Looking to Upgrade

Viper_Maniac

Viper_Maniac

13,719
United States
Indiana
ViperManiac
Ok my current build is getting old(way past old) and I'm looking to upgrade. I've got some money and I wanted to know 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:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX - $144.99 (Link)

GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - $132.99 (Link)

A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-2G - $47.99 (Link)

HIS H685F1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity - $179.99 ($15 rebate) (Link)

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan - $54.99 (Link)

Rosewill RFA-120-K 120mm Case Fan - $4.49 ($1.99 Shipping) (Link)

Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1 Hyper 212 Plus 775/1156/1366/AMD/AM2/AM3 Universal Direct Contact Heat-Pipe 120mm Fan CPU Cooler - $27.70 (Link)

Cooler Master BladeMaster 120mm PWM High Air Flow Silent Case Fan R4-BMBS-20PK-R0 - $11.99 (Link)

Other items:
Patriot Xporter XT Boost 8GB Flash Drive (USB 2.0 Portable) Model PEF8GUSB - $17.99 ($0.99 Shipping) (Link) (Needed for school)

Cyber Acoustics AC-201 Speech Recognition Stereo Headset w/ Boom Mic - $12.99 (Link)

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM - $9.99 (Link)

Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit - $25 (Getting this from college bookstore)

Total: $682.34($667.34 after MIRs)



Mostly I'm going to be using it for Internet, Gaming, and School work. Ideally I would like to keep the total price $680 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. Suggestions are welcome.

Now for a big question:

Will my 500W PSU handle this new hardware? (Link)
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
Don't even look at that processor. Intel came out with their new ones and they're whooping ass. Get this one. $185 with way better performance and efficiency.

Here's the review.
Click to expand...


GT3mich
Right now Sandy Bridge is the way to go. If I were building now I would build around this CPU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
I know its a lot more money but this CPU is supposed to overclock pretty high. The K version has an unlocked multiplier.
Click to expand...

Any suggestions as to parts for my price area?
 
Viper_Maniac
Any suggestions as to parts for my price area?
Click to expand...

With the 2300 you can only get a mild overclock, so you won't need an aftermarket heatsink. You won't need thermal paste either, unless you want to remove the thermal pad. You can get this motherboard, which seems to be good for $130+shipping. It shouldn't be that far off your budget.

Your current power supply would power this no problem. Are you getting the DVD drive and hard drive from your old computer?
 
Viper_Maniac
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
Click to expand...

Aww what? You're going to get rid of that? That desktop is almost exactly what I run, and it's still chugging along :lol:

Anyways, I do agree with others here, you would want to go with an Intel Sandy Bridge if you can. You'll rather wait and spend a little more for one of those processors.

A motherboard like this should work and is relatively close to your budget. Most of your other parts should work with this.

I wouldn't worry too much about a CPU cooler/fan and thermal pastefor now. There's always a bit of room to overclock on the stock fan, especially with the Sandy Bridges. You can always replace the fan and overclock later. Also, I don't know if I'm blind, but I don't see a hard drive in your parts list. Are you going to pull that from your old computer?
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
With the 2300 you can only get a mild overclock, so you won't need an aftermarket heatsink. You won't need thermal paste either, unless you want to remove the thermal pad. You can get this motherboard, which seems to be good for $130+shipping. It shouldn't be that far off your budget.

Your current power supply would power this no problem. Are you getting the DVD drive and hard drive from your old computer?
Click to expand...

You do make a good point there.

I did read earlier about problems with the LGA1155 socket though. Something about burned sockets but it looks like its from overclocking on certain motherboards so far(both Gigabytes :( ).

Yes I would (2x DVD/RWs & 2x 500GB SATA II HDDs).

I figured it up and by removing the cooler, thermal paste and an extra fan for that cooler it lowers the budget just enough to accommodate that processor and mobo.
 
Crash852
Aww what? You're going to get rid of that? That desktop is almost exactly what I run, and it's still chugging along :lol:

Anyways, I do agree with others here, you would want to go with an Intel Sandy Bridge if you can. You'll rather wait and spend a little more for one of those processors.

A motherboard like this should work and is relatively close to your budget. Most of your other parts should work with this.

