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Cheapest upgrade possible.

R

rivacom

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
Messages
348
I'm trying to figure out the best way to upgrade my desktop PC without spending too much. Mind you I have a $135 in best buy giftcards which I could use to purchase the CPU from. My main computer is C2D 8400 3.0Ghz stock with 4GB of DDR2 800 ram. Cpu seems to be maxed constantly while running games(even with my 6950) I seem to get very low FPS. I'm guessing it's due to my MB or CPU.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Main purpose of my computer will be for Gaming, however I would like to be able to stream(Justin/Twitch) and still maintain a high FPS. I also will be using it for Adobe AE.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Lowest possible, I like to see how low I can make this.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
I live in Central New York, so I am not near any microcenter or FRYs. Only thing around me is Best Buy.

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.
I believe I will need Motherboard, cpu, memory, possibly a new HD, however I can probably make due until I can afford a new Hard Drive.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Antec 900 Case
Antec 600W Power supply
500GB 32MB Cache WD Hard Drive
ATI 6950 2GB
DVD Drive
Windows 7 License already owned.

6) Will you be overclocking?
If needed yes, if I can achieve the above without overclocking then that would be great. I would say no, because I believe MB/Cpu would end of costing cheaper.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1080 Currently(Have 1 24" LCd and 2 x 22" LCDs) It is quite possible I will be upgrading to a 27-30" LCD in the future.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
It doesn't matter really, if I can get a better deal in a week or 2 weeks I can wait.

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.
Basicly just Sata 6Gb/s and USB 3.0. I also have a Black Magic Intensity Shuttle collecting dust because i've never had a new MB that can handle it. On the box it says "Requires x58 series USB 3.0 computer or better!" So If the new motherboard can handle the shuttle that would be great.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Windows Ultimate 64Bit.
 
Intel Core i3 2120 (Cpu) $125
ASUS P8B75-M-LX (Motherboard) $75
Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 2x4gb sticks (RAM) $59

$259

Mobo chosen because I have had good experience with ASUS and its cheap while nativly supporting IvyBridge.
Also it supports 1600mhz ram.
However, you can't overclock it but the boards where you can it will cost like $50 more and I think the stock i3 will be do fine.
Prices are from some site I shop at in Australia. Probs cheaper in the US

Someone might have some better ideas or prices. I think what I posted is the general ball-park you will be looking at.
 
As I posted, with my gift cards I can pick up the 3570/3570k for about $100 bucks from the BB.com website. So If i stick with that plan, I'd mainly need a suggested Memory/Motherboard. Unless someone can find far better pricing for something, I could use it for a SSD / New Joystick.
 
My apologies. I thought you were looking at paying for the cpu with the entirety of your gift card money.
I think you should really specify a budget as an i5 isn't really the cheapest upgrade you could go for.
If you are getting a 3570k I'd go for a z77 board. Which ever is the cheapest which has the features you are after I guess.

Also, I wouldn't set aside any funds for a new hdd or ssd until you have sorted out a stable and relativity long lasting cpu and chipset.
 
JayJapanB said:
Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 2x4gb sticks (RAM) $59
Click to expand...
For future reference, do not go with this RAM as it's rated at 1.65V, well above the max recommended voltage of 1.5V for Intel CPUs. That high of a voltage means a higher chance of killing the CPU.

rivacom said:
Antec 600W Power supply
Click to expand...
Which Antec PSU do you have?

Also how much is the Core i5 3450 from BB after applying your BB GC?
 
Danny Bui said:
For future reference, do not go with this RAM as it's rated at 1.65V, well above the max recommended voltage of 1.5V for Intel CPUs. That high of a voltage means a higher chance of killing the CPU.


Which Antec PSU do you have?

Also how much is the Core i5 3450 from BB after applying your BB GC?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I must have missed that with the ram. I guess it would be better to go lower at the same price. You can get a get an 8gb 1600mhz 1.5v ripjaw kit so I guess something like that.

Also I think you could be wrong about the "max voltage". At least I know x58 can run 1.65v ram. Unless Ivybridge has a lower threshold.
 
