Need some advice for upgrading my system :)

T

transcend11

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Nov 24, 2006
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My current build:
Radeon HD 4850 512MB
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2.2GHz Socket 939
24" Westinghouse 1920x1200 Monitor
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 550W ATX12V Power supply
A few SATA/IDE hard drives

As you can see my motherboard is Socket 939.. quite old. I know my video card is great, but I really need a new CPU, RAM (4 GB?), and a motherboard. My PSU should be fine, right?

I obviously want this for gaming, and I also want to keep it as cheap as I can while still getting quality components of course. I especially want a motherboard that will be upgradeable in the future, unlike what I have now. It has lasted my since 2006 though, so it's been a trooper through numerous upgrades. If you need a budget to work around, I guess under $300-500.

Is this a good time in technology to upgrade or is something 'amazing' coming out soon that will cut the price on the current generation of hardware?

Thanks for any help and advice :)
 
within a month... P55/i5 750/2* 2GB DDR3 160 should fit your budget.

But if you are going right now.

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $120

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail $75

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Model HDX945WFGIBOX - Retail $170

Should be able to overclock to 4.1-4.3 GHz with that CPU and good aftermarket HSF like Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus (w/ Tuniq TX-3).

p.s. I suggest getting a better PSU in the near future
 
transcend11 said:
My PSU should be fine, right?
Click to expand...

Not really. The Truepower I and II series as well as the Smartpower series were well known for their above average death rates due to a poor choice in caps and cooling design. In more specific terms, Antec/CWT specified/used caps that did not respond well to heat. Unfortunately, Antec made the decision to have the PSU fan only ramp at really high temps in an effort to keep the PSU quiet. However, just medium to high temps were enough to screw up the caps so really high temps were murderous. Over time, this degraded the quality and performance of those PSU series.

So I recommend replacing the PSU, especially if you hear a squeal, whine, or any odd noise coming from the PSU. However, do note that the Truepower I and II series as well as the Smartpower series had a three year warranty. So if you do hear a squeal, whine, or any odd noise, that's enough grounds to RMA the PSU.
 
Yes, RMA, and Antec will replace it with a much better quality unit. ;)
 
I got it in March of 2006... a little late now :p But it seems to be doing fine still, hopefully no problems until my next upgrade.

What PSU would you suggest for my future build?

Thanks a lot for taking the time all :)
 
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