*moved to system specs.*

Not the ideal place, but there are starting to be too many hardware related topics in Milliways.

Qbix wrote:

*moved to system specs.*

Not the ideal place, but there are starting to be too many hardware related topics in Milliways.

Ookay, thank you 😀

Buy a nice Lenovo.

Within your budget, I'd go AMD. Like an FX-6300 or 8300 and a decent Asus motherboard, throw whatever mid-range card you want into the fray, and be done with it. Alternately, depending on the games she really needs it to support, an APU may be suitable.

who wants to play some games

Which games? How graphics heavy vs CPU heavy are they? Is she going to do anything else with the computer?

Just as a default, I'd probably recommend buying an FX 8320E (so that it runs cooler), and using the money saved to get better parts elsewhere in the system.

Id go with a nice, upgradable motherboard, start off lower specs and upgrade when you need to.

This site may be of help: http://www.logicalincrements.com

You can get a fairly high end computer for 1000 dollars these days. Even the mid range 550-650 dollar computers are pretty decent.

That site assumes you will overclock, so if you're not going to, you can get one with an h97 chipset instead of the suggested z97 variants. You can save a small sum by getting the locked i5 cpus instead of the unlocked k-suffixed ones (4590k, 4690k).

For 1000$ I'd go Intel.

Thank you guys! I'm currently looking at FX6300/6350, GTX760, ASUS M5A97 (EVO?), 8GB RAM, Corsair RM750 PSU and probably CoolerMaster CM Silencio 550 case. I still need a CPU fan, something quiet and effective, I would be really happy if the whole system was silent while idle.

At that kind of price I start going Intel.
1000 is for just tower or full PC ?
If just tower : core i5, 8GB, R9 270X, 128GB SSD, 500/100 GB HDD, 500W good PSU.

I also recommending for an Intel.. Because those processors will give you more performance for you buck. They also consumes a lot lesser power consumption.. So your electric bill would be some lesser too.
Also that system would last longer then the AMD one your are currently thinking about.

What say ye about this:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TjCQhM

Once again, it'd be nice to know what games, exactly, she'll be playing on this computer. Given that you were at least considering 775, I'd say that any CPU currently available (aside from AM1 and some of the Celerons) would be a nice upgrade.

This is what I would buy.

A used socket 1366 Asus P6T board. $50
A Xeon X5650, X5660 or X5670. $50/$70/$100 (6 Core, 12MB cache)
3*4 GB used DDR3. $20
A new Geforce GTX 980. $549 (Newegg)
Some used Intel SSD. $20
A used DVD-RW. $1
A used tower cooler. $10
A used quality 500+W PSU. $20
Some nice used or new case. $1 - $100

All in all $700 - $850. Shipping will eat up some of the rest.

This system is only worth it with overclocking but it will run circles around new systems built around AMD FX CPUs using about the same amount of power.

When buying a P6T ask the seller to flash the newest BIOS otherwise you may need a old 45nm i7 CPU with C0/C1 stepping (if the board comes with a really old BIOS) to be able to flash the new BIOS.

a GTX 980 😵
He could also burn money 😀 that's faster

Skyscraper wrote:

A used socket 1366 Asus P6T board. $50

Very unlikely one can get a P6T for only $50...The lowest price I have seen from where I am on ebay for those boards is $170 plus shipping.

Maybe locally through classifieds you might have some good luck but those boards are still very sought after.

Ya and the gtx is just too much to justify in a $1000 build IMO.

But I do like your idea of going with a s1333 board....I would start there as well if it was me and just go with a much more affordable video card than a gtx900 series.

And 3*4GB ddr3 ram and "some used intel ssd" for only $20 each is unlikely as well. Also xeon cpus of that caliber are usually more too.

Perhaps the prices are higher now but I have bought Xeons for those prices 10 months ago.
The socket 1366 motherboards often goes for high prices but not all sellers are aware of this so they are often listed with ~$50 buyout (At least here in Sweden, and socket 1366 combos with CPUs and memory often sell for $150-$200 non buyout), you just have to be fast 😀. The good thing with the P6T series is that they (unofficially) supports all s1366 CPUs

A used small SSD (I like the old X25M g2) should not be much more than $20-30
I have picked up so much DDR3 with low bids.

With patience bargains can be made.

And when it comes to the GTX 980, it fits in the budget and will last until the next console generation 😀.
Perhaps a GTX 970 is a bit more sensible.

sunaiac wrote:

At that kind of price I start going Intel.
1000 is for just tower or full PC ?
If just tower : core i5, 8GB, R9 270X, 128GB SSD, 500/100 GB HDD, 500W good PSU.

Yeah, sounds about right!

For $1000, Intel all the way. For medium to high end stuff, AMD just can't compete. I can't wrap my head around the AMD suggestions at that price point.

Also, I only see the point in high end mainboards if you want to overclock or SLI. Get a medium budget board or even a cheap one and a better CPU instead. Unlocked processors are also expensive, making overclocking even less desirable.

I look at it like this with an AMD platform at the higher price points, you can invest the money saved on motherboard and ram into a really killer video card, more ram, more storage, or better cooling. They now have a 95watt 8 core that looks promising. Also the power consumption is not nearly as bad as the review sites will lead you to believe. It is when you start increasing the voltages and overclocking that it jumps way up. Just my 2 cents

sunaiac wrote:

At that kind of price I start going Intel.
1000 is for just tower or full PC ?
If just tower : core i5, 8GB, R9 270X, 128GB SSD, 500/100 GB HDD, 500W good PSU.

Agree with this, except I'd get her a 240GB SSD or larger. 128GB is horrible for a modern OS. Windows 7/8 + patches + system restore, hardly any space for anything else. Also remove the HD if she already has a 3TB drive. So basically

Core i5 (or i7), R9 270X, 240GB SSD, 500-600W PSU. It's too much machine for her, but you can call "too much machine" "future proof"