$600 skyrim/wow/bf3 gaming build

[slader166]

Okay guys, I've already spent around $200 So it's more of a $600 build.
(I already bought:
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 600w
ram: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8gb 1600mhz, Switched from Kingston 4gb 1600mhz Ram
Optical Drive: Asus 24x DVD Burner
Case: CM Storm Enforcer)

So im leaning towards Intel because it seems more reliable than Amd. (Started a fanwar) Lol
I get $300 on Christmas and $300 on my B-day in March.
Any ideas on GPU, Mobo, CPU, CPU Cooler?
I was thinking about on Christmas get Mobo/CPU/CPU Cooler.
On B-day get HDD/GPU.

 

[Dukbutter]

Also no point in fitting 8 gig of RAM when you are on a budget .There will be NO performance increase for a gamer

According to the conclusions in this article:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778.html

8GB of RAM is the minimum for a 64-bit system when it comes to gaming and multitasking applications. Besides, 8GB isn't going to be much more expensive than 4GB.

 

[mightymaxio]

Since your going the intel route which is a very smart and standard thing to do this year, know that you will be forced to get a cpu cooler. AMD actually makes a decent heatsink, intel does not even bother. If you overclock at all you will need an aftermarket heatsink. If you do not overclock with a 2500k then you are doing it severely wrong.

You will want to make sure that if you get a massive CPU cooler that it does not conflict with the height of your memory layout. What i mean is, if those fancy memories your buying have those neat looking heat spreaders on top, know that they will most likely run into your cpu cooler. Get ones with short spreaders or none at all. They dont need them.

Intel makes liquid cooled heatsinks now for the 1155/1156 1336/2011 socket cpus.

 

[Outlander_04]

Also no point in fitting 8 gig of RAM when you are on a budget .There will be NO performance increase for a gamer

According to the conclusions in this article:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778.html

8GB of RAM is the minimum for a 64-bit system when it comes to gaming and multitasking applications. Besides, 8GB isn't going to be much more expensive than 4GB.

and according to this page
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778-8.html
from the article you are quoting the increase
when you went from 4 to 8 gig of RAM in a 32 bit game [ which they all are except the half life port ]
is around 2%

So if you are running at 60 fps with 4 gig of RAM and you jump to 8 gig then you will see about 1.2 FPS increase .
If you are getting 40 FPS on a budget rig then the increase is a massive 0.8 FPS
These are increases are not even noticeable in game play .

Gamers need 2 x2 gig if they have a 64 bit OS , and they may want more if the graphics cards have lots of vRAM
But to say 8 gig is the minimum required is a conclusion that was probably loved by Toms sponsors but not actually all that objective

 

[fb39ca4]

Get an HD 5770 instead of the 550ti

 

[aznshinobi]

^ Wrong, 5770<550 Ti<6790.

As for 8GB vs 4GB, does it really matter? I Mean it's always good to have more ram just in case. I remember 2 years ago I thought that, since all I did was game, I'd only need 4GB. Now I edit a lot more using Photoshop, LR3, and Premiere/After Effects and now that I bought some more ram, 8GB, it's runs much smoother.

Overall, might as well get it since it's so cheap after all.

 

[Dukbutter]

and according to this page
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 778-8.html
from the article you are quoting the increase
when you went from 4 to 8 gig of RAM in a 32 bit game [ which they all are except the half life port ]
is around 2%

So if you are running at 60 fps with 4 gig of RAM and you jump to 8 gig then you will see about 1.2 FPS increase .
If you are getting 40 FPS on a budget rig then the increase is a massive 0.8 FPS
These are increases are not even noticeable in game play .

Gamers need 2 x2 gig if they have a 64 bit OS , and they may want more if the graphics cards have lots of vRAM
But to say 8 gig is the minimum required is a conclusion that was probably loved by Toms sponsors but not actually all that objective

Fair enough

 

[mightymaxio]

I have 16 gigs of ram and man do i use about 9-12 gigs on a daily basis. Having 120+ tabs open in firefox and chrome do that. Plus at 4 gigs of shared video memory per graphics card its always good to have more ram.

