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Critique my upgrade please

T

TBogue

n00b
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
33
Current setup:

Athlon 7850 2.8 GHz
4 GB RAM
Radeon 4850
SSD Cache drive

I'm wanting to be able to play Farcry 3, Crysis 2/3, Skyrim etc.

How would this setup work? Should I change anything? Sorry for the lame question, as you can see it's been a while since I've shopped for computer parts :).

Proposed shopping list:

GeForce GTX 760 2GB
8 GB DDR3 1600
i5 3.0 GHz
Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3

Also, should I add a SSD drive for the OS? If so, what would be the best size/cost compromise?
 
I don't necessarily know about your other hardware, but a SSD isn't necessarily a massive game advantage, but it does make your overall OS snappier and it makes load times minimal.
There are some SSD sales posted on the front page that will probably be nice options for you. One was even 500GB for a really good price. Do it if you have the money, but I wouldn't call an SSD absolutely essential.
 
I upgraded from a 4850 to a GTX 580 3gb and the upgrade was profound, you are gonna love that vidcard upgrade! Doesn't look like your CPU upgrade is much of a step up, 2.8 ghz to 3.0 ghz, right? When I upgraded my vidcard I kept my current CPU, a i7 920 2.6 ghz. It is noticeably slow and I think it holds my 580 back from its full potential, so that 3 ghz i5 might be pretty good. I don't know too much, probably about as much as you, but if you are going to upgrade that CPU maybe bump it up a little more, like to a 3.5 ghz i7? It might come in handy for those CPU intensive games!

I don't have an SSD, still using the HHD. I don't know anything about how they perform, but those that have them say they are great!
 
First things first. What is your budget? What resolution do you game at? What psu do you have? What case? Is your OS an oem copy is it 64bit? Do you live near a microcenter? If not where are you planning to buy your parts from?

Please answer those first so we can better assist you.
 
Find out what motherboard you have now and see what cpu it can support. You might be able to throw a 4 core phenom II in there on the cheap. Then grab the 760 gtx and make sure your p/s can handle it.
 
Get a 240GB SSD and put your OS and favorite games on it. The difference is incredible in many games, really cuts down on load time, texture streaming hitches, and loading new character models.
 
Poordevil said:
I upgraded from a 4850 to a GTX 580 3gb and the upgrade was profound, you are gonna love that vidcard upgrade! Doesn't look like your CPU upgrade is much of a step up, 2.8 ghz to 3.0 ghz, right?
Click to expand...

Yes an i7 would be nice but even a Haswell i5 at 2ghz would probably beat that Athlon x2 at 2.8ghz.

Here's the closest comparo I could find:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/90?vs=363

Thats an older Sandy Bridge i5 @ 3.1ghz but it shouldn't be much slower than Haswell at 3.0ghz

Proposed setup looks good. Yes, a SSD would make it more snappy in daily tasks but the computer will work just fine without one if its pushing the budget out of reach.
 
Climber said:
First things first. What is your budget? What resolution do you game at? What psu do you have? What case? Is your OS an oem copy is it 64bit? Do you live near a microcenter? If not where are you planning to buy your parts from?

Please answer those first so we can better assist you.
Click to expand...

Budget ~$500
1080p
PSU is a 500W FSP. Been running it for years would like to keep using it if possible.
Case is a Lian Li PC-7 Plus (like the case want to keep it)
64bit Win7 Pro
Usually get parts from Amazon or Newegg.
 
JHefile said:
Find out what motherboard you have now and see what cpu it can support. You might be able to throw a 4 core phenom II in there on the cheap. Then grab the 760 gtx and make sure your p/s can handle it.
Click to expand...

Current MB is a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P. I think the best CPU that it would take would be the Phenom II X4?
 
4gb ram 35.00

I5 4430 185.00

Msi b85-g41 82.00

760 gtx 247.00

Or

R9 270x 199.00

So before taxes and gpu you're looking at $302 from amazon. The 760 puts you 50 over budget the r9 keeps you at budget.

The ssd would be an excellent purchase but wait until you can afford a 256gb samsung 840

I like to run an ssd with a 1tb raptor. But that is additional expense for you.
 
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TBogue said:
Budget ~$500
1080p
PSU is a 500W FSP. Been running it for years would like to keep using it if possible.
Case is a Lian Li PC-7 Plus (like the case want to keep it)
64bit Win7 Pro
Usually get parts from Amazon or Newegg.
Click to expand...

If that is your budget, I'd consider getting a slower video card so you can get a SSD too.

4GB of RAM isn't very much so your HDD is going to be accessing a lot.
 
