The Official Budget-Conscious Dream Machine!

Yeah I just read up on it. They are the exact same price, so I'd go with Q6600. The 8200 has a 7x Multi, that is crappy.

 

There is also the off chance you will get a low VID with a Q6600. Mine came from newegg and has a 1.25VID. I got it way after the really good ones were supposed to be sold out so it was a lucky find. I'm sure I could get mine to 3.6GHz+ with a little tweaking. But this is the sweet spot for voltage.

 

To be honest, I might have been able to with my Q6600 as I was FSB limited by the motherboard not the CPU. I ever tried it without 4 sticks.

 

Ahh, that's happened to me before. When I had 4 sticks of Crucial Ballistix in my 939 machine.

My FSB options go above 3.8GHz so maybe I should see what I can take it to. Maybe 3.8 stable? I don't want to crank the voltage though. I like my temps

 

I am limited to shopping at one store. Price is in CDN, there is also bout a $100 off in mail ins that aren't listed.

That damn wireless keyboard/mouse set he wanted also added $160 to the price tag. Its bluetooth. He also wanted some flash so I put the LED fans with it, 3 of em'

What do you guys think can be improved? Memory Express is the store if you have better options.

 

I'd ditch the OCZ RAM for a better brand like Corsair or G-Skill, but apart from that, that's a good set of parts.

 

Yeah the OCZ won't hurt but you'd be better off with like Mushkin, G. Skill, Corsair. Really no consequence though. OCZ makes decent RAM.

 

They did, nowadays though I'm just not seeing the evidence of that fact.

 

Yeah I suppose that OCZ has been slipping in quality recently. But I'm currently using an OCZ PSU and OCZ RAM with no issues. So I'd say they can still deliver a good product. Corsair is better, no doubt, but a bit more expensive in the US.

 

Your sig says different

OCZ PSUs are alright because they aren't actually made by OCZ, but their design isn't great, and the high end units are dire.

 

AMD Phenom 9950 Agena 2.6GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HD995ZXAGHBOX

GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ

Antec EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30 - OEM

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3160813AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

Rosewill R102-P-BK 120mm Fan MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case(came with processor)

Haven't picked a graphics card yet but, I'm looking for a performance right now then i will look for one.

 

All looks good except for the 9950. If you're buying now you really want a Phenom II. Even an X3 will be a lot faster than the 9950. I'd spring for a Phenom II 710 and find a better case.

What kind of budget are you looking at?

 

well that's exactly why i don't want a powerful over the top pc. On a $600 budget so..being my first build i think it will do the trick. You wont believe what computer im using right now....a dell desktop 2400 from 5 years ago..yeah so i think ill be ok with the stuff i purchased. Other thing to is; the case came free with the processor. Im going to give the case a shot. Im not a really serious pc gamer thats needs the best of the best. thanks for giving me a write back

 

Exactly, the 9950 is old which means it isn't good value, it's very inefficient and is generally not a very good CPU. You can get a Phenom II X4 920 for cheap which will do the job better for a limited price.

 

There are 3 websites that show the Phenom 9950 out performing the Phenom II X3 720 in 3ds max 9 rendering. Can you enlighten me on this?

 

Only because it's a quad core and that's a multi-threaded test. The Phenom II X3 is much faster per clock and will be faster in almost everything. And you can overclock it really easily on most AMD chipset boards if you ever want to. But they're still quite a bit faster stock.

 

I totally got ya, well im not sure if ill be overclocking anytime soon or playing a game that tests the equipment. But really, thanks for the information about them both

 

Yeah, the 9950 is a slow quad core, the 820 is a faster triple core. It's not faster enough to make the 33% lost by having one less core though. The X4 955 and Q9550 flatten them both, but are appreciably more expensive.

 

In most situations the Phenom II X3 710/720BE will be faster than an Phenom I X4. In multi-threaded situations though, the 9950 might have an edge. I would be more apt to jump on a 720BE myself. The technology is newer, they're more problem free, and they run cooler. I wouldn't mind one for myself actually, lol.

 

That's exactly it. The Phenom II is more efficient and more reliable, and per-core, is faster. The 9950 only wins out because it has an extra core.