official PC Hardware buying guide [Q1 2013]

[rajputwarrior]

No, no no we cannot be having this. The dual core i3 obviously beats all of the quad/hexa/eight core processors :p. It is also so much cheaper (even though the motherboards are more expenisve).

at least that way you are forced to get a good mobo, not the crap suggested in the OP.

[Site Lab]

Here is my AMD + UK Price recomendations:

This is for the full machine, PSU + Case and the lot.

APU Build

• AMD 3870K 3GHz Socket FM1 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor ?103.83
  
• Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V unbuffered ?35.81
  
• Gigabyte GA-A55M-DS2 A55 AMD FM1 7.1 Channel HD Audio mATX Motherboard ?40.19
  
• Extra Value Piano Black Micro ATX With 500W PSU (Not sure about PSU though...) ?23.99
  
• Samsung SH-222BB 22x DVD?RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black ?12.99
  
• Sapphire HD 6670 1GB GDDR5 DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics card ?69.89
  
• Samsung HM160HC 160GB 2.5" Hard Drive IDE 5400rpm 8MB Cache - OEM ?41.00
  

?327.70 inc VAT + Free Delivery

Budget Build (General office work, internet browsing, flash games)

• AMD Athlon II X3 460 3.4GHz Socket AM3 1.5MB (3x512KB) L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor ?65.75
  
• Corsair 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory Module CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.5V Unbuffered Non-ECC ?17.99
  
• Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD Socket AM3+ 8 Channel HD Audio mATX Motherboard ?47.95
  
• Extra Value Piano Black Micro ATX With 500W PSU (Not sure about PSU though...) ?23.99
  
• Samsung SH-222BB 22x DVD?RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black ?12.99
  
• Samsung HM160HC 160GB 2.5" Hard Drive IDE 5400rpm 8MB Cache - OEM ?41.00
  

?209.67 inc VAT + Free Delivery

Mainstream (Medium settings, office work, photoshop.etc)

• AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Cache 125W Retail Boxed Processor ?94.98
  
• Asus M5A97 PRO 970 Socket AM3+ 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard ?78.10
  
• Coolermaster Elite 330 Case With Coolermaster eXtreme Power 500W PSU ?49.98
  
• HIS HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card ?96.99
  
• Samsung SH-222BB 22x DVD?RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black ?12.99
  
• WD 250GB 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 7200RPM 16MB Cache ?55.00
  

?388.04 inc VAT + Free Delivery

High-End (High settings, photoshop video rendering.etc)

• AMD FX-6 6100 Black Edition 6 Core 3.3Ghz Socket AM3+ 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor ?112.31
  
• Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 Socket AM3+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard ?72.68
  
• HIS HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 DVI HDMI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card ?188.77
  
• G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V ?43.94
  
• Antec 300 Three Hundred Case ?44.99
  
• XFX Pro 650W Core Edition PSU - Single Rail 9x SATA 4x PCI-E ?79.89
  
• Samsung SH-222BB 22x DVD?RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black ?12.99
  
• WD 250GB 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 7200RPM 16MB Cache ?55.00
  

?610.57 inc VAT + Free Delivery

Ultimate (Maximum settings, Video Rending, Extreme power!)

• AMD Bulldozer FX-8 8150 8 Core 3.6Ghz Socket AM3+ 8MB L3 Cache 125W Retail Boxed Processor ?189.83
  
• Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 HDMI DVI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card ?424.97
  
• ASUS Sabertooth 990FX Socket AM3+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard ?116.13
  
• Antec 300 Three Hundred Case ?44.99
  
• G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V ?43.94
  
• Samsung SH-B123L 12x BD-ROM DVD?RW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA Optical Drive - Retail Box Black ?49.98
  
• Corsair 850W AX850 Modular PSU ?139.90
  
• OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - SATA-III - Read 525MB/s Write 500MB/s 85,000 IOPS ?104.04
  
• Seagate 2TB BARRACUDA 3.5" SATA-III Hard Drive - 7200RPM 64MB Cache ?88.02
  

?1201.80 inc VAT + Free Delivery

This build could do with a lot of changes, for example the PSU costs nearly as much as the processor :o. I chose corsair because it is a reputable brand and 850W is more than enough juice for this :p

[CentralDogma]

I haven?t looked over all your builds, Site Lab, but it seems like you?ve just thrown in AMD processors for the sake of it, regardless of their performance.

In your APU build by including a discrete graphics card, you?re negating any value you would get with the AMD 3870K. I?m not sure it would be able to outperform the Pentium G850 in the budget build which is cheaper($87 vs $139). We don?t have a low cost HTPC build, and that?s probably where an AMD APU would shine, using integrated graphics.

