Build a gaming PC or buy one?

[Kshitiz_Indian]

Intel > AMD was something which held true with virtually any price bracket, in the Core 2 Duo era. This time around AMD has come up with really good options at awesome price points, and its competetive once again. Which processor is better now depends on the price point, not the brand anymore.

Same is with AMD and nVidia now. There was a point (Nvidia 8800GT / 9600GT) kind of era, when you'd be mad not to get a 8800GT. AMD has turned the tables now though and Nvidia is struggling to keep up with AMD. Again, which card comes down to the price point, though in today's day I'd be inclined towards AMD. If there's one thing Nvidia have much better than AMD, its the continuous driver support / development.

 

[angryangy]

In ATI card, if you want best price/performance ratio, then you better stay a step behind. I bought the 4850 when 4890 X2 were launched and its still running pretty awesome for me. Now that 6000+ series has been launched, your best bet would be 5850

The Radeon 6000 series has been designed purposefully to bring down manufacturing costs and attack lower price points. A 6850 costs about 20% less than a 5850, but is also a little less powerful.

 

[Gurjot95]

I want to build a gaming PC so need some suggestions. Here it is what I am upgrading.
Ram- 3GB DDR3
Hard Disk - 512GB
Processor - AMD Phenom II 4x

I already have a graphic card 9600GT 1GB. I wanted to upgrade to i5 processor but I heard AMD Phenom is much better and has same features as i5 at low price. I am mainly upgrading for gaming. So what do you think about this?

 

[themuel1]

Can I have some opinions please on this setup Dell have recommded to me (?1200) :

Intel? Core™ i7 Processor 870 (2.93GHz, 8MB)
8192MB (4x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory
1TB Serial ATA (7200RPM) Hard Drive
1GB Nvidia? GeForce? GTX 460 Graphics Card

 

[angryangy]

I want to build a gaming PC so need some suggestions. Here it is what I am upgrading.
Ram- 3GB DDR3
Hard Disk - 512GB
Processor - AMD Phenom II 4x

I already have a graphic card 9600GT 1GB. I wanted to upgrade to i5 processor but I heard AMD Phenom is much better and has same features as i5 at low price. I am mainly upgrading for gaming. So what do you think about this?

Going from a recent AMD to midrange Intel is probably not worth the added cost of a new motherboard. It could also be a bit of a side-grade, but it depends how recent a Phenom. Upgrading from an original Phenom 2 X4 to a recent one is like going from Core 2 Duo to i5 anyway, though I'm not quite sure how far the motherboard support extends.

Whatever the case, I suspect the most impact would be had by upgrading the graphics. Certainly cost effective. Anything up to a GTX 470 would probably be cheaper than mobo + CPU.

 

[gudduthemaster]

I want to build a gaming PC so need some suggestions. Here it is what I am upgrading.
Ram- 3GB DDR3
Hard Disk - 512GB
Processor - AMD Phenom II 4x

I already have a graphic card 9600GT 1GB. I wanted to upgrade to i5 processor but I heard AMD Phenom is much better and has same features as i5 at low price. I am mainly upgrading for gaming. So what do you think about this?

As angry said You Need To Upgrade your Graphic Card First. 9600Gt is not Enough Today.You need Dx11 Supported Gpu today For Gaming.(depending on your Budget,Gtx460 is near about 10k in eaby)
Btw What Is Your Recent Config?

 

[Chewie]

DX11 is not necessary for modern games, though it does make it looks much nicer. There isn't much point getting a DX11 capable graphics card if the rest of the system can't handle it though.

@Sam, that's a decent set up, but while I'm not too sure about the current exchange rate, the price seems a bit steep.

 

[angryangy]

When you talk about DX11, it's not that it's compulsory (though in recent games, DX9 is), but that it represents the recent generation of cards from all manufacturers, that are designed to run current games, rather than games from 3-4 years ago. Considering they've been around for a year now, there's not much point not getting one, because there are good value models as well as expensive high end ones. The only justification is if you're spending under US$100, but that price-point is always going to be dominated by dated hardware and you'll always be behind the 8 ball.

In terms of bottlenecking, it is not so common, CPU-wise. You're better off with a faster CPU for a few games. Source Engine for one and I think maybe for Frostbite (this year's BC2 and MoH), but generally faster GPUs will have a more dramatically positive effect on most games. I'd guarantee that a 9600GT is a bottleneck to the maximum performance of any Phenom 2 X4.

 

[Gurjot95]

The one which I posted above is not my system specs, it's what I am going to upgrade to

and not sure about GPU card making huge difference than CPU. I still can't play games at good FPS even with lower settings. Maybe that's because I have crap processor and very low Ram. Here are mine system specs-
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140 1.6 Ghz
1GB Ram
Nvidia 9600GT 1GB Graphic Card
Windows 7

So even before thinking to upgrading graphic card, I should upgrade my old processor and RAM first to make the games playable. What do you think?

 

[gudduthemaster]

Upgrade your Proccy ASAP

 

[Chewie]

You'll have to get a new motherboard if you're upgrading from that because your processor won't fit into your current one I don't think

 

[Gurjot95]

Haha that's the reason I said that I wanted to upgrade processor first . and the processor which I will buy comes with all accessories including motherboard.

 

[Chewie]

Well you have to choose your motherboard first...

 

[Gurjot95]

I heard Phenom 2 comes with whole kit including motherboard.

 

[Chewie]

Maybe where you are they do. I've never heard of motherboards being included. I'd want to choose my motherboard to be honest, get the correct ports, number of PCI slots, etc.