Is this spec any good as a gaming pc?

[RichWilco]

I've been on a website called Cougar Systems (based in the UK), and its one of those cool little sites that let you build a pc online and see how much it would cost.

 

I put a system together on the following page of the Cougar Systems site:

 

Cougar Systems -

 

This is it:

 

Processor = AMD Phenom II X3 (720) 2.8GHz 3x512KB L2 Cache AM3

RAM = 4GB Kingston DDR2 667 (2 x 2gb)

Hard Disk = 400GB SATA Hard Drive

Case = 3060 PLUS Black and Silver Midi Case

Fan = Colors 550Watt Silent Upgrade

Graphics Card = 1024MB 9600GSO PCI Express Nvidia DDR DVI

Motherboard =MSI K9A2 NEO-F - 5200MTS DDR2 1066x4 AMD 780 chipset - intergrated

Sound Card = Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 PCI 7.1

OS = 64 BIT Windows Vista Home Premiem

 

(I have all necessary peripherals; keyboard, mouse, monitor etc, and was considering buying a few of the optional extras as well like a wireless network card and an internal card reader or multi-media connect bay)

 

Is it any good as a gaming pc do you think?

 

I would like to run all the latest games, and obviously in the future I want to be able to upgrade it at some point. Its just that I don't have much experience when it comes to building computers. My budget is around £600 - £650.

 

I suppose I would just like to know your opinions on my choices. Did I choose the right motherboard? I have got the right kind of RAM? Would I benefit from one of the more expensive processors? etc

 

I wanted to use Cougar because I have had a very good experience with them in the past.

 

Thanks very much for your time, and I appreciate any help you can give me.

[dan m]

Depends what type off games you are thinking about playing. Normally a good gaming computer is around £3000+ some off the top being 6. If i was you i would write a little list down for the games you want to play ones out now and ones you have read about and see if your system cant match what they need.

[RichWilco]

Alrighty, I'll do that thanks. Off the top of my head, I would like to run games like 'Empire: Total War' 'W40k: Dawn of War 2' and 'Half Life 2'. It would be mostly strategy games though really.

 

There was another question I had as well:

 

On the site, the most expensive AMD processor is a 'AMD PHENOM 2 955 3.2GHz AM2+'

 

Is this a quad core or single core processor, for some reason all I can find on the net is a single review and it says in the description that it is quad core, but I thought that AMD quad processors have the 'X4' in their name?

 

Oh and sorry for being a pain, but could someone tell me if this system would be easy to upgrade, or would I have to end up having to buy a completely new pc 2 or 3 years down the line if I made a bad choice now.

[RichWilco]

This is the review I mentioned:

 

RBMODS.COM: AMD Phenom 2 955 - First look at the Phenom 2 955 BE

 

If the one on Cougar is a single core, would the slower speed tri-core I mentioned in my first post be a better buy do you think? To run games like the ones I mentioned above I mean.

[dan m]

The link below will tell you about the processor. (its a quad) incase you dont want to have a read.

 

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 Processor Review - PCSTATS.com

 

The pc you said about at the start will be find for all the games apart from maybe half life but i'm not to sure as i have never played it so i don't know how demanding the game is on the graphics if its like far cry you will be able to play it but it wont be amazing would be like watch a dvd on a normal tv instead off on hd that kind off difference.

 

Chart below shows how different graphics cards did when playing fry cry (demanding) gives you an idear off graphics cards for top games.

 

Your system should be able to upgrade without major problems just the normal off what to upgrade it with :)

[RichWilco]

That's great, thanks for all the help. It seems a bit strange that Cougar would list a processor and not state how many cores it has.

 

Again, thanks everyone. This has helped me a great deal.