Generation wrote Sue, you're %100 right, building it yourself IS the best option. The second best alternative option would be to go with NCIX and their $50 build it for you activation fee.

My opinions on the build? Not too shabby. Descent case, Corsair PSU ( :bigups: ), nice mid-range 6850. The only problem I have with this build is the AMD FX CPU. They are just a complete fail. They lose in benchmarks against their older 955 / 965 chips and get completely spanked by a 2500k and loses in some tests against a cheaper, more upgradable i3-2100 Sandy and Ivy Bridge platform. I'd suggest ditching the peripherals unless you NEED them since they can be purchased at a later date. If I had $800 and wanted to have a very exquisite build, I'd go with something along the lines of this.

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z77 platform = not stuck with that one line, Seasonic branded 650w SLI ready XFX PSU, solid 560 ti which will run a lot of the new and to be released games on medium to high detail at 1080p, and a nice Antec case with tri-cool fans which are great. The only thing I don't like is the Galaxy card, it wouldn't be a first pick like MSI / EVGA, but it was cheap so that is what I picked out - but I bet if you did some scouting, finding a more reputable company in that price range wouldn't be hard at all.

First of all, thanks a lot for the feedback Secondly, I am from the UK Lastly, I've been looking at getting an i5 2500k and gtx 560TI but i'm not sure I want to pay the extra 150-200 GBP. The 800 GBP budget would have to include a monitor, mouse and keyboard as well. I also looked at reviews on the FX 4100 and they all seemed positive, have you used one or did you read reviews also but negative ones? Once again, thanks for the feedback.

Sue wrote

Generation wrote Sue, you're %100 right, building it yourself IS the best option. The second best alternative option would be to go with NCIX and their $50 build it for you activation fee.

My opinions on the build? Not too shabby. Descent case, Corsair PSU ( :bigups: ), nice mid-range 6850. The only problem I have with this build is the AMD FX CPU. They are just a complete fail. They lose in benchmarks against their older 955 / 965 chips and get completely spanked by a 2500k and loses in some tests against a cheaper, more upgradable i3-2100 Sandy and Ivy Bridge platform. I'd suggest ditching the peripherals unless you NEED them since they can be purchased at a later date. If I had $800 and wanted to have a very exquisite build, I'd go with something along the lines of this.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

z77 platform = not stuck with that one line, Seasonic branded 650w SLI ready XFX PSU, solid 560 ti which will run a lot of the new and to be released games on medium to high detail at 1080p, and a nice Antec case with tri-cool fans which are great. The only thing I don't like is the Galaxy card, it wouldn't be a first pick like MSI / EVGA, but it was cheap so that is what I picked out - but I bet if you did some scouting, finding a more reputable company in that price range wouldn't be hard at all.

First of all, thanks a lot for the feedback Secondly, I am from the UK Lastly, I've been looking at getting an i5 2500k and gtx 560TI but i'm not sure I want to pay the extra 150-200 GBP. The 800 GBP budget would have to include a monitor, mouse and keyboard as well. I also looked at reviews on the FX 4100 and they all seemed positive, have you used one or did you read reviews also but negative ones? Once again, thanks for the feedback.

heres a link to a real review for fx4100 vs i3 2100 [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
So in conclusion after reading all those pages and looking at charts the i3 2100 is better by about 20-30% the odd game fx will slightly win but it all comes down to the i3 winning. Another funny thing is in the article it mentions a i3 2400 beats any AMD processor in gaming. Don't even get high hopes for the pile driver(Another Processor AMD wants to release soon), it will likely turn out like junk, and when it comes out and shows garbage performance I'm switching to Intel, they actually know how to make good cpu's not like AMD with their one hit wonder cpu(the phenom series) which Intel still beats

I Own a fx-6100 btw

TTG_Code wrote

Sue wrote

Generation wrote Sue, you're %100 right, building it yourself IS the best option. The second best alternative option would be to go with NCIX and their $50 build it for you activation fee.

My opinions on the build? Not too shabby. Descent case, Corsair PSU ( :bigups: ), nice mid-range 6850. The only problem I have with this build is the AMD FX CPU. They are just a complete fail. They lose in benchmarks against their older 955 / 965 chips and get completely spanked by a 2500k and loses in some tests against a cheaper, more upgradable i3-2100 Sandy and Ivy Bridge platform. I'd suggest ditching the peripherals unless you NEED them since they can be purchased at a later date. If I had $800 and wanted to have a very exquisite build, I'd go with something along the lines of this.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

z77 platform = not stuck with that one line, Seasonic branded 650w SLI ready XFX PSU, solid 560 ti which will run a lot of the new and to be released games on medium to high detail at 1080p, and a nice Antec case with tri-cool fans which are great. The only thing I don't like is the Galaxy card, it wouldn't be a first pick like MSI / EVGA, but it was cheap so that is what I picked out - but I bet if you did some scouting, finding a more reputable company in that price range wouldn't be hard at all.

First of all, thanks a lot for the feedback Secondly, I am from the UK Lastly, I've been looking at getting an i5 2500k and gtx 560TI but i'm not sure I want to pay the extra 150-200 GBP. The 800 GBP budget would have to include a monitor, mouse and keyboard as well. I also looked at reviews on the FX 4100 and they all seemed positive, have you used one or did you read reviews also but negative ones? Once again, thanks for the feedback.

heres a link to a real review for fx4100 vs i3 2100 [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
So in conclusion after reading all those pages and looking at charts the i3 2100 is better by about 20-30% the odd game fx will slightly win but it all comes down to the i3 winning. Another funny thing is in the article it mentions a i3 2400 beats any AMD processor in gaming. Don't even get high hopes for the pile driver(Another Processor AMD wants to release soon), it will likely turn out like junk, and when it comes out and shows garbage performance I'm switching to Intel, they actually know how to make good cpu's not like AMD with their one hit wonder cpu(the phenom series) which Intel still beats

I Own a fx-6100 btw

I see, but the only problem is that it is only dual core, also can the i3 be overclocked?

Even though its a dual core it will work fine for gaming but you can only overclock it 400mhz. If you really want a quad core that you can overclock spend the extra money to get a i5 2500k

TTG_Code wrote Even though its a dual core it will work fine for gaming but you can only overclock it 400mhz. If you really want a quad core that you can overclock spend the extra money to get a i5 2500k

Yeah, if the FX-4100 is so bad I way as well spend that extra on an i5 2500k. Should i bother upgrading the graphics card if i get an i5 2500k or should i stick with the 6850?

Sue wrote Krypton 700a AMD Bulldozer FX-4 4100 3.60GHz @ 4.00GHz Overclocked
Asus M5A97 PRO AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Sapphire HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache
Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black
Samsung SH-S222BB/RSMS 22x DVDRW SATA ReWriter
Asus VE228H 22" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black
Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard
Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse

Would like to know your thoughts on this and if it could manage running games such as Skyrim and BF3. Keep in mind that my budget would be around 700-800 (Including monitor, mouse and keyboard).

very nice but here is and idea for you. Get a amd phenom four core processor as it will be cheaper but yet still run your computer very fast and then with the money you get you can get a better graphics card like the 6990 amd radeon. Just an idea but either way seems like it would be a really good computer.

The CPU is overclockable to 4.6GHz, used to have one, thats if you are using an aftermarket cooler.

CrytekUK wrote The CPU is overclockable to 4.6GHz, used to have one, thats if you are using an aftermarket cooler.

Well I'll only be overclocking it to 4.0GHz, but what are you opinions on the CPU? There are a lot of negative ones about.