Anyone wanna help me with some computer specs?

[the4thImpulse]

My current computer doesn't have a video card, it works perfectly for music production but I could never plays games of any sort. I choose it that way so I had a computer focused on music production (keep clutter to a minimum) and it was much cheaper.

Now I find myself wanting to do some gaming on the PC, with the current console generation ending and all (I'm not looking for a console debate, I'm done with them for the time being). I'm not looking for the best everything, just something that works and hopefully easy on the pockets (modular synths are a black hole to your money).

I found something cheap in the used market and I'm hoping for peoples opinions on how it may hold up with modern games.

Specs are:
AMD Athlon64 x2 Processors 6000Plus 3.0MHZ,
M2N-E SLI Motherboards,
and 4 GIGS of RAM. GTX8800
4 Gigs RAM

I hoping to be able to run Battlefield 4, to be specific, out of the gate. A couple of these are being sold off for dirt cheap so I was hoping this could work (if it doesn't I may send some other specs in this thread).

[Facade]

do you have any kind of price limit?

[the4thImpulse]

Not really, my budget is how ever long I am to wait to save. I very keen on the used market due to prices being low, I'm just looking for something that'll work.

[Injustrial]

What you're describing there should serve you competently, but not amazing. Since you're looking to save money, I believe this sounds reasonable. If you're able to double the RAM with a simple upgrade chip, you should be fine for most games. BF4 might slug a bit, but lo-mid settings should work out with about 30 fps, I reckon.

It looks like a Desktop computer, so future upgrades are relatively easy to afford later down the line. Especially the CPU could do with a fix, I think. But as stated, this should be fine for at least a year as is.

[the4thImpulse]

hmm, it does look like I will have to upgrade that one almost immediately, that CPU is pretty poor from what I've researched.

Looking at some other, slightly more expensive options.

Case: NZXT 210 Case
MotherBoard: FM2-A75MA-E35
Ram: 8gb Vengence DD3
Power: Corsair CX430w Power Supply
Graphics: Radeon HD7750 Diamond
CPU: AMD 5800K 3 screen Display
Internet: Wireless D-link n+300
Memory: 500gb Western Digital DDR

They are selling this one for $500 canadian, it seems to be the beat of the cheap in my local used market. Opinions?

[simonli2575]

The case looks good, though there're only 2 RAM slots. You might want to consider buying 2 new RAMs that add up to 16GB with the same speed, as 8GB may not be enough. Also, 500GB isn't going to cut it, you may want to buy extra HDDs to make more space for all your general stuff: games, projects, etc.
I also looked at your graphics card, you will need a DVI, an HDMI and a DisplayPort cable if you want to have a 3-screened computer, just make sure your monitors are compatible.

[itroitnyah]

Alright. Thanks for posting, I'd love to have a say in this.

First off, here's a list I made, of parts you can get to build your own computer:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($164.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Canada Computers)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.30 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($330.35 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($53.13 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $732.75
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-04 22:30 EST-0500)

(all parts are of course purchasable through various internet/irl retailers that sell in Canada)

This parts list is strongly assuming a few things. The first couple of things is that you're going to reuse parts of your current computer, mainly the harddrive, optical drive, monitor, mouse, keyboard. It is also assuming that your budget is around ~$750 at the max.

Allow me to explain the parts decisions.

CPU: Better than the ones you've mentioned above, and has 8-cores. Much horsepower for price, and will benefit you more than the other CPUs you've listed. The only minor problem that you'll see, is that the heat sensor function on some of the AMD FX processors doesn't function properly (unless it's hot/working hard, or so I'm told). So unless you're going to be monitoring temps, this isn't a big issue, and I don't find it to be a bit issue even though I sometimes monitor temps.

Mobo: I own this mobo. It's good.

RAM: ddr3-1866 speed, with 8gb and heat spreaders. Not much to say about this.