In your high end build, an Intel i3-2120 ($127) is going to outperform that FX-6100 ($149) according to that chart I posted on the last page. Hell, it looks like even the Pentium G850 will out perform at less than two thirds the price.

And, I don?t know how you can honestly recommend the AMD FX-8150, which is underpriced and outperformed by the Intel i5 2500K, for any build, much less an ?extreme power, money be damned? build.

[Site Lab]

but it seems like you?ve just thrown in AMD processors for the sake of it, regardless of their performance.

I haven't. There is reason why I have chosen each setup. These aren't meant to beat intel, but where they do they are quite good machines for the prices.

In your APU build by including a discrete graphics card, you?re negating any value you would get with the AMD 3870K. I?m not sure it would be able to outperform the Pentium G850 in the budget build which is cheaper($87 vs $139). We don?t have a low cost HTPC build, and that?s probably where an AMD APU would shine, using integrated graphics.

Ok, the reason i including a discrete graphics card with the APU is because of the crossfire performance when combining a 6670 and the intregated graphics in the GPU. Since I cannot find any benchmarks with the crossfire here in question, I turned to Youtube. For example here we have:

<- Battlefield 3 running on this setup with 40FPS on medium/high settings.

Infact, change that just found one.

60 FPS on Dirt 2 on medium, which is more than playable for the price of the system.

Here is Saints Row 3 running on the same setup -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIYeRy2nQlc

For the price, this is quite an excellent budget gaming system, this is why I chose this setup.

In your high end build, an Intel i3-2120 ($127) is going to outperform that FX-6100 ($149) according to that chart I posted on the last page. Hell, it looks like even the Pentium G850 will out perform at less than two thirds the price.

Here, the i3-2120 will probably beat the FX-6100. (If a Phenom X4 970 or X6 1090t was available, I would have chose that but I chose the next best thing due to reviews/ratings on ebuyer itself...).

According to PassMark benchmark scores, the FX-6100 scores 5,616 and the i3-2120 scores 4,200. Plus the FX-6100 has more cores than the i3. (Six cores vs Two)

However, lets look at what a similar system would cost on the same website:

• Intel Core i3 2120 3.3GHz Socket 1155 3MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor ?94.97
  
• Asrock P67 EXTREME4 V3 1155 Socket 7.1 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard ?122.61
  
• HIS HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 DVI HDMI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card ?188.77
  
• G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V ?43.94
  
• Antec 300 Three Hundred Case ?44.99
  
• XFX Pro 650W Core Edition PSU - Single Rail 9x SATA 4x PCI-E ?79.89
  
• Samsung SH-222BB 22x DVD?RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black ?12.99
  
• WD 250GB 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 7200RPM 16MB Cache ?55.00
  

Total price is now: ?643.16 compared to ?610.67. For ?32.49 extra you are basically getting 4 less cores, a bit more performance in gaming and less performance in multi-tasking/other stuff.

And, I don?t know how you can honestly recommend the AMD FX-8150, which is underpriced and outperformed by the Intel i5 2500K, for any build, much less an ?extreme power, money be damned? build.

Course the i5 2500k may be cheaper, but "money be damned" like you said :p

Anyway, the reason i recommended the FX-8150 in the AMD category is because it is the fastest AMD CPU available and actually offers more performance than the i5 2500k.

In passmark the FX-8150 scores 8244 whereas the i5-2500k scores 6743. Also, the FX-8150 has 8 cores compared to the 4 in the i5-2500k. (Not that will be much of an improvement for most applications).

In DIRT 3:

http://www.hardwares...php?image=39558

The FX-8150 offers 7 MORE FPS! (Such a MASSIVE improvement *sarcasam*)

http://www.hardwares...php?image=39556

In Cinebench 11.5 the FX-8150 comes closer to the i7-2600k (which is dearer than the FX-8150.)

In photoshop CS5 the FX-8150 takes less time than the i5-2500k:

However, in 3d Max the i5 does beat the FX-8150 by a small margin :(

IN Civilization the FX-8150 gains an additional 4 fps.

In Dirt 3 here, Il admit the i5-2500k is faster.

In Metro 2033 it is 0.5fps slower. (Not that much)

At 1920x1200 it is 2.5 slower.

In the Rage vt_benchmark the FX-8150 takes less time to transcode textures.

In multi-threaded benchmarks the FX-8150 beats the i5-2500k, however in single threaded the i5-2500k wins.

The single most important benchmark. ITS FASTER IN 7-ZIP THAN THE I5!!!!!

Renders faster.

Its faster in EXCEL as well.