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cannondale06 said:
4gb is not a good idea at this point.
Click to expand...

500 isn't a lot to work with. He can always grab a second stick if he has an additional $30.00 but for the games he said he played 4gb is fine for that resolution unless he starts messing with texture packs.
 
Climber said:
500 isn't a lot to work with. He can always grab a second stick if he has an additional $30.00 but for the games he said he played 4gb is fine for that resolution unless he starts messing with texture packs.
Click to expand...
what does system ram have to do with resolution and hi res textures though? he does need to fit 8gb in there if he wants to play all games smoothly without closing down everything.
 
TBogue said:
PSU is a 500W FSP. Been running it for years would like to keep using it if possible.
Click to expand...

I would highly recommend replacing it. Many older FSP PSUs just weren't that good both in terms of quality and performance. With BF, you can easily get a PSU that trumps that old FSP in quality, performance, and amount of power for really cheap:
$50 - Corsair CX600 600W PSU

As for the video, I don't recommend the R9 270X right now since you can get the HD 7870 for $145 shipped:
$145 - SAPPHIRE 100354OC-2L HD 7870 Ghz Edition 2GB PCI-E Video Card

The R9 270X is roughly 10% faster than the HD 7870 Ghz Edition. So it's not worth the extra $55 IMO.

As for RAM, I highly recommend going over budget and getting 8GB of RAM. It does make a difference with Windows 7/8. Especially now that BF has dropped the prices of RAM somewhat:
$60 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
 
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4gb is fine for gaming especially with the games he mentioned "without closing down everything"

Edit: dangman's recommendations are even better and he is right about the psu. I'd recommend it over an additional 4gb of ram. The ram can be added later.
 
Climber said:
4gb is fine for gaming especially with the games he mentioned "without closing down everything"
Click to expand...
no its not. even 3 years ago when I had 4gb of ram on my previous system I would run out of memory when playing some games unless I closed down nearly everything.
 
cannondale06 said:
no its not. even 3 years ago when I had 4gb of ram on my previous system I would run out of memory when playing some games unless I closed down nearly everything.
Click to expand...

Cool story bro. My gaming rig upstairs still runs 4gb without running out of memory. Guess he would appreciate it if you bought his ram for him.
 
Climber said:
Cool story bro. My gaming rig upstairs still runs 4gb without running out of memory. Guess he would appreciate it if you bought his ram for him.
Click to expand...
then you are closing stuff down. just sitting here with only 10 tabs open in chrome, I am using 2.6 gb of ram. some game use well over a 1gb of system memory and you get that message before you actually use all the ram. again it used to happen to me around 3.5 gb total ram usage I believe. I would have to exit game and close down something. if he cant afford 8 gb of ram then he pc gaming might not be something he should be worrying about.
 
More ram won't hurt and it is definitely better. Is it necesaary? No.

Guy is on a budget build. 4gb is plenty fine on a budget and easily added later. Its always easier spending other peoples money.
 
cannondale06 said:
if he cant afford 8 gb of ram then he pc gaming might not be something he should be worrying about.
Click to expand...

Decent point, you can get a new console with 8 GB RAM and it will run games well for years. When people skimp on a gaming PC, they can be disappointed quickly.
 
Climber said:
More ram won't hurt and it is definitely better. Is it necesaary? No.

Guy is on a budget build. 4gb is plenty fine on a budget and easily added later. Its always easier spending other peoples money.
Click to expand...
no its about doing it right. and 4gb is not enough at this point going forward for a gaming pc. again if he cant afford 20-25 more bucks for ram then he has bigger problems to worry about.
 
Feel free to recommend him a build for $500. I'm sure he'll appreciate the recommendations to get the best bang for his buck.
 
Best I could do atm:

FX-8320 - $130 http://us.ncix.com/products/?usaffi...pn=FD8320FRHKBOX&manufacture=AMD&promoid=1029
MSI 970A-G46 - $80 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0073JYZ48/?tag=extension-kb-20
Sapphire 7870 Ghz Edition - $145 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202025 Plus $15 MIR
Team Vulcan 8GB Kit - $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313344
Corsair CX500 - $42 after $4 promo code http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027 Plus $20 MIR
Samsung EVO 120GB SSD - $86 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147247

Total before Rebates = $533*
Total After Rebates = $498*

* Does not include shipping and tax if applicable.

** All prices may change soon since most of them are limited quantity or Black Friday thru Cyber-Monday deals
 
Last edited:
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TBogue said:
I can afford an extra 4 GB of RAM. $500 was just a target, not a ceiling :).
Click to expand...
Then I recommend going with Climber;s build but with the RAM, PSU, and video card I recommended.
 
