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@Kollapse, you are correct in saying that right now your CPU is your weakest component. But, do you have any reasons for getting a six core? Will you be using it for gaming mostly? Or streaming games. Six cores aren't really that necessary unless your using heavily threaded applications, which games are not. You can instead get a Phenom x4 955 for 115$. They are easy to overclock, and it's possible to get them up to 4 GHz, which is amazing for a processor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808
The 5850 is still a very good card, however if you do see a need for a new card, you will need to either Crossfire with another 5850, which isn't really the best option as they are still pretty expensive. They may start to even get more expensive due to less production. You can also just buy a new card, such as an Nvidia 570, or a 69xx card, such as a 6950. Hell, to get a better card you could sell your current 5850 for about 100-150$ and buy an even better card like a 580 or 6970, if you want to stay at the same price a 5850 would run you, which is about 240$.
What do you mean 2x2 GB sticks are hard to find? You must not be looking in the right place. Newegg is your friend mate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007611 600006066&IsNodeId=1&name=4GB (2 x 2GB)
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Thank you skyR, I appreciate it.
Only one follow up question: Does that mean that I cannot go for 2x4GB sticks on top of my current setup? Or simply that it would be a cheaper and more solid upgrade to simply go up to a total of 8GB with another 2x2?
EDIT:
Thank you Habel. I love newegg as well, I purchased my entire system through them. You're right, 2x2 are everywhere XD
And I'm very glad you mentioned I could go for a cheaper CPU upgrade, I think that's exactly what I'll do. The system is built with gaming in mind, and it bugged me one day when I lost half my FPS trying to stream some SC2. But, no, streaming is not really a concern of mine. I appreciate your suggestions/links.
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You can get 2x4GB for a total of 12GB or you can just get another 2x2GB kit. Really it's up to you, 2x4GB kits are so cheap nowadays - many of the 1600MHz kit go on sale for $60 quite often.
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12 GB is a bit overkill unless you're doing some really heavy graphical work, or CAD. Other than that, you really shouldn't have more than 8, and 4 is ok in most situations.
And towards the CPU thing, a x4 overclocked will be able to stream pretty well. Like I said, overclock to 4GHz (You'll need an aftermarket cooler), and than streaming will be easy as pie for your system. 2 cores will go to Starcraft, and the other 2 will go to the other processes on your system.
Oh, and by the way sky, can you have 2 different sets of RAM with 2 different clock speeds? Like a 1333 and a 1600?
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Greetings, I could use some advice for a low budget build, this build passed the scrutiny of a more sawwy friend of mine, I'm looking for seconds/third opinions 
First off, to answer the questions from the first post in this thread.
The budget: ~400€, 460-90 absolute maximum, the lower it will cost, the better
my resolution: 1900x1080 widescreen (23"), the screen is a new baby bought some months ago
Using it for: SC2, WoW, gaming most of the time, some software developing work every now and then.
Upgrade cycle: something like 5 to 6 years, last full rehaul was in 2007.
Building when: this week, next one at most.
not overclocking.
I have the operating system ( windows 7 64bit)
I'm not planning on adding a second cpu/sli/crossfire.
I'm from italy, and I'll be buying from http://www.hardware-planet.it/
Now, onward to the wishlist.
Ram: CORSAIR 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600 XMS3 CL9 i5/i7 CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 36.28EUR
Vcard: XFX HD6850 1GBXFX HD6850 1GB 129.93EUR
CPU:AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2Ghz 4x512KB Black Edition STEP C3 106.90EUR
MOBO:ASROCK AM3 790GX Pro (790GX/ATX) 68.93EUR
PSU:ENERMAX 450W ENP450AWT NAX 59.84EUR
case: scavenged form old pc
dvd reader/writer: same as case
HD : possibly scavenged, haven't decided yet, could use an upgrade since I'm periodically filling it out and having to delete shizzle ( it's a 250gb something something, I don't even know exactly)
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Perfect, that's exactly what I'll do. I'll even put off the extra RAM sticks until the BF3 beta is released, in case I don't need them.
With the budget I had in mind and the money you just saved me, I think I can pick up an SSD or a mechanical keyboard.
Thanks mates.