Lets see at the price though:

Quote

• AMD Bulldozer FX-8 8150 8 Core 3.6Ghz Socket AM3+ 8MB L3 Cache 125W Retail Boxed Processor ?189.83
  
• Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 HDMI DVI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card ?424.97
  
• ASUS Sabertooth 990FX Socket AM3+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard ?116.13
  
• Antec 300 Three Hundred Case ?44.99
  
• G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V ?43.94
  
• Samsung SH-B123L 12x BD-ROM DVD?RW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA Optical Drive - Retail Box Black ?49.98
  
• Corsair 850W AX850 Modular PSU ?139.90
  
• OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - SATA-III - Read 525MB/s Write 500MB/s 85,000 IOPS ?104.04
  
• Seagate 2TB BARRACUDA 3.5" SATA-III Hard Drive - 7200RPM 64MB Cache ?88.02
  

With intel options of:

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor ?168.46

AND Asus SABERTOOTH P67 R3 P67 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard ?148.83

The price comes to: ?13 dearer.

[CentralDogma]

Ok, the reason i including a discrete graphics card with the APU is because of the crossfire performance when combining a 6670 and the intregated graphics in the GPU. Since I cannot find any benchmarks with the crossfire here in question, I turned to Youtube. For example here we have:

Battlefield 3 running on this setup with 40FPS on medium/high settings.

Infact, change that just found one.

60 FPS on Dirt 2 on medium, which is more than playable for the price of the system.

Here is Saints Row 3 running on the same setup ->

For the price, this is quite an excellent budget gaming system, this is why I chose this setup.

You're right, it's not easy to find a benchmark that pairs the AMD 3870K with discreate graphics against an Intel CPU with the same. If there were, these would be a lot clearer issue.

Here, the i3-2120 will probably beat the FX-6100. (If a Phenom X4 970 or X6 1090t was available, I would have chose that but I chose the next best thing due to reviews/ratings on ebuyer itself...).

According to PassMark benchmark scores, the FX-6100 scores 5,616 and the i3-2120 scores 4,200. Plus the FX-6100 has more cores than the i3. (Six cores vs Two)

However, lets look at what a similar system would cost on the same website:

• 
  Intel Core i3 2120 3.3GHz Socket 1155 3MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor ?94.97
  
• 
  Asrock P67 EXTREME4 V3 1155 Socket 7.1 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard ?122.61
  
• 
  HIS HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 DVI HDMI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card ?188.77
  
• 
  G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V ?43.94
  
• 
  Antec 300 Three Hundred Case ?44.99
  
• 
  XFX Pro 650W Core Edition PSU - Single Rail 9x SATA 4x PCI-E ?79.89
  
• 
  Samsung SH-222BB 22x DVD?RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black ?12.99
  
• 
  WD 250GB 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 7200RPM 16MB Cache ?55.00
  

Total price is now: ?643.16 compared to ?610.67. For ?32.49 extra you are basically getting 4 less cores, a bit more performance in gaming and less performance in multi-tasking/other stuff.

The Asrock P67 EXTREME4 V3 is a bad deal (at least in comparison to the Gigabyte GA-970A-D3). If you go with the Asus P8Z68-V LX, you end up saving ?16 and getting a better system.

Course the i5 2500k may be cheaper, but "money be damned" like you said :p

Anyway, the reason i recommended the FX-8150 in the AMD category is because it is the fastest AMD CPU available and actually offers more performance than the i5 2500k.

Lets see at the price though:

Quote

• 
  AMD Bulldozer FX-8 8150 8 Core 3.6Ghz Socket AM3+ 8MB L3 Cache 125W Retail Boxed Processor ?189.83
  
• 
  Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 HDMI DVI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card ?424.97
  
• 
  ASUS Sabertooth 990FX Socket AM3+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard ?116.13
  
• 
  Antec 300 Three Hundred Case ?44.99
  
• 
  G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V ?43.94
  
• 
  Samsung SH-B123L 12x BD-ROM DVD?RW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA Optical Drive - Retail Box Black ?49.98
  
• 
  Corsair 850W AX850 Modular PSU ?139.90
  
• 
  OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - SATA-III - Read 525MB/s Write 500MB/s 85,000 IOPS ?104.04
  
• 
  Seagate 2TB BARRACUDA 3.5" SATA-III Hard Drive - 7200RPM 64MB Cache ?88.02
  

With intel options of:

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor ?168.46

AND Asus SABERTOOTH P67 R3 P67 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard ?148.83

The price comes to: ?13 dearer.

Sure, if we're buying on value, you can make an argument against an i5 2500k. But if you're comparing performance (and this build is suppose to be the ?extreme performance? machine) the i7 3930k (or any i7 for that matter) will win handily.

