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System upgrade help

  • Thread starter Deleted member 88227
  • Start date
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Deleted member 88227

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1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Gaming and photoshop/lightroom image editing

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

$150 - $200 shipped/tax

3) Where do you live?

MS, United States

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

I need motherboard and CPU (RAM if mine will not be compatible)

I currently have an AM2 Brisbane 3600+ @ 2.7Ghz on a Biostar TForce 550 motherboard that I want to upgrade.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

I will be reusing my CD/DVD ROM (PATA), 250GB and 1TB hard drive (SATA x2) Corsair HX620W PSU, 9800GX2 GPU, Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 RAM (2GB), Case

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

22" Acer 1680x1050

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Within' this month.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.

Do not really require any special features, but SLi support would be a plus for future upgrades/expansions.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

Yes I do, Windows XP Professional 32Bit
 
How about an Asrock A785GXH - 70$ (can use your existing RAM and have SLI for future if you want it).
Phenom II X2 555 BE -91$
Then I'd use the extra 40$ to pick up a nice aftermarket HSF.

The Phenom II X4 555 BE is really nice too, and would give you some more cores, but it is 60$ more.
 
In terms of overclocking, how well does that motherboard over clock and how well do either of those chips over clock?

I have a Zalman 9500 HS/F setup, not sure how similar the AM3 is to AM2, but if all I need updated mounting brackets for it to work, then I'm sure I can order them from Zalman.
 
Lets say I drop the budget but want to keep my existing RAM. What kind of motherboard/CPU can I get that will help me max out my 9800GX2?
 
Asrock boards are solid and you can usually get some headroom for overclocking out of them. They use good components in my experience.

If you drop your budget, drop your RAM too, and get a newer AM3 board with 2-4MB DDR3. /shrug In that case definitely get a Phenom II X4. More and faster RAM will help you max out your 9800X2 better than anything else, esp. once you move to an AM3 board.
 
Well help me move to an AM3 board...

What should I go with? I really do not want to spend more than $350 if I gotta buy motherboard, cpu and RAM. I'm only on Windows XP Professional, so 3GB of RAM is the most I can make use of.

I LOVE to overclock, so if I can save some money and overclock to better performance then I am all for it.
 
Since you only have 2GB of DDR2 RAM, it really doesn't make sense to make a build centered on it.
$100 - AMD Athlon II X4 635 CPU
$90 - Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G HDMI mATX Motherboard
$43 - Patriot PSD32G13332 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
---
Total: $233 shipped

Yes you can reuse the Zalman HSF you have now. The brackets are the same IIRC.

Since you're doing Photoshop and lightroom work, the extra two cores will help out a lot more than a higher clocked dual-core. That Gigabyte mobo is a fairly solid overclocker.
 
For gaming, you'd benefit more with a new video card along the line of an HD 5770 or GTX 460.

ASRock is Asus' "budget" line of motherboards and they don't have as many bells and whistles as their "name brand" siblings. If you really want to overclock, it's best to go with an AMD Black Edition processor.

Here's one AM3-based "core" to consider:

$150 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition processor
$90 - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3 1600 dual channel kit
$70 - MSI 870-G45 ATX motherboard
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 120mm CPU cooler
=====
$340 - Subtotal (not including taxes or rebates; everything has free ground shipping)
 
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The games I play are:

Starcraft 2
Battlefield 2
Unreal Tournament

That's about all the gaming I do, but when I do play those games...I like to play them on good settings. I feel the 9800GX2, at it's full potential; will be able to handle those games fine. Right? Really didn't mean for this to turn into spending this much money... I just picked up the 9800GX2 for $130 on ebay to replace my 6800 GS "Overclocked edition" video card... lol
 
Skillz said:
The games I play are:

Starcraft 2
Battlefield 2
Unreal Tournament

That's about all the gaming I do, but when I do play those games...I like to play them on good settings. I feel the 9800GX2, at it's full potential; will be able to handle those games fine. Right? Really didn't mean for this to turn into spending this much money...l
Click to expand...

Ehh, depends on whether or note SC2 actually scales with multiple GPUs. BF2 and UT is a rather old game so should be fine for that.
 
Danny, how well does the X4 635 overclock?

Would going with an Intel platform give me better results?
 
Skillz said:
Danny, how well does the X4 635 overclock?

Would going with an Intel platform give me better results?
Click to expand...

The X4 635 OCs to about 3.4Ghz to 3.6Ghz.

Going with an Intel platform would provide more performance but your budget is simply too small for a worthwhile Intel upgrade. You're looking at $450 minimum for a cost-effective Core i5 build.
 
Skillz said:
Would going with an Intel platform give me better results?
Click to expand...

Danny is correct that you would need to double your budget for a worthwhile Intel build. That's because the only Intel platforms available within your budget are only Socket LGA 775 Pentium and Celeron systems with G41-based motherboards - both of those, being only dual-core processors, would have been poorer values (this means slower performance for the money) than the AMD platform Danny suggested. An i5-750 or 760 core kit would have been $365 at a minimum with 2GB of DDR3 memory (or $410 at a minimum with 4GB of RAM) - and that's with one of the P55 motherboards we normally recommend.
 
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If I can afford the Black Edition CPU with everything else you suggested, would that be worth it? That puts me at $276 + shipping, I think I can swing that. If my Zalman 9500 will work on the AM3, that'd be great too!

By the way, I got that PSU you suggested couple weeks ago for my cousin. It's running his 8800 GTS that I gave him just fine. Thanks! :)
 
Skillz said:
If I can afford the Black Edition CPU with everything else you suggested, would that be worth it? That puts me at $276 + shipping, I think I can swing that. If my Zalman 9500 will work on the AM3, that'd be great too!
Click to expand...

Yes
 
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