Danny Bui said:
For future reference, do not go with this RAM as it's rated at 1.65V, well above the max recommended voltage of 1.5V for Intel CPUs. That high of a voltage means a higher chance of killing the CPU.


Which Antec PSU do you have?

Also how much is the Core i5 3450 from BB after applying your BB GC?
Click to expand...

I Can't recall 100% but I believe it's a Earthwatt 650.. I believe I'll have to double check tonight.

For the 3450 , minus my $135 in gift cards comes out to about $65+tax for the 3450.
 
JayJapanB said:
Also I think you could be wrong about the "max voltage". At least I know x58 can run 1.65v ram. Unless Ivybridge has a lower threshold.
Click to expand...
Unofficially Intel still recommended lower voltage for the X58 platform. I've read plenty of stories right on this forum where people were denied warranty due to them using 1.65V RAM with their Core i7 920 CPUs.

In addition, this came straight from the Intel rep here on the forums:
IntelEnthusiast said:
With the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processors only support DDR 3 at 1066/1333 and now on some 1600; that isnt what I am hearing as causing the issue in almost every case is that they are running the memory at 1.65v +. The 2nd generation Intel Core processor only support memory at 1.5v ±5% (1.425v to 1.575v) anything over this has a chance of damaging the processor memory controller.

Personally the performance increase of anything over 1600 doesnt seems to be worth the extra cost.
Click to expand...
rivacom said:
I Can't recall 100% but I believe it's a Earthwatt 650.. I believe I'll have to double check tonight.
Click to expand...
Ok, let us know.
rivacom said:
For the 3450 , minus my $135 in gift cards comes out to about $65+tax for the 3450.
Click to expand...
Get that CPU then if you're not serious about overclocking.
 
So I got my list, But I'm not super happy with my cost. I know I can get this lower but not sure how.

CPU - i5 3570k $232.98 - Bestbuy giftcard = $116.62 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Intel+-...1218655166767&skuId=5513868&st=3570&cp=1&lp=2
Memory G.Skill 8GB DDR3 1600mhz $42 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461
Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 $114.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293
Kingston 120gb SSD $79.99 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007R67FNA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Total is 353.36

I could drop it to the 3570 non k and bring the total to 333.74. Or ditch the SSD(was hoping not to) and save 80 bringing to 253.74. Thoughts? I'd be happy with $300 or lower. Is the benchmarks for gaming/streaming that much of a difference between the 3570k, 3570,3550,3450? Are we talking a few FPS?
 
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rivacom said:
So I got my list, But I'm not super happy with my cost. I know I can get this lower but not sure how.

CPU - i5 3570k $232.98 - Bestbuy giftcard = $116.62 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Intel+-...1218655166767&skuId=5513868&st=3570&cp=1&lp=2
Memory G.Skill 8GB DDR3 1600mhz $42 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461
Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 $114.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293
Kingston 120gb SSD $79.99 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007R67FNA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Total is 353.36

I could drop it to the 3570 non k and bring the total to 333.74. Or ditch the SSD(was hoping not to) and save 80 bringing to 253.74. Thoughts? I'd be happy with $300 or lower. Is the benchmarks for gaming/streaming that much of a difference between the 3570k, 3570,3550,3450? Are we talking a few FPS?
Click to expand...

Ditch the ssd if anything. The processor is more of a stable long term investment and it's much easier to pick up an ssd later than swapping processors if you happen to change your mind. Never quite know how technology and game specs are going to turn out in the future. The processor could make more of a difference than you think even if it isn't as prominent now.
 
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JayJapanB said:
Ditch the ssd if anything. The processor is more of a stable long term investment and it's much easier to pick up an ssd later than swapping processors if you happen to change your mind. Never quite know how technology and game specs are going to turn out in the future. The processor could make more of a difference than you think even if it isn't as prominent now.
Click to expand...

No way.. SSD is his most important upgrade for general performance. CPU the least in most cases. I would not recommend going Kingston for a SSD, though. Do it right. I'd sooner upgrade to a good SSD and put everything else on hold than skip the SSD.
 
dandragonrage said:
No way.. SSD is his most important upgrade for general performance. CPU the least in most cases. I would not recommend going Kingston for a SSD, though. Do it right. I'd sooner upgrade to a good SSD and put everything else on hold than skip the SSD.
Click to expand...

