Looking to upgrade

[Viper_Maniac]

Ok my current build is getting old(way past old) and I'm looking to upgrade. I'm going to be getting some money soon and I wanted to find out if what I had picked out was a good decision or not.


My Current Specs:
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Skt939 2.2GHz
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Motherboard
1GB Kingston DDR PC3200
Silverstone 500W PSU
Nvidia Geforce 7600GT PCI-E 256MB


I'm looking at these:

Proc: AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor - $139.99 (Link)

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - 108.99 ($0.99 Shipping) (Link)

Memory:
A-DATA Gaming Series 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-CG - $44.99 ($0.99 Shipping) (Link)

Video Card:
EVGA 512-P3-1153-TR GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $134.99 ($6.98 Shipping) (Link)
or
MSI N250GTS TwinFrozr 1G OC GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $149.99 ($139.99 after MIR) (Link)


Total: $437.92($412.92 after MIR)


Mostly I'm going to be using it for Internet, Gaming, and School work. Ideally I would like to keep the total price $400-$430 or less. I know its probably not much but its really all I can spare and I'm trying to get the best for my dollars. If you have suggestions on motherboards I'm all ears. I'm partial to Gigabyte because I used them before(years ago but still) and they were good to me.


Now for a few questions:
1. AMD Radeon 5770 or Geforce GTS 250?
2. Will my 500W PSU handle this new hardware?

I asked this on another forum and they were suggesting I go with a 5770 video card but I have no idea whats a good one. I've used Nvidia for forever. I wouldn't mind Phsyx since I plan on getting Mafia 2.

 

[Gabkicks]

this card's faster: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873

I just bought a used gts 250 for $65 shipped. 4gb of ram would be better. AMD'S supposed to drop prices in october and release 6xxx series in november.

check www.amazon.com for prices as well. students can get amazon prime for a year for free. that means 2 day shipping and discounts for free for a year.

 

[Casio]

Yes, a 5770 is better than a GT250. But now it may be worth saving a little more and getting a GTX460.

 

[Viper_Maniac]

this card's faster: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873

I just bought a used gts 250 for $65 shipped. 4gb of ram would be better. AMD'S supposed to drop prices in October and release 6xxx series in November.

check www.amazon.com for prices as well. students can get amazon prime for a year for free. that means 2 day shipping and discounts for free for a year.

If I go with that 5770 will it be easy to setup a Geforce card for Phsyx later on? I ask because I saw that you had done something like that for Mafia 2.

Yes, a 5770 is better than a GT250. But now it may be worth saving a little more and getting a GTX460.

I wish I could. I'm not going to have any more money for sometime so I'm trying to get whats best with what I have now.

 

[Casio]

Need Nvidia to do PhysX, but it's not worth it cause it sucks.

 

[Gabkicks]

If I go with that 5770 will it be easy to setup a Geforce card for Phsyx later on?

Yeah, its not hard. the only game I care about w/ physx atm is Mafia II. The 9600gt I had before does just as well as a physx in the mafia 2 demo as the gts 250. other benchmarks show a nice improvement.

 

[Viper_Maniac]

Yeah, its not hard. the only game I care about w/ physx atm is Mafia II. The 9600gt I had before does just as well as a physx in the mafia 2 demo as the gts 250. other benchmarks show a nice improvement.

Is there a guide you followed? I'm just curious because I can't afford to do it now but maybe later if I want to do that.


So it looks like this might be the setup I go with:

Proc:
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor - $139.99 (Link)

Mobo:
GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - 108.99 ($0.99 Shipping) (Link)

Memory:
A-DATA Gaming Series 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-CG - $44.99 ($0.99 Shipping) (Link)

Video Card:
SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - $144.99 ($129.99 after MIR) (Link)


Total: $440.94 ($425.94 after MIR)


It alittle over my budget(before rebate) but that's ok. At least I should be ok for awhile with this setup.