4gb ddr3 and corsair PSU for £230

 

[BlurryS]

The thing is, we dont have A6-3650 processors in here. Anyway, its already ordered. We'll see how it works out.

 

[Dent1]

Saw a few reviews of the Llano APU. For a server or media centre its great. But for casual gaming. you'll get more performance out of a decicated video card and a cheapo Athlon IIX2/X3.

 

[BlurryS]

I think athlon X2 255 3.1ghz and 1gb sapphire 5670 with 4 gigs of ram will work out just fine for casual gaming. For example, i have my old C2D @ 1.86ghz, 3gb ram and HD 3870 running nfs hot pursuit ( 2010 ) almost maxed out ( shadows on medium ), high-res textures turned on and @ 2048x1536 ( old 17" crt ) at quite decent frame rates.

 

[Fourstaff]

I think athlon X2 255 3.1ghz and 1gb sapphire 5670 with 4 gigs of ram will work out just fine for casual gaming. For example, i have my old C2D @ 1.86ghz, 3gb ram and HD 3870 running nfs hot pursuit ( 2010 ) almost maxed out ( shadows on medium ), high-res textures turned on and @ 2048x1536 ( old 17" crt ) at quite decent frame rates.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 is going to make that rig cry.

 

[happita]

I think athlon X2 255 3.1ghz and 1gb sapphire 5670 with 4 gigs of ram will work out just fine for casual gaming. For example, i have my old C2D @ 1.86ghz, 3gb ram and HD 3870 running nfs hot pursuit ( 2010 ) almost maxed out ( shadows on medium ), high-res textures turned on and @ 2048x1536 ( old 17" crt ) at quite decent frame rates.

Actually, that C2D rig isn't that far off performance-wise next to that Phenom 2 rig. I'd say a little better with the P2 rig because of the extra features that the new setup supports. Your friend will have a good time with this thing. Congrats!

 

[BlurryS]

@ Fourstaff, he is not going to play BFBC 2