I wouldn't worry too much about a CPU cooler/fan and thermal pastefor now. There's always a bit of room to overclock on the stock fan, especially with the Sandy Bridges. You can always replace the fan and overclock later. Also, I don't know if I'm blind, but I don't see a hard drive in your parts list. Are you going to pull that from your old computer?
Click to expand...

Lol I'm not really getting rid of it. It has done me well over the last few years or so. I plan on keeping it and eventually giving it to my mom so she can have a better PC. Her current is an old slot A mobo. I just didn't think I could afford to do Sandy Bridge but maybe I was wrong. Its good to be a part of a community such as this with helpful people. Makes me glad to still be here at GTP after all these years. ;)

Yes the HDDs and DVD drives are being brought over from my old computer.
 
Personally I have built a computer with the Antec 300 case and it was built very nicely. It's not tool-less but I'd rather work around screws(tool-less can break easily in the wrong hands and not have a firm grip on hardware). Since it's ten bucks off right now it's a great deal. Love the silent hum of the 120mm and 140mm at medium speed setting pulling in plenty of air through the case(you can get rid of that extra fan since cooling is done so well in the case). I mean I can feel air move a foot in-front of the case(if you plan on running it 24/7 then clean the air filter once a month, if not every 2-3 months). Sure the case weighs 20 pounds but the thing is rock solid and very easy to install an ATX motherboard.

I would stick with that ASUS motherboard and forget about the thermal paste and fan for now if you are tight on money. It will run fine on the stock thermal paste. Later on when you have more money get this thermal paste. I did not really believe into the reviews until I got it in the mail. I have replace the thermal paste in my PS3(60GB model) and in my computer. My PS3 has turn back to silent like new and my computer has lost 10F on the cpu. It does have a weird method with the included plastic spreader but it works well(you have to spread it or it turns into more of a solid).

I know, this board is very nice and one of a few out there.
 
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So now I'm confused because I've asked my question on a couple other forums and everyone was saying "Go Sandybridge! Go Sandybridge!". Now they're saying don't upgrade because the CPU I picked doesn't overclock and are suggesting staying with AMD. I don't really care about overclocking. I just want a decent gaming rig to hold me for as long as possible but have alittle more room to grow for down the road.

That does look like a nice case. I'll definitely consider it.
 
If you are wanting to build a "budget" gaming computer I would go with the AMD processor (which is what I am going to go with...although a little bit faster), but if money isn't an object, which if I read this thread it is, you can do with the i5 or i7 chipsets (which are beasts). So since money is tight I would go with the AMD and it will work fine for you.
 
Viper_Maniac
So now I'm confused because I've asked my question on a couple other forums and everyone was saying "Go Sandybridge! Go Sandybridge!". Now they're saying don't upgrade because the CPU I picked doesn't overclock and are suggesting staying with AMD. I don't really care about overclocking. I just want a decent gaming rig to hold me for as long as possible but have alittle more room to grow for down the road.
Click to expand...

What kind of computer forums? It seems that usually computer forums are more geared towards overclocking. I remember the backlash after it was announced that Sandy Bridge, at least the regular non-K processors, were going to be very limited in terms of overclocking.

Even with a heavy overclock, I doubt that AMD processor would beat a stock i5-2300 at anything. Plus the 2300 is more power efficient, so your power supply will be less stressed. AMD processors were having a hard time beating even the previous generation Intel quad-cores.
 
If anything stay with AMD since you are strapped for cash. Also you could get this motherboard and save yourself about $30. With that $30 that you save, you can upgrade yourself to a six-core or a faster quad.

Personally I would go against your cpu heatsink. That type has push pins and I know from experience that they are frustrating to put in(push pins breaking, bending motherboards, or just not holding enough pressure). I would use this one instead since you can hard mount the heatsink to a back plate(thus keeping level pressure on the motherboard and won't bend the motherboard like push-pins).
 
After some thinking and reading of what you guys are saying I'm leaning towards sticking with AMD and just maybe trying for a six core(1055T maybe) processor. I'm sure that should be satisfactory I hope. Any other suggestions or should I just go with what I had in the original post but with the processor upgraded to the six core AMD and minus the cooler and thermal paste?
 
Well the problem is that intel has change socket types so fast that it's an money issue. With his budget he would be better off with an AMD. I'm pretty sure that he would be doing some hardcore gaming at once but you have to remember video games are not that cpu intensive. He's not gonna be running a video editor but for school work. Sure if he had a higher budget we would be screaming intel at his face but not in this situation.

