Operating System choices & Advice on Budget gaming AMD Phenom build

Jsmurff

Hi all I am in the midst of a budget build and have about €3-400 left and still have the mobo and GPU to worry about aswell as an extra stick of 4GB ram (one allready purchased)

My problem is I don't see enough left over for a 64bit Win 7 OS.

Is there currently any alternative that has an intuitive GUI an can work with 3rd party software (iTunes, capture etc)

I would preferably like to have an option that's available on disk as Iam currently stuck with 40GB data allowance from 3 and there are 5 other people using this monthly allowance.

This rig would also be used for gaming so the OS needs to be able to run steam

ALSO I am currenly trying to finish a 5 year old project that involves an AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition CPU I already have the following:
450W PSU
Antec 300 gaming case
Curucial 4GB DDR3 1066mhz cl11 ram
64mb cache 5600rpg 500GB HDD
all unused and BNIB.

Just cant decide on weather to go nividia or readon in terms of GPU and weather or not to get a bog standard mobo or splash out on a fancy msi or sabertooth board?

Serephucus

Windows is pretty much your only option then. You can run Steam on Linux, but the selection of games is still nothing compared to Windows.

You can run Windows for up for four months without entering a key with no problems, if that helps your situation any.

Also, you can get full Windows keys from Reddit (r/microsoftsoftwareswap) for around €10-15. They're legit and work fine. I've got a few there myself.

ED E

Reddit software swap, you're talking 15€ ish for win7 64.

Steam for linux is coming along, but its not there yet. And itunes would mean WINE and a whole load of pain you dont want unless you're already ok with linux.

EDIT: Too slow

Jsmurff

Aha figured as much did not realise accessing windows was so cheap?! So for €10-15 I can get a full copy of windows? Via download I presume?

challengemaster

Jsmurff wrote: »

Aha figured as much did not realise accessing windows was so cheap?! So for €10-15 I can get a full copy of windows? Via download I presume?

You can always download the ISO files to burn DVDs/USB for free (legally), it's the license key you're paying for.

You can find links for the download here provided by digital river.

Serephucus

You'll get the key. You then download the image from here:

http://www.techverse.net/download-windows-7-iso-x86-x64-microsofts-official-servers/

And stick it on a USB stick with this:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool

To install it. Just set your BIOS to boot from the USB stick.

Jsmurff

Cheers guys! That solves my problem now to figure out what mobo and GPU to get lol

Actually seeing as I have a thread started and to avoid spamming the forum

Any suggestion on a combination to compliment a AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition?

challengemaster

Jsmurff wrote: »

Any suggestion on a combination to compliment a AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition?

Sell it, you'd do a lot better for €400 than a 5 year old CPU to start.

Jsmurff

Yeah I figured as much are Am3+ cores still a solid bet or should I look at the likes of FM. I bought it when was new 5 years ago in the middle of my first college course but times got rough and the project remained in bits in the cupboard.

What's a fair price for it BNIB?

TheDoc

Jsmurff wrote: »

ALSO I am currenly trying to finish a 5 year old project that involves an AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition CPU I already have the following:
450W PSU
Antec 300 gaming case
Curucial 4GB DDR3 1066mhz cl11 ram
64mb cache 5600rpg 500GB HDD
all unused and BNIB.

Just cant decide on weather to go nividia or readon in terms of GPU and weather or not to get a bog standard mobo or splash out on a fancy msi or sabertooth board?

I use a Radeon R9 270x with that CPU, and have had minimal problems with BF4, Steam games or World of Warcraft.

I'm upgrading just cause I have cash to spend that I got in a bonus, if not, I wouldn't even upgrade my rig in all honesty.

Also depends whats your preference. I don't play games on ultra or high settings, cause I try crank out top FPS. I run BF4 at high, and it runs really smooth. Don't have specific numbers, but it's perfectly enjoyable and doesn't leave me frustrated in any shape or form.

So if you want to keep the budget down, I'd happily recommend a R9 270x. I paid about €220 for it last year, and its come down considerably in price.

Considering I just did massive research into upgrading the specific CPU, and accompanying GPU's, the CPU you have will bottleneck any really high end Graphics cards, so you wont get the full benefit anyway.

