Upgrade Advice

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Fantasysage

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 29, 2010
Messages
304
This is an upgrade, but I figure I will answer the questions anyway since I am new here.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming at 1920X1200.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
For the upgrade, 400-500. Lower the better
3) Where do you live?
Brooklyn
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Mobo/Ram/CPU most likely. Though that may change with your advice
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
500watt generic PSU. Evga 280 sc, mid atx case, optical drives, 300 gig raptor, xfi titanium PCIe.
6) Will you be overclocking?
If costs allow for a cooler. Maybe down the road
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24" 1920X1200
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Newegg
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
SLI, Intel, Raid would be nice.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Win7 64bit ultimate OEM



Okay, now that is out of the way. I guess I should say hello! I was referred here by multiple people, and I know you guys really know your stuff and are into this way more than I will ever be! I am a competent user and system builder. I have done numerous builds and upgrades throughout my life. But right now I am at a PC impasse so to speak, and I just cannot make my mind up on where to go from here. I am a college student who just got a nice tax refund, and want to put some of it (400-500) into beefing up my PC.

Here is what it looks like now:

  • Generic Mid ATX case
  • 500watt PSU
  • Gigabyte P45-UD3L
  • E7300 w/ a Zalman 9700 cooler
  • 4 gigs of Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066
  • EVGA GTX 280 SC
  • Creative X-FI titanium PCIe
  • 300GB Raptor primary drive
  • Two 300 gig 7200rpm mediocre drivers in a software raid 0 for temp storage
  • Regular DVD burner and a BluRay reader

Poor guy just isn't pushing the polygons like he used to. And since I am out of college and on the job hunt soon, I will not be making many upgrades for the foreseeable future so I want to do it now. I seem to have a few options

1) Pop in a Q9550 and buy a 480 when it comes out. Sell the CPU and GPU to offset costs.
2) Buy a new mobo/cpu/ram, most likely 1156, and sell the old mobo/cpu/ram to offset cost. Make it an SLI board for future upgrades. Maybe slot in a used 9800 as a physx card.

1 is an easy swap, but costs a bit much, and I am making future CPU upgrades impossible. 2 seems like the better option, but I am stuck with needing new ram, and offloading the dominator sticks. Either way I will sell the 7300. The PSU should be fine moving into the new build as long as I do not SLI it at all.

I did a little shopping around, and I came across this at the egg. Core i5 750 and the EVGA P55 SLI w/ 4 gigs of ddr3 combo. Total cost is 480 before rebates, and I think I can offload the old parts for a cool 200 easy.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? I need some fresh brains here to give me their opinions. Thanks!
 
I would replace the PSU regardless of options. Regardless of how long you've had it running, still not a good idea to tempt fate with such a generic PSU. Especially considering that you may not have the money to fix the PC when that PSU takes out your system. So I highly recommend replacing the PSU.

For straight up gaming, I don't see a need for the Core i5 750 route. Especially considering that the AMD Phenom II route would be soo much cheaper.
 
Danny Bui said:
I would replace the PSU regardless of options. Regardless of how long you've had it running, still not a good idea to tempt fate with such a generic PSU. Especially considering that you may not have the money to fix the PC when that PSU takes out your system. So I highly recommend replacing the PSU.

For straight up gaming, I don't see a need for the Core i5 750 route. Especially considering that the AMD Phenom II route would be soo much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i figured I might have to upgrade the PSU. I hear corsair is the place to go. A 750 like this would be sufficient, no?

And I do not like AMD. I have never had luck with them and neither have my friends.
 
That Corsair 750W PSU will be enough.

Well then you're paying extra then for Intel for the same reliability and performance in games.

How far are you away from a Microcenter? About an hour or so?
 
For upgrading right now, the best use of your $500 would be for a new PSU, a better video card (like the HD5850), and (possibly, if you can squeeze it into your budget) a used E8xxx or Q8xxx/Q9xxx.

For the long run, however, I'd recommend trying to save at least $700 for a complete build. I agree with Danny Bui that an AMD Phenom II-based system is more than good enough for gaming. You may have had bad luck in the past, but an AMD build is just as reliable as an Intel build.
 
I am close to a microcenter. I cannot access it however, as my parents cannot know of the build. I will never hear the end of me upgrading my damn PC again!
 
Hmm, you didn't answer question 8 properly: It's WHEN you will be buying these upgrades, not WHERE. Please answer question 8 again.

Also I recommend this cheaper mobo instead:
$140 - Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD4 Intel P55 mATX Motherboard

Has SLI support and is significantly cheaper. RAM wise, I recommend this:
$95 - Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3K2/4GR 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM

Total would be about $235 plus tax and shipping. $45 cheaper than the setup you chose but with the same performance.

So it looks like the minimum you're gonna have to spend if you want a SLI capable AND Intel based setup is $550 or so.
 
Danny Bui said:
Hmm, you didn't answer question 8 properly: It's WHEN you will be buying these upgrades, not WHERE. Please answer question 8 again.

Also I recommend this cheaper mobo instead:
$140 - Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD4 Intel P55 mATX Motherboard

Has SLI support and is significantly cheaper. RAM wise, I recommend this:
$95 - Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3K2/4GR 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM

Total would be about $235 plus tax and shipping. $45 cheaper than the setup you chose but with the same performance.

So it looks like the minimum you're gonna have to spend if you want a SLI capable AND Intel based setup is $550 or so.
Click to expand...

Sorry about that. This will be built within 10 days from now.

And my MOBO +RAM combo comes to a around 15 bucks more a/r but allows for dual sli + Physx.
 
enginurd said:
walk! :p
Click to expand...

I love MC. They are where I go when parts die and I need a motherboard that doesn't suck on the spot. I could take a train there. But I would be adding 3 hours of my time and 20 bucks to the part cost. If they had a killer deal on something I would consider it. (I know they sell the i7 for 200, but 1366 mobos are damned expensive!)
 
they'll pricematch if you're buying a bunch of stuff (ymmv), and they have bundle discounts when buying a board and cpu. though, i'm guessing you wouldnt wanna carry home $500+ worth of comp parts on train, hehe.
 
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