Advice on Hardware Refresh

[Zasboy]

Hi to all. My last post in this forum was in 2007 and have been with the forum for 9.8 years. So why am I still a Limp Gawd

With the introduction aside, I am seeking advice/suggestions from the members of this forum on refreshing(upgrading) my current system.

A little short history. Sometime in 2010, my custom rig I built was stolen. To quickly fix the problem, I acquired a pre-built system and added some upgrades. This is what my current system looks like:

Motherboard: Unknown. Checked BIOS and there is no setting for overclocking
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1035T
Memory: 8GB(4x2GB) DDR3 unknown brand. Pretty sure it won't overclock very well.
Video Card: ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II OC
HDD: WD 1.5TB spinning at 5400RPM
Power Supply: BFG EX-1000 1000W
Case: Cooler Master CM 690 II

I could just say that I would like to hear people suggestions on upgrading the Motherboard, Memory, and Hard Drive but I'll follow the forum guidelines and answer the questions

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
- Mainly for gaming. Will throw in a few photoshop session working on RAW files from my DSLR. Then the usually stuff like web browsing and watching videos.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- I would like to keep the upgrade under $400

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
CA, San Jose

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
- I would like to upgrade the Motherboard, Memory, Hard Drive and CPU Cooler

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
- Please scroll up to the top and see my current system part list. I'll be re-using the CPU, Video Card, Power Supply and Case

6) Will you be overclocking?
- Yes, I would like to overclock

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
- 22" Scepter LCD with native resolution 1680x1050

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- In a month or so

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
- I lost my legit OS Key and will have to buy an OEM W7 OS disc. I would to have this included in the $400 budget. Feature wise, I can't think of any that are mandatory.

Again, thanks for everyone who took the time to read my post. I look forward to the suggestions and advices.

 

[Sn0_Man]

Thinking about Ordering online or some kind of local pickup? (Microcenter, Frys, etc...)

Anyway, I know very little about AMD boards so I can't help you there, but I'm guessing you are looking at $100 for a decent one. then $100-$110 for Win7 Home Premium 64bit OEM. then ~$40 or a hair less for 8GB (2x4GB preferably) of any decent 1.5v DDR3 1333/1600Mhz RAM. Unfortunately, that leaves you about $150 for a better hard drive. While you could certainly buy a large 7200RPM one for that price and call it an "upgrade", I would highly recommend an SSD to complement your existing 1.5TB drive. Reputable 256GB ones like the Crucial M4 have been on sale for under $200 which is a steal, but $180 isn't $150 so now you are looking at 128GB models (not too shabby really, but you have to use 128GB pretty judiciously if you put your OS on it, which you should). If you look for 128GB models on for $99 or less in the Hot Deals section of these forums (anything but OCZ ) you should be in good shape.

Should all come out to around $350, which is around what you wanted to spend?

Gonna need somebody else's help with the MoBo sorry.

 

[Zasboy]

Sn0_Man -> Thanks for the reply. I was looking into the SSD hard drives and I'm starting to like them. But I still feel I could use space over speed.

I have been out of the loop and have been trying to catch up by reading articles, reviews, forums and etc. I'm starting to gather ideas on possible upgrade paths and would like to hear people opinions to help decide on the upgrade.

 

[Dangman]

SSD wise, I recommend the Crucial m4, Plextor M3, Intel 520, Corsair Performance Pro, and Samsung 830 series SSDs.

I recommend this mobo:
SSD wise, I recommend the Crucial m4, Plextor M3, Intel 520, Corsair Performance Pro, and Samsung 830 series SSDs.

I recommend this HSF:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156

 

[Zasboy]

A month back, I proceeded to the refresh process and ordered the following:

Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3
Memory: Kingston HyperX Genesis 8GB(2x4GB) 1600mhz DDR3
HSF: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Harddrive: Seagate Momentum XT 500GB

Installation was straight forward. Did a clean install of Windows 7 and installed some benchmark programs to stress test the system. So far no problems. Then I installed Prime95 in preparation for the overclock.

After playing around with multiple settings, I got it stable at 3.6GHZ. Stock is 2.6GHZ. Wished I had a BE as having a locked multiplier made overclocking a bit more complicated. But I was very happy with the result. I thought there could be room for improvement as I felt it has at least 3.8GHZ in there somewhere, But optimistically, I was hoping for 4.0GHZ, On a rainy day, I'll try to push it out more but for now, I'm very happy with the results.

Also, I finally cave in and bought a Sandisk Extreme 240GB SDD to replace the Seagate Momentum XT. I did like the faster boot up time on the Seagate but I believe the SDD will blow the Seagate out of the water in terms of overall speed. Can't wait to get the SSD and try it out.