Planning light upgrades for 2 computers...

[EricFX1984]

so basically I need to know what needs upgraded and what really doesn't

planning on just doing video cards, but might need other things... if you think something else needs upgraded, please mention it (NOT UPGRADING CPU OR MOTHERBOARDS)

Planning to make both computers have water cooling on the GPU


System 1(my computer)

Primary use: gaming, web, looking cool

Issues: nothing really, I just have the Itch to upgrade

CPU: AMD Phenom II 965 @ 4.0GHz, 1.45v (on water cooling listed below)

Motherboard: Asus M4A88TD-V Evo / USB 3.0

GPU: EVGA GTX260 (55nm) OC's pretty well but can be a little loud (stock cooling)

Ram: 2x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 @ 1600 8-8-8-20-1t 1.55v

Hard Drives: 2x (old school) 74gb raptors in raid 0 (OS drive)
1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 (storage)

PSU: Coolermaster 700 watt Silent Pro

Monitor: craptacular Acer 22" 1680 x 1050

Water Cooling: 2x Swiftech 120x3 rads, 6x Yate Loon D12SH-12 @ 5v, D5 basic pump, EK Supreme water block

----------


System 2 (wife's PC)


Primary use: World Of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, also doubles as a HTPC, plays movies back on a 96" screen (720p)

Issues: low frame rates in highly populated RAID parties (15fps)

CPU: AMD Phenom II 555, Unlocked to quad 3.6GHz 1.35v (on water cooling listed below)

Motherboard: MSI 890GXM-G65

GPU: HD4850 1GB, nice OC, after market cooling, almost silent

Ram: 2x2GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 @ 1600 9-9-9-24-1t @ 1.55v

Hard Drives: 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 (OS drive)
2TB Western Digital Green (storage)

PSU: PC Power and Cooling 520 Turbo cool SLI, modded to have 120mm fan

Monitor: Samsung 20" Widescreen 1680 x 1050

Water Cooling: Black Ice II XFlow with 2 GT AP-13 fans
Heater Core, shouded with 2 Thermaltake A1280 @ 5v
Original Enzotech Sapphire block
Swiftech Micro Res v2
MCP350 (modded to MCP355)


Budget: not much, lol, just kidding maybe %150 on the wife's and $250 on mine... max

thoughts, maybe I could use my GX260 in the wife's PC? GPU only block is cheap... or maybe a HD5770?

For myself maybe a GTX460? HD6850?

maybe a 30GB SSD for boot drive?

what about a PSU for system 2? do I really need it?

I figure the hd4850 would sell for about $60 shipped, the gtx260 I would say $90 shipped? thats at least half of my upgrade budget right there

 

[Almighty ODST]

If you're looking for more FPS in WoW in the second system, the gtx 260 will be a slight upgrade.
This is the only chart I could find that shows the amount of fps. While the 4850 isn't on the chart the 4870 is and the 260 is shown beating the 1GB 4870 by a hair.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...ti-and-Nvidia-graphics-cards/Practice/?page=2

For your rig, I was going to say the only thing that would maybe be a noticeable increase in performance on your budget would be a small boot SSD. Or you could sell the 4850, give GTX 260 to the wife. You shouldn't need a new PSU on the second system even with a 260. Then buy yourself a 6870 and an SSD and you'd be set.

Links:
This SSD isn't the best deal, but it's the right idea.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0227610&cm_re=vertex_2-_-20-227-610-_-Product

Asus 6870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121401&cm_re=6870-_-14-121-401-_-Product

Total cost - your proposed $60 shipped for 4850 comes out to ~296 before tax and shipping.
EDIT: didn't see that there is a $15 rebate on that SSD right now, so $281 is what you're looking at.

That plan only really applies if you're okay with not getting waterblocks for the GPUs right away.

 

[EricFX1984]

That plan only really applies if you're okay with not getting waterblocks for the GPUs right away.

I could live with out blocks on my rig, but my wife's box has to be quite

 

[Almighty ODST]

Okay, does your budget cover a GPU block for a 260 on top of the aforementioned ~300 after shipping and tax? If not, you could simply get rid of the SSD idea and get the 6870 and a block for the 260. You'd get a substantial increase in gaming performance with the 6870.