Building a Budget AMD Gaming Rig

[da_bradler]

get a gtx460 768mb for like ten dollars more, there are plenty available at 120-140$ don't get a 6850

 

[crunchbite]

This is my final revision for this build. From the looks of everything this would be a solid gaming machine for about $650. I switched out the 500w Thermaltake for the 600w Rosewill and the Gigabyte mobo for an Asrock mobo. I kept the 6870 in there because the performance in DX11 games look to be better overall then the GTX460.

Building a gaming rig doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. In this article I'm going to give you a list of current parts for under $600 before tax...

Processor - AMD Athlon II X3 3.2GHz Tri Core - $80
Motherboard - Asrock 880GMH/USB3 AM3 ATX - $80
RAM - 4Gb G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1333 - $45
Graphics Card - HIS Radeon 6870 1Gb - $220
Hard Drive - 1Tb Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ - $60
Case - XCLIO Godspeed - $40
Power Supply - Rosewill V2-600w ATX12v v2.3 - $50
Optical Drive - LG GH24NS50 24x DVD RW Drive - $20

Subtotal = $595
Total (After tax 13%)= $672

These prices were taken from multiple online stores and averaged. The prices for these components were their normal retail price, not a sale price.
So it is possible that you could build this machine for much cheaper then the listed price here.

 

[SneakySnake]

Very nice build for the price. Good choice on the 6870, it definitely beats the 460, the 460 is competing with the 6850

 

[da_bradler]

I dunno man, you'll regret not spending that extra fourty bucks on a phenom II x4. you can always reduce graphics setting but your screwed if the CPU bottlenecks.

don't expect bad company 2 f1 2010 or Total war series to run fantastic. I love those games and my amd quad is still causing frame drops. otherwise probably be balling.

 

[Stock]

the expense of your rig will increase proportionally to the length of this thread

 

[Delavan]

Good new for the OP...

AMD dropped their prices, probably to take advantage of Sandy's issues...

From Techreport:

AMD updates Phenom II price list - The Tech Report

 

[draemn]

This is my final revision for this build. From the looks of everything this would be a solid gaming machine for about $650. I switched out the 500w Thermaltake for the 600w Rosewill and the Gigabyte mobo for an Asrock mobo. I kept the 6870 in there because the performance in DX11 games look to be better overall then the GTX460.

Processor - AMD Athlon II X3 3.2GHz Tri Core - $80
Motherboard - Asrock 880GMH/USB3 AM3 ATX - $80
RAM - 4Gb G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1333 - $45
Graphics Card - HIS Radeon 6870 1Gb - $220
Hard Drive - 1Tb Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ - $60
Case - XCLIO Godspeed - $40
Power Supply - Rosewill V2-600w ATX12v v2.3 - $50
Optical Drive - LG GH24NS50 24x DVD RW Drive - $20

If you can get the budget get a Phenom II as they have L3 cache which will help with gaming
6870 can be had on sale for less than $220 if you look around. Put that towards a phenom II?
Rosewill is a crappy brand that I have heard bad things about... stay away from their PSU

 

[snoosebum]

If you can get the budget get a Phenom II as they have L3 cache which will help with gaming
6870 can be had on sale for less than $220 if you look around. Put that towards a phenom II?
Rosewill is a crappy brand that I have heard bad things about... stay away from their PSU

What he said. Even if its a dual core phenom II. The majority of them unlock into quads anyway, and unlocked it will roast the athlon. If it doesnt unlock I dont think theres going to be much difference anyway.

 

[Wurmer]

What he said. Even if its a dual core phenom II. The majority of them unlock into quads anyway, and unlocked it will roast the athlon. If it doesnt unlock I dont think theres going to be much difference anyway.

Unlocking is an uncertain thing and I feel that when your on a budget, you better be safe than sorry. I took the chance and got lucky but I had some provisions in my basket just in case it didn't unlock.

 

[_dangtx_]

spending 100 bucks for 'maybe it will unlock' is not exactly smart

spend 20 more for a flully fledged phenom II quad with l3 then.

but it starts getting out of hand

why not go i3 clarkdale(with ht of course) and a cheap mobo?

better per thread performance, monster clocks