How much would this set me back?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the budgeting and components for building a custom gaming computer. Participants explore various hardware options, their costs, and performance implications, while considering financial aspects of upgrading from an older system.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant outlines their plan to build a custom AMD gaming rig with specific components, questioning whether they can stay within a $2,000 budget.
  • Another participant compares the performance and pricing of the Core i7 960 and the more expensive Core i7 975 extreme edition, suggesting the former as a viable option.
  • A different viewpoint emphasizes the financial impracticality of purchasing the most expensive hardware, arguing that performance differences are minimal and suggesting the Core i7 860 as a better choice for cost-effectiveness.
  • Participants discuss the compatibility of future AMD processors with AM3 socket motherboards, though no consensus is reached on this point.
  • Specific components are listed by one participant, including the Phenom II X4 965BE, ASUS Crosshair Formula III, and various storage options, with questions about their costs and compatibility.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

There is no clear consensus among participants regarding the best hardware choices or the financial implications of purchasing high-end components. Multiple competing views are presented, particularly concerning the value of different processors and the overall budget.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty about the compatibility of certain components and the future pricing of hardware, indicating that their recommendations may depend on evolving market conditions.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for individuals considering building a gaming PC on a budget, those interested in the performance-to-cost ratio of various components, and anyone looking for insights into current hardware options and trends.

The_Absolute
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I am in the process of selling my grandparent's house, and buying them a new one, which is much less expensive, very close to my residence. I will have many Thousands of dollars left over. My brother wants to replace his single core Celeron dinosaur laptop for a mid-range gaming computer that costs about $2,000. I've been told that I was also allowed to spend $2,000 on anything that I wanted if I help with the moving process. I.e. moving heavy furniture, packing boxes, renting and loading a trailer.

I have a Gateway FX 6710-01 gaming desktop. The one with the C2Q Q9400, 6GB DDR2 RAM, and a Radeon HD 4850. I was considering building a custom AMD gaming rig, and I was looking at a Phenom II X4 965BE, an Asus Crosshair Formula III, 6 GB of DDR3 RAM, and a Radeon HD 5850 or 5870. I already own a Coolermaster HAF 932 full tower case, and a corsair TX750 750W PSU. Should I be able to get those things and still be within a $2,000 budget? I don't see the need for an expensive blu-ray drive, or a TB or SDD hard drive. Any DVD drive and a decent sized HDD will do.

Initially I wanted a Ci7 rig, but that would probably put me WAY over budget. Probably close to $3,000. The Ci7 975 extreme edition costs $1,000! AMD has the best hardware, for the price, and the new AMD PC with the hardware I stated above, will eat my Gateway FX 6710-01 alive!

My current Gateway FX 6710-01 desktop was purchased for $1,300 at a major electronics retailer in my town, to replace my old Pentium 4, windows XP rig, which I built in 2003, which was completely dead and fried. (it wouldn't even boot into the OS) and the hardware in it was discontinued and obsolete. I could always sell the One I have now and get about $600-$700 for it.

I'm not sure about this, but I heard that future AMD processors will be fully compatible with most AM3 socket motherboards.
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
Ci7 960 is 3.2 ghz versus the extremes 3.33ghz, and it's < $600 (USA) versus the extreme's near $1000 price.
 
It's a bad financial move to go for the most expensive hardware available. Two years from now, $1000 chips will cost $200 and $500 chips will cost $150. And the difference in performance between the $1000 and the $500 chip is barely noticeable.

In this situation, I'd probably go for Core i7 860. It is only marginally slower than the 975 extreme (10-20% in most situations), it's faster in most tests than Phenom 965BE, it eats less energy than either (95 W vs. 125 & 130 W), and it costs $280.
 
How much would all of this cost me?

Phenom II X4 965BE

ASUS Crosshair Formula III

6 GB of DDR3 1333 or 1600 MHz RAM (will the mobo use 1600 MHz DDR3?)

Radeon HD 5850 or HD 5870

Remove, and use my Corsair TX750, 750W PSU I have in my current PC.

Coolermaster HAF 932 full tower case

750GB 7200 RPM 32MB cache HDD (SSD's are expensive and have a siginicantly smaller storage capacity)

18x DVD ROM (I don't see the need for blu-ray, as I do not use my PC for watching blu-ray movies)

Possibly a Fatal1ty X-Fi xtreme gamer sound card

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
 

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