Hardware Want to build a gaming PC.

[Alcarajo]

Hi Guys. I have a decent pc right now, but i want to build a better one. I want to run PS2 emulators and modern games since i don't have any interest in buying any of the next gen consoles for now.

This is the pc that i have.

AMD A10 5700 APU with integrated Radeon HD 7660D.
8gb DDR Ram.

By december i'll have a decnet budget, maybe like $700 or more. Can i build anything decent with that?
Keep in mind that i plan to use my current computer's HDD and RAM.

I appreciate all the help you can give me.

 

[Lanlan]

For emulators you should look into Intel. The CPU is the most important component for that. I don't know how prices are in Puerto Rico, but if $700 dollars there is equivalent to $700 here in the states, you should be good to go. What kind of PSU is in your current build? You should reuse that as well if it's decent.

 

[Originality]

For emulators you need a good CPU. For modern gaming you need a good graphics card. The A10 is suitable for a low budget build, but any Intel i3 with any graphics card will outperform the A10 in both games and emulation.

 

[Kirito-kun]

For emulators you should look into Intel. The CPU is the most important component for that. I don't know how prices are in Puerto Rico, but if $700 dollars there is equivalent to $700 here in the states, you should be good to go. What kind of PSU is in your current build? You should reuse that as well if it's decent.

I challenge that. My AMD Phenom II X4 960T BE overclocked to 3.9 GHz can run every single emulator I throw at it at full-framerate. Dolphin at 1080p, PCSX2 at 1080p, etc.

 

[gman666]

You need to state your target form factor because that can change the way you can spend your money. I'm guessing that parts are more expensive out there than in the states?
In all honesty the price range that you gave seems more like a budget build. Keep in mind that if you go with an a10 you need to get fast ram to compensate for the lack of video ram.

 

[gman666]

Btw have you considered just buying faster ram, an ssd, and a dedicated gpu? Instead of building another computer? Most games are gpu intensive and an a10 run most if not all emulators. You can even replace the old a10 with an a10 6800k.

 

[Lanlan]

Btw have you considered just buying faster ram, an ssd, and a dedicated gpu? Instead of building another computer? Most games are gpu intensive and an a10 run most if not all emulators. You can even replace the old a10 with an a10 6800k.

This is what I did, I had just an A8-3870k at first, then I threw in a pair of 6950s. I'm gonna upgrade the CPU eventually, but this still works perfectly fine. One thing though, faster RAM will only help when using the APU's iGPU. No sense in getting 2133Mhz RAM, when 1333Mhz will perform basically the same, if you do add a discrete GPU to your APU.


So many acronyms...

 

[Fishaman P]

I challenge that. My AMD Phenom II X4 960T BE overclocked to 3.9 GHz can run every single emulator I throw at it at full-framerate. Dolphin at 1080p, PCSX2 at 1080p, etc.

Your CPU and heatsink together probably cost much more than an i3, which can also boast the same.
Oh, and uses more energy.
And even with an aftermarket cooler, may still run hotter too.

Intel is just much simpler, and AMD cannot challenge i7s in emulation. I'd be surprised if they could match i5s.

 

[Kirito-kun]

Your CPU and heatsink together probably cost much more than an i3, which can also boast the same.
Oh, and uses more energy.
And even with an aftermarket cooler, may still run hotter too.

Intel is just much simpler, and AMD cannot challenge i7s in emulation. I'd be surprised if they could match i5s.

My CPU cost $130, my aftermarket cooler cost $20. That's roughly the same price as an i3, yet an overclocked 960T performs as well as a 2nd generation i5 which costs way more (And don't bring up the 3rd & 4th generation Intels cause they weren't released at the same time).

Phenom IIs are overclocking beasts and if you buy a better cooler, you can easily take it up to 4.5 GHz. You can't even overclock an i3 and I've never heard of an i3 that can boost to 3.9 GHz. You also get a true quad-core vs a dual-core with multithreading.

 

[Lanlan]

Oh, and uses more energy.