Plus you cant go wrong with buying the most you can right now because ram is dirt cheap. You would actually spend more getting 4 gigs of 2x2 ram than getting 8 gigs of 2x4.

 

[aznshinobi]

^ Your usages are a bit crazy though... 120+ Tabs in Firefox would make FF overload, even after 30 (As shown by the "Browser Grand Prix" from THG) browsers start struggling to manage each tab, though FF is one of the better browsers at it. But yeah, an avg person really doesn't open 120+ tabs, maybe 10 at most. Those tabs is the reason you're using so much ram. But yeah people who use things like Browsers (Heavy) and Photoshop (Heavy) need at least 8 but if OP is just gaming, 4 is sufficient but always nice to have 8.

Also to clarify before trolls refute your statement.
I believe you mean, it's cheaper per gig to buy 8GB of ram (2x4gb) now than getting 4GB of ram (2x2GB)

 

[lunyone]

+1 for:
* AMD PhII x4 955 BE (should OC to 3.8-4.0 without voltage adjustments) or FX 4100 would be good too. Both CPU's fit the same socket set, if you got with AM3+ based mobo.
* 8 gb's DDR3, which I think the OP has already bought.
* AM3+ based mobo <---most are better equipped than intel mobo's for the $.
* GTX 560 Ti or even a AMD 6950 2gb <--- Could possibly unlock to 6970.

Now this recommendation would only be for a week or two and will change as time of purchase is delayed. If your buying after Christmas than you might be fine with these options, but if you wait and buy all of the parts in March (which I'd recommend buying all of your parts at the same time), everything recommended here will definitely be different. By buying all of your parts at once, you afford yourself the opportunity to test out your parts within the 30 days (usually the return window at most businesses). You can possibly save yourself weeks, if you need to return something out of the 30 day window. And you also only have to deal with the business that you bought the parts from. Usually after the 30 day window you have to deal with the manufacturer directly, which isn't always as motivated as the business that you bought your parts from. This motivation difference can shave off weeks in return and evaluation times.

 

[mightymaxio]

^ Your usages are a bit crazy though... 120+ Tabs in Firefox would make FF overload, even after 30 (As shown by the "Browser Grand Prix" from THG) browsers start struggling to manage each tab, though FF is one of the better browsers at it. But yeah, an avg person really doesn't open 120+ tabs, maybe 10 at most. Those tabs is the reason you're using so much ram. But yeah people who use things like Browsers (Heavy) and Photoshop (Heavy) need at least 8 but if OP is just gaming, 4 is sufficient but always nice to have 8.

Yeah 120 tabs in firefox works great though as long as you use the 64 bit version of it. 32 bit would obviously lag. Otherwise opera seems to handle the workload the best from what ive seen.

Also to clarify before trolls refute your statement.
I believe you mean, it's cheaper per gig to buy 8GB of ram (2x4gb) now than getting 4GB of ram (2x2GB)

I meant what you said, i just said it slightly different. 8 gigs of ram 2x4gb is cheaper. 4 gigs of ram 2x2gb is more expensive for what you get.

 

[kyle382]

did nobody else catch that article on toms about AMD giving up the CPU race against Intel? Maybe I'm reading 2 far into it...i remember i skimmed the article b4 work, but it sounded like AMD is going to be focusing on the mobile platform from now on. If this is the case, I certainly would not recommend any AMD desktop builds.

 

[zooted]

^They didn't say that they were giving up on x86, they just said they are not going to directly compete with Intel. Which to me isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

[madchemist83]

sell PSU and wait till u have all the money .. then buy

 

[madchemist83]

@ shinobi I can beat that Hyper 212+ .. with a stick

 

[slader166]

Best answer selected by slader166.