New PC for $1000 or less

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Around October I will be getting a completely new PC. I'm not sure if I want to go Intel or AMD. Given the way the current CPU lineup and cost they are almost equal. Intel does have a win with the i7 setup, but they are a bit pricey. Since I have roughly 3 months before I make my purchase I am keeping a very close eye out on all PC components and their prices.

The system will include the following items: Case, PSU, Motherboard, CPU, memory, GPU, HDD, Monitor, keyboard, mouse, DVD drive, media reader, and OS.

Here are two possible builds given the current prices...
AMD Build - $1,000
Generic Case
650W PSU with over 40AMPs on two 12V rails with a 1 PCI-e 6 pin and 1 PCI-e 8 pin connectors
Motherboard - AM3 790GX Mobo
CPU - AMD Phenoem 810
Memory - 4GB of DDR3 10666
HDD - 500 or 640GB 32MB of Cache
Keyboard / Mouse - Standard USB
DVD Drive - SATA DVD Drive Burner
Media Reader - Floppy and 40-in-1 media reader
Monitor - 21" 1080p Monitor
GPU - ATi 4870/4890 1GB or Nvidia 275 896MB

Intel Build - $1,000
Generic Case
650W PSU with over 40AMPs on two 12V rails with a 1 PCI-e 6 pin and 1 PCI-e 8 pin connectors
Motherboard - Intel P43
CPU - Intel 8500E
Memory 4GB of DDR2 1066
HDD - 640GB 32MB of Cache
Keyboard / Mouse - Standard USB
DVD Drive - SATA DVD Drive Burner
Media Reader - Floppy and 40-in-1 media reader
Monitor - 21" 1080p Monitor
GPU - ATi 4870/4890 1GB or Nvidia 280 1GB

I like the AMD setup because of the RAM and that the proessor is quad core vs. dual core - future proofing the system.

However, given that I have three months and Intel may have their new cpus and motherboards out by early October I might be able to pick up the quad cores for cheap by than. But who knows how AMD will price their CPU or if they will release AM3 CPUs only using DDR3 ram which could help improve the CPU performance, etc...

I hate waiting....

 

The E8500 is superior to the Phenoem 810 (granted by a small margin), not to mention easily overclockable if you want more performance, so at the moment the Intel route is actually superior, even though the AMD setup gets you DDR3 and quad-core (not that anything will use 4 cores any time soon). However as you said it yourself the situation might be very different in 3 months, so keep an eye on what both Intel and AMD are doing and how their prices are fluctuating.

The Radeon 4890 isn't really worth the extra money, its performance is too similar to the 4870. The reverse applies to Nvidia - you might as well pay the extra few dollars and get the GTX 280 rather than the 275. The GTX 280 is actually the best of the cards you've listed, but you'll have to decide if it's worth the extra $100 compared to the 4870.

Also, any reason you list the P43 chipset for your Intel setup? Why not go for the P45?

 

The amd setup is like mine. I got that setup after I wrecked my motherbord last friday. Only 2,6 ghz quad is not fast for a new one, but it give you space for other luxury parts.

I noticed that windows 7 runs better than with my e 6600 dualcore.

Both are nice but the big one is what will Intel core I5 do, due to be release around September. That is the moment you must decide.

No matter what, do not buy the old 775 socket. Good performance, but no processor upgrade possible within a year.

 

What is the difference between a P43 and P45? The difference I have seen is that the P45 has two PCI-e 2.0 ports and P43 has one. I'm not looking to build a SLI system; I'm looking to build a system that should honestly last me 3-5 years.

 

The P45 supports 2 PCI-e 2.0 slots but that doesn't mean all P45 motherboards have got to have them (mine doesn't). When I was buying mine a month ago there was practically no difference between P43 and P45 motherboards with similar specs. I just went with the P45 because I thought an updated chipset would get more support and is likely to have less bugs or problems. Not sure if the P43 has any real drawbacks but if they're similarly priced then the newer one seems like the logical choice.

 

Problem is p43 and p45 are 775 sockets. Very good boards, value for money, that is true. But is has one big drawback. Its succesor is to be launched in September. E8500, great CPU.