I agree with the recommendation against that particular Kingston SSD: It is a Sandforce-based SSD that's not from Intel. Worse, it is made with flash chips that cannot tolerate as many rewrites as most other SSDs with 25nm chips. Plus, it is slower overall in real-world performance than even the 128GB Crucial m4 with "inferior" read/write throughput specs.
 
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Is there a better SSD around the same ball park in price?

Why would you recommend the SSD over a CPU, Memory, Motherboard ? I'm coming from a C2D 8400 and a budget gigabyte motherboard, Wouldn't that be more limiting? I would still have to buy a new MB to take advantage of Sata 3. So really the CPU/MB upgrade would have to come first I would assume.
 
No.. SSD is still going to be your biggest general performance upgrade. I/O is the main bottleneck of most things. Gaming is generally an exception, but desktop performance is all I/O limited. A SSD will still be a great upgrade even with a 3Gbps host.

CPU upgrade won't be useless though and will help more in games, though most games are GPU-bound anyway.
 
Last edited:
rivacom said:
Is there a better SSD around the same ball park in price?
Click to expand...
The Crucial M4 128GB, as mentioned by E4g1e earlier, and the Samsung 830 128GB SSDs are often around the $100 price point.

If you can ditch any plans for high-end overclocking, you can drop the CPU down to the Core i5 3450. That'll knock off $33 right there. Yes, at stock speeds, the difference between the 3470 and the 3570K is pretty small when it comes to gaming performance. If you do drop your plans for overclocking, you can save another $15 with cheaper non-overclock capable mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130648

I'd aim to get everything here: New CPU, mobo, RAM, and SSD as all of that combined will make a huge noticeable difference. Especially in CPU heavy games like BF3 or Skyrim.
 
dandragonrage said:
No.. SSD is still going to be your biggest general performance upgrade
Click to expand...

His biggest current issue is running games. SSD's are still a luxury. They will bring no performance benefit when running games. Spend more or ditch the ssd.
 
That'll work, but preferably go for 1.35v RAM instead. And try to avoid the huge, unnecessary heatspreaders if possible. They do nothing except interfere with CPU heatsinks. RAM should be kept cool by using a low voltage (such as 1.35v) as that is good enough and will fit much easier without the high-profile-but-low-performance heatsinks.

This is what I'd buy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226184 (Mushkin Blackline 1.35v DDR3-1600 996988). I have basically an older version of that kit already. You can find cheaper 1.35V RAM than that though if you prefer.
 
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dandragonrage said:
That'll work, but preferably go for 1.35v RAM instead. And try to avoid the huge, unnecessary heatspreaders if possible. They do nothing except interfere with CPU heatsinks. RAM should be kept cool by using a low voltage (such as 1.35v) as that is good enough and will fit much easier without the high-profile-but-low-performance heatsinks.

This is what I'd buy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226184 (Mushkin Blackline 1.35v DDR3-1600 996988). I have basically an older version of that kit already. You can find cheaper 1.35V RAM than that though if you prefer.
Click to expand...

No, in this case. According to Intel, LGA 1155 Ivy Bridge CPUs do not officially support RAM rated at anything besides 1.5V. In fact, Intel specifically advises against the use of DDR3L (1.35V or lower) modules with any of its Ivy Bridge LGA 1155 CPUs.

rivacom said:
Would this be better ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461
Click to expand...

No, for the very same reason I stated above in this post. Use ONLY 1.5V-rated RAM with the LGA 1155 platform.
 
rivacom said:
So the corsair ram would work ok?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=lw9MynSeamY-s1K7USXfZsqLVvMCSOgRNw
Click to expand...

Not if you're going to use a tower-style CPU air cooler on your new CPU: The heatsinks on that RAM are extremely tall - and they cannot be removed at all without voiding the warranty. So, if the particular motherboard that you'd be getting has the required RAM slots that are so close to the CPU socket, you may have no choice but to stick with stock boxed CPU cooling (ugh!) or spend a lot of money for liquid CPU cooling since the tall RAM heatsinks do interfere with the proper installation of the fan on the tower-style CPU air cooler. In most cases, you may have to mount the fan so far off center that the CPU cooling performance gets seriously compromised. And some tower CPU coolers hang over some or all of the RAM slots so far that those coolers will not even fit properly on the CPU.
 
