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Massive upgrade advice.

C

Cerminy

n00b
Joined
Nov 9, 2010
Messages
37
hi, i am currently researching to make a big upgrade on my PC. however, i have some particular obstacles that need to be worked around.

first of all, i live in Venezuela. for reasons beyond my control i cant or wont purchase anything locally. prices are absurdly high and the components offered here are at least 1 generation behind. so, i will be buying all my components in the USA and bringing them as luggage back to my country.

also, i already have a pc with some up to date components. id like to use what i can from my current build in order to build the best system possible with my budget.
i will be selling the components i will discard after the upgrade to friend but it wont affect the budget i have available.

my budget consists of 1500 USD but i can only purchase from Amazon because of issues with my local banks.

also, because of how where i live i cant upgrade a part when i want. i have to upgrade when i can. so, id like to make a build that would last me as long as possible without needing to upgrade.

i have some serious dust problems. as a matter of fact i recently discovered my cpu was running at 90c under load and idle at 75c because the heat sink was all covered in dust. i cleaned it but it didnt help much.

i will be using this build mainly for gaming. i play bc2, crysis and crysis warhead, cod mw2, planning of buying cod black ops, metro 2033 and crysis 2 when available.


these are my current pc components


case: alienware 5 yr old case that im giving away because it offers terrible cooling.
motherboard: EVGA X58 SLI (132-bl-e758)
CPU: intel i7 920
GPU: nvidia 8800 gts 512
Memory: corsair Dominator 6 GB 3 x 2 GB PC3-12800
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750-Watt TX Series and a spare SilverStone OP750 750W
300 gb hdd that is about to die.

i will be keeping all my peripherals so no need to buy new ones.
already have keyboard, mouse and headset and speakers that i will keep

samsung 22inch 1680x1050 monitor. however, i might move to a 30 inch 1080p hdtv. in the near future.

i already have my mind set on some of the new components. but im open to suggestions.

163 usd Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blas...SB1270/dp/B0041OUA38/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
$59.99 Thermaltake Jing CPU Cooler http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-H...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1290465460&sr=8-1
$529.99 EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Call of Duty: Black Ops Edition http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-...2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1290465542&sr=8-2 ( i selected the black ops editions because its the same as the superclocked one for less price.) also, i will be making this purchase around January 20 so the 6970 might be available by then.
$168.00 silverstone rv02-e chassis http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-S...2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1290465674&sr=1-2

that accounts for 921 of my 1500 budget.
i didnt select the hdd drive because i wanted some advice on this butt i need one with at least 1tb capacity.

so, i would like your advice on which parts would be the most ideal to spend the rest of my budget on.

thank you in advance for you help.
 
Last edited:
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Go with this better supported sound card instead:
$80 - Asus Xonar DX 7.1 Channels PCI-E x1 Sound Card

Go with this fast hard drive:
$70 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Also, what exactly do you mean by "near future"? Actually answer that question with a set time period.

What other parts did you want to replace in that PC?
 
by near future i mean around 1-3 months.
about what other parts i want to replace, i wsa considering getting an ssd but im not sure it is worth it giving the prices. i rarely shut down my pc so booting times dont really matter to me.

i also wanted to change the components that would allow me better upgrade paths for the future. for example, i thought about getting a new power supply thinking that it would allow me better upgrade choices later on. however i am not savy enough to know this things and here is where i need some advice. i have some room in my budget to do this and i wanted to do it the best way possible.

id like to make full use of my budget im just not sure on what other components are worth upgrading.
also, why do you consider the asus xonar a better sound card choice?. i was going with the creative one because of the review i read here.
 
Cerminy said:
by near future i mean around 1-3 months.
about what other parts i want to replace, i wsa considering getting an ssd but im not sure it is worth it giving the prices. i rarely shut down my pc so booting times dont really matter to me.
Click to expand...
Grab an Intel 80GB SSD. SSD doesn't just affect the boot times. It also makes the system significantly more snappy and responsive.

Cerminy said:
i also wanted to change the components that would allow me better upgrade paths for the future. for example, i thought about getting a new power supply thinking that it would allow me better upgrade choices later on.
Click to expand...

If you want to make absolutely sure that you'll never have to upgrade the PSU, just grab the Corsair 1000HX 1000W PSU.
 
here is my train of thought on psu thing. please correct me if i am wrong.
my current psu is more then enough for my setup. however, viewing future upgrade paths it is possible that buying another 580gtx would be a better choice than buying whatever new single gpu is available lets say 1 year from now. so thats where the psu consideration comes from.

what about new cpu mobo combo? i hear sandy bridge should be available by jan 5, so would it be worth it to upgrade there or is it a better idea to upgrade to an ssd and a new psu?
 
Cerminy said:
what about new cpu mobo combo? i hear sandy bridge should be available by jan 5, so would it be worth it to upgrade there or is it a better idea to upgrade to an ssd and a new psu?
Click to expand...

No. Upgrade to a SSD and PSU.
 
great thanks.
what about the Corsair Professional Series 1200 watt?
wouldnt it be a better choice? my budget would still allow it
 
i still got my doubst about the Asus sound card though. why do you like it better?
also, what are your thoughts on a corsair nova 128 ssd?
 
ok thank for your help again. its a pleasure building a pc when you get good advice.
 
hi again. there is an issue i forgot to mention that should be checked out.
my current pc is very unstable. i am getting random lock ups, freezes and what i think are graphical glitches.

for instance, sometimes after i reboot my pc runs increadibly slow and it has trouble even handling my firefox browser. i also notice that there is some graphical glitch around the mouse cursor and the display goes black and windows tell me that the display driver stopped working.
i naturally assumed it was a gpu problem. however, id like to be sure of this before i make my upgrades using some of the part of my current pc.
 
thought so myself. do you know of anyway for me to check if any of my other component like mobo cpu or ram are faulty?
i would hate to make the upgrade and then find out that the problem was actually coming from another component.s
 
Cerminy said:
thought so myself. do you know of anyway for me to check if any of my other component like mobo cpu or ram are faulty?
i would hate to make the upgrade and then find out that the problem was actually coming from another component.s
Click to expand...

[Testing the RAM]
Download Memtest86+ v4.00 or whatever the latest version is, unzip it, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Let Memtest+ run for at least three hours on each stick of RAM separately as well as test the RAM all together. Go for a full 24 hours if you want to be completely sure that the RAM is not a problem. If you start seeing errors, than your RAM is defective or you have incorrect settings for the RAM.

[Testing the Hard Drive]
Download the CD image of Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Test the hard drive and see if any problems are found. DFT will run on most manufacturers' hard drives. Alternatively, you can use Seagate's SeaTools for DOS to test a Seagate or Maxtor drive. For a Western Digital drive, you could use Data Lifeguard Tools for DOS to test a Western Digital drive.

[Testing the CPU]
Use Prime 95, OCCT, Orthos or Intel Burn Tool to stress test the CPU.

[Testing the GPU]
Use Furmark or ATI Tool to stress test the GPU. If you see any artifacts, the GPU could be overheating, too overclocked, or faulty.

[Testing the PSU]
Buy and use a digital multi-meter to monitor the voltages coming from the PSU. Follow the instructions for "Using a multi-meter to check voltages":
http://www.bfgpower.com/troubleshooting.html#DMM

Also check the stickied "Basic Troubleshooting FAQ" as well.
 
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