Need some parts! $300

It would help if you answered the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST" so that we could help you better.
 
I'm sorry. I'm a heavy gamer and with my current specs my computer can play all to most up to date games, but I'd like to push it $300 further. I want to stay with Intel.

Doesn't have to be Core-I7 or I5 I just want to replace my Motherboard, Processor, and Ram.

All I'm asking are what I can get the most out of $300 after tax and shipping from Newegg?

Using Windows 7

I love overclocking

I have a 32inch monitor

I'm reusing everything except Mobo, Processor, and ram.

I live in texas (have no idea why that's a needed answer)

Plan on building asap
 
outsid3r said:
Doesn't have to be Core-I7 or I5 I just want to replace my Motherboard, Processor, and Ram.

All I'm asking are what I can get the most out of $300 from Newegg?
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But we need to know what features you need in a mobo, what resolution you're gaming at, what PSU you have, etc, etc, all questions listed in the sticky. So please help us help you.

But right off the bat: For $300, you will not get a good bang for the buck setup if you insist on Intel. You're gonna have to either A) be willing to switch to AMD or B) up your budget for a more cost-effective Intel setup.

For straight up gaming, your current CPU/mobo/RAM is fine however. I'd recommend a GPU upgrade instead depending on your resolution (HINT: that's one of the questions in the sticky).

EDIT: What resolution is that 32" monitor? What PSU do you have?

And where you live is a needed answer since we do get a ton of people here in the forums from other countries. In addition, telling us the state you live in lets us know what stores might be available in your area that offers good hardware discounts. Speaking of which, do you live near a Microcenter?
 
Generally I game at 1360x786 to 1440x900 if I need to I have no problems going back to 1280x1024
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As far as motherboard features I have no idea. I guess standard? I haven't been 100% up to date with motherboards. 2+ sata slots and possbily SLI, but I won't be getting a second card untill later.

Powersupply is 585W ATX12V

Edit: No where near a microcenter. Only hardware store would be worstbuy.
 
outsid3r said:
Powersupply is 585W ATX12V
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Which 585W PSU? This is important: If the PSU is crap, it will not be able to handle any upgrade we recommend and the PSU might be harming your system right now. So we need to know what 585W PSU you have.
 
NO. Give us the brand and model number of the PSU.

Better yet, answer the rest of the questions in the sticky -- there's a good reason why they're part of a sticky thread.
 
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $80

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Retail $120

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Retail $94


DSC00121.jpg


Don't say we didn't warn you.
 
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I will just say he does have a cheap crappy 585Watt PSU. There isn't much if any 585W psu I do know is good. More than likely he has a cheapy HEC or Sigma Shark brand psu. Or, an older Enermax 585 Watt.
 
outsid3r said:
Can we just assume I have a good one?
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Nope. As HardwareGuru noted, there aren't that many good or even half-way decent 585W PSUs. In addition, the PSU is the number one most important part in a PC as a crappy PSU may damage or kill a PC over time. As such, we need to know what 585W PSU you have. Otherwise it's just a waste of time and money recommending and buying parts if the PSU can't handle it.

@ lt_shiro
Damn. First time I've seen a PSU destroy a power cord
 
Dude answer the Questions if you want any answers!
outsid3r said:
Can we just assume I have a good one?
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First of all you need to understand that a 585 watt wheather its good or bad has several key things... .(high 12 volt amperage) or High 5volt amperage like these 2

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023
+3.3V@20A, +5V@24A, +12V1@14A, , +12V2@15A, -12V@0.3A, +5VSB@2A
2000 reviews.... .becasue 3 years ago high 3.3/5 volt was a good thing... Now people who don't understand that a good psu at one time may not be good for your hardware like now....although its still an ok psu its not up to par anymore at all... (people are buying based on reviews).


CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003
+3.3V@20A,+5V@20A,+12V@33A,-12V@0.8A,+5VSB@2.5A
Notice how it has a single 12volt connection.... becasue highend psu's usually do.(or at least tend to)

Now as the first psu i was showing you as an example of the diffrences of similar wattage psu's I'm not sure if they are split rails are just split connections from the same rail... either way its better to have one huge rail... as new psu's show...


Linkworld LPJ2-23-P4 430W ATX12V
now for an crappy run of the mill psu.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817165023
+3.3V@25A,+5V@34A,+12V@18A,-12V@0.8A,+5VSB@2.0A

wow in the old days this would run an older system with enough juice.....(for about 1 year becasue of quality. ) then it would slowly die... Stick it in a newer motherboard..... like the gigabyte P45 seris and you will have random reboots..... from lack of power for it's energy reduction states.....
Now I would hope that you wouldn't have a cheap psu like this... But from keeping me and others from typing useless post.....to pursuade you into answering questions so we can help you... which is ironic as it sounds. Just answer the questions....

obviuosly you didn't offend anyone but it's hard when people take there time to help you to get the best of service... also It's given freely.

What was once a great PSU In an older style socket.... may be a bad psu now. EVEN if the quality is (GOOD)

nobody can truly reccomend anything worthy without truly knowing the make/model of your stuff.
 
