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Need GPU advice/help picking right one.

J

jcg624

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 14, 2007
Messages
299
most of the time I play titles like Diable 3 and Guild Wars 2 that are not that graphically intense. Occasionally I like to play a game like the Witcher 3. I recently started using my desktop again. The components in my desktop are roughly about 6 years old. A Phenom II X4 940 cpu with onboard hd 3300 video and 6 Gb of Ram.

Would this card serve me will I have a budget of up 200 for a video card.

I am looking at these 2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131670
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125794

I would like to upgrade the memory also. dd2 800 pc 6400 is quite scarce though.
timing of 4-4-4-12 4 gig sticks.
 
Gigabyte R9 390 4GB Card This would be the better one in my opinion to purchase since 2GB is starting to feel the pinch now. If you are going to go with one of the two cards you suggested, I would just go with the cheapest one and be content with that then.
 
well I would like the best performance for the price. I think the R9 might be the better choice in the long run. Even though it is 70.00 more in price.
 
jcg624 said:
well I would like the best performance for the price. I think the R9 might be the better choice in the long run. Even though it is 70.00 more in price.
Click to expand...

Order it today and I think you stand a good chance of getting by Thursday. (At least that has been my experience with Newegg shipping as of late.) Enjoy. :)
 
cageymaru said:
And the XFX representative answers all questions on these forums. My XFX HD 5850 is still alive my nephew said the other day.
Click to expand...

Part of why I purchased the XFX R9 Fury. Also, their cooling has only gotten better. I think you made a great choice for your budget.
 
We are happy to inform you that your order has been successfully charged to your VISA and order verification is now complete.
 
Did anyone bother to ask about his power supply? Does it meet the requirements for this card he's buying?
 
Also, I don't see how the Youtube unboxing has anything to do with it's capability or reliability. All they did was show you what comes inside the package.

The [H]ardOCP review of this PSU opened up the case and took at look at the OEM who actually designed the unit, and took a look at the companies who supplied the parts most likely to die (capacitors, power handling/switching ICs, etc).

The OEM was not known for making PSUs with higher output than 500w:

Once we open the OCZ 700W ModXStream Pro we are left looking at the first Sirtec unit we have reviewed that is supposed to be capable of supplying over 500 watts of power to your PC.
Click to expand...

Funny thing, the PSU DIDN'T output power above 500w! So they still hadn't seen a PSU from Sirtec that goes above 500w. Also, the capacitors were only marked: Rec, which is no known company.


All signs lead to: replace this thing before it dies and takes the rest of the system with it. And the next time you want a PSU, check out the reviews at [H]ardOCP and JohnnyGuru. They actually take a look at what's behind all the marketing bullshit and flashy paint on the exterior.
 
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Ok maybe I didn't do enough research when I bought the OCZ. Hopefully things will be ok.
 
jcg624 said:
You guys got me very nervous now about my PSU.

I need to wait until I get my refund from Newegg before I can buy anything else.
I wasn't planning on buying a PSU. I have a total budget of close to 700.00
to upgrade my desktop. I would like to max out the memory to 16 Gb but I am limited to
DDR2 pc6400.

I think I will get this PSU
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/12/04/fsp_hydro_g_750w_power_supply_review/#.Vnlg6VI73bQ

Is 104.00 a good price.
Click to expand...

Refund? Also, you probably would have needed a new power supply anyways sooner rather than later. Also, in my opinion, I would not bother with upgrading to 16GB of DDR2 ram. With the price of DDR3 being $65 for 16GB nowadays, you would not end up with a very good investment.
 
jcg624 said:
Yes Refund. I had to return a laptop.
This is what my MB supports

4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory (Note 1)
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR2 1200 (Note 2)/1066/800 MHz memory modules

Will DDR3 memory still work.
my motherBoard
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3003#sp
Click to expand...

Ah, ok, I was kind of wondering if you had cancelled the video card order. :D No DDR3 for that board but, long term, you will not see a good return on investment with DDR 2 memory. I just looked on newegg and 4GB sticks of DDR2 ram are going for about $85 each. That is more than 16GB of DDR3 or in some cases, 16GB of DDR4 ram. Perhaps just going up to 8GB would be more cost effective?

Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention that the Phenom II 940 only supports DDR2.
 
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jcg624 said:
You guys got me very nervous now about my PSU.

I need to wait until I get my refund from Newegg before I can buy anything else.
I wasn't planning on buying a PSU. I have a total budget of close to 700.00
to upgrade my desktop. I would like to max out the memory to 16 Gb but I am limited to
DDR2 pc6400.

I think I will get this PSU
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/12/04/fsp_hydro_g_750w_power_supply_review/#.Vnlg6VI73bQ

Is 104.00 a good price.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a good price.