Dangman said:
I would highly recommend replacing it. Many older FSP PSUs just weren't that good both in terms of quality and performance. With BF, you can easily get a PSU that trumps that old FSP in quality, performance, and amount of power for really cheap:
$50 - Corsair CX600 600W PSU
Click to expand...

The PSU I have is a BlueStorm something or another. I forget the exact model but I seem to remember it being touted as a quality unit when I originally bought it. I guess I'll have to look into that more.

Thanks for all the input so far.
 
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TBogue said:
The PSU I have is a BlueStorm something or another. I forget the exact model but I seem to remember it being touted as a quality unit when I originally bought it. I guess I'll have to look into that more.

Thanks for all the input so far.
Click to expand...


FSP Bluestorm was great, keep using it as long as it has the connectors you need.
 
TBogue said:
The PSU I have is a BlueStorm something or another. I forget the exact model but I seem to remember it being touted as a quality unit when I originally bought it. I guess I'll have to look into that more.
Click to expand...
If it was touted as good quality by a reputable PSU reviewer (jonnyGURU, HardOCP, Hardware secrets, etc), then maybe it wouldn't be so bad to keep it.

But it is pretty old though.
 
TBogue said:
Current MB is a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P. I think the best CPU that it would take would be the Phenom II X4?
Click to expand...

I've been running that same board for 4 years+ now! It'll take a 6 Core Phenom 2 with a bios update. Then upgrade vid and 4 more gb of ddr2 and he'll have money leftover to spare. Rig in sig is doing great on medium settings.
 
TBogue said:
Current MB is a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P. I think the best CPU that it would take would be the Phenom II X4?
Click to expand...

I just read reviews of that MB and people play Bf3 with it yet. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

I am one who tries to milk all I can out of what I have at an enjoyable frame rate of 60fps or higher. And I'm sure your board with a nice card can do it.

But the kicker is how much $$ do you have to pay for a fast 4 core? Update your bios and check what the board supports, "Supports new generation of AMD Phenom™ II X6 processors,". 140W CPU support

That board could even do crossfire with the video cards.

At any rate while others would suggest shell out cash I still see life in your board to build around that just as long as you can get a good deal on a phenom II x 4 or 6 that the board supports(verify)
 
SithSolo1 said:
Best I could do atm:

FX-8320 - $130 http://us.ncix.com/products/?usaffi...pn=FD8320FRHKBOX&manufacture=AMD&promoid=1029
MSI 970A-G46 - $80 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0073JYZ48/?tag=extension-kb-20
Sapphire 7870 Ghz Edition - $145 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202025 Plus $15 MIR
Team Vulcan 8GB Kit - $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313344
Corsair CX500 - $42 after $4 promo code http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027 Plus $20 MIR
Samsung EVO 120GB SSD - $86 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147247

Total before Rebates = $533*
Total After Rebates = $498*

* Does not include shipping and tax if applicable.

** All prices may change soon since most of them are limited quantity or Black Friday thru Cyber-Monday deals
Click to expand...

this ^
 
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JHefile said:
I just read reviews of that MB and people play Bf3 with it yet. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

I am one who tries to milk all I can out of what I have at an enjoyable frame rate of 60fps or higher. And I'm sure your board with a nice card can do it.
Click to expand...

With my 660ti and stock Ph2 940 I'm doing 60+ on BF3 on Ultra. Or at least close enough to it to have a blast. BF4's a little more demanding, but plays great as well.
 
pigwalk said:
With my 660ti and stock Ph2 940 I'm doing 60+ on BF3 on Ultra. Or at least close enough to it to have a blast. BF4's a little more demanding, but plays great as well.
Click to expand...

Cool.

Most of us love to build pc's but many are too quick to write off slightly outdated components too fast just to build more systems.

I got a Ph2 6 core and play GHOSt and BF4 fine with 1333mhz memory. I did recently invest in a videocard upgrade to a gtx 760 though so that helped.

Matching up powerful video cards with older systems is not blasphemy. :)
 
I was able to flash my BIOS to the newest version, but I'm having trouble finding any Phenom II X6s for a reasonable price. It may just be easier to upgrade everything.
 
TBogue said:
I was able to flash my BIOS to the newest version, but I'm having trouble finding any Phenom II X6s for a reasonable price. It may just be easier to upgrade everything.
Click to expand...

Most Phenom IIs are sold out in retail(x6s have been gone for a year or more and most x4s were gone by this spring), your best bet is ebay or used but like you said the prices are through the roof.
 
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