Is this a good offer?

[Guest]

Hi

I am looking to buy a PC, I had my mind set at a i7 2500k setup, with a single gtx560.

Now, I found this on sale:

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition
Kingston DDR3 1333MHz 8GB KIT CL9
Corsair SSD Force Series™ F60A, 60GB
WD Caviar® Green™ 1TB SATA 2.0
XFX Radeon HD6970 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E
XFX Radeon HD6970 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E
ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3, Socket-AM3
Corsair Powersupply HX 850W Modular
Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Big Tower

The 2x HD6970 is tempting me. They are asking for $1500. If I were to buy it in parts, it would cost me $2100.
Keep in mind I'm from Norway, so prices might be different in this market than in the US and EU.

For comparison, I'm including another offer that seems decent to me.

Intel LGA1155 Core™ i5 Quad i5-2500K
Corsair XMS3 1600MHz 8GB Vengeance™ CL9
WD Caviar® Green™ 1,5TB SATA 3.0
Corsair SSD P3 Series™ P3-128GB SATA3.0
PowerColor Radeon HD6870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E
MSI P67A-GD65 B3, Socket-1155
Chieftec Nitro Series BPS-650C 650W PSU
Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower black

Asking price: $1200. Price for parts: $1550.

These are limited offers, but I don't dare to buy anything with out checking with you.

Thanks
- Mike

 

[pro-gamer]

2500k setup is too better it beat amd 1100t easily as you can see in this link

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=203

 

[christop]

Yeah go with the I5.

 

[nordlead]

If we are talking solely for gaming, then of the two I'd be really tempted to go with the first option even though it is more expensive. However, since the second meets your original specs I'd probably go with that.

My only concern with the first build would be that the motherboard is AM3 instead of AM3+. However, that is only a problem if you upgrade your PCs (I haven't upgraded a PC except when parts break or I re-purpose them over 5 years after initial purchase)

The only other consideration is if you can get the same specs for cheaper by changing a few things. With the second build for example, do you really need a HAF X full tower? You can buy a HAF 912 for ~$100 cheaper. There are other RAM options that are significantly cheaper. However, even then you might just be buying a different computer for the same exact price.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the link pro-game. Clearly the Intel CPU is better.

I forgot to mention in my first post that I intend to use the setup for gaming.

I'm guessing the first setup will provide better FPS due to better graphic cards? Or will the CPU slow down the whole system?

Here is a third possible setup:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
Crucial DDR3 1333MHz 4GB KIT CL9
WD VelociRaptor® 300GB SATA 2.5"
Corsair SSD Force Series 2,5" 60GB
OEM SSD 2.5" to 3.5" Bracket SATA
Sapphire Radeon HD6870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E
Sapphire Radeon HD6870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E
MSI 890FXA-GD70, Socket-AM3
Corsair Powersupply TX 850W
Cooler Master HAF 932 Big Tower Black

Asking price: $1200.

I'm still not sure which system I should go for. If the first setup is good, and the price is decent, I might just open my wallet and go for it. If the 2 cheaper setups are good enough for gaming (on a singel monitor), I guess I should save the money. What do you think?

Edit: Got a few new replies while writing this post.

Nordlead: I don't think I will be upgrading anytime soon. And if I ever do, I think I will just get a bundle with a new motherboard, CPU and memory. So maybe I should go for the first setup since I will use it mainly for gaming. And I think the graphic cards should last me a couple of years?

 

[selayan]

I would go with the first setup. Those cards are better than 6870. But if you don't upgrade parts then I would just go with the core i5. If you do just games you should be good. If you do video editing and other stuff then the I7 will help.