CPU Choice for new build?

[jasond9263]

I'm trying to decide which of these three processors to choose from.

Athlon X2 7850 Kuma, Phenom 8750 Toliman or Phenom 9600 Agena

I was leaning towards a X2 7850 on an ECS Geforce6100PM-M2 MB with 2GB DDR2 800 and a GTS 250 graphics card.

Should I choose one of the other processors over the 7850? I put the usage and budget range below.

Thanks,
Jason

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: next couple days

BUDGET RANGE: $270 shipped from Newegg for MB/CPU/RAM and Graphics Card

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming (Call of Duty 4 and 5, Americas Army 3) DVD encoding to H.264 format for iPhone

OVERCLOCKING: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050

 

[Proximon]

Pretty hard to do at the price. You don't want an Nvidia based MB, and you should really get something you can overclock well so that you can squeeze performance out of your budget.

Although AMD is usually the budget choice, in this case I think it's Intel. The E5200 is going to be right in there with the Kuma, and will blow it away with a small adjustment in the BIOS.

E5200 and Biostar G31 board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.211191

4GB DDR2 800 and Sapphire 4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.210799

You can get a moderate OC with the stock cooler, then a bit more with a good after market cooler when you can afford one.

 

[Proximon]

I want to point out though that with just a bit more you can do a lot better. Probably around $330 would get you far more CPU and MB in the deal.

(X3 720, AMD 770 MB)