Linux Format forums

[towy71]

My son has asked me to find out about a new desktop for him; he has all the peripherals but wants a good box for gaming in the 500 -1000 GPB with a preference for the lower price including (spit) Win7. Should he go Intel or AMD? and what sort of RAM? ditto graphics card?

Most of this will fly over my head at a great height so please be gentle
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still looking for that door into summer

[bobthebob1234]

Just having a quick look though my computer shopper:

• Favourite at the moment :
  
• Eclipse Matrix i75R577 (£783).
  
  
  
  • 70fps Call of Duty 4
    
  • 36 FPS Crysis (Very good apparently)
    
  • 1TB HDD
    
  • 1gb ATI Radeon HD 5770
    
  • 24in Wide screen monitor
    
  • i5 750 processor (not overclocked)
    
  • etc
    
  
  
• Labs 2 (Desktop PC review) :
  
• Budget buy: Cyberpower Infinity i3 Apollo XT (£528)
  
  
  
  • Core i3 530
    
  • 2gb Ram
    
  • 500gb hdd
    
  • 9.8 FPS call of duty 4
    
  • Failed Crysis
    
  
  
• Best buy: Palicomp Core i3 Blast 5300C-22Plus (£599)
  
  
  
  • Best over all 2d performance (Multitasking, image editing, video encoding (working?))
    
  • 42.5 FPS Call of duty 4
    
  • 22.5 FPS Crysis
    
  • Core i3 530
    
  • 4gb Ram
    
  • 500gb HDD
    
  • ATI Radeon HD 5670
    
  • 22in widescreen
    
  
  
• Best buy: Eclipse Fusion A925R575 (£700)
  
  
  

  • Quote:

    With a 24in monitor and a powerful graphics car capable of playing Crysis, the ... should appeal to gamers that want to play the latest 3D titles

    
    
  • AMD Phenom II X4 925
    
  • 4gb RAM
    
  • 640GB HDD
    
  • ATI Radeon HD 5750
    
  • 24in Widescreen
    
  • 62.4FPS Call of duty (best)
    
  • 30.2 FPS crysis (best)
    
  • Not the best 2d performance though (still good)
    
  
  

All apparently come with windows disc in case need to reinstall
All apparently can be bought with out monitor, so knock about £150 - 200 off.

Most in the test have ATI Radeon graphics cards but nvidia will still work, may even be better.
Most have intel i3 processors, but again AMD (used by winning pc in test) will still work. Can also get AMD Phenom II X6 (6 cores) that I want.

Hope that helps
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For certain you have to be lost to find the places that can't be found. Elseways, everyone would know where it was

[nordle]

My own buying habits:
Intel 1993 - 1998
AMD 2000 - 2006
Intel 2006 - now

But, for me, AMD is probably winning the entry-mid price.
And ATI runs cooler, uses less power, and is faster in 3d.
I have ATI, and would try to avoid them for Linux. But windows, perfec.

If I was building a gaming rig:

Case: Antec 300 £50
PSU: OCZ StealthXstream II 600W £55
PSU: Antec TruePower New 650W £80
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-790XT-USB3 790X £100
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 890FX £155
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 £135
CPU FAN: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 £20
+ Actric Silver 5 £5
RAM: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL7(7-8-7-20) £100
GPU: Sapphire HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 £135
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon HD 5850 1GB £220
HD: Western Digital 1TB SATA3 7200rpm 64MB Cache WD1002FAEX £70
HD: Western Digital 2TB SATA2 7,200rpm 64MB Cache WD2001FASS £130 (slightly slower than FAEX).
DVDRW: LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW £15
Monitor: Benq G2420HDBL 24" LED £165
Logitech Black Media Keyboard + Mouse £30
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM £80

Between £960 - £1,185
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I think, therefore I compile