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On June 18 2011 07:20 Habel wrote:
12 GB is a bit overkill unless you're doing some really heavy graphical work, or CAD. Other than that, you really shouldn't have more than 8, and 4 is ok in most situations.
And towards the CPU thing, a x4 overclocked will be able to stream pretty well. Like I said, overclock to 4GHz (You'll need an aftermarket cooler), and than streaming will be easy as pie for your system. 2 cores will go to Starcraft, and the other 2 will go to the other processes on your system.
Oh, and by the way sky, can you have 2 different sets of RAM with 2 different clock speeds? Like a 1333 and a 1600?
That's not a BE CPU, meaning multi is locked. According to this, getting it past 3.7 is pretty hard.
I doubt the average user is going to be tweaking it quite that hard succesfully. How did you expect him to hit 4GHz?
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I'd go for the SSD, it really speeds up your system, but mechanical keyboards are awesome. If I had to choose, get the SSD, because if you think about it, saving a minute or two everytime you boot your computer up can add up pretty quickly.
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@Habel
SSD it is then
@Jingle
I don't plan to overclock or stream, so I should be fine. If I really want to stream with fantastic performance I'll look into it. I understand why you'd wanna ask him the question though.
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On June 18 2011 07:33 Kollapse wrote:
@Habel
SSD it is then
@Jingle
I don't plan to overclock or stream, so I should be fine. If I really want to stream with fantastic performance I'll look into it. I understand why you'd wanna ask him the question though.
Was just pointing out he's suggesting VERY unrealistic expectations out of that CPU, especially if you aren't a serious enthusiast.
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Is it a sufficient enough upgrade over my current Athlon II X4 630 2.82 GHz to be worth the price?
I'm just looking for something to last me another 12-18 months without running into a game I can't play smoothly.
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@ Jingle
I think he meant to talk about the x4 955 BE
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oh, i thought we were talking about kollapse's current CPU, that would explain the disconnect. And I seem to have typoed my google on that as well.
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The Phenom II X4 only outperforms the Athlon II X4 due to the L3 cache and a higher stock clock speed. Overclocking your current Athlon would net you similar performance that a stock Phenom II X4 provides so no it's not really worth it unless you plan on overclocking the Phenom II X4 to somewhere close to 4GHz.
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On June 18 2011 07:25 skyR wrote:@alberich Not a good idea to build a configuration around AMD if you plan on having it last seven years. Their second generation Phenom lineup is three or so years old and gets badly outperformed by the newer Intel processors that were released six months ago and even gets outperformed by Intel processors released five years ago: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300_11.htmlhttp://www.anandtech.com/show/4083A Core i5 2400 / 2500 and a H61 / H67 motherboard would last much longer.
mhm, that would be a bump up in price by about 80€,from the site I'm buying from, I don't know if I can afford that, would the configuration I settled in so far not be able to play games of last couple of years/years to come? Even at low settings if necessary
I'm not entirely sure what you are suggesting, less than 4gb? 1333 instead of 1600? ddr2 instead of ddr?
This
is what I look at concering buying the ram, bumping down to 1333 while staying in CL9 4gb is a whooping 1€ less , dropping to single memory 2gb @ 1333 is 14 less €, dropping to ddr2 I didn't even consider.
Outside note: my current system is 4gb ddr2 at 800mhz.
What ram would you suggest me to buy?
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I have a 955 BE C3 at home which ive tampered with after building. Its stable at 4.0 ghz and 1.37V (stock at 1.35V) @high 40 temps with 2 fans and mediocre parts. I haven't touched it since i built it due to work.
Ive seen some sick OCs at 4.6ghz and some other redic stuff but the cooling involved and risk of unstability definitely does not suit a 24/7 OC/ or is profitable. Just for enthusiasts
If you aren't overclocking its probably not worth getting an phenom at all. You could either stick with your athlon (it should be fine for SC2) or go with a sandy bridge, something like a i5-2400 in view of playing BF3
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I may just attempt to overclock my current Athlon then. Never done it before, but I'll research it for a week or so before giving it a shot. Building my PC was actually a lot of fun so we'll see how it goes. I have no immediate need for better performance.
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Windows is failing on the install. I have no idea what I'm doing.
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EPT
