Need advice - my head hurts

[Magelord]

Ok, I have been researching for days trying to find the best bang for $0.85 because i dont have a buck.


here is the deal, I am lost in all the core 2 / dual core, tri core, tri channel, DDR 3, win 7 i7, x2, x3, phenom, wolfgang, PSU, 80 yada yada, modular, sata, sata2, etc etc

QUESTIONS

Mini ATX board vs normal ATX Board

I tend to shy away from Mini boards, is there a reason I should conside them?
Is there a differnce between them other than size?

Dual Core vs Quad
For gaming, would this make a diffence on a vista 64 bit OS?



I have changed my mind so many times over what is good, ok and crappy that I dont know what I am doing anymore. LOL

This is the goal

Gaming PC
I do not need a monitor or a vid card

I am still uncertain about CPU MB RAM matchup

I do not want to spend any money, but since I have to, I want to get something that I know is gonna be worth it.

I do not need to compute 1 million bits into a 1 billion byts
I just want to shoot a kid online and not go to jail for it.

So , what is the Budget CPU flavor of the month?




edit.....

This deal died on me. :brokenheart:

So far, as of today, for now, Im sure i will be told this is a bad idea... but so far I have selected the following...

Newegg Combo Deal


http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.214317

Antec Nine Hundred + EA650 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 650W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811129064
+
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPMSATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136218


FREE "I dont want this stupid thing"-- Logitech RX720 910-001050 Black 3 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Advanced 2.4 GHz Wireless Laser Mouse - OEM
Item #: N82E16826104251
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16826104251

-$10.00 Instant
-$20.00 Combo
-$39.99 Saving - this is the price of the mouse, it is "free" with the case
Subtotal: $219.98
as of now, free shipping

 

[brblx]

phenom II 945 is still a great deal, though a lot of the mobo combos have dried up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.216170

that plus your other combo would be a great rig. you'd still need memory and an optical drive- in total all your parts would be about $700.

do you have a hard budget? a good phenom II x4 machine can be done for about $600-800, depending on which chip you pick and what video card. i7 would be closer to $1000. i don't see the point in going much cheaper than phenom II x4 unless you just want a bargain chip like a phenom II (now called 'athlon' again, i guess) x2 or c2d e5200. the x3 720 kind of splits the middle, if you need to trim the budget.

to simplify, as far as 'bargains,' i'd list the following chips, in order of performance-

e5200/e5300 or athlon 7550/7750 < phenom II x3 720 < phenom II x4 945 < core i7 920

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.215869
Its a e5200 cpu with a mobo and ram for 138 with 23 in rebates add a xfx 4850 video card $90 and call it a day. I dont know how to do links so copy and paste. Nevermind links worked

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Q9550, 4g 1066 DDR2, UD3R P45

 

[brblx]

i just can't see why you would buy a q9550 over a $40 cheaper (using newegg prices) 945. performance should be similar and the AM3 socket should have more life in it than 775 (though i'd be surprised if eirther has a viable upgrade left in it by the time the c2q or ph2 becomes 'too slow')

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

O yeah totally go for the AMD! I miss my old FX60 If it were me building a machine right now, i'd go for the 955 - ABSOLUTELY!!!

 

[Magelord]

Thank you for all the input.

I need to keep the budget lower though
Around 250-300 for cpu/MB/mem

Curious

How does the " AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz " stack up against the suggestions here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103680

COMBO Budget
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.230049

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDZ550WFGIBOX - Retail
+
ECS IC780M-A AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

$162.98

---

or

A Intel e6400 wolfdale

COMBO Budget
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.231516

OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR10664GK - Retail
+
Intel Pentium E6300 Wolfdale 2.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E6300 - Retail

$ 141.98

The combos I posted are examples, I have no idea about the quality of the products I mentioned.

NOTE
My current rig has a Intel Core 2 Duo e6750 with 6g of ddr2 800 ram (i built this with help from anandtech members )
It runs everything great. I dont need the extra ram, but I had extra so I use it

I want to make a 1066 fsb system, and retire my system to the back desk for the kids.

 

[cparker]

If you are interested in the Callisto you should check out the GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P motherboard. Look at the reviews for both on the Newegg site. If you want to overclock the Callisto and maybe try to unlock all 4 cores at the same time, you would probably want this motherboard. Don't know about the one in the combo you listed. Couldn't get the link to work. But many of these combo "deals", while cheaper, don't provide the best match for the cpu, particularly in the case of one like the Callisto which has much greater potential when paired with the right motherboard.

 

[deputc26]

I'd go with this combo for CPU/mobo Ph II 550 and Biostar 790gx for $184
and two of these for ram. Total $244 and that mobo can unlock Ph IIs (if you're lucky).

Both your listed combo deals are decent though I don't believe that mobo can unlock Phenoms.

 

[cparker]

Originally posted by: deputc26
I'd go with this combo for CPU/mobo Ph II 550 and Biostar 790gx for $184
and two of these for ram. Total $244 and that mobo can unlock Ph IIs (if you're lucky).

Both your listed combo deals are decent though I don't believe that mobo can unlock Phenoms.

The Biostar board takes DDR2 ram, the Ram you linked to is DDR3.

 

[Magelord]

Thank you again for the input.

I messed up, I dropped the ball, I missed the combo

Antec Nine Hundred + EA650 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 650W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811129064
+
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPMSATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136218
for $$219 and free shipping... gone!

I feel sad


However. I found this at zippityydoda zoomfly

WESTERN DIGITAL WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB SATA 7200 RPM 32MB Buffer Hard Drive
88.99

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Mid Tower Case Retail - no PSU
108.99

ANTEC EA650 EarthWatts Series 650W SLI Active Power Supply Retail
78.50

$276

OUCH!

At newegg, same items are 275.....
BUT with $18 S&H

I need to keep looking..
Maybe another sale will pop up.
Or a Coupon code.

Your posts are helping me decide and understand all these different things that one must keep up with to build a PC right.

Thank you again, any more advice is welcome

 

[lavaheadache]

At this point i would also not go dual core.... Definately get a quad

 

[Magelord]

Thank you

Curious

On a gaming rig, runing win Vista 64 bit, would there be a difference on gaming performance running a Quad instead of a Dual core?

I thought a Quad would run well for a server system, or a system that does alot of 3d designe, vid editing, etc
But gaming would show little to no improvement between dual and Quad

Is this true or false?

 

[lavaheadache]

games are gradually going to start utilizing quads. Try running GTA 4 on a dual core and you'll see what I mean