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With resolutions like 1366x768 or 1440x900, I don't see a need to upgrade the GTS 250 video card. I would say you can do something like this if you want to spend $300 on an upgrade

PSU - Antec Truepower New TP-550 for $79.99 w/free shipping

MOBO/CPU - ASUS M4A785-M + AMD Phenom II X4 955BE 3.2ghz Quad both for $219.99 w/free shipping

Reuse your OCZ Reaper DDR2 800 RAM Modules

Total: $299.98
 
Danny Bui said:
@ lt_shiro
Damn. First time I've seen a PSU destroy a power cord
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yea it killed everything in that computer (even the case fans) but for the DVD Burner and 1 piece memory. Client say it was like someone threw a flash bang into the room.
 
outsid3r said:
I'm sorry. I'm a heavy gamer and with my current specs my computer can play all to most up to date games, but I'd like to push it $300 further. ...
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If all you want is a better gaming experience, wait until you're no longer happy with your current gaming experience.

outsid3r said:
... Now I'm pretty happy with my graphic card for now. I really just would like some help with the best I can get with $300 max with a Processor, Mobo, and Ram if I have too.
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Most games are GPU limited, but you don't want to upgrade your GPU, so your gaming experience won't improve much with any CPU/Mobo/RAM upgrade unless its something CPU intensive, like FSX or whatever game makes use of more than 2 cores these days.

Phenom2 performs as good as Core2, and you already have a 3.3Ghz Core2, so no real point in going with a phenom2, IMO. An i5 or i7 would be an upgrade, but for gaming performance with GPU limited games, not really worth the upgrade, IMO. Also, you'll need around $50 more for i5, and thats if you live near a Microcenter (i5 750 for $150; P55 for $105; 4GB DDR3 for $95).

And in case you didn't get the point earlier about the PSU... you can assume it'll power all your new gear, but if it cant, the worst case scenario is you kill all your new components (and possibly your old ones). While the chance of it killing any or all parts is small, its up to you to take that risk, not us. ;)
 
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Ok then I will go ahead and get me a better power supply. Yes the current one I have now is really cheap. I was always told not to buy cheap ones, but went ahead anyway and had NEVER had a problem with cheap power supplys. I would always pick Neweggs cheapest powersupply with the most eggs and best votes maybe that's why I've been a little luckier.

Anyways I had gotten $500 for Christmas and I'm still debating whether I should spend $300 or just go $500.
 
Which particular monitor are you using? What is its native or maximum supported resolution?

Are you suffering any noticeable (to you) slowdown during gaming? If so, which games (and at which resolutions)?
 
look im gonna be blunt with you for 300 bucks your going to get a POS system. up your budget to the 500 and you can get something decent. as they stated the PSU is the #1 most important part of the build because it can Make or BREAK your system.
 
Out of curiousity would you tell me what PSU you have even though it is crappy? I'm a stickler. I would oc your current cpu and buy a higherend gpu... or just sell your current setup for like 400 bucks or so and get a new system with the 900 you will have.
 
I am just tossing this out there, I am sure there are better choices, but I think this is the direction you should head in:

Corsair 550VX - $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

Sapphire 5770 - $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102864

WD Black 500GB - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320

~$305 and what I believe to be the changes that will make the noticeable improvements.

lt_shiro said:
yea it killed everything in that computer (even the case fans) but for the DVD Burner and 1 piece memory. Client say it was like someone threw a flash bang into the room.
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Wow, that is scary.
There should be a sticky somewhere this forum about shitty PSU horror stories.
 
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outsid3r said:
Current Specs:

Mobo: Gigabyte 965p-ds3

Ram: OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB)

Graphic Card: GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz (OC'd to 3.33ghz)

Now I'm pretty happy with my graphic card for now. I really just would like some help with the best I can get with $300 max with a Processor, Mobo, and Ram if I have too.
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onetwenty8k said:
Here's a 585w PSU, boy that's some weird number for a PSU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=585w_power_supply-_-17-339-012-_-Product

$29.99! I'm in for three.
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onetwenty8k just posted a random 585 as the op said he would just by the cheapest from newegg... Just trying to confirm if that was the one as he didn't say specificly. The other guy just browsed and posted.
 
outsid3r said:
Ok then I will go ahead and get me a better power supply. Yes the current one I have now is really cheap. I was always told not to buy cheap ones, but went ahead anyway and had NEVER had a problem with cheap power supplys. I would always pick Neweggs cheapest powersupply with the most eggs and best votes maybe that's why I've been a little luckier.

Anyways I had gotten $500 for Christmas and I'm still debating whether I should spend $300 or just go $500.
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I uesd to be like that myself until it happend to me on a friends computer I was buying... I Never had a problem either. In 10 years of buiding.

Now you have to admit in order for all of these cheap PSU's to be manufactured and not 1 in 3 die... like everyone tells you they do is bullcrap... Otherwise they would go out of business real quick. But the thing is that they are cheap crap... When it does happen and it takes a 1000 dollar rig you would have wished you would of spent just 2 times as much money on the psu. Most people don't as a cheap psu will make your system at stock not any faster then a highend one.... Which is partially untrue from clean power issues. But nonetheless. I understand about buying cheap psu's but man when it happens....
 
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