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Another upgrade, replace, or wait? thread

B

b14z3

Gawd
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
601
Here's my main system as I can remember it while at work:

i7-920 stock speed (sadly I can't remember if this system has a Thermalright Ultra-120 and 120mm scythe or noctua fan or that was on my older socket 939 system)
Radeon 5770 (can't remember or verify the make)
ASUS P6T SE LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
OCZ Obsidian Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Corsair HX650W I believe, but I know it's not the TX series (will verify this tonight)
Antec P182SE
ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 1920x1080
2nd monitor @ 1680x1050 for web browsing/chat/etc while gaming only on primary

My situation is that I might be able to pull budget approval (~$1k) for a full system replacement through work (ie no/little cost to me). If that's the case I would plan on replacing as much as I could (except the monitor). However I will only be able to do this once within the next couple months for at least a couple years, so I'd like to get the most I could out of it.

My thoughts for now were to just replace my video card and upgrade the rest of the system at a later date, perhaps when the next new chipset comes out.

Sooo....if my budget were around 300 or less and I upgrade my video card now, would I be able to play Skyrim/BF3 at reasonably high settings without framerate/lag issues on my current system?

Any additional ideas or input is appreciated...


Questions answered for good measure:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming/Web/Remote VPN
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$1k for the system, ~$300 for video card (1300 total)
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Denver, CO - microcenter within driving distance
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU/RAM/MB/Video card/possibly HDD too
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Corsair HX650, P182SE case
6) Will you be overclocking?
If needed
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
24" 1920x1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
video card within next two weeks, computer within end of year
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
the more the merrier, nothing required
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Win 7 64-bit
Click to expand...
 
The i7-920 is still a very good processor (especially if you overclock it), so if it was me I'd save my one-off upgrade for Ivy Bridge early next year. For now, grab a 6950 or GTX 560 Ti and enjoy better graphics (or if you want to go more high-end, a GTX 570 or 6970).
 
Yah, I agree with Forceman.

Or you could rebuild and sell off all your old stuff. :p Then use that money later to upgrade, in between your allowances from work.
 
b14z3 said:
hmm that's not a bad idea either - though I always seems selling stuff to be a lot of hassle for little return... maybe I'm just lazy though haha

I guess this would be the best card for the price currently?
XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16


Also, what's the latest for hard drives... Are the SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB still the drives to get?
Click to expand...

Seems like a decent deal on the card. As for hard drives, either the F3 or the Hitachi 7k1000.D, but good luck finding any at a reasonable price.
 
Yah, floods in thailand dried up stock on HDDs, amongst other things.
 
Not sure about XFX, but EVGA uses different model numbers for parts with different warranties, so could be that. XFX also has a card with a custom cooler, which is at least one of those 4.
 
b14z3 said:
difference here in the letters is just the build date/revision I assume? or is there more to it...
Click to expand...

Well the X-CD models have two fans whereas the X-CN only have one fan. And it's pretty much build date/revision AFAIK after that.
 
from the latest eval from Kyle, he recommends this:

For gamers with smaller monitors running 1920x1200 or below, you don't need to spend a lot of money. A 1GB Radeon HD 6870 will perform very well in Battlefield 3 at those resolutions without being too spendy. They are available for $159.99 after a $20 MIR until November 15th. Gamers looking for a little more "future-proofing" might consider upgrading to a GeForce GTX 570.
Click to expand...

I don't know why the 6950 wasn't recommended along side the 570?
 
b14z3 said:
from the latest eval from Kyle, he recommends this:
Click to expand...
Thats for the single player portion though. The multiplayer eval will be different as noted in the [H] BF3 preview:
Surprisingly, it isn't as demanding as we might have thought in single player, as a Radeon HD 6970 and GTX 580 are able to play the game with the highest in-game settings in single player. However, we have not played every level and map yet, so we may yet see some more demanding scenarios as we continue to play the game. Multiplayer demands higher framerates, and thus will need even more powerful video cards to keep framerate up along with image quality.
Click to expand...
 
