To Upgrade or Sell?

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blikbladae

n00b
Joined
Oct 2, 2008
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System is a prebuilt from the bay, gotten at the end of 2008:

ASrock p43Twins1600
Raidmax KATANA Case
4 gigs crucial 800 mhz ddr2
ati radeon 4850 512 (unknown if EVGA, Galaxy, ect)
320 gb 7200 sata
powersupply is a decent 550 reliable installed after removal of stock raidmax garbage.
(bought off slickdeal in early 2009 after I couldn't get an xbox 360 controller powered ; 0 )

I'm a total PC noob and building or hardware, and I need to either upgrade this cpu or build a new one for under 600 bucks preferable, but I can go a little over. I just want to be competitive at running battlefield 3, diablo 3, guildwars 2, and games to come in the next 2-3 years... whatever is rational. So GAMING

I'm guessing you guys are going to recommend I can the system. So does that mean I can keep some of the components and just buy a new motherboard/cpu and gpu? I was also thinking of buying a S.S.D to accompany the aging disc drive (and install O.S and programs for a faster load time.)

I'm an avid slickdealer and there's some current deals on 2x NVIDEA gpus, a gaming case, and some hard-drives.

In case nobody can read those links they are

disc drive ---
http://slickdeals.net/f/4064848-SAM...09-99-shipped-Newegg?token=AAgBBQAAAAAEPD4GUA

solid state ---
http://slickdeals.net/f/4063470-120...25-130-Free-shipping?token=AA0BBQAAAAAGOj4A7g

gtx 480 fermi ---
http://slickdeals.net/f/4061938-EVG...d-210-Shipped-Newegg?token=AAYBBQAAAAAFOz368g

570 ---

http://slickdeals.net/f/4062118-Gal...Rebate-Free-Shipping?token=ABABBQAAAAAEPD37pg

I'm supposing buying this type of gear wouldn't befit my aging rig, and that I'm better off buying a new motherboard/ cpu combination. In the case that you recommend I upgrade, what should I get? S.S.D, ddr 3, new gpu? I know my processor is the bottleneck and cannot really be upgraded...

Anyhoo I appreciate any thoughts or opinions, and wish you all the best. I hope this hasn't been to much of a face-palm, or W.O.T. I look forward to learning from you all as I look to build a gaming cpu. Thanks
 
You're basically looking at a new system. Please answer the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!

Everyone! Do not give the OP a price for how much he should sell his old hardware for. That's gonna violate rules 16 and 26 of the [H] Forum rules
 
First off, you need a new, complete system. Period. If you want a decent gaming system, you also need to increase your budget a bit more. While we can build you a something that can play games at a 1920x1080 resolution for around $600, most of the money will be spent on a decent video card and a 500GB to 1TB 7200RPM hard drive. You wouldn't be able to afford an SSD, a high-end video card over $250, or two mid-range video cards for an SLI or a CrossFire setup.

Second, those SlickDeals offers aren't really deals. The hard drive and the SSD aren't the ones that we normally recommend for those seeking excellent performance in game. The GTX 480 is a good card to get your foot in the proverbial door of high-end gaming, but I (personally) don't know if it will be a good long-term option for any future game you may play. The GTX 570 is a bad deal considering that its performance level is on par with the GTX 480.

If you want some help on piecing together parts for a new system, please answer the sticky questions.
 
appreciate the replies, and will do. I will put the old rig up for market. I guess my only question was if I could reuse the case... the hard-drive and or the coolor.
 
I recommend starting from scratch. The case has poor cooling and a cramped layout that may not be able to handle some of today's video cards (that are longer than ten inches). There are $40 to $50 cases out now with more usable space than your current case.

You never mentioned which CPU cooler you were using. If it's the stock HSF, it will be useless for two reasons: it wouldn't work with your new board and it won't perform as well as even a cheap third-party CPU cooler.