You can pickup a 270x for about €100 second hand or €150 new at this stage, and will serve you perfectly. Really depends on what type of games you play.

I think a lot of advice sometimes leads down the path of playing every new release you get, at the highest settings. When infact for most PC gamers I know, we play the same games, for years. Like when I look at my PC gaming friends, the latest release that came into the mix was BF4 or Payday 2.

So do you plan to play all the latest new releases, and want them cutting edge, or are you playing the same game for years on end?

TheDoc

Jsmurff wrote: »

Yeah I figured as much are Am3+ cores still a solid bet or should I look at the likes of FM. I bought it when was new 5 years ago in the middle of my first college course but times got rough and the project remained in bits in the cupboard.

What's a fair price for it BNIB?

Someone during the course of an upgrade discussion said that I could get an AMD Piledriver 83 something something, that goes into a AM3+.

Costs about €120 new and according to them ( some guys on another forum) would give me same sort of performance as an i5, but with a big saving not having to buy a new motherboard.

I still went I5 because Intel might have less cores, but run faster on those cores. Some games like Bf4 have been optimised for AMD core technology, but games like WoW and Starcraft, league of legends etc., are still only optimised for dual core. So anything extra is pretty much not being used.

Jsmurff

Well Iam not bothered about all the new releases but some of my all time favourites are:
Fallout 3/ new Vegas
CS series
Team fortress
Cod MW series (don't hate I just like shooting things :P)
Original BF 2 and add ons
Farcry 2
Minecraft

I do have roughly €400 but I got other itches to scratch like a TM Nightwarrior (some day)

When looking up the R9 270x and saw that I could get the GTX 750 Ti for the same price would I not get the same level of performance with a possible boost if I decide up my CPU down the road?

I know what you mean about the intel Hyper-threading technology but as far as I can tell it only benefits you if your doing respective tasks with a max 15% boost over a CPU without HTT

TheDoc

Jsmurff wrote: »

Well Iam not bothered about all the new releases but some of my all time favourites are:
Fallout 3/ new Vegas
CS series
Team fortress
Cod MW series (don't hate I just like shooting things :P)
Original BF 2 and add ons
Farcry 2
Minecraft

I do have roughly €400 but I got other itches to scratch like a TM Nightwarrior (some day)

When looking up the R9 270x and saw that I could get the GTX 750 Ti for the same price would I not get the same level of performance with a possible boost if I decide up my CPU down the road?

I know what you mean about the intel Hyper-threading technology but as far as I can tell it only benefits you if your doing respective tasks with a max 15% boost over a CPU without HTT

Those games don't utilise quad core technology, some of them arn't even utilising Dual core technology.

Not sure about the 750TI in all honesty, can only say as a user of the R9 270x, with the same CPU you have, handles the games above with ease.

CSGO is about the only thing on your list I still play, and I run at 100+FPS. CoDMW series was seriously high FPS when I was playing it.

So in short a R9 270x will happily play any of the above you listed on high settings with high FPS, and it won't be a massive outlay for you.

Like I said, I'm only upgrading because if I don't the bonus I got will go into something stupid like petrol or rent, when it should be spent on nice things for me

Jsmurff

Screw it 270x it is then

Jsmurff

This one stands out its a nice balance between performance and price in my mind xfx-amd-radeon-r9-270x-2gb-ddr5-pci-e-3-0-hdmi

Dont really know this brand tho would be more comfortable with an MSI or evga or pny but Iam trying to stick as close to €150 as I can.

TerrorFirmer

If you're looking to spend that amount on a card, might as well get an R9 280 for about 185 or 190.

You can get the GTX750Ti 2GB for 130 as well though, which would be more than enough for those older games at ultra settings, and new games at 1080p high settings as well for the most part.

I would also sell the 955 for €50 or whatever, get yourself a G3258 and a cheap S1150 board. Much better option really. Forget about AM3 and FX, waste of time unless you already had an am3+ board.

Jsmurff

yeah that does sound pretty good but it has me thinking is a laptop capable of running what Iam playing? ideally a laptop would be great as I am studying computer sceince atm so would be doing allot C++ HTML CSS Bootstrap worpress backend etc on the go and do about 1hr commuting every day on the train

Jsmurff

EDIT: Never mind found the appropriate sub forum.