Best Gaming PC's for a given budget

When BF3 drops, I will be building a new PC (unless my PhenomX4 doesn't totally get its ass kicked by the game).

Holy crap, I almost can't wait!
 
NRP said:
When BF3 drops, I will be building a new PC (unless my PhenomX4 doesn't totally get its ass kicked by the game).

Holy crap, I almost can't wait!
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All too familiar with that feeling...I shudder to think how much I spent on my rig.
 
Not sure, how could I tell? Current cpu is a PhenomX4 9600 (Gateway GT5676 desktop I picked up at Circuit City for cheap). Are the Phenom II's compatible as drop in replacements? If so, that would be freakin sweet! Then all I'd need is a new video card.
 
IIRC, AM3 processors are compatible with both AM3 and older boards with BIOS update, while AM2/AM2+ processors are not backw-compatible with AM3 boards.
 
Given that the Phenom II homerdog linked is listed as a socket AM2+ CPU, I guess that means it should just drop in right? Hope it doesn't need a bios update though because i doubt Gateway would release one.

Forgive my ignorance here. I haven't messed with pc upgrades in a few years.
 
m.fox said:
IIRC, AM3 processors are compatible with both AM3 and older boards with BIOS update, while AM2/AM2+ processors are not backw-compatible with AM3 boards.
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Actually this seems to be only partially true. I've yet to see a single AM2 (not AM2+) board which officially (with a bios update) would support AM3 cpus. AM2 boards usually support the first gen AM2+ cpus (phenom I, so not something you'd want anyway).
I think the reason for this is possibly due to the differences between AM2 and AM2+ boards: one is the different HT link speed, which is not a problem as all cpus can run lower link speeds. The other is the different power planes for cpu cores and northbridge, which didn't exist on AM2, so maybe the power states needed to look a bit differently (voltage levels are quite similar but maybe in the down-clocked states couldn't lower voltage that much, or does NB actually downclock too?). That said, there are some reports that Phenom II cpus indeed work in AM2 boards, but I'm not sure how well (especially considering power management) without bios support. A shame really no bios support exists for these, as I'd be very tempted to update my rs690 based board to a regor based Athlon II (ok actually I'd be waiting for energy efficient Athlon II...).
 
I blame mobo manufacturers, any issue should be able to be corrected with a small BIOS update.

case in point, the Asus M32NSLI (am2 board with nforce 590). I've seen reports of AM3 phenom II 945 working but stuck at 800MHz (even if it may pretend otherwise), but phenom II 940 is said to fully work.
A more recent Asus board, m3n78, am2+ with geforce 8200 : someone built a pc with phenom II 905e (very recent, am3 CPU) and the same exact problem arises, despite the board officially supporting am3.

so, I'm a bit pissed off, I have a low end am2 board (gigabyte with nforce 520) and thought that was a guaranteed path to any am3 upgrade (especially regor, propus or a triple core variant). I fear being stuck because the manufacturer won't care to change a couple of bytes in a firmware he doesn't care or doesn't want to care about.

I honestly thought AMD was damn serious about its sockets, as I've never heard of any incompatibility within the other sockets where K8/K10 processors are used. (754, 939, 940, F)
 
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mczak said:
Actually this seems to be only partially true. I've yet to see a single AM2 (not AM2+) board which officially (with a bios update) would support AM3 cpus. AM2 boards usually support the first gen AM2+ cpus (phenom I, so not something you'd want anyway).
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Thanks, didn't know that. Guess it's all marketing then.
 
It's really a crap shoot. It doesn't help that mobo makers have very little incentive to update their bios on 3 year old products to support the newest CPUs. I'm sure they'd rather just sell you a new mobo with that upgrade. I'm reasonably pleased with my upgrade path, though. I should be able to drop in a PII 940 on my Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe. That's far more longevity than I expected when I made the purchase.

That said, was support for AM3 CPUs in AM2 sockets really promised? I know they are meant to work in AM2+, but I don't recall hearing anything else.
 
the split power plane was a requirement afterall.
I've checked Gigabyte's site, they tell very clearly which mobos support AM3 and which don't ; all their AM2+ mobos support it, and a handful of AM2 mobos do.

Those four AM2 mobos have split power plane. They actually made a new revision of my mobo with that feature :

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2818
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=3008

they're still not AM2+ because of HT 1.0, but there's no need to care.

in the end, either I have a upgrade path to an athlon 5050e or 7750/7850 (not that bad), or I may buy the new revision of my mobo :LOL:. it's cheap afterall
 
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Hey guys, I'm looking for a new PC myself. I cant afford anything state-of-the-art, but I do want something high-end for some new games I'll be getting like Crysis, and then Alan Wake and Modern Warfare 2 when they come out.

I'm nowhere near as knowledgable as some on here so I've been researching the past couple of weeks. I've found this, do guys thinks its worth it?:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-065-OE

I ws thinking of getting the Radeon 4870 1024mb with it.
 
Davros said:
cant fault the system apart from the sound get an x-fi
and spend the extra £20 for the 4890
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Hi Davros, I remember you helped me with PIO mode problem I had last year :smile:. Still bothering me mind :devilish:.

I already own a HDA X-plosion, so I'll be putting that in my new system.

I take it the 4890 offers significant gains over the 4870 then? I havent bought a GPU for 2 years, but I presume Nvidia are still 'winning', but that the 4890 is better than the Geforce 260?

Also, how about the PSU and HDD? All this cheap PSU talk in the thread had me worried.
 
Hi Vic

Would you build the system yourself or get a pre-built system?

I would ask them to change the HDD to a Western Digital or Samsung as some people are reporting there are still issues with Seagates 7200.11 and 7200.12 models specifically high failure rates.

Not a bad price for what you get it seems.
 
I would get it pre-built, though I wouldnt mind leaving it out altogether, as I already have a 300GB (Samsung) and 500GB (Seagate Barracuda 7200.11!!).
 
significant gains, no about 10% i think, but its only an extra £20

ps: good thing i guess about buying pre built is they guarentee the 920 to run at 3.8
 
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