ATI/Nvidia AMD/Intel for midrange gaming PC

[Japlabot]

I have been out of the gaming hardware loop for quite a while, my brother wants a gaming PC.

He wants to play Skyrim (The main target), GTA4 and other Steam games. He also plays Team Fortress 2 & Portal.

I don't see any point spending more than necessary to have a good game performance right now as the whole thing will probably be obsolete in 6 months anyway.

At the moment I am looking at...

Graphics Card

GeForce GTX 550 Ti ($128) or

ATI Radeon 6850 ($149)

Processor

Intel i5-2310 ($170) + Gigabyte GA-P67X-UD3R-B3 ($99) = Intel total $269

AMD Phenom II 1090T ($186) + Asus M4A88TD-M/USB3 ($89) = AMD total $275

Memory

G.Skill RipjawsX 8GB (4Gx2) Kit PC3-12800 ($56)

Already have a case, Power Supply, Hard Drive & DVD Burner.

I am trying to compare in the same ballpark performance wise for the same total cost.

Not likely to do upgrades to it, except maybe up the RAM when 6/8GB modules are common, and not likely to overclock (maybe when things start showing their age might give it a small boost on air - thus 1600mhz RAM, it was only $5 more expensive).

Have I spec'ed high enough for a good Gaming experience for Skyrim?

Which would be better between the brands to get better performance for the game?

Is it worth getting a basic SSD for gaming performance (not concerned about load times)?

Thanks

Simon

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Radeon 6850 is superior to 550 Ti, so if you can pay some extra cash, do it.

And i5 is much better than Phenom, in almost every aspect. Except for the heavily threaded apps and programmes, where you will need more cores.

If you are gonna stick with the usual gaming and usual stuff like movies, music, browsing e.t.c., then i5 is the way to go.

If you work with heavily threaded apps and programmes, then go for Phenom X6

And yup, SSD is worth every single penny of yours. Some even say that it is the single best upgrade you can do to your computer. So if you can, go for it

[notuptome2004]

go with an Asus motherboard for the intel build far better quality

[Japlabot]

I'm not really looking for brand preference, just the merits of the particular models I am looking at :)

[Blackhearted]

Radeon 6850 is superior to 550 Ti, so if you can pay some extra cash, do it.

And i5 is much better than Phenom, in almost every aspect. Except for the heavily threaded apps and programmes, where you will need more cores.

If you are gonna stick with the usual gaming and usual stuff like movies, music, browsing e.t.c., then i5 is the way to go.

If you work with heavily threaded apps and programmes, then go for Phenom X6

And yup, SSD is worth every single penny of yours. Some even say that it is the single best upgrade you can do to your computer. So if you can, go for it

An SSD is really only worth it right now, and for (it seems) a long time to come, if you've got money to burn. Oh sure, it's faster and games will load a little quicker, but at the same time you can't install more than 2 or 3 games on one unless you spend an absurd amount of money for one that gets the size into the triple digits. Which is something you wouldn't do for a mid-range box.

[ajua]

I would look for a Z68 motherboard, specially if you want to take advantage of Lucid Virtu (switch seamlessly between Intel HD Graphics and your discrete card) and Intel Smart Response Technology (use a small SSD as a cache for a SATA drive). They are priced the same as their P67 counterparts, so there is really need to buy P67. Just look for one that has video out ports to take advantage of Virtu.

That motherboard you posted if somewhat expensive. You can find a better or equal Z68 counterpart.

Intel Core CPU's offer the best performance, go with that Core i5. About video cards, go with the Radeon HD 6850 as it has a little advantage over the 550Ti. You can search more thoroughly for a motherboard and save the difference between both cards.

The RAM modules are good and their price is right.

Good luck with your build. I just can't love enough assembling computers :)

[TEX4S]

Just curious - you say you already have a PSU - what kind ? by "kind" I mean brand & power

[mr.r9]

Maybe you can consider a 6950?

Anyway, check this for benchmarks: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2

[HyBry]

Just curious - you say you already have a PSU - what kind ? by "kind" I mean brand & power

I had the same question when I read the OP.

[Japlabot]

That motherboard you posted if somewhat expensive. You can find a better or equal Z68 counterpart.

I don't think that Z68 will make much difference, but it is only a little bit more expensive than P67 and a more recent release so why not. Not sure why you think it's expensive, I checked some US sites and it seems about on par (I am in Australia).

Just curious - you say you already have a PSU - what kind ? by "kind" I mean brand & power

Antec High Current Gamer 520W

Maybe you can consider a 6950?

6950 is $100 more expensive than 6850.

Looking at:

Intel Core i5-2320 - $183 (had to change up from i5-2310 because no stock)

ASRock Z68 Pro3-M - $112 (or similar ASRock)

ATI Radeon 6850 - $149

G.Skill RipjawsX 8GB (4Gx2) Kit PC3-12800 $53

No SSD for now

edit: I considered skimping on the motherboard to save some cash because my brother hasn't got much money, but realistically I think this is as low as it's going to get for a gaming PC. Is there anything else that can be suggested for this? Does anyone think that this would not be sufficient for a mid-range gaming PC?

Edited November 20, 2011 by Simon-

[HyBry]

I don't think that Z68 will make much difference, but it is only a little bit more expensive than P67 and a more recent release so why not. Not sure why you think it's expensive, I checked some US sites and it seems about on par (I am in Australia).

Antec High Current Gamer 520W

6950 is $100 more expensive than 6850.

Looking at:

Intel Core i5-2320 - $183 (had to change up from i5-2310 because no stock)

ASRock Z68 Pro3-M - $112 (or similar ASRock)

ATI Radeon 6850 - $149

G.Skill RipjawsX 8GB (4Gx2) Kit PC3-12800 $53

No SSD for now

edit: I considered skimping on the motherboard to save some cash because my brother hasn't got much money, but realistically I think this is as low as it's going to get for a gaming PC. Is there anything else that can be suggested for this? Does anyone think that this would not be sufficient for a mid-range gaming PC?

I don't think there are any saving possible on that. There are only upgrade options that are worth considering but nothing that would jump out as a must have. If there is more money available, then CPU or GPU would be first in line for a bump.