Hello, I am building a family computer, leaning towards "light" gaming for now, with options to upgrade in the future. This is what I have chosen from Newegg: Chip/Set: Asus AMD 790X CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 Power Supply: Antec 650W Memory: AMD 4 GB DDr3 Hard Drive: Western Digital 1TB Video: Radeon 4670 1 GB, I have not decided on the manufacture yet Case: Antec 902 I was sort of leaning towards a Intel MB that would support the i5 processor, but it got a little too costly for me. So what do you think of this build? Any input would be appreciated. Thank you, Wink
Drop the ASUS mobo for Gigabyte. ASUS are unreliable. The CPU is ok but have you considered a Core 2 Quad? PSU: Get a corsair. Memorey: AMD doesnt make memorey, so that doesnt narrow it down. Stick with Patriot,G.Skill,or Corsair. I have a set of G.Skill ripjaws and there great! HD: Good choice. Make sure you get a Black edition, not a green. Video: Should be fine for light gaming, depending on what you mean by light gaming. Case: Not bad but a bit high priced for a budget build. Id look at something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137 Whats you budget? It helps to know a budget to see if anything could be swapped around like a cheaper case could put more money towards a video card,cpu or something else.
Ah, my favorite mid-tower case! Especially since Newegg has them on sale for $40 after MIR. I would take the $80 you would save by going to the CM-690 case and apply it towards an Intel i5-750 and Gigabyte GA-P55 motherboard. Dick
Just guessing but from the sounds of it an AMD would get the job done, but I agree the i5 is obviously a better choice in pretty much very way.
Hello, Thank you, for all of your suggestions, I guess I was on the right track in the first place with the Intel MB and the i5 processor and did not know it. I went to the G.Skill web site, all I can say is wow!They have some wicked looking product there. Oh yes by the way I meant to write OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB, but for now I think I will go with Corsair XMS3. Anyway you have given me lots to think about, I want to get as good as I can with $900.00 to $1000.00, and there is a lot of choices out there. Thanks Again, Wink
The intel I5 isn't for light gaming, that's for heavyweight gaming. Also a 650 watt power supply is too powerful for a radeon 4670 (have the same card). The amd tri/quads are decent cpu's for gaming (I have the phenom 9750 quad and it's overkill for gaming). The radeon 4670 is a good card for light gaming(recommend to stay away from the diamond brand "noisy card fan"). My phenom 9750 quad(95 TDP watts) with a radeon 4670 and 4 x hard drives is running fine on a 400 watt power supply. I use this computer for heavy video editing but it does light gaming just as well and it didn't break the bank to build. Never spend more than you need.
Hi, I was wondering why you think Asus boards are unreliable Xplorer4? in my 10 year old system I have a Asus P4S333-VM and it never has given me any trouble at all, this system has been used just about everyday for at least 6 hours a day since I bought it, by our 3 teens and there friends, my wife and myself. A couple of quick questions, I was wondering if it is a good idea to have a video card that is compatible with DirectX 11 such as a Radeon HD 5750 1GB? Are PowerColor video cards a good choice or not? Have a great day, Wink
Asus used to make great boards...back in the days when Abit was making the best boards, Asus was a close second. Then Abit stopped trying, and Asus did the same. The I5 is not intended for heavy-weight gaming, it is intended as a good bang-for-the-buck system with a single video card and little to no hardware RAID. Mid to high-mid performance at best...not high-end. If you just want one video card and no raid, then you can get more performance out of a I5 than out of an I7 at the same speed (and the I5 would cost a lot less)...the difference comes when you want SLI/Crossfire, or some serious hardware RAID...I7 will win there.
If you decide to go with an i7 and don't want to have to go to their 900 series which requires an entirely new socket, I can recommend the i7-860 as an excellent performer. Dick
What Killerbug said. Look through the forums. My last mobo was an ASUS bought last December. It was dieing on me starting in October. I second the i7 860. This is what I am running right now and it works great for me!
Hello, Thank you all for all, for your suggestions and advice. I realized I certainly need it. I figured that the Asus MB was the best choice, out of all my hardware choices, a board with room to upgrade if I needed to, and a rock solid foundation. Oh well, I guess I will go to plan B! Catch you latter, Wink
The only thing holding you back from a mobo with room to expand is funds. You can just as easily get a Core i5/i7 or i7 mobo with room to upgrade. For example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130239 You could go from 4 GB to 8 GB of RAM. Add 6 more HDDs. Add another video card for Crossfire. And have room to OC(although this mobo uses the foxcon sockets which are known to burn out). You get the idea.