 
Probably just that people are used to the Ripjaws. Nowadays it seems like the RAM is all about the same (compared to DDR2 when timings varied so much) so people just recommend what they are used to.
 
So I think I'm going to go ahead and put together a computer with the following. I've got some extra hard drives I could use as well as windows/monitor/keyboard and stuff. Any opinion on the parts? I plan on subbing the video card from this build with the 5770 I have in my main PC. This PC will primarily be for the living room and only use the 5770 if I want to fire up a game on the TV, albeit at lower settings probably.

SeaSonic X650 Gold 650W Power Supply
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
GIGABYTE GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
SILVERSTONE Black GRANDIA GD04B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6950 Dirt3 Edition 100312-3SR Video Card with Eyefinity
 
You do know that video card only has a 2 year warranty where manufacturers such as MSI, Gigabyte and XFX have 3+ years.
 
Just an FYI, that case ships free at amazon. ;) And the GD05B is only a few bux more.
 
Skillz said:
You do know that video card only has a 2 year warranty where manufacturers such as MSI, Gigabyte and XFX have 3+ years.
Click to expand...

seems to be the easiest one to unlock though? or an easy chance at it... if not I'd be happier with an XFX or Gigabyte card though I think

enginurd said:
Just an FYI, that case ships free at amazon. ;) And the GD05B is only a few bux more.
Click to expand...

thanks I'll keep that in mind
 
Managed to order the following with the budget from work:

Newegg:
$69.99 Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$46.99 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
$279.99 XFX HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
$199.99 ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
$218.99 Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Amazon:
$84.00 SilverStone Aluminum/Steel Micro ATX HTPC Computer Case GD05B (Black)

Micro Center:
$179.99 Intel Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
$79.99 Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 LGA 1155 Z68 mATX Intel Motherboard

$1159.93 before tax
$10.66 tax on motherboard/processor
free shipping on all (or pickup)

$1170.59 Total

All of it should arrive this week... latest being the case from Amazon, not until Thursday I think.

I would like to use the SSD in my i7 system however my ASUS P6T SE does not have any SATA 6 Gb/s ports... is there a current best picks of LGA 1366 motherboards out there that would suit my needs? I noticed there are still ~40+ listing of these boards on newegg.
 
b14z3 said:
I would like to use the SSD in my i7 system however my ASUS P6T SE does not have any SATA 6 Gb/s ports... is there a current best picks of LGA 1366 motherboards out there that would suit my needs? I noticed there are still ~40+ listing of these boards on newegg.
Click to expand...

Well what exactly are your needs that aren't being met by the Asus P6T SE? If it's just SATA 6.0Gb/s support, I wouldn't bother with a new LGA 1366 mobo for that. Yes the SSD would performe faster on the SATA 3.0Gb/s but not worth $200+ for a new LGA 1366 mobo with SATA 6.0Gb/s IMO.
 
I agree, not worth upgrading the board. They're still in abundance because the replacement for LGA1366 isn't out yet, which is LGA2011 (due out Q4'11 - Q1'12, whenever the Sandy Bridge-E processors come out).
 
enginurd said:
I agree, not worth upgrading the board. They're still in abundance because the replacement for LGA1366 isn't out yet, which is LGA2011 (due out Q4'11 - Q1'12, whenever the Sandy Bridge-E processors come out).
Click to expand...

Supposedly being launched this month actually.
 
this install of Win 7 to the SSD is driving me nuts... can't seem to get it to recognize it in AHCI mode, even with the driver I downloaded from Gigabyte on the drive
 
Which port did you put the SSD on? Try putting the SSD on the Intel SATA 6.0Gbs ports.
 
I have it on SATA3_0, but I've tried it on others as well in both IDE and AHCI mode with the Marvell chipset disabled/enabled

This is the most time I'ver ever spent on building a new comp and installing windows... lol reminds me of win98 or something

Chipset:

2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3_0~SATA3_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
3 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_2~SATA2_4) supporting up to 3 SATA 3Gb/s devices
1 x eSATA 3Gb/s connector on the back panel supporting up to 1 SATA 3Gb/s device
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
* When a RAID set is built across the SATA 6Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s channels, the system performance of the RAID set may vary depending on the devices being connected.