Videocard: This will strongly out perform the 7750 Diamond. This card will definitely suite your needs, and will have very little problems touching max settings on games such as BF4, Bioshock Infinite (play with the light settings though. Most videocards have trouble with lighting, since it consumes so much gpu power), the Metro games, you name it, and it will more than likely play the game at max settings (with varying FPS based on the game). Since BF4 is the game you want to play this will hold through BF4 no problem.

Case: this part is up for debate. If you like the case your computer has now, then reuse your current case. Otherwise, this case is cheap, well-liked and it has decent looks.

Power Supply: It'll have enough power to run your system, so you won't need to worry about anything. It's semi-modular as well, so it can help keep cord clutter to a minimum in your case, which will lower your temps. If you don't know yet, keeping temps low increases the life span of computers, meaning they'll hold onto power for longer.

Again, a lot of these parts are up for debate. The CPU, RAM and Mobo are to ensure performance, so I would strongly recommend you follow these parts up. Other than that, the videocard can be changed to one that is cheaper by about $75 or so, and will still be capable of running BF4 on max settings. It won't get quite as many FPS, and it won't hold up to future games quite as well as the current GPU I have in the parts list, but it will work just as efficiently. This is entirely up to you, though. The case is also up for debate, as there are some cheaper options, although cheaper cases generally have less room for cable management, are poorly constructed and have less airflow. Again, entirely up to you whether or not you want to choose a cheaper case in the interest of saving money, or if you want to pick a different case so that you can have different looks.

A tip of advice with computers though, is get the powerful parts and spend the extra money. This will mean that the parts will last longer, perform better and hold up better. You'll save money on computers in the long run, and it will benefit you more than ever.

Now, to get into detours.

If you want a new harddrive and just ditch the old one, you can get this one, and this will increase the cost by said amount on product page. This may also mean that you will need to reinstall your OS. If you don't have the CD and product code on your current computer available to reuse, then that will add an additional $80-100ish. So it's strongly recommended that you keep your current harddrive, unless it's an old dinosaur and on the verge of dying.

If you want to keep your processor extra cool, you can look into getting an aftermarket cpu heatsink. this one is by far the best for the price, and will perform perfectly. I use it as well. Definitely recommend this if you're looking at getting an aftermarket cooler.

If you want a cheaper videocard, go with this one, and it will reduce the price on the build by $100, while still handling BF4 at max settings. I already addressed the issue of videocards, so I don't need to repeat myself.

More cooling needed/wanted? You can get a few 120mm fans for cheap ($4-5 per fan depending on what fans you get. The one I linked to doesn't have to come in the green LED, haha. There are also other options, but this has the best performance/quiet ratio for its price). The case supports up to 8, but if you want to get more, 1 or 2 would work perfectly fine. Any more and you'll need to get a fan controller, because the mobo won't handle that many fans.

Anything else I missed?

EDIT: Oh, and considering this will strongly out-perform anything for the same price on the used market you're looking at, it's definitely recommendable that you just build your own computer. You'd have to wait for quite some time and get really lucky to come across a computer that would perform as well as the one with the parts I've linked to you for less the price on the used market.

[the4thImpulse]

Thanks for that very detailed post, itroitnyah, quite informative. I kinda feel like that kid who ask's "I wanna make dubstep and sound like skrillex, tell me what I need".. Lol.

It always comes down to wanting it now and waiting to get the best. Are all these sites immediate with their shipping lead times? Or might I be waiting for weeks for a specific part to arrive at their warehouse?

You've given me much to think about and look over.

[itroitnyah]

It depends on the shipping you choose. If you just choose the default shipping on all the parts, you should just be waiting no more than two weeks for all the parts. When I ordered parts for my computer, it took less than two weeks for all the parts to arrive, if I remember correctly. If you order all the parts from just the same one or two websites and chose faster shipping, it'd probably add an extra $40 or so to the cost depending on a few circumstances. But it's all up to you.