E4g1e said:
No, in this case. According to Intel, LGA 1155 Ivy Bridge CPUs do not officially support RAM rated at anything besides 1.5V. In fact, Intel specifically advises against the use of DDR3L (1.35V or lower) modules with any of its Ivy Bridge LGA 1155 CPUs.
Click to expand...

Where? I, like MANY people, am using 1.35V RAM with my P67 board with absolutely no issues. I assume if Intel recommends not to, they do so because not setting the right settings will cause the RAM to basically run overvolted, which wouldn't really matter. 1.35V RAM can also run at 1.5V (which does defeat the purpose of having 1.35V RAM, but it won't burn up).

I don't care what Intel says... 1.35v IS the way to go, and you're literally the first person I have ever seen disagree.
 
dandragonrage said:
Where? I, like MANY people, am using 1.35V RAM with my P67 board with absolutely no issues. I assume if Intel recommends not to, they do so because not setting the right settings will cause the RAM to basically run overvolted, which wouldn't really matter. 1.35V RAM can also run at 1.5V (which does defeat the purpose of having 1.35V RAM, but it won't burn up).

I don't care what Intel says... 1.35v IS the way to go, and you're literally the first person I have ever seen disagree.
Click to expand...

I actually took it out of Intel's site. 1.35V DIMMs are not officially supported on the LGA 1155 platform. I should have made that more clear.
 
Danny Bui said:
If you do drop your plans for overclocking, you can save another $15 with cheaper non-overclock capable mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130648
Click to expand...

You might not want to do this!

The non-K i5 parts from Intel have "Limited Unlock," where you can boost the max turbo frequency by 400 MHz. That's a %12 performance boost for $15, WELL WORTH IT!

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833-9.html

You cannot enable this feature on H77. If you're not gonna spring for the fully-unlocked K part, I'd suggest this is worth the extra $15. I feel that if you leave this CPU stock, you won't get as noticeable an upgrade as you want in single-threaded apps versus your E8400.
 
Last edited:
rivacom said:
So my question is, Is it better to get the G.Skill Sniper at 1.25v or just the G.Skill rip at 1.5v?
Click to expand...
Whichever is cheaper. Doesn't really matter that much to be honest.
rivacom said:
Also is this a ok board? or is there a better board or a cheaper board that would work?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite
Click to expand...
At $143 shipped, not a good deal since $7 more gets you a solid Asus:
$150 - Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard
 
A good price with mail in rebate. $34!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220705
8gb 1600 ram 9-9-9-24.
Ordered some yesterday. Looks to be the same as the viper 3. The difference is that it is limited addition and about $10 cheaper with mir.

Oh ya, There is also a very cheap celeron that you could use for gaming until the price of Ivy bridge comes down.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/395628/25GHz_Socket_1155_Celeron_Processor_G540
$35, cheap and it is 32nm. Look up some benches if you are interested to see if it fits your need.
It will play video games.
 
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Can anyone else vouch for the patriot ram? I've never really seen it suggested.
 
rivacom said:
Can anyone else vouch for the patriot ram? I've never really seen it suggested.
Click to expand...

Like most memory brands, it depends on the model. Many of Patriot's memory modules still require 1.65V - too high for the IMC in today's Intel CPUs. (Though the Patriot RAM in the link above uses 1.5V.)
 
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I don't really recommend Patriot for the most part... I'd say Corsair, Mushkin, G. Skill, or possibly Team Group. I still recommend the Mushkin RAM I linked before :) Actually, I checked my email and what I linked is the exact kit that I have (I thought I had an older one, but apparently not). Runs great with my Sandy Bridge proc.
 
Any i3
Z77 MoBo
4-8GB 1333 or 1600 1.5V RAM
64GB Samsung 830, Crucial M4, or Plextor M3

Done. :)
 
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