Computer purchasing advice

[Spike88]

Originally Posted by Arclight

Well, no offense, but you're skimping on the 1 thing that makes it a gaming system.

All the RAM and CPU cores in the world won't change the fact a 650 is a low-budget card. You can halve the RAM and get a fast dual-core without sacrificing gaming performance in most cases; it's that card that defines performance.

I don't see how that is offensive.


I've put together a hypothetical AMD machine too, but have come into a road block, apparently AMD mobo's only support PCIe 2.

I could put a Geforce 560 in there, which according this site:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
Is in between the 650 and 660.

The CPU I have chosen now is 3,000 "marks" stronger than the i5, and $50 cheaper. If I could find something closer to the i5 I selected for a lot cheaper, I could get a better card. But I have to ask if getting an AMD is worth it. The fact it only supports PCIe 2 seems like a major draw back.

In reality, I only want something to play a couple indie games(that aren't too demanding) CoH2, RTW2 and maybe Skyrim. I'll also probably upgrade the system in a year to two years. Upgrading is a lot easier once you have some of the components.

[Arclight]

Got a 660 on PCI-e 2 here, no bottlenecks that I'm aware off. PCI-e 3 shouldn't even factor into your decision at this point.


Er, AMD is tricky at the moment. For games, as far as I know, it's single-threaded performance that counts. And that's exactly what the latest FX line-up (Bulldozer was terrible, Piledriver improves a bit) are not particularly good at. That said, most games aren't particularly CPU-intensive. You will definitely run into a CPU bottleneck when you have a GTX 680 or such, but I can't say whether or not that's also the case with a 560/660.


I just... I've already moved from a 460 to 660. The 460 was alright but not spectacular due to trouble with the new manufacturing process (it had part of its core locked and was underclocked). That "old" 460 outperforms a 650 by a fair margin.

I don't think you would be too impressed by the performance on that thing. It'll run Skyrim all right, CoH2 medium prolly but with RTW2 you'll already be cranking it most of the way down. It has no legs.

[Spike88]

Originally Posted by Arclight

Got a 660 on PCI-e 2 here, no bottlenecks that I'm aware off. PCI-e 3 shouldn't even factor into your decision at this point.


Er, AMD is tricky at the moment. For games, as far as I know, it's single-threaded performance that counts. And that's exactly what the latest FX line-up (Bulldozer was terrible, Piledriver improves a bit) are not particularly good at. That said, most games aren't particularly CPU-intensive. You will definitely run into a CPU bottleneck when you have a GTX 680 or such, but I can't say whether or not that's also the case with a 560/660.


I just... I've already moved from a 460 to 660. The 460 was alright but not spectacular due to trouble with the new manufacturing process (it had part of its core locked and was underclocked). That "old" 460 outperforms a 650 by a fair margin.

I don't think you would be too impressed by the performance on that thing. It'll run Skyrim all right, CoH2 medium prolly but with RTW2 you'll already be cranking it most of the way down. It has no legs.

Ah, apparently PCIe 3.0 cards do work in PCIe 2 slots. Who would've thought. I was looking at the FX-6300 Vishera 3.5ghz Six Core.

This whole thing is too damn complicated.

[HundertzehnGustav]

The prices i see are pretty wild.
But i can not relate, since i am in Yurep.

It seems to be a well balanced mid to upper PC to me - and tailored to your needs.

looked over the list, and also thought The G-Card could be a better one..

Your choices are wise so far.