Marvell 88SE9172 chip:

2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_5, GSATA3_6) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0 and RAID 1
Click to expand...
 
I also removed the video card and just using the DVI port on the motherboard. Had two other HDD's I wanted to put in as well, but I just have them unplugged currently.

Last night I think I tried installing using one of the Hitachi 640 GB hard drives too in both IDE and AHCI with no luck.

And I flashed the BIOS to F12 and tried most if not all of that again...
 
Are the hard drives seen in the BIOs?

Try using the Intel ICH10R drivers loaded from a USB drive.
 
it doesn't seem to see the SSD listed in the IDE drives on the BIOS currently, but Iv'e seen it there before.

edit: I do see it on the splash screen that says AHCI BIOS or something - text goes away too fast


The driver I was trying to load when I get the following error is 10.6_f6flpy-x64.zip from http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...rsion=Windows 7, 64-bit*&DownloadType=Drivers

The error soon after I hit Install Windows is:

"A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive please insert it now"
 
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You should be using AHCI, not IDE or RAID. Keep the SSD on the Intel SATA 6.0Gb/s ports. Do that and try the install again. Also do load the driver you downloaded from a USB drive if the SSD still isn't seen by the OS install.
 
Danny Bui said:
Try using the Intel ICH10R drivers loaded from a USB drive.
Click to expand...

I've got the driver I listed above and in the installation it says Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller (C:\Device\f6lpy-x64\iaAHCI.inf) s the driver that is compatible with hardware on this computer (via checkbox at bottom).

If I uncheck that I can see the ICH10R, neither driver works however. Gives the error "No new devices could be found.... etc"
 
Danny Bui said:
You should be using AHCI, not IDE or RAID. Keep the SSD on the Intel SATA 6.0Gb/s ports.
Click to expand...

Right, that's how it is now, and it's still giving the same error.

SSD is the only drive plugged in and it's on SATA3_0 which is under the Z68 chipset and a SATA 6 Gb/s port. I also have the BIOS set to AHCI and the marvell chipset disabled (which are the GSATA ports)
 
I'm beginning to think my ISO (win7 x64 from MSDNAA) is corrupt somehow, or the generation of the USB drive to boot from.... I've tried it a couple times a couple different ways though.
 
See if you can format and see that SSD in another PC just to see if that SSD works. Also plug in your hard drives and see if the Windows 7 install can see those drives.
 
The two HDDs are being detected in the same place as the SSD was... wish I could show a screenshot.

same error on the install...

I'll shut down this comp in a min and try to format that SSD I guess, real pain to pull it out of that GD-05 case, lol
 
re-did the iso with another disc I had and it's working, ugh... I need to delete that other iso or redownload it from MSDNAA
 
It should work with the default MS driver, btw. Just be sure to install the intel drivers once Windows is loaded.
 
enginurd said:
It should work with the default MS driver, btw. Just be sure to install the intel drivers once Windows is loaded.
Click to expand...

right, that's what led me to believe the iso was corrupt

also did that too... and just now I got a BOOTMGR is missing when I put in my video card, lol... not sure why that happened - my BIOS was also reset. Goign to boot off the USB drive again and do a bootrec /fixboot
 
Danny Bui said:
So issues are resolved?
Click to expand...

new issue now in previous post...

ok I fixed it with the repair tool on the boot drive, booted to windows fine - copied over a downloaded amd catalyst driver for the 5770 card I just put in, installed that - restarted and I get BOOTMGR is missing again

something I'm missing using a SSD? or is this one potentially crap? Before this happened I was runnign fine off the onboard video, installed all the motherboard drivers, copied over some files, etc. Was about to go in and install LoL and Steam, etc to test out some gaming...
 
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Did you install the SSD without the other hard drives connected?
And does the PC boot normally when the video card is removed?
 
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