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Upgrade question

E

erf

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 13, 2005
Messages
1,848
Sometimes when choosing to upgrade your gaming computer it can get cumbersome...especially when you're on a budget. I built this computer with upgrade in mind, and now that I'm upgrading I've got all of these questions about what the logical choices are when you're thinking longevity.

If you were upgrading the rig in my sig with a budget of roughly $600 how would you allocate the funds? Strictly gaming in mind.

I could keep my x2 and instead of getting a processor and use that money towards some 6870's. I know more games are utilizing extra cores but I'm just not seeing it making that big of a difference...especially when alot of the games that utilize them are console ports.

I could bump up to an x4 and just get 6850's but I'm thinking maybe the 6870's would be more logical...espcially considering longevity. By the time I NEED a an x4 they'll be cheap enough to just grab.

So I'm thinking new PSU, 6870's and a new monitor. Would this be a logical upgrade?
 
What games are you actually playing?
What size monitor do you have now?
 
Right now I'm playing on a 19" 1280x1024 monitor. I plan on upgrading to either a 1600x900 or 1680x1050. I know that crossfire 6870's probably sounds ridiculous but I'm a fps whore and prefer to have 200+ fps when at all possible. It's the OCD in my blood.

I mainly play MW2 and will probably spend a fair amount of time playing Black Ops when it comes out.

The main reason I haven't played many of the games recently released is because my computer wont run them flawlessly enough for me....Just Cause 2, New Vegas, even Crysis.
 
$89 - AMD Phenom II X3 740 Black Edition CPU (OEM)
$370 - 2 x XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$160 - Acer G235HAbd Black 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor
---
$620 plus tax and shipping

I'd have to disagree with your statement about not needing quad-cores. Despite what you may think, they are making a big difference in games such as BFBC2, GTA4, ME2, SupCom2, etc

With that said, I went for a middle ground: The X3 740. Games that scale well with quad-cores still scales well with tri-cores. In addition, that CPU has an above average unlock rate so you're potentially getting a Phenom II X4 quad-core for $89. Not to mention that the X3 740 can still be OC'd pretty well.
 
Danny Bui said:
$89 - AMD Phenom II X3 740 Black Edition CPU (OEM)
$370 - 2 x XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$160 - Acer G235HAbd Black 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor
---
$620 plus tax and shipping

I'd have to disagree with your statement about not needing quad-cores. Despite what you may think, they are making a big difference in games such as BFBC2, GTA4, ME2, SupCom2, etc

With that said, I went for a middle ground: The X3 740. Games that scale well with quad-cores still scales well with tri-cores. In addition, that CPU has an above average unlock rate so you're potentially getting a Phenom II X4 quad-core for $89. Not to mention that the X3 740 can still be OC'd pretty well.
Click to expand...
I like that idea all accept for the monitor. That resolution is too high. I prefer frames per second over resolution.
 
Danny Bui said:
$89 - AMD Phenom II X3 740 Black Edition CPU (OEM)
$370 - 2 x XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$160 - Acer G235HAbd Black 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor
---
$620 plus tax and shipping

I'd have to disagree with your statement about not needing quad-cores. Despite what you may think, they are making a big difference in games such as BFBC2, GTA4, ME2, SupCom2, etc

With that said, I went for a middle ground: The X3 740. Games that scale well with quad-cores still scales well with tri-cores. In addition, that CPU has an above average unlock rate so you're potentially getting a Phenom II X4 quad-core for $89. Not to mention that the X3 740 can still be OC'd pretty well.
Click to expand...
I like that idea all accept for the monitor. That resolution is too high. I prefer frames per second over resolution. And about the x3 or x4 I'd rather blow dough on 2 6870's now and get a x4 in 3 or 4 months.
 
erf said:
I like that idea all accept for the monitor. That resolution is too high. I prefer frames per second over resolution. And about the x3 or x4 I'd rather blow dough on 2 6870's now and get a x4 in 3 or 4 months.
Click to expand...

Then it sounds like you've already made up your mind long before you made this thread.

The cheapest 1680x900 LCD monitor I found was $130 shipped. The cheapest HD 6870 is roughly $240 to $250 shipped. That won't leave room for a new PSU as you wanted. Also note that with two HD 6870 cards, you will only have roughly 70W leftover on the +12V rail. Cutting it close there already. When/if you do upgrade to a quad-core CPU, you will need to upgrade your PSU as well.

My route would still let you keep the PSU you have now.
 
Big time edit:

I actually just ended up next day airing (hopefully I'll get it tomorrow). a 1090t, 2 HIS 6850's and a molex/pci adapter. total with shipping was $593. I didn't feel like worrying about my mobo/ram getting in the way of a sweet overclock. Now the only thing I'm worried about is my PSU being able to handle this hardware overclocked. I have to figure out how my PSU's 12v connectors/rails are going to be split up.

I'm gonna get a monitor locally. Hopefully Best Buy will have a 16x10 in stock.
 
Last edited:
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