You buy one processor for the socket 775 and that is it. No midlife upgrade for the motherboard since it will most likely, almost for sure, be outfased after the launch of i5. And that midlife upgrade will be sweet and cheap. I5, I7 and AMD am3 can be outfitted with a cheap-ish processor now, and topped up with a high end one in two or three years. All three use the new memory type ddr3 that will last for 5 years at least. The older one ddr2 is being used for 775/am2 and production is halted.


The 810 is a quad that runs on 2,6 ghz. The e8500 at dual 3,166. One is a medium clocked quad and the other a high clocked duo. They cannot be compared. Pure gaming the e8500 will outperform the 810, that is true. Why? Todays most game are not multitreaded. Within a few years they are.

Yes ddr2 it is cheap, they overproduced. Yes 775 is a good deal, the shelves have to be emptied for the next gen. No prices of i5 are known. No performance of i5 is known. Those last 3 months of the year are going to be busy for the pc retailers. cancel all leave.

 

Merlanni, I agree with everything you say, but I would still recommend the 775/E8500 combo (well, 775/E8400 actually, but it doesn't make that much of a difference). I've never been a fan of upgrades, I would much rather buy a cheap good system now that will last me 3 years rather than pay more now for a system that I will then upgrade every year for the next 3 years. I haven't upgraded a system in almost 20 years (with the exception of minor things like adding a better sound card or a Voodoo 2 back in the days), and every system I've had since has lasted me at least 4 years (the one that did last 4 years was my previous one, and it would have lasted another year had I not moved to another continent).

That said, since Munchkin Blender isn't looking to buy the PC right now, I fully agree with what you said earlier: no decision until the i5 is released and the prices of everything else get rearranged as a result.

 

That is what I'm waiting for; i5 to be release. For some reason I believe AM3 will be much cheaper than the 775 by than as AMD will be close to releasing their next gen chipset and CPUs. I'm not sure if I want to hold out until that time or just purchase the best value and performance setup in October.

What is killing my current system is my CPU is clocked at 2.1GHZ and what saves me with Vista and some applications is that it is a triple core CPU. I thought about buying the AMD 710 for $100 and living with that 2.6GHZ CPU and my 8800GS for another year, but I would like to upgrade my whole and accessoreis around the time Dragon Age comes out.

The computer case, 19" LCD, DVD Burner, PATA HDD, mouse, keyboard, are all 5 years old.

The newer items in my PC are my Antec Basqis 500W PSU, Foxconn 780G Motherboard, G. Skill DDR2 800 memory and AMD 8450 x3 CPU.

The system performs extremely well and I have little to no issues with Vista Business 32 which is installed on my PC. What I have an issue with is that NWN2 does not run a full settings. The video card I have was made early 2008 and it cannot run NWN2 at full settings, a game made in late 2006. At times the game also slows down due to lower speed setting of my CPU.

I did a system build at Ibuypower.com and here is what I got...

CPU - AMD 955
Mobo - AM3 Gigabit 770 Chipset board
Memory 8GB of 10666 (1333) RAM
1TB HDD with 32MB of cache
Nvidia 260 or ATi 4890 (4890 was only $5 more than the 4870)
800W PSU
Decent looking case
20" 1080P widescreen monitor
mouse, keyboard, card reader, DVD burner, etc.....
Professional wiring, special packing to protect the PC, etc....
Windows Vista 64 Home Premium with Windows 7 Upgrade
All for $1008.00

Thoughts on this build?

 

I run a am3 810 on a am3 gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P. 4 gig ddr3, and a overclocked 4870 Now on idle this system uses 186 watts. Add an other 100 for full gaming and two harddisk and round it up to 300 watts. I use a 600 watt PSU for it to be in the maximum range of peak performance/energycost. (50/75%) My PSU in certified for SLI and can run two 4850's.

If you are not going to run two high videocards a 600-ish watt is enough.

This board:GigaByte GA-MA770T-UD3P ? If so this is a review http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-ga-ma770t-ud3p-motherboard-review and bingo, this is a nice one.

 

Regarding NWN2 and graphic cards, you're approaching things in the wrong way. Your card may have been made in 2008 but it's a trimmed-down version of the 8800 GT (released in 2007), which is itself a trimmed-down (performance-wise) version of the original 8800 GTX, which is a 2006 card. That said, NWN2 itself may have something to do with it - even on a Radeon 4870 I cannot run the game smoothly with everything pumped up, which makes me suspect the game's simply not optimised properly.

