Is this a good budget build for BF3?

[-ZincaTe-]

Since some of my friends said i can get a good gaming pc just above $500 i thought i try it so heres my budget build: i need a GPU and a case so ~200 + ~100 for the case
so any suggestions would be nice.

Case: In progress
GPU: In progess
CPU: Phenom II x4 955BE
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
PSU: SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Memory/Ram: G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
Optical: Asus 24x Burner
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint f3 1TB 7200

Additional notes: I'm am not going higher than $650
but want to go lower if possible without hurting the performance to much

 

[shaqxolotl]

Wait for Bulldozer to come out, prices will go down on the CPU, otherwise, nice build.

 

[cutebeans]

Hey bro, answer this . so we can help you more.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

 

[Sky03]

First thing that sticks out is that psu. Yes is good, but it's unneccesarily too good (and expensive).

Instead, get:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020&Tpk=Corsair%20tx650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703026
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044&Tpk=Antec%20ea650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096

Ps. Watts are for comparison to your choice (650w). Of course, your gpu will affect what wattage you'll get in the end. All these models should be available in lower and higher wattages, depending on what you need.

Additional: bronze and gold certified, in reality isn't that big of a deal. Difference between both (at referenced 20%, 50% and 100% usage) is 5% efficiency. How much of a difference is this? See below.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-psu-review,2916-5.html

Assuming you're system uses 500w on average.
-bronze (50% capacity) @85% efficiency means your psu draws ~588w from the wall to provide your 500w
-gold (50% capacity) @90% efficiency means your psu draws ~555w from the wall to provide the similar 500w

The bronze wastes an extra 33 watts to provide a similar output of 500w. (of course you're not always at 50% capacity. Sometimes lower sometimes higher, but difference is still about 5%). How much is 33 watts? Well here in los angeles, if i'm not mistaken, it's 18.5cents per kilowatt hour. This means for every 1000watts/hr i pay 18.5 cents. That comes out to 0.033 kwh, multiplied by 18.5 cents = 0.61 of a cent( note thats NOT 61 cents, that's 0.61 of A cent.) if you use your computer at that rate for 10 hours, that only comes out to 6.1 cents. It's easy to figure out that the $40-50 premium on the gold is not worth it.

 

[pro-gamer]

long times ago that amd lunch thier bulldozer so where is it hahahahaha

 

[iam2thecrowe]

agree with the overkill PSU. Something lower budget but still good quality like corsair GS series or Antec's Earthwatts series would be something to look for. Forget people who tell you to wait for bulldozer, it wont be cheap when its released and it wont be great for games. a phenom 955 can run BF3 smoothly. Grapphics card to play on medium to high settings smoothly at 1080p would be a gtx460 or amd 6850 or better.

 

[pro-gamer]

totally agree with @iam2thecrowe

many people waiting for bulldozer but it won't be the best at all.amd phenom 955,965,980 also gain better fps in most games with a decent gpu.go for 6870 better,cheaper and faster and it's suite with your other specs...

 

[Phrosty]

Will the intel cpu's go down in price as well when bulldozer releases?

 

[cutebeans]

Look at this build

AMD phenom ii x 4 955 + 6870 $273 save $17 MIR 20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.748619

Good Quality PSU + 8gb ram $95 MIR 20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.745020

AM3+ motherboard $91 mir 10
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128490

HDD $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

Case + O.drive $67 save $10
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.743728

$581 $551 after MIR.

 

[farsuka]

You don't need the sniper brand or whatever of RAM, just get their normal, non-value grade ram.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

^ there isnt much difference in price between 1600mhz and the 1333mhz stuff so why not spend the extra $7 and have yorself cool looking ram.

 

[shaqxolotl]

^ there isnt much difference in price between 1600mhz and the 1333mhz stuff so why not spend the extra $7 and have yorself cool looking ram.

LOL.

 

[pro-gamer]

1333mhz or 1600mhz have a little difference between them

8gb 1333 vs 8gb 1600mhz so 1600mhz will hit a bit better fps in games