@Omega: I think you did not get the point here with the CPU: The extra fan is needed because your CPU will heat up more if you start to use all 4 cores on a X2. And I suggested the boxed version ( with fan included ) because it turned out that these CPUs are of higher quality and all their cores typically work well.But that's also a $110 CPU. I was under the presumption we were shooting for the "45 euro" mark (the Celeron I mentioned was only $42). My intel equivalent is the i3-2120 @ 3.30GHz, which scores a 4220 at the site you listed for the same price as the X4 965, but is "next generation" (32 nm architecture versus 42 nm).
So the CPU I am talking about will run as Phenom 2 X4 3,4 ghz!! You cannot compare this to a low budget Celeron! This beast willl be a lot faster and will be close to the i5 Performance( But a lot cheaper )! Nvidias UCC feature is the secret ;-) . Only thing on the downside is , it will consume some power ....
here are the passmark results for those two CPUs: ( from http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php )
Intel Celeron G530 @ 2.40GHz 2275
AMD Phenom II X4 965 4200
Also, the single best performance enhancement you can put on your computer may just be a solid state drive (http://lifehacker.com/5586733/how-to-take-full-advantage-of-your-solid+state-drive). They don't usually hold a whole lot, but you have to consider whether or not you really need that much anyway, and there's normally nothing stopping you from installing your OS on the SSD and your data on an HDD for the best of both worlds.I agree. Just don't use it for regular storage (just put the OS and program files there, keep your personal folders on a mechanical drive). The only disadvantage is that Windows usually would require a complete reinstallation, which means OEM customers would have to call Microsoft to reset their Windows product key for the new drive (Linux certainly wins there). If you buy an SSD, my advice is to look for high read speeds and low access times. Writing isn't as common as reading, and the major boost to loading speed would be insane. I'd hope you don't depend on those tips that loading screens usually display, as a good SSD will load the game so fast you won't have time to read the text.
Omega im sorry but that's plain wrong. Write speed's ARE important, and wich SSD you get arnt unimportant either.I never said write speeds aren't important, just that read speeds are far more so. Writing to the disc is generally only done when you save a file or are copying/moving a file. On the other hand, opening a file, starting up a program, loading MegaGlest, starting your OS, etc... they all are heavily read dependent. Most SSDs (well, hard drives in general, actually) have a higher read speed than write speed. When playing a game, you don't generally do a lot of writing to the disc, but will do a lot of reading. A loading screen could be cut to a tenth of the time with a good SSD. Write speed is good, and it's the most noticeable and easiest to recognize (read speed generally would need a benchmark to measure, whereas copying a file would easily tell you the write speed).
I can personally recommend the OZC agility drive, and im very sastified with it, but you might think differently.
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-agility-3-sata-iii-2-5-ssd.html
On a related note, what speed's are other people here getting when moving stuff from harddrive to harddrive?.(please provide harddisk specs / link's if possible).Testing my Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB (mechanical) drive, I copied a 1.15 GB video file in 5.5 seconds, which is an average speed of 209 MB/s. Windows' copy/paste dialogue claimed 283 MB/s at one point, but I don't trust it's accuracy (it once claimed to copy a file at a speed of 900 MB/s... I wish). As far as a pure mechanical 7200 RPM drive goes, it's pretty fast. The price is an iffy, as it's currently claiming a regular price of $140, with Newegg currently offering it at $100, but I've seen it as low as $80 a month ago and it was $60 a year back. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185