Your hard drive is technically reusable, but newer hard drives run faster due to fewer drive platters. If you still want to keep it, I recommend using it as a backup drive -- you may also want to consider buying some sort of external enclosure for it.
 
it has a Cooler Master cpu cooler in it. I'm guessing this is not stock. This is the fan right over the heat-sink correct? There is also a fan in the front of the case, in front of where the hard-drive bays are. What is this fan?
 
I'd build a new system. I came from a similar build and went with minor upgrades over the years and decided to just go all out and get something modern. Difference is night and day.

But if you absolutely want to save a few bucks and just go with a barebones upgrade, you can't go wrong with a 2500k, mobo, ram, and the gtx 480. Depending on your psu may not be able to handle the 480, but can try.
 
blikbladae said:
it has a Cooler Master cpu cooler in it. I'm guessing this is not stock. This is the fan right over the heat-sink correct?
Click to expand...

What does this CPU cooler look like? When did you buy it? You may have to buy a new third-party CPU cooler (if you plan on overclocking your new system) regardless.

blikbladae said:
There is also a fan in the front of the case, in front of where the hard-drive bays are. What is this fan?
Click to expand...

Good news: It's a normal 120mm case fan. Bad news: The case looks like it can't hold any video card longer than 10 inches. And I don't know whether or not it can hold a card that's nearly 10 inches long.

You may need to consider grabbing a new case sooner or later. Otherwise, it could limit which particular cards you can buy.

sai_dee said:
But if you absolutely want to save a few bucks and just go with a barebones upgrade, you can't go wrong with a 2500k, mobo, ram, and the gtx 480. Depending on your psu may not be able to handle the 480, but can try.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't. Given the PSU's age and the fact that we don't know what PSU is being used, it's safer albeit more expensive to buy a new PSU along with the new components.
 
so i've decided I want to just upgrade the old system, as I will be mostly playing S.C 2 and diablo 3 which aren't all that demanding. I'm not trying to play any fps on this thing, it runs bf bc 2 perfectly fine as of now and that's fine with me.

I was thinking I should start by overclocking my e8400, as it has great o.c potential (or in this day and age at least *some*)

can you guys point out a good cpu coolor + heatsink buy? I'm not sure but it would be a good idea to put a new coolor on my cpu and reseat it with some new thermal compound? I've never done this before but think I'm up for the challenge. The coolmaster is the heatsink + fan combo I'm using right now, does this sound like a good idea to prepare for Diablo 3's May 15th release. This game is not that intensive (probably cpu intensive like S.C 2 from what I read?) but I'd like to tweak my system a bit before it comes out. I was also thinking of picking up a SSD and reinstalling windows 7 and all programs / games on it and using the 320 gig as a backup / for everything else. I don't think adding more ram will help the games I'm planning on play much. I'm gonna keep looking around here and some other forums. I appreciate all the comments and replies guys, hope to learn from yallz.

Peace
 
blikbladae said:
can you guys point out a good cpu coolor + heatsink buy?
Click to expand...
Ok, the CPU cooler IS the heatsink. Or heatsink + fan = CPU cooler as well. Now what Coolermaster CPU cooler do you have? Very important for us to know as the HSF we nay recommend may not be that much better than whatever CPU cooler you have now. Then again, if you have a cheap-o Coolermaster HSF, then yeah, we can recommend a better HSF.


blikbladae said:
This game is not that intensive (probably cpu intensive like S.C 2 from what I read?) but I'd like to tweak my system a bit before it comes out.
Click to expand...
Very intensive apparently: It actually scales well with quad-core CPUs.

blikbladae said:
I was also thinking of picking up a SSD and reinstalling windows 7 and all programs / games on it and using the 320 gig as a backup / for everything else.
Click to expand...
Grab the Crucial M4 128GB SSD.
 
have no idea what coolmaster model it is. I picked up the m4 at tigerdirect (yea I know, there to be avoiding...) and I got the COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO which I heard good things about. Now I just need to pick up some ddr3, though I'm guessing this won't really help me all that much in diablo 3 or most other games. Gonna wait to run diablo 3 before I think of picking up a video card, unless I see any more deals on the flashable 6850 floating around...

hopefully with the new ram + heatsink combo I can have some overclocking headroom with the old e8400... that is if I read some guides and do it correctly. Any other recommendations on how to get heat out of the case and away from the gpu / cpu? I have a side case fan, and a front case fan, and will have the old 4850 galaxy fan on 60-70 % (noisy) and this new cpu fan... hopefully that will work.

