A Friend's Build - Need help deciding

[Josheyman123]

Hello,

New to TH, so gimme a break if I'm off on anything. I'm very computer literate ( I build them for a hobby, just not much testing when it comes to budget builds - only my own high enders, which are Intel mind you ) , so no need to dumb things down for me to understand.

I'm doing a build for a friend, and I want someone else's insight and suggestion on deciding which system would be best for his needs.

The build I have designed for him would play most modern games on medium to high settings, but I can't tell which build ( AMD or Intel - or more-say an i3 or a Phenom X4 ) would suit best.

Here are my two builds. I'm leaving out the case, PSU, DVD/CD Drive, etc. because quite frankly, they don't matter to the question of brand. If you absolutely need the info - just tell me and I'll post it.

I'm completely open to suggestions for better parts, but money is an object and this build IS budget oriented.

CPU: i3 2100 Dual Core HThreading Enabled Sandy Bridge Processor ( 3.1 GHz ) $99

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0359809

OR

AMD Phenom II X4 960T Zosma Quad Core Processor ( 3.0 GHz ) $99

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382790
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GPU: HIS IceQ X Turbo Radeon HD 6790 1GB 256-bit Video Card with Eyefinity $129

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-161-371
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RAM: 8GB ( 2 x 4GB ) Kingston Hyper-X Blu DDR3 1333 $29

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360526
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MB: ASRock LGA 1155 Intel H61 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157236

OR

ASRock 770iCafe AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157291
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Thanks in advance everyone

 

[Raiddinn]

I am a bit confused by one of your statements. It sounded like you said that the brand of the PSU doesn't really matter?

If that is what you did say, please confirm that, because it makes a large difference in how I would approach assisting you.

In any event, a lot of this depends on what the computer will be used for. If it is going to be straight gaming, then I would probably get the i3-2120. If they intend to use a lot of productivity apps then I would go with the AMD processor instead.

In general, though, those are all pretty good budget choices. I would try to spare $30 to $50 extra for the video card, though. A 6850 or 6870 would perform greatly better than the 6790 you chose.

As for the parts you didn't list, I would strongly suggest
Asus 24x DVD
XFX Pro 550w Core
Cooler Master HAF 912

If those aren't what you already have in mind.

 

[scout_03]

does it intend to play the latest game on this and what will be the psu power

 

[Josheyman123]

I am a bit confused by one of your statements. It sounded like you said that the brand of the PSU doesn't really matter?

If that is what you did say, please confirm that, because it makes a large difference in how I would approach assisting you.

In any event, a lot of this depends on what the computer will be used for. If it is going to be straight gaming, then I would probably get the i3-2120. If they intend to use a lot of productivity apps then I would go with the AMD processor instead.

In general, though, those are all pretty good budget choices. I would try to spare $30 to $50 extra for the video card, though. A 6850 or 6870 would perform greatly better than the 6790 you chose.

As for the parts you didn't list, I would strongly suggest
Asus 24x DVD
XFX Pro 550w Core
Cooler Master HAF 912

If those aren't what you already have in mind.

What I meant by saying that was that I didn't need to mention it right out, as I didn't believe it would greatly influence my results/suggestions. I already have the Asus 24x DVD ( nice guess - or coincidence? ).

The power supply is a Rosewill Stallion Series 530 Watt.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182076

Price really does matter, as I don't think my friend can muster up another 50 bucks to get the better video card. It will be for straight gaming along with a little YouTube he says.

The games to be played on the machine are mainly BF3 and a few other modern games.

He doesn't want his power bill through the roof, so 650 watt is as high as he will allow, if you guys were to suggest another PSU.

Late where I am, so talk to you in the morning.

Thanks

Josheyman123

 

[Raiddinn]

The power bill situation is complez. It is not like if you have a 1200w PSU then it is pulling 1200w from the wall all throughout the time it is turned on or anything like that.

Instead, there is a curve that is 80ish at the start, 90ish in the middle, and back to 80ish at the end. That is percent efficiency.

The computer components use whatever they use. If it is 300w then whether it is a 400w or 800w PSU they are only going to use that much.

The efficiency comes in because you want to target the average usage wattage with the 50% mark on the PSU, because that is where it is the most efficient.

If the computer uses between 250 and 350w for games, the middle of that is 300w and that should be about 50% of the PSU's capacity, so you are looking at a quality 600w PSU.

Any higher or lower than that wattage and your power bills will go up. Additionally, higher or lower from that figure and the lifespan of the PSU will go down.

If you had a quality 300w PSU, it could theoretically handle the 300w just fine, and at 80% efficiency you would be looking at about 375w being pulled from the wall. That extra 75w would be turned into heat inside the PSU that makes it deteriorate faster.

The same 300w being pulled from a 600w PSU that is 90% efficient ant 50% load (300w) would only be pulling (300w/0.9 =) 333w, with only 33w being turned into heat in the PSU which means the power bills are lower (375w vs 333w) and there is less heat being wasted in the PSU (75w vs 33w) which causes the parts to stay good longer.

So to say he should avoid a larger PSU because he is worried about his power bill isn't taking into account the entire picture.

It may be that 500w is just the right amount for maximal efficiency, or it may be that a larger one or smaller one is better on the power bills. It really doesn't have to do with wattage on the PSU as much as it has to do with the wattage of the parts and the PSU efficiency curves.

On that note, I would highly suggest you not get the one you planned and instead get the one that I suggested (XFX 550w). Rosewill's name is spotty at best and XFX's name pretty much is the best.

Asus 24x - It is a top performer all around, if you chose it for that reason then it isn't a coincidence or a lucky guess, just both of our knowledge/research showed the same thing.

If he can't find enough to get the 6850 then the 6790 is the next best thing.

 

[g-unit1111]

Asus 24x - It is a top performer all around, if you chose it for that reason then it isn't a coincidence or a lucky guess, just both of our knowledge/research showed the same thing.

I had one that nearly exploded on me and I swapped it for a Lite On burner and it's been problem free.

The OP's build is pretty decent - what's the max budget? I would heavily advise against both AMD and the H61 right now - H61 does not have a dedicated X16 lane so any graphics card you choose to use will not be able to run it at it's fullest extent.

If he can't find enough to get the 6850 then the 6790 is the next best thing.

If you look hard enough you could get a 6850 with a $15 MIR and that would put it about even with the 6790 - and it will last a lot longer.

Price really does matter, as I don't think my friend can muster up another 50 bucks to get the better video card. It will be for straight gaming along with a little YouTube he says.

Knowing the max budget would help - you can put together good systems on any budget without sacrificing if you know where to look.

 

[Josheyman123]

Max budget is around 450-515 dollars.

Would you advise the P67 boards or the Z68? He doesn't plan on overclocking - at all. No GPU, CPU, or anything OC'd.

I was unaware that the H61's didn't have the x16 PCI-E lane. Thanks for bringing that to my attention .

With the max budget out there, can I get a straight answer? Which build is best, Intel ( which I shall change the MB according to suggestion ) or AMD?

I talked to him today and he wants the 6790. No ifs, ands, or buts. He wants the 6790.

Also, I was aware that components only draw what they draw. No offense to my friend ( and I don't think he's ever on TH ) , but he is really stupid. You can't get things though to him. He is why they say "you simply can't fix stupid".

Thanks,

Josheyman123

 

[Tavo_Nova]

seasonic 520w is good IMO.

get a 6790 if he wants its no problem there my friend.

how about a H67 mobo?or P67 just try to find a cheap one from asus/msi. no need to overclock anything if he doesn't want to ^_^ but for an i3 build the p67 is not a great deal since it's more for the K CPU's go with h67