Building a new PC

[CrazyFikus]

My 5-year old gaming PC died (RIP), and now I'm building a new one, my budget is around 850 US Dollars/660 Euro/5000 HRK(local currency). The following specs seem fine to me, but I'd like a second opinion.

Note - I'm linking to a local retailer so some stuff isn't in English.

Spoiler

Motherboard
http://www.portio.hr/index.php?page=artikl&id=050303570

Processor
http://www.portio.hr/index.php?page=artikl&id=050603184

RAM
http://www.portio.hr/index.php?page=artikl&id=8882911

Graphics
http://www.portio.hr/index.php?page=artikl&id=051806736

PSU
http://www.portio.hr/index.php?page=artikl&id=052740032

Case
http://www.portio.hr/index.php?page=artikl&id=052631003

CPU cooler
http://www.portio.hr/index.php?page=artikl&id=050903213

This build is around 775USD/600Eur/4520HRK.

I can salvage hard drives and the optical drive from my old rig so they are not an issue.
I like the motherboard, because from what I've seen, it has good upgrade potential.
Also games these days seem to rely more on RAM and the graphics card, so the processor doesn't need to be ultra powerful (feel free to correct me).
I've also been told that stock AMD coolers are kinda meh, so for overclocking purposes it's better to get an aftermarket one.

 

[AlwaysPractical]

Looks all good and from what I've heardthe AMD Phenom II X4s are great for gaming. Easy overclokcing too, I think.

A bit worried about graphics, though. Not a very good card. Why not try this one? http://www.portio.hr/index.php?page=artikl&id=051806857 An increse in your performance and still within your budget.

 

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

If you happen to want to run Guild Wars 2, I'd get an i5 processor. I have a 3.5GHz Phenom II x4 and it struggles with GW2 (my evidence is that my performance doesn't seem to improve much at all if I turn down settings or lower my resolution). I never get above 40 FPS unless I'm looking at the ground. It drops to mid 20s in cities. So, if you're interested in CPU dependent games, I'd get something better than a Phenom II x4, such as the Intel i5 2500k.

Using the same testing method (lowering settings and/or resolution) my CPU seems to not be quite enough for Sleeping Dogs either. 30-40 FPS in that usually. Just some FYIs according to my experience, happy building.

 

[CrazyFikus]

Thanks for your responses, looking at the graphics card Practical recommended, it does seem a good improvement for a small price increase. I have no intention of playing GW2, but I would like to get an i5, problem is all available ones have a built-in GPU, they are far more expensive, and I'm not sure built-in GPU's are better than dedicated graphics cards.

 

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

From what I've heard, Intel's built-in GPUs are pretty bad. Almost always dedicated graphics cards are better than built-in ones. You're not forced to use the built-in one either, you can still use a dedicated card.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

From what I've heard, Intel's built-in GPUs are pretty bad. Almost always dedicated graphics cards are better than built-in ones. You're not forced to use the built-in one either, you can still use a dedicated card.

Yeah, Intel graphics tech is craptacular. The new Intel HD4000 chipset in the higher end i5 and i7 Ivy Bridge CPUs is getting there in terms of being more than just a multimedia chipset but it's still got nothing on nVidia or AMD graphics chipsets. The improvement is most likely due to the tech Intel has been licencing from nVidia but there are pretty severe limits on what tech nVidia is willing to licence out as it's not in their interest to see on-die integrated GPUs start taking business from the dedicated GPU card market.

As for dedicated Vs integrated/on-die GPUs... A GPU chipset on a dedicated card will out perform the same chipset in an integrated or on-die set up. Essentially a dedicated GPU card offers more in space to add things to the PCB, such as dedicated RAM, feature set circuitry, and independent cooling systems, so not only do you get a more robust and flexible set up, it can be run harder before waste heat build up (that'd be overheating to them what don't know) becomes a major issue.

 

[CrazyFikus]

No i5 then, for reasons already stated.

After talking with my dad (the guy paying) he said he wanted an nVidia card so he can mess around with CUDA, looked around a little and found this

http://www.portio.hr/index.php?page=artikl&id=051803927

Heard a lot of good things about the GTX 600 series, this one is factory overclocked and price is somewhere between the two ATI cards mentioned above.

Also been checking out the futuremark site, how reliable are their scores?

 

[Supernova1138]

The only problem with that is GPU compute performance such as CUDA is crippled with Nvidia's 600 series cards. Nvidia wants to drive up sales of their more expensive workstation GPUs, so all the 600 series GeForce cards only have one CUDA cluster enabled for GPU computing. If GPU computing is more important than gaming, you may want to look at an older 500 series card, which isn't crippled in that department. The GTX 580 performs similarly to the 660 while doing a lot better in most CUDA applications, but will sadly, likely be more expensive, and also use more power.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

No i5 then, for reasons already stated.

The only reason that counts is the price. The on-die GPU can be disabled piss easy...


Also, Phenom IIs are not only getting long in the tooth but they're dead-ended on upgrade paths as no newer AMD CPUs use the AM3 socket... as opposed to Intel's Socket 1155 which so far supports both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs (except the 'extreme' level i7s).

 

[CrazyFikus]

The cheapest i5 I can get is twice as expensive as the AMD processor I selected.
And my dad just wants to mess around with CUDA and see how it works, nothing serious, I have no interest in it, I just want a proper gaming PC.