Does the COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO come with some thermal compound? I'm guessing so.Thanks for the the help guys.'
 
also if I get some 1600 ddr3, will it run correctly even though the mobo only supports ddr3 1333 max? Anyone have any recommendations on brands / which has the right timing?
 
Time out: You went from stating that you were going to upgrade your old system -- specifically, stick with your old processor and motherboard -- to now considering buying DDR3 RAM. DDR3 RAM is incompatible with your motherboard; if you're really thinking about buying some new RAM, you might as well replace the processor and motherboard as well.

Have you changed your mind? Are you ready to go with a new processor/motherboard/RAM platform?
 
just looked at some vids of installing new heatsinks. Looks like I won't need to reseat the cpu unless I need to remove thermal compound that's leaked out from the processor face. I just need to remove thermal compound with isopropyl from e8400 and reinstall the heatsink fan after using a tiny amount of grease. Looks like the clips are easy to clip in, but you have to be firm so it's not loose. It's a lga 775 socket mobo.
 
Stick with the RAM you currently have. IIRC, with your particular board, there was no performance benefit from using DDR3 RAM compared to DDR2 RAM.

You shouldn't need to "reseat" the processor as it can only be mounted one (correct) way. But follow the instructions on installing the Hyper 212 Evo, especially in terms of how much thermal compound you should use.

Don't do anything else to your system before answering this question: What are the brand and model (number) of the PSU you're currently using?
 
Last edited:
Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
 
tiraides said:
Stick with the RAM you currently have. IIRC, with your particular board, there was no performance benefit from using DDR3 RAM compared to DDR2 RAM.
Click to expand...

I agree completely, in this case. You see, LGA 775 mobos with both DDR2 and DDR3 slots will not allow the OP to use both types of RAM simultaneously at all to begin with: The OP must have all DDR2 or all DDR3 RAM, never a mixture of the two. Second, such combo boards usually have stability issues of their own (that are inherent to all DDR2/DDR3 combo boards that do not occur on boards that support only DDR2 RAM or only DDR3 RAM). Third, the OP may run into the possibility that some of the newer 4GB sticks will not work at all on that mobo: The P43 memory controller ls limited to only 2GB of RAM per bank (rank). This means that only those 4GB modules that are double-ranked (or double-sided) are compatible at all with that mobo (some newer 4GB DDR3 modules are single-sided, which are not compatible with the P43 memory controller; however, single-sided modules of 1GB or 2GB are compatible).
 
can you guys directly to 2 x 2 gig dims of ddr2 800 mhz then so I can get 8 gigs for multitasking purposes? I like newegg or amazon and I'm in the states. These 8 gigs would need to let me O.C the e8400 as that is my goal in buying the new fans / cpu cooler + heatsink. I plan on wiping the old 320 gig hard drive, installing the 128 m4 and running everything off that. Then updating bios and working on O.C the e8400. Will upgrade video card once everything else is taken care of (probably to 6850.)

I don't believe the psu will have problems with that... then again what do I know?
 
alternatively I hear that I need to upgrade bios and look at the timing and jtegg or whatever values before I buy the ram?
 
blikbladae said:
can you guys directly to 2 x 2 gig dims of ddr2 800 mhz then so I can get 8 gigs for multitasking purposes? I like newegg or amazon and I'm in the states. These 8 gigs would need to let me O.C the e8400 as that is my goal in buying the new fans / cpu cooler + heatsink. I plan on wiping the old 320 gig hard drive, installing the 128 m4 and running everything off that. Then updating bios and working on O.C the e8400. Will upgrade video card once everything else is taken care of (probably to 6850.)
Click to expand...

