Need advice on an upgrade...

fubak

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jul 13, 2001
Messages
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It's been 3 years since my last major upgrade. Ya, I'm amazed too. I just beat BF3, and I recently beat and played BF2, MW3, SC2 on my specs below. I'm also in the D3 beta...which I have the minimum specs for. :D

Current specs are in my sig and here's the Q&A, followed by what I'm looking at getting.

Q&A:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? $700~ all inclusive
3) Which country do you live in? Charleston, SC
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, Mobo, GPU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Case (decent airflow), misc HDs for storage, DVD Rom, Crucial Vortex 3 120GB SSD for OS and games
6) Will you be overclocking? No, or very little
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it? 20" 1680x1050
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Sometimes between now and the end of January
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, eSATA, onboard audio
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? Yes, Win7 64-bit Ultimate

What I'm looking at:
1) CPU: AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W
2) RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
3) Mobo: ASUS M5A78L-M LX AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX
4) GPU: EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
5) PSU: OCZ ZT Series 750W Fully-Modular 80PLUS

Total: $652.95
 
First off, are you ready to build everything right now?

Why are you going with AMD? Intel's Sandy Bridge outperforms Bulldozer in gaming benchmarks, to the point that most of us will recommend Sandy Bridge for any processor that costs at least $100 (if not more).

As a follow-up to sticky question 9, how many, at a minimum, do you need of each port?
 
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Sometimes between now and the end of January
If you can't get the PC by the end of this month, I recommend waiting until the end of January to ask for advice as there are new CPUs and GPUs coming out in late January, early February timeframe according to the latest rumors.

However even if you could buy the PC before the end of the month, the setup you posted isn't good at all for the money: The CPU and mobo are extremely poor choices for the money and should only be bought if you really love AMD and like paying more money for lower performance. Not to mention that the mobo you chose only has two RAM slots and you're getting a 4 x 4GB RAM set.

You're better off with an Intel build. Something along these lines:
$190 - Intel Core i5-2400 CPU
$95 - Biostar TZ68A+ Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard

For your needs, you don't need a 750W PSU unless you're planning on using SLI or Crossfire. You would be just fine with this Seasonic 620W Modular PSU for $20 less:
$90 - SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W Modular PSU

However, if you don't need modular cables, you'll be fine with this PSU:
$69 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I hadn't caught the memory slot issue. Thanks for pointing that out.

I'm not an AMD fanboy at all. I just want the fastest and most stable product for my money. I want a combination that will work the best together.

I went AMD because the quad-cores were cheaper. I assumed that 4 core > 2 core, which I should've known wasn't true from past experience.

I meant to add prices to the products I listed. I'll modify the list and add prices.
 
I would like 1-2 USB 3.0 ports and at least 4 USB 2.0 ports
 
If I waited until mid-late January, what could possibly change here? GPU? CPU?
 
As I said earlier, new GPUs and CPUs are supposedly due out in January. In addition, there will be different deals and pricing for other hardware. As such, we may end up recommending a different PSU, motherboard, or RAM.
 
If I waited until mid-late January, what could possibly change here? GPU? CPU?

Pricing and deals, as well (as Danny noted). The parts we recommend now may become seriously overpriced next month due to the pricing changes from month to month or even week to week.
 
Alright, if I had to order today, would anything change? I'm flexible on the GPU especially. I really want a good GPU for my $$.
 
Nothing would really change if you buy the setup you listed earlier today.
 
I don't factor in MIR until they're actually in my hands. So that HD 6870 is still $170 in my eyes. With that said, the HD 6870 is a good alternative if you want to save some cash. Your resolution is low enough that there isn't a large difference between the two cards to justify the extra cash.
 
FYI, I might upgrade my monitor in the future, so don't put too much weight on the resolution
 
What about this 6950 for $265?
Good card but stupid overkill for 1680x1050. Now that I think about it, so is the GTX 560 TI.
FYI, I might upgrade my monitor in the future, so don't put too much weight on the resolution
Actually I have to put much weight as my GPU recommendations will vary from resolution to resolution. So while that HD 6870 would be good for your current 1680x1050 resolution, it would not be good enough IMO for monitor with 1920x1080 or higher. In addition, your planned purchase date for a new monitor is also a factor as there is a such thing as overpaying for a card because you waited too long to get a larger monitor.
 
Let's assume that I could have a resolution as high as 1920×1080
 
CPU: i5 2500k - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
RAM: G.Skill Sniper 8GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461
MOBO: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
GPU: HD6950 2GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131393
PSU: OCZ ModXStream 600W - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017

Total: $716.95

Good for 1920x1080p gaming. CPU: i5 2500k, good for everyday use/gaming if needed can oc 4-4.6GHz~ with ease, You don't need more than 8GB of ram with what you do. Motherboard good for the price, can upgrade later to ivy bridge cpu should you need to. GPU good for 1080p gaming, 2gb makes up for higher res/higher texture settings, has the chance to unlock to 6970 shaders if you want more performance. PSU good for single GPU, modular for cleaner case/less cords, may need to upgrade if you choose to go dual gpu etc...

IMO I would spend the extra but thats entirely up to you if you're looking for a great upgrade and if you want to upgrade your monitor later this system will handle those resolutions easy.
 
Ya, I'm liking the 6950 for this price range. Any issue with sticking with the Biostar mobo?
 
Ya, I'm liking the 6950 for this price range. Any issue with sticking with the Biostar mobo?

Personally I don't have much experience with Biostar motherboards as I always build with either Asus, Gigabyte, and recently ASRock but I don't see any problems with going for that if you want to. The Z68 chipset is pretty solid so most motherboards running on them should have good performance.
 
Welp Newegg is having a 2011 Best-sellers Blowout sale so with "EMCJHHC24" code you get $219 -> $204.
 
Order placed. Threw in a 23" LED monitor as well. Can't wait! :)
 
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