Buying a new PC, need advice

[MikeInBA]

I am getting a new PC and I am trying to choose between an AMD and Intel system. The AMD is only $5 cheaper. I will be mainly using this for software development, but i would really like something that will run the new Sim City when it comes out w/o issue.

CPU: Intel? Core? i5-3570 3.40 GHz

HDD: 120 GB SAMSUNG 840 Series SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD

MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kingston HyperX

MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX] GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H Intel Z77 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard

SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

VIDEO: AMD Radeon HD 7770

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.00 GHz

HDD: 120 GB SAMSUNG 840 Series SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD

MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kingston HyperX

MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3

SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

VIDEO: AMD Radeon HD 7770

[LaP]

Intel

Not sure about the 7770 though. The new Sim City will probably not be a demanding game but if you plan to play at 1080p a 7850 might be safer to be sure to have a smooth experience. If you plan to play at low res then the 7770 should be enough.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

if you can afford it, i'd at least step up to the 7800 series

[MikeInBA]

if you can afford it, i'd at least step up to the 7800 series

Unfortunately i cant :-( The only video card I could consider in the same price range would be a 2GB GeForce GTX650

[LaP]

If you don't plan to play games until Sim City comes out i would use the gpu inside the cpu until the game comes out. There might be better cards for the same price until then.

The 7770 will likely be enough to play Sim City. But if you don't play anything now i would wait to buy the card just to be sure.

[Astra.Xtreme]

First thing's first, get the i5.

Also, I'd recommend you don't get that Samsung 840. Unless it's the Pro version, it's not a good SSD. A great budget SSD is the Crucial M4. I highly recommend it, and it will probably save you some money.

And with that, I would also highly recommend spending the little extra to at least get the GTX 650 Ti. I think the 7850 is basically the same price as the Ti, but also faster. So if you don't mind AMD, that's probably the best bang for your buck. The regular 650 is a really weak card, and you'd even be better off buying a used GTX 460 than that.

[MikeInBA]

Ive been out of the hardware scene for a while, so im not up to speed on a few things. Back when i kept up, it was easy to tell what was the "better" gfx card because of the number. So its odd to hear that a 460GTX is better than a 650GTX.

The only other option i have for an SSD is a SanDisk (sorry i dont have the model# for it, its a 128GB (its listed as having 490 MB/s Read & 350 MB/s Write if that helps)

[LaP]

Ive been out of the hardware scene for a while, so im not up to speed on a few things. Back when i kept up, it was easy to tell what was the "better" gfx card because of the number. So its odd to hear that a 460GTX is better than a 650GTX.

The only option i have for an SSD is a SanDisk (sorry i dont have the model# for it, its a 128GB (its listed as having 490 MB/s Read & 350 MB/s Write if that helps)

The 650 and 77xx series of cards are mostly for HTPC.

The 7770 and 650ti can be used to play games but only the less demanding ones (the 650ti is better).

A 6950 will likely perform better than a 7770. And a 560ti will likely perform better than a 650 too. [edit] i just checked and a 6950/560ti will indeed perform better than both the 650ti and 7770 /

If you don't have enough money you should look to buy a used card from previous generation. 6950/70 and 560 ti are still very good cards. In fact according to reviews even the old 5850 and 460 will occasionally outperform them here and there

http://www.guru3d.co...ference,14.html

Basically

460 and 5850 are mostly equal to 650ti and 7770

470 and 5870 are still slightly better than 650ti and 7770

6950 and 560ti are better

6970 and 570 are clearly better by a safe margin

Try to find a used 560ti or 6950 for a good price. imo buying a 7770 would be a mistake. I just sold last decembre a used 6950 xxx for 120$. Most of the people are still selling those for 150+ but if you wait you'll surely find a bargain in the 120-140$ for a used one.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Ive been out of the hardware scene for a while, so im not up to speed on a few things. Back when i kept up, it was easy to tell what was the "better" gfx card because of the number. So its odd to hear that a 460GTX is better than a 650GTX.

With Nvidia, the first number is the "generation" number. So the 460 would be the 4th generation, the 650 would be the 6th generation, and so on.

The second number is the tier. So a 460 would be a 6th tier and would be technically better than a 650, which is a 5th tier.

It seems the biggest difference between generations is power consumption, due to more efficient transistor tech and whatnot. So since the 460 is an older card, it is a little more power hungry than the newer ones. As long as you don't have something weak like a 300W power supply, you'll be fine though.

[MikeInBA]

With Nvidia, the first number is the "generation" number. So the 460 would be the 4th generation, the 650 would be the 6th generation, and so on.

The second number is the tier. So a 460 would be a 6th tier and would be technically better than a 650, which is a 5th tier.

It seems the biggest difference between generations is power consumption, due to more efficient transistor tech and whatnot. So since the 460 is an older card, it is a little more power hungry than the newer ones. As long as you don't have something weak like a 300W power supply, you'll be fine though.

Thanks. When you said the Samsung SSD wasnt good, is that because of performance or because of reliability/durability?

[Astra.Xtreme]

Thanks. When you said the Samsung SSD wasnt good, is that because of performance or because of reliability/durability?

Yeah the regular 840 uses a type of NAND memory that's slower and has a shorter lifespan than other SSDs out there. So for the sake of both of those things, the Crucial M4 would be a much better choice.

It's explained in a bit more detail here:

http://techreport.com/review/23990/samsung-840-pro-series-ssd-reviewed