Project Reality Forums

Hello everyone, i'm thinking about buying new hardware for my rig, but i'm kinda lost, especially with the Motherboard, I got around RS$800 (Brazilian money) or US$505 to invest. I don't need a high end rig, just a average pc to play my games, i already got a GPU(GeForce GTS 250) and a PSU (500W 80% Efficiency).

Here is a list of hardware i've found interesting :
(The links will take you to the product corresponding pages on New Egg)
(The prices below the links are from the Brazilian store i will buy the Hardware)



Motherboard:


Gigabyte AMD AM3 GA-M68MT-S2
R$152,92

ASUS M4N68T-M V2 AM3
R$161,42

BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G
R$195,42

Biostar AMD A880G+ AM3
R$246,42

ASUS M4A77T/USB3 AM3 AMD 770 USB 3.0 ATX AMD
R$297,42

BIOSTAR TA890GXB HD AM3 AMD 890GX
R$339,92

GIGABYTE GA-880GM-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G
R$339,92



CPUs


AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz
R$284,67

AMD Phenom II X6 1075T Thuban 3.0GHz
R$373,92

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz
R$399,42



HD


Samsung Sata2 1TB 7200RPM 32MB
R$144,42

Seagate HD 1000Gb SATA 2 Sata2 7200RPM Rf
R$161,42

Seagate Sata3 1TB 7200RPM 32MB Barracuda ST31000524AS
R$169,92

Seagate 1500Gb SATA 2 7200RPM 32MB Cache Rf
R$195,42



RAM


DDR3 4GB 1333Mhz Kingston
R$135,92

Corsair DDR3 4GB (2x2GB) 1333Mhz XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9A
R$169,92

Gold OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz
R$169,92

PS: I accept suggestions on other Hardware too.

To narrow down your choice of motherboards, look at the features you really need (things like PCI and RAM slots, onboard graphics, etc.), then basically go with the cheapest board (assuming it's from a quality manufacturer, which all three of the ones you have boards listed from are).

It's highly unlikely that you'll be getting more out of a six-core processor than a four-core one, unless you're using the computer for something other than gaming or standard home use. You could probably even look at dual-core processors if you want to save some more money.

As far as RAM goes, all three of those choices are solid, I'd go with the cheapest one.

Pariel wrote:To narrow down your choice of motherboards, look at the features you really need (things like PCI and RAM slots, onboard graphics, etc.), then basically go with the cheapest board (assuming it's from a quality manufacturer, which all three of the ones you have boards listed from are).

It's highly unlikely that you'll be getting more out of a six-core processor than a four-core one, unless you're using the computer for something other than gaming or standard home use. You could probably even look at dual-core processors if you want to save some more money.

As far as RAM goes, all three of those choices are solid, I'd go with the cheapest one.

I don't need onboard video because i will reuse my GPU (GTS 250), good to know that the 3 manufacturers are good.

So the 6 Core is useless? Well i will use the pc for working too, i'm a web designer, so i'm usualy running Dreamweaver + Photoshop + Firefox + Chrome, the games i'm expecting to play are Dead Island, BF3 and PR ARMA 2.

About RAM, cheap RAM don't cause problems like blue screens?

I'd look into whether any of the programs you use regularly can actually make use of multiple cores. I would guess not, in which case you're pretty much going to have two cores just sitting around doing nothing (unless you have 5 or 6 programs open) most of the time. At the same time, the price difference isn't terribly large, and to some extent it may provide some future-proofing for your computer, so it may be worth it.

Really cheap RAM can be terrible, but you shouldn't have to worry about that with any of those three brands.

Marko wrote:
About RAM, cheap RAM don't cause problems like blue screens?

Only if you want to overclock it, otherwise it should run to specifications, if it does not, send it back.

i ssume you have 64 bit W7

if you plan to OC take the black edition x4 otherwise the normal x6 CPU

and take the first ram listed there

for HDD i suggest you take a 750GB HDD and a 64 GB SSD if you can afford. arma runs so much better on SSD

i wont go into motherboards cuz its late here and im tired

I don't see any reason to get a 6 core CPU, get the x4 and it will make you plenty happy at a lower price. There aren't any games which will take advantage of that many processors in a meaningful way, save the money for your GPU

ever thought of getting two 500gb hard drives and using RAID 0??? Much faster and will still give you the 1TB storage...(possibly 2x WD caviar black, for speed? or similar)

Also bloodbane speaks the truth, the x4 is plenty good enough, especially as its the same clock as the 6 core, the extra 2 cores aren't worth it for the $100.

For the ram, the kingston will be fine, if you can find some g.skill ripjaws X, they're pretty good, but the corsair XMS3's are great too.

Motherboard really depends on what you want, if you want USB3, get one with USB3, if you have no use for it, dont bother. Also other things to consider are:

- Ram Speed (as you have chosen 1333mhz ram, make sure the motherboard has that as an option, and it is better if it is not an "OC" option)

- Crossfire/SLI compabability (do you want to get 2x graphics cards?)

- SATA 6gb/s ( mainly useful for SSD's but the WD caviar blacks need them too)

- Amount of SATA ports (remember your CD/DVD drive runs off one of the 3GB/s versions, and then each hard drive takes its own as well)

- Manufacturer (Best are MSI, Gigabyte others I have not tried personally. Running an MSI atm, and its great)

- EUFI (different to bios, not a huge improvement, so dont get drawn in by the flashy graphics )

- Price (generally the cheapest given the requirements stated above.