Please don't make a big deal out of energy usage, we're talking about a few dollars difference a year. This is just something Intel fanboys say when they wanna smear AMD.

 

[Fishaman P]

My CPU cost $130, my aftermarket cooler cost $20. That's roughly the same price as an i3

Let me stop you there. An i3 (which runs fine on stock cooling) runs $100, maybe $110. If you want an aftermarket cooler, the Hyper 212 EVO costs $35, making the total less than $150.
EDIT: You probably meant the combined cost. In that case, you'd be right.

yet an overclocked 960T performs as well as a 2nd generation i5

Maybe in heavily-threaded tasks like video encoding. Maybe.

You can't even overclock an i3

Tell that to my 4.2GHz i3 540.

and I've never heard of an i3 that can boost to 3.9 GHz.

I've read about i3s that have gone up to 5GHz stable with liquid cooling.

You also get a true quad-core vs a dual-core with multithreading.

A valid point, but does that matter for emulators? It certainly doesn't for Dolphin, and I'm guessing it doesn't affect too much on PCSX2, despite being able to use 4 cores.

Please don't take this as an insult or flame; I'm just pointing out that AMD doesn't necessarily beat i3s in the budget category.

 

[Lanlan]

I wouldn't recommend anything less than a quad core. Games are getting really good at taking advantage of multiple cores, games like this are where the 8350 pulls ahead of i5s.

 

[Alcarajo]

For emulators you should look into Intel. The CPU is the most important component for that. I don't know how prices are in Puerto Rico, but if $700 dollars there is equivalent to $700 here in the states, you should be good to go. What kind of PSU is in your current build? You should reuse that as well if it's decent.

The A10 is a Quad core and it works pretty good, but i want something that works great, not pretty good. And yes, we use the same currency in Puerto Rico, we are U.S Territory. Should i get an i7? Since the A10 has integrated video card, many games don't run good on High, just med or low. I want to run on High and i want to emulate the PS2. Now, i don't know what PSU i have.

 

[Fishaman P]

The A10 is a Quad core and it works pretty good, but i want something that works great, not pretty good. And yes, we use the same currency in Puerto Rico, we are U.S Territory. Should i get an i7? Since the A10 has integrated video card, many games don't run good on High, just med or low. I want to run on High and i want to emulate the PS2. Now, i don't know what PSU i have.

In order to recommend a GPU, we have to know what kinds of games you play and what resolution you'll be playing at.

For CPU, a recent i5 should do the trick for basically everything, but you can spend $100 more on an i7 if you want to be safe.

Emulators are CPU-bound, whereas PC games are GPU-bound.

 

[Alcarajo]

I play all types of games, and i want to play the most recent games and future games in High Resolutions.

 

[Fishaman P]

I play all types of games, and i want to play the most recent games and future games in High Resolutions.

That doesn't help much. What is high-resolution to you? To me, that's 1920x1080. For others, it could mean 2560x1600. Some would say 3840x2160. Then you have the pixel freaks who game on 5760x1200 or even higher.

 

[Thanatos Telos]

That doesn't help much. What is high-resolution to you? To me, that's 1920x1080. For others, it could mean 2560x1600. Some would say 3840x2160. Then you have the pixel freaks who game on 5760x1200 or even higher.

11520x2160 master race!

Really though, you could probably keep your HDDs, ODD, and RAM. That should free up enough to give you a nice build with an SSD.

 

[gman666]

The A10 is a Quad core and it works pretty good, but i want something that works great, not pretty good. And yes, we use the same currency in Puerto Rico, we are U.S Territory. Should i get an i7? Since the A10 has integrated video card, many games don't run good on High, just med or low. I want to run on High and i want to emulate the PS2. Now, i don't know what PSU i have.

As I said before.... alot of games are more gpu intensive. If you don't mind sticking with your motherboard, ram, hdd, psu, and case you can put the money towards an ssd and a really great gpu. If you're really stuck on going with intel I'd say that $700 isn't enough for what your asking

 

[Originality]

"Tight budget", "high resolution", "future games".
Pick two.

 

[Alcarajo]

The budget is really not a problem at all.