 

NWN2 was a real bad one. This is an open door but has to be asked for protocol Did you patch it? (ofcourse m*****)

I just gamed a bit, Kings Bounty, and with the monitor added to it, it touched 300 watts.

 

Do you know if the Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P can handle the dual GPU ATi or Nvidia cards? If so, I may go the high end GPU (4870x2 or Nvidia 295) route with this build and pay the extra $200 or so. And I'm not referring to SLI or Crossfire.

 

Actually no I didn't patch it I had only briefly borrowed it to check it actually worked on my system (I'd heard of people who couldn't get it to run at all with ATI cards and was a bit worried). It ran fine really, the slowdown only happened when I turned the Shadows options to the max, setting them to medium the game was very smooth and I barely noticed any difference anyway.

I did a quick search and found this article. Apparently you can't use the GTX 295 and the IDE connector at the same time, but other dual-cards work fine. If you don't plan on using the IDE connector I'd definitely recommend going for the GTX 295, it's the single most powerful card on the market at the moment.

 

With dual gpu card, the sli or crossfire connector is located on the card itself. You run a sli or crossfire setup with those cards.

I am a ati user, but nvidia has something done a lot better. Physics. a second card can be set in a menu to run as the physics card. A second pointvfor two sli-express GPU slots is this: Two ati 4770 cards outperform the top end single cards and cost less. The same with two medium nvidia cards.

So you must decide what you are going to do. Physics, two cards or a single card. Based on that pick the board.

 

I understand how SLI and Crossfire works with 2 cards. I don't know how a single slot dual GPU works. Could that dual GPU on a single PCI-e slot work on the 770 chipset? If not, do I have to go out and purchase a mobo that has two PCI-e lanes to use the second GPU?

I'm asking because the more I read about the 770 chipset for AM3 the more I lean towards purchasing the 790GX or 790FX chipset because the 770 does not support the 4870x2 GPU.

However, if the 770 chipset for AM3 supports the Nvidia 295 I may just purchase the 770 chipset to save a few bucks as I do not need RAID 5, etc on my new PC build if I go AMD.

 

If you do not care to show it off to friends or want o overclock and or benchmark I suggest a single high end graphics card. One with 1 gig ram. The 260(216), 4870. or higher. The next gen that supports dx11 is on the horizon so in two years you will replace it anyway.

The 770 is good enough if you want to save the money.

To answer the question: I am very sure that the crossfire chip is in the Gcard of a dual ati works on the 770. AMD owns Ati so it would most stupid if if did not work. I am less sure that a dual Nvidia works since SLI requires a special chip from Nvidia.

Toms hardware says it all with this chart. Read all 7 pages and conclude for yourself. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-price,2323.html Note the little remark about one pci-e lane in the 4850x2 piece, and the next post for the next card under that.

Conclusion based on that info: 4850x2 on the 770 chipset is a golden combination.

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The difference in the gigabyte 770 and gigabyte 790xt is $50 on Newegg. The pci slots on the 790x will work 2x8 when the second card is inserted. A single use pci-e slot will use 1x16 so that is not the point. The even higher end fx uses full lanes. For $180.

The reason why I choose the Gigabyte 790xt myself is the option in the future for a possible physics. Just to keep the option open. I Own a 4870 and a 20 inch screen so crossfire is useless for me. But again I might do it whit two low end card of the next gen.

If you are not going to fiddle around and keep the case closed until the next upgrade, and do not overclock the 770 will be fine. Put the $50 on the bank.

 

I would have gone (well, I did go ) for the 4870 with 1Gb VRAM, but if you're willing to pay extra then the combination Merlanni suggests is indeed gold. It's superior to both the GTX 280 and GTX 285, and for cheaper too, especially since the price of the 4850 has been steadily going down. Whether you use a single 4850 X2 or 2 4850 cards in Crossfire will depend on pricing, both seem to be pretty much the same thing and Tom's recommends both equally.

BTW I read in another thread you had problems with Intel in the past. While AMD had the upper hand in CPUs for years with the K6, then the Athlon XP, then the Athlon 64, things changed when Intel released the Core2 and they had the upper hand for a while. At the moment I would say things are just slightly in Intel's favor on the medium end and definitely all theirs on the high end (AMD has nothing that can compete with the i7). Not saying you shouldn't go for AMD (the AMD/ATI combination that Merlanni suggests is perfect) but just something to keep in mind.