Plus the FX-6100 has more cores than the i3. (Six cores vs Two)

?

Also, the FX-8150 has 8 cores compared to the 4 in the i5-2500k. (Not that will be much of an improvement for most applications).

I'd just like to point this out since you've compared the number of cores. Much like it was a bad idea to compare MHz during the Pentium 4 days (when AMD was thoroughly out preforming them at a lower clock speed), so too is it to compare cores. They are two different architectures and your performance in the real world will vary as a result.

Secondly, AMDs Bulldozer?cores? are not cores in the traditional sense. A Bulldozer ?module?, a pair of core, is what is a traditional core. Each ?core? has it's own integer logic, L1 cache, and 128-bit floating point logic. However each pair of ?cores? (one ?module?) shares early pipeline stages (eg. fetch, decode), L2 cache, and 256-bit floating point logic. The result is something in between 2 traditional cores and 1 traditional core, that works well at integer heavy workloads and less so at floating point work. I hesitate to liken it to Hyperthreading because they are two wholly unrelated technologies.

[Vice]

With Ivy Bridge launching in like a week these AMD to 2500K comparisons are kind of pointless. Anyone thinking about buying a system right now would be waiting to see what happens with Ivy Bridge as Intel will be unleashing a full compliment of i7 and i5 processors in all price ranges.

And even if someone wasn't interested in the new Ivy Bridge chips the older Sandy Bridge processors will still hold their own and be significantly discounted.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

SiteLab, you are partly right about APUs, but not, at all, about the Phenoms and Bulldozers.

Here is a read you might find interesting.

Of course, its concentration is mainly on gaming, but also, in other benchmarks, Bulldozer can't compete with i5, in some even i3, obviously not in multi-threaded apps.

Vice, I agree, about the IvyBridge part.

Thing is, that there are people who can't wait for the next gen tech. I personally have built 2 PCs in the span of last 2 weeks.

I will update the processors lines, when IVyBridge is available in masses

[metro2012]

Thanks for this thread :)

[mokthraka]

anyone have recommendations for a new gaming pc that can run ARMA II smoothly?

[Blaine]

Hey guys, is the AMD 6870 still the best card for under $200 USD?

Or would the Nvidia GTX 560

or something not on the list?

I'm trying to help a friend pick the best card for under 200.00, and since I've completely switched to a mac, I've lost touch with the PC hardware scene. :s

[Blaine]

Anyone? :(

[Astra.Xtreme]

The 560 Ti is better than both of those for under $200. You can also find the AMD 7850 or 6950 for at or slightly under $200.

I usually prefer Nvidia, but I believe both of those AMD cards will outperform the 560 Ti.

[Blaine]

Thanks for the reply! :)

[Blaine]

Does this thread need to be updated? We're in the third quarter of 2012. :/

[metro2012]

no case and/or cooler recommendations? i know this is aimed to buy a barebone PC but....

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Does this thread need to be updated? We're in the third quarter of 2012. :/

Yes it does.

We are on it

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Updated

All the prices are from Amazon.

Links were lost in the process of posting, so we'll have a look into it

[Kami-]

Half of the system specs above are missing hard-drives, other half have hard-drives listed & priced.

No consideration for optical drives.

Also, I don't (personally) agree with a number of your proposed specifications; I can either build better for less on the budgets or better for similar on the higher end specs (assuming USA only websites).

Wasted my time opening this thread, let alone reading it - very disappointed.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

=

Wasted my time opening this thread, let alone reading it - very disappointed.

Then, uh, don't? This thread is much outdated, if you look at the dates.

[Ulpian]

Hmm, how about switch from G860 to G2020?

[Elessar]

If anyone has an AMD A10-4600M (and 7660G), would my laptop benefit if I upgraded from 6GB RAM (4x2) to 8GB RAM (4x4)? I'm reading that AMD's APU's perform betting with matching dual-channel memory.

[Alladaskill17]

How often is this updated? Just curious, I'll be in the market in a few months, will probably just post a thread for all of your thoughts when that occurs but I like the idea of this thread.

[YounGMessiah]

How often is this updated? Just curious, I'll be in the market in a few months, will probably just post a thread for all of your thoughts when that occurs but I like the idea of this thread.

What do you want to know?

[Alladaskill17]

What do you want to know?

Oh, nothing at the moment I just saw the title and was curious to how updated it was, so I could save it for a months from now, I'll be building a rig in the fall.

[Guest]

What the hell is this 'guide'??? Seriously... this is total crap.
I haven't looked at the PC hardware market since 2006 so reading something to get me up to speed would've been perfect. Being given example builds with NO explanation whatsoever is just crap. Then obviously you get people disagreeing with that build....