You don't need to replace the PSU yesterday, I'm just saying that the more load you put on it, the more likely it is to blow up in your face. So upgrading from onboard video to an R9 380 will up that load by over 175w.

Just replace it before you install the new video card, and you'll be fine.
 
You should really look for a good combo deal on newegg for a new CPU/mobo. Running DDR2 with a R9 is a bit lopsided.

Maybe post your system and left over budget and we could help you? General Hardware thread is an appropriate place.
 
ManofGod said:
Ah, ok, I was kind of wondering if you had cancelled the video card order. :D No DDR3 for that board but, long term, you will not see a good return on investment with DDR 2 memory. I just looked on newegg and 4GB sticks of DDR2 ram are going for about $85 each. That is more than 16GB of DDR3 or in some cases, 16GB of DDR4 ram. Perhaps just going up to 8GB would be more cost effective?

Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention that the Phenom II 940 only supports DDR2.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't waste money upgrading the ram beyond 8gb as suggested. But 6gb is plenty for most games today.

I'd save your money toward a full platform upgrade - A core i5 plus decent (Hx7 series) motherboard plus 16GB ram will last you at least 5-7 years, and should cost you $350-375 for all three. Just go to General Hardware and request build help - tell them your budget, and tell them you already upgraded the PSU and video card.

If you can afford to upgrade now, Haswell is on clearance. I think somebody mentiond a Corre i5 in store at Microcenter for $160. That would drop your build cost to closer to $300
 
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You cannot use DDR3 I'm a DDR2 motherboard as far as I know. You can get an EVGA 650w Supernova 80+Gold for like 70 bucks. Great unit, great price, great warranty and service.
 
Thanks for the info and help. I will be posting in the general thread soon.
 
Ahh, I found that incredibly cheap Core i5. Do you live within driving distance of a Microcenter?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/432161/Core_i5-4590_33GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor

And that EVGA power supply is an excellent suggestion. You really don't need more than 600w unless you're going to run a cutting-edge SLI or Crossfire setup. And their recent lineup has been well reviewed.

*You really don't need more than 600w if the PSU can deliver all 600 of those watts :D
 
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I appreciate your concern in supporting Intel.
I will be sticking with AMD though.
Most likely going with a Godivari core cpu.

I have been looking at MSI and Gigabyte MB
 
For my wife I went Asus mobo and the 7870k. Wanted to go microcenter for $170 but wife didn't want to go so newegg for $210.
 
JustReason said:
For my wife I went Asus mobo and the 7870k. Wanted to go microcenter for $170 but wife didn't want to go so newegg for $210.
Click to expand...

Yep, I built my dad an Asrock X88 mITX build with an A10-7700k back in 2014. With 8GB of ram, 60GB SSD and 1TB hard drive, the thing is extremely fast. With Windows 10 installed, it only uses about 25GB of so of the SSD with the main programs installed. The hard drive is used for data storage.
 
jcg624 said:
I appreciate your concern in supporting Intel.
I will be sticking with AMD though.
Most likely going with a Godivari core cpu.

I have been looking at MSI and Gigabyte MB
Click to expand...

Oh, you're the same dude buying Godvari in the other thread :D

I know you've been out of things, but in the last 6 years AMD held a competitive race with Intel with the Phenom II...and then took a step backward with the Bulldozer line.

Their fastest Godvari is only 20% faster than your CPU. They've only barely just reached the same performance per clock as the old Phenom II, and it came at the cost of clock speed (versus the previous Piledriver).

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1497?vs=80

This is the only reason I recommended the Core i5. It's massively faster, which should mean you get as many years out of it as your Phenom II 940!

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/837?vs=80

If you live near a Microcenter, that deal if a little hard to pass-up, and if money is tight you can compromise on 8GB ram right now, bring your build cost to around $275.
 
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You need to post this thread in the General Hardware section. Now that you have a sizable budget, you really shouldn't be leaving this in the "AMD Flavor" section of the GPU forums.
 
He isn't shopping for Intel, as he stated. He asked about Godavari. If you have relevant info toward that particular purchase then by all means post it. If not then please refrain from crap posting.
 
JustReason said:
He isn't shopping for Intel, as he stated. He asked about Godavari. If you have relevant info toward that particular purchase then by all means post it. If not then please refrain from crap posting.
Click to expand...

I did. I posted benchmarks showing the fastest clocked Godavari is only 20% faster than his Phenom II 940. That's hardly an upgrade.

And don't mention overclocking - if he wanted to, he could overclock his Phenom II (and get the same improvement as that upgrade at stock).

jcg624 is free to spend his money as he sees fit, I just hope I can stop him from this particularly bad purchase. Hell, going 8 core Piledriver is smarter than locking yourself into FM2.
 
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