You might have a problem with finding any DDR2 modules at reasonable prices: Getting 2 x 2GB modules will run you $40 to $50 - double the cost per GB as DDR3 RAM. And even so, there is absolutely no guarantee at all whatsoever that any newer DDR2 modules will even work together at all with your existing RAM: Most newer 2GB modules are single-ranked while your current kit is likely double-ranked.
 
You don't need more RAM or newer RAM. You'll be fine with what you already have. The only other upgrade you need at this time is the video card. (But if you can save some more money within the next few months to replace your entire system, then I recommend doing that instead. You can then transfer over your old PSU and HDD as well as your just-purchased CPU cooler and SSD.)

Regarding the upgrade of your BIOS, first read the motherboard's user manual so you know what to do and how to do it. You may need a floppy disk for updating the BIOS manually (if there isn't a Windows- or web-based program available), but you can search for "bootable usb drive" in Google to find (and create) a workaround.
 
ok I'll keep it at 4 gigs, and look forward to upgrading the hd and coolers. Will invest in a video card if I feel the need to get more performance. TKS alot guys.
 
Whoa, kemosabe. You're not through just yet!

Keep us informed of your progress so we can help make sure that you're on the right track. And if you're able to, show us a few pictures of your updated build. You can also revisit this thread should you run into any problems with your upgrades.
 
Thanks guys, the m4 just came in the mail, and the evo should also be here two along with
The converters for the fan. I'm gonna grab my comp back from my mom
And start work in about a week or two, and will update this thread with some much needed
Pictures around that time. See you all then!
 
picked up a VGA MSI|N560GTX-TI TWIN FROZR II/OC off new-egg.

heard good things about the 560gtx ti, and while this is only the 1 gig, I hope it flies. It's the msi version, which looked a bit better (and 189 if I ever get the MIR) and it has two fans. I heard this is prolly a good thing. Anyway :D me happy
 
was hoping an overclock might help...

also whats the difference between this II version, and the III version with 448 cores from MSI?
 
There is also this for a lil cheaper:

BYTECC Bracket-35225 2.5 Inch HDD/SSD Mounting Kit For 3.5" Drive Bay or Enclosure

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994085

probably either one of these will work for my tower.

I also hear about some people just using double sided sticky tape and sticking it to the bay drive, lol

Also I'm not sure (don't have my computer with me at this time) but will I have the correct sata power / data connectors? Do those just come built in with the power supply, because the m4 didn't come with any... is it supposed too? Don't have the computer with me, but my old hard-drive must be connected to a 3 gb/s sata connector & power correct?
 
blikbladae said:
probably either one of these will work for my tower.
Click to expand...
Correct.
blikbladae said:
I also hear about some people just using double sided sticky tape and sticking it to the bay drive, lol
Click to expand...
That works too.
blikbladae said:
Also I'm not sure (don't have my computer with me at this time) but will I have the correct sata power / data connectors? Do those just come built in with the power supply, because the m4 didn't come with any... is it supposed too?
Click to expand...
As long as you have a spare SATA cable, SATA port, and sata power cable (which is built-in to the PSU), you'll be fine. Different versions of the Crucial m4 does come with the cable and power adapters but some don't.
blikbladae said:
Don't have the computer with me, but my old hard-drive must be connected to a 3 gb/s sata connector & power correct?
Click to expand...

Your motherboard only has SATA 3.0Gb/s connectors. So yes.
 
I appreciate all the help, I'm picking up the computer from my moms this evening. Had to RMA the processor (i felt like a jerk) because the plastic wrap had been removed from the card (forzer II msi 560 gtx ti) so I assumed it was a refurb or a return (they do sell refurbs for cheaper on newegg same card...) when I probably should have just kept it. Now when I get it back at least I'll be able to stress test the new gpu.

As far as installing the s.d, I bought the cheaper (plastic) of the docking coverters, but I have no idea yet if I have a spare sata data cable. I assume so since I only have one hard-drive installed atm. Also for the sata power I'm guessing my power supply has more than enough of these. I'll be posting pictures (if my post-count and noob status enable me to do this) so everybody can see this old rig get a few upgrades.
 
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