Possible Bulldozer Build. Advice?

[LiamusHydicus]

Approximate Purchase Date: Around May, will have saved enough by then

Budget Range: £450-£550

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Medium Gaming (MineCraft, GTA4, Crysis 2, Battlefield), Office and Other boring stuff, web browsing, Photo Editing.

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers, OS. Also already have a 64gb ssd I plan to use for the OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon UK, Dabs.co.uk, anywhere that'll ship to UK and are cheap basically.

Country: UK, England land.

Parts Preferences: Not bothered really, although AMD seems the best bang for buck.

Overclocking: Possibly, light.

SLI or Crossfire: Would be nice to have in the future, not necessary if it murders the budget.

Monitor Resolution: Max resolution of my* current monitor is 1280x1024, but I plan to get a 1920x1080 22" *(technically not mine...)

Additional Comments: I'd like a stealthy looking case, a window is preferred but good cooling takes priority.


Here's the list I have put together so far:


6-CORE AMD BULLDOZER RIG - ALL AMAZON PRICES

CPU - AMD FX-6100 AM3+ 6 CORE 3.30GHZ => 3.90GHZ £112
MOBO - ASUS M5A97 PRO DDR3, ATX, SOCKET AM3+ £79.45
RAM - CORSAIR VENGEANCE ( 2X4GB 1600MHZ ) £38.48
CASE - ZALMAN Z9 PLUS £45.95
PSU - CORSAIR BUILDER SERIES 600W £53.58
OS HDD - CRUCIAL M4 64GB (OWNED) £0.00
_____
TOTAL = £330

LATER DATE BUY'S... (descending order of priority)

GPU - nVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 TI ~£150
DATA HDD - SOMETHING 2TB, 64MB CACHE, 7200 ~£100
DISPLAY - SAMSUNG LED LCD 21.5" HD ~£140
_____
TOTAL TOTAL = £720

So yeah, can you save me money, or get me better for the same price point? If you need a reason for why I'm building this, my laptop has heat issues, MineCraft makes it turn itself off And my current desktop (Dell WorkStation 650 {yes, the one with the 2 xeon's}) is a little bit, dated... Will make a nice server though when I migrate all my stuff off of it!

I await your replies!

 

[EaYaJB]

Long story short, don't... at least not Bulldozer arch. I'm right in the middle of a new build myself and there's nothing good to be said about Bulldozer, it's kind of a dead end.

Personally I'm looking for multi-tasking over pure power, so I'm sticking with AMD, it's what they do. But i'm going with Phenom II x4 as it's a true quad core and reasonably cheap, plus it can run when pushed ~3.7GHz, when gaming does arise. However, if you want a gaming rig then anybody on here will tell you it's intel all the way...

Unfortunately I know very little about intel as it's not what I need, but 2 seconds reading through new builds and you'll find exactly what you need for your price range.

Further websites you might want to check out for components:

Aria.co.uk. Scan.co.uk Misco.co.uk Novatech.co.uk

I hope this helps with your question and can point you in the right direction for what you want.

 

[LiamusHydicus]

I was afraid someone would say that, but it was at least expected. Thanks for the advice, I'll check out those websites and see where it takes me. Looks like I'm looking at the intel i5 2500k, again...
Although, the x4 seems viable for the gaming I want. Max settings, benchmarks and any fps above 40 seems pointless. Something that doesn't unexpectedly go off would be a god send lol

 

[vitornob]

any fps above 40 seems pointless? No, it doesn't.

Since you shouldn't focus in average performace. In heavy intensive areas of the games the minimum fps is what counts. Usually getting a higher avg. fps leads to higher min. fps (excluding SLI/Crossfire analysis)

If you going to buy in May you shouldn't focus in 2500k, get the Ivybridge replacement, gonna be the same price, and better performace.

 

[sarinaide]

Why are people still suggesting that people go with old soon to be all together discontinued and never seen again technology. Yes a Phenom II X4/X6 make better gaming chips, but is not a good upgrade option. The more sense option is to go with Intel, that said you can get adequate performance out of the FX if that is your part of preference.

 

[jasont78]

I was afraid someone would say that, but it was at least expected. Thanks for the advice, I'll check out those websites and see where it takes me. Looks like I'm looking at the intel i5 2500k, again...
Although, the x4 seems viable for the gaming I want. Max settings, benchmarks and any fps above 40 seems pointless. Something that doesn't unexpectedly go off would be a god send lol

any thing above 40fps a waste dont think so, besides other arguements do you want this to have extra grunt for the games a year down the track or not, or do you want to have to upgrade again when the next latest and greatest game engine is released. 2500k all the way if needed asap if not get ivy bridge, bulldozer is a turd that only works when everything is perfectly suited to it where as intel scales well regardless. i like amd, i have got their vid cards for last 3 cards and have had and recommended countless amd builds in the past but that cant be said anymore

 

[Uther39]

AMD FX 6100 Black Edition, Orochi Core, S AM3+, 3.3GHz, 12MB Total Cache, HT 5200MT/s, 95W, Retail
£91.61 £109.93
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/15-cashback-amd-fx-6100-black-edition-orochi-core-s-am3plus-33ghz-12mb-total-cache-ht-5200mt-s-95w-r
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.65V
£29.16 £34.99
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-xms3-pc3-12800-(1600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-27-165v
600W PSU, Corsair Builder Series CMPSU-600CXv2UK, 80% Eff', 80 PLUS, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX v2.3
£45.60 £54.72
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/600w-psu-corsair-builder-series-cmpsu-600cxv2uk-80-eff-80-plus-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx-v23
Coolermaster Elite 430, All Black, Mid Tower Case with Side Window 120mm Front LED Blue Fan w/o PSU
£32.89 £39.47
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-elite-430-all-black-mid-tower-case-with-side-window-120mm-front-led-blue-fan-and-120mm-
Asus M5A97, AMD 970, S AM3+, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, RAID SATA, PCIe 2.0 (x16), ATX
£62.97 £75.56
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-m5a97-amd-970-s-am3plus-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-atx

Total£331.45

All from Scan UK with delivery.