Need to upgrade - Video card and PSU

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Swede88

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Basically, I moved out of state and something happened to my machine.

What's working:

CPU: Intel i5-750
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
HDD: Western Digital Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

PSU that is dead - Antec Earthwatts 650w
Video Card that is dead - Radeon 5850
Monitor is almost dead too (prior to move haha) - An old Acer 22"

I would like to put this on my best buy account (0% interest x 6 months), so that's where I would like to shop if possible.

Budget is at least $200, perhaps up to $300.

I need the PC to last me about another 18 months.
 
I'm not sure marketplace items count or not.

I really don't want to open up any more accounts. I have a frys and a best buy here, but no frys credit card. I recently moved therefore I need to hang on to my cash until I get settled in.

The combo that you mentioned above...can you provide alternatives that allow for a new monitor to be considered? I'm looking for a monitor in the $150-$200 range; likely a 24" no frills. Perhaps squeezing it in and upping the budget to $350? Also, will my cpu and ram be a bottleneck for that video card?
 
Are you absolutely sure you can't just buy online from either Amazon.com or Newegg.com? The selection for Best Buy is really really shitty. Like this is the cheapest PSU from BestBuy.com that I can recommend:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/evga-supernova-power-supply/5408054.p?id=1219127074534&skuId=5408054

Maybe this PSU if your local store has it:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/evga-supernova-power-supply/5408132.p?id=1219127073008&skuId=5408132A

Either of those eVGA PSUs are major upgrades in quality and performance from that Corsair PSU. If you must buy from Best Buy, can you up your budget to $400 to $500? That would at least get you decent parts from Best Buy albeit at a massive markup.

As for video card, what games are you planning on playing?

EDIT: Or if you don't mind buying the same PSU that died on you, that Antec is still probably the cheapest decent option:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/antec-6...reen/3345073.p?id=1218396602768&skuId=3345073
 
How about this...I have a $75 credit at Frys. Can I at least get a PSU from there (pay cash), such as this one

Then buy a video card and monitor from best buy?

My only hesitation about raising the budget is the fact that most of the hardware in my machine is from 2010, and some of it from 2008. It needs a major upgrade, just not right now. Right now, I need it to run.

As far as games go...it would be nice to be able to play anything new, but I haven't done that in a while because my rig couldn't handle it. It would be great to play things like the upcoming SW battlefront, witcher 3, fallout 4, etc... but that's a dream. So I've been content playing games that are 1-3 years old at this point.

Edit: And trust me, I realize that Best buy is not the place to shop for these items, but it happens to work well financially. If it comes down to it, I'll buy the PSU and Video Card on Amazon with my regular Credit card, then purchase a monitor at Best Buy. However, if that were the case, then the PSU and video card need to be priced very well.
 
Bedpan Commando said:
How about this...I have a $75 credit at Frys. Can I at least get a PSU from there (pay cash), such as this one

Then buy a video card and monitor from best buy?

My only hesitation about raising the budget is the fact that most of the hardware in my machine is from 2010, and some of it from 2008. It needs a major upgrade, just not right now. Right now, I need it to run.

As far as games go...it would be nice to be able to play anything new, but I haven't done that in a while because my rig couldn't handle it. It would be great to play things like the upcoming SW battlefront, witcher 3, fallout 4, etc... but that's a dream. So I've been content playing games that are 1-3 years old at this point.

Edit: And trust me, I realize that Best buy is not the place to shop for these items, but it happens to work well financially. If it comes down to it, I'll buy the PSU and Video Card on Amazon with my regular Credit card, then purchase a monitor at Best Buy. However, if that were the case, then the PSU and video card need to be priced very well.
Click to expand...

I can agree with getting the monitor from Best Buy. How about get the GPU and monitor from Best Buy but the PSU from Fry's? Did a bit more scrambling and found some decent choices:
$160 - XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card from Best Buy
$150 - Asus VS239H-P 23" LCD Monitor
$90 - Antec HCG-620M 620W PSU from Fry's
---
Total: $400 plus tax.

That XFX R9 270X card is only $20 more than the R7 360 card that Nasgul recommended but provides a significant performance increase (The R7 360 is a tad slower than the R7 260X):
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1044?vs=1043

That's probably as bang for your buck as possible with only Fry's and Best Buy as an option. At least that monitor is a good deal as it's the one part that's actually cheaper than getting online.

EDIT: In case you're wondering, you're only spending an extra $50 + taxes doing the above route compared to just buying from Newegg and/or Amazon.
 
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We're getting closer :) Thanks for your input.

How about this...I purchase a monitor at Best Buy (at least $200 to qualify for the 6 months) and get the PSU and Video card from Frys. I would like to get the other two components for less than $200.

Perhaps stick with the Antec PSU for $90, then get something like this It's 89.99 after rebate which is reasonable for my budget.

Any objections?

Recs on monitor for $200 or more?
 
Bedpan Commando said:
We're getting closer :) Thanks for your input.

How about this...I purchase a monitor at Best Buy (at least $200 to qualify for the 6 months) and get the PSU and Video card from Frys. I would like to get the other two components for less than $200.

Perhaps stick with the Antec PSU for $90, then get something like this It's 89.99 after rebate which is reasonable for my budget.

Any objections?

Recs on monitor for $200 or more?
Click to expand...

Yes: That GT 740 is not a good video card even at its regular $60 price tag online let alone the stupid $100 price charged by Fry's. In addition, it's actually slower than your current HD 5850. As for getting the PSU and GPU for under $200, in terms of bang for the buck value, not really possible even if you bought online. The main reason why I pushed for the R9 270X is that it's only $15 from Best Buy compared to online. That's a relatively small mark-up.

I'm not sure why you want to go that route since the total cost is still going to be around $400. The only real benefit is a slightly better monitor. But that comes at the cost of significantly lower bang for the buck value.
 
No argument there. My whole purchase strategy was centered around getting this machine up and running as fast as possible in the context of having recently moved to another state with my family, plus getting ready for orientation at my new job. Waiting even 2 or 3 days on Amazon for parts was not feasible for me as I needed to get this "done". I know I picked parts that were either sub par or of little value, but the price range was acceptable for this situation. My plans were to build a new system in 12 to 18 months from scratch, which is another reason I didn't want to spend a lot of money now. For what it's worth, I got Frys to do internet price matching on stuff from Amazon and newegg. I didn't buy a monitor as I was becoming sucked in to buying more and better stuff.

Thanks for your help!
 
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