Looking for new bits

[Requiel]

Putting together new gaming PCs for me and the Mrs and I'm way behind the news in what's good and what's not. I'm looking for stuff that's not too pricey but will be current for a couple of years yet - so not bleeding edge stuff or current gen budget offerings but either last gen top-tier or current midrange.

Specifically I know that Intel Core2 have been the nuts for the past few years but is the AMD Phenom range worth looking at? A few reviews seem to indicate that it's *almost* as good as much more expensive Intel offerings but I wonder how that stacks up when the whole package is considered on a mobo?

Speaking of mobos, what are the decent boards for the chipset of choice?

[Agravaine]

Bit-Tech are worth a look for ideas.

[Chick]

Would you be interested in a second hand gaming rig with these features of which you speak?

[Requiel]

Originally Posted by Chick

Would you be interested in a second hand gaming rig with these features of which you speak?

I'd need two and I'd need them in Germany. Also as cash is a bit tight at the moment I was going to buy the bits over the next couple of months rather than all at once.

Thanks for the Bit-tech link Aggy, most useful.

[Artanix]

I recently bought a new system based off Bit-tech's buyers guide, this is what i came up with:
from link: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=185602

So here's what I've come up with:

CPU: Intel Core i3-530 2.93Ghz
Motherboard:Gigabyte H55-UD3H
GPU:ATI HD5770 1gb
Memory:Corsair DDR3 PC3-10666 4gb
PSU:450W Corsair CMPSU-450HXUK *modular*
Drive: Lite-on drive
HDD: Samsung 750GB (F1/F3??)

Ran these into Scan, Dabs and OCUK. Scan came out best at £543.75, including the modular PSU instead of the standard 450w that corsair do. Would this be too much for what I want? and if anybody knows any other good PC sites that can beat that price, would be good.

Not sure if all the links work, the price may be different too but the main 2 points are:

1. PSU is modular, very very handy.
2. I don't know if the proc is quad or dual core? on my computer it shows 4 cores, i'll have to double check, for you, as i didn't realise it was advertised as a dual

[Bertyr]

i3 will be dual core, but hyperthreaded (so shows up as 4 cores in windows) the i7 being 4 cores, also hyper threaded, so shows up as 8 in Task Manager ...

[Artanix]

ahh i thought as much, thanks for clearing it up