Hi everyone.
I'm looking for some advice as I plan on upgrading my PC by christmas, and at the same time use the old parts to build one for my sister. So this will be kind of a two part question.
Current Build:
CPU - Athlon II x3 455 3,3ghz
Case - Cooler Master Elite 430
MB - ASRock M3N78D
RAM - ADATA XPG Plus 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333mhz
PSU - Antec Neo ECO 520c
GPU - Sapphire HD 6850
1 - I plan on upgrading my MB, CPU and Case, and I was thinking of buying either an ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 (144,9€) + an I3 3220 (112,9€) + Cooler Master St
orm Enforcer (79,9€) = 337,7€ . Or Asus M5A99X EVO (124,9€) + FX 6100 (114,9€) + Cooler Master Storm Enforcer (79,9€) = 319,7€.
As you can see the case is decided, because it hase 2 200mm fans, dust filters, side window and decent cable management (if you know any other good case at this price point or cheaper I would welcome your opinion). But what really bugs me is: Should i go Intel and when i need to upgrade in the future i'll have to buy another MB and CPU (since the next chips will be a different socket, or should i go with AMD (which does not perform as good in gaming but will have the same platform until steamroller and possibly save me some money on a future upgrade).
What i want out of my hardware is to be capable of running games at 40 - 60 constant fps on my 21,5 inch monitor on ultra settings (dont mind going down to medium on some games.
So is Intel so good it would be worth the extra 20€ now and probably 300€ more in 2 - 3 years? Or is AMD enough for a casual gamer like me?
Also i have a Patriot Memory Division 2 Viper Xtreme 2x4GB that i won in a contest. I heard 1,65v Ram is bad and can damage the cpu but i also heard ppls say they ran ram like this for 5 years or more with no harm done, so is it safe or not?
2 - My sister basicly only does web browsing and plays games like The sims and Minecraft. I was thinking on getting the leftover parts i will get + Corsair CX 430W, Seagate Barracuda 500GB and a Gainward GeForce GT610 2048MB. Would this be enough?
Your opinion would be very welcome as for me, money is not something disposable and i want to make the best decision possible.
Thank you.