And yes Viper_Maniac, that would be a good idea. You can easily run that cpu on the stock heatsink.
 
I will chime in and say make sure you check the prices of things for your budget and whether you can live with the computer itself.

I have a AMD system and I was lucky enough to be in Shenzhen (China, basically where they all do the manufacturing and production of most computer parts) to do my computer component buying when I needed to.

After checking off all my requirements and double checking prices and having a massive think about the whole thing, I decided to go for a more budget orientated computer. My reasoning was, while the faster processors were actually quite cheap in comparison to everywhere else, it was best to stick to the budget at that time and go for the best value ones for the price I was looking for. Additionally, I didn't really have the money then to go for my desirable processor and motherboard combination!

I wanted to price check some Intel processors as well while I was there, as this was when the i-series were making their impact. But the vastly different arrays of processor sockets for the different series of processors properly put the kibosh on that plan for upgrade plans and paths in the future.

My computer system is now
MSI 770-C45 motherboard
AMD X2 240 (original clock is 2.8Ghz, it is now at 3.2Ghz )
4 GB RAM
MSI HD4850 1 gig graphic card (I brought that separate in Taiwan on Sept. 2009!)

I am very happy with the above as it allows me to play fairly modern games and have more programs running than my previous computer, a single core 1.6Ghz processor that was overclocked to 2Ghz and ran quite slowly with 2 gig ram and a AGP slot! Also I know that later on in the year and further, I will be able to take advantage with the AMD processors, such as the 555/955/965 and maybe (but doubtful as I've not double checked it yet) the 1100T processor. This means that I will be able to use the motherboard for quite a number of years hopefully while still getting quite a speedy processor as well.

With the Intel processors, I would not be able to do the same as above as the rumours (at the time, June 2010) was that the processors would require different slots in the future.

Hope it helps, I might have been rambling a bit...
 
Yeah the six-core is AM3 socket so you don't have to worry about getting a new motherboard. I could install a six-core on my parent's computer which has a $50 AM3 motherboard. It's one of the things I like about AMD. I'd would rather be able to upgrade to a new cpu without much expense on my part.
 
Considering the AMD six core is a lot cheaper than the intel flagship six core processor, the money itself is a no brainer. Unfortunately if you do also take into account some of the quad core processors for similar price of the AMD 6 core, then the cost aspect of it isn't quite so clear cut, performance-wise.

But then ultimately, it largely depends what the original poster is going to use the computer for and how long he expects the computer to last for, before getting too frustrated with the technology of it.
 
nick09
Well the problem is that intel has change socket types so fast that it's an money issue. With his budget he would be better off with an AMD.
Click to expand...

What does Intel changing sockets have to do with money? I'm sure AMD will change sockets for Bulldozer.
 
The fact that sockets change so many times is that people new to building their own computer would not know what they can upgrade to if they did not know type of socket a cpu uses and what their motherboard requires. It's just that intel's socket naming is a little bit confusing to me.
 
Its more of the motherboard compatability issue with the sockets. Intel has many chips that are useful, but quite a few of them require different motherboard sockets. For some reason, Intel's socket changes are a little bit faster than most of the motherboard companies can keep up with (this is my opinion) in releasing universal processor sockets to be used by most of Intel's lineups.

AMD, while having different sockets in their processors line up (over the years), are relatively simplier (sp?) in their naming of their sockets. Additionally with their AM3 socket line up, it is for their current lineup which has quite a lot of choice, from the single cores all the way to the meaty 6 cores. Once they have chosen a socket (so it seems) they stick with it for longer than Intel. This makes it less confusing for the first time buyer and also for the causal consumer of computer equipment. Additionally it allows the consumer to have a slightly wider choice in pricing, as there would not be such a high price premium for a specialised, one processor group socket (Intel's 1156 and others). One other point is, it makes it a lot easier to upgrade too, with the newer, or more powerful processors on the AMD line-ups (apart from the newer ones coming out soon, they should change soon).

Hope that helps to make things a bit clearer to what nick09 was saying.
 
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You pretty much hit the nail head on with that explanation. I honestly don't keep an eye on technology news very often so I have less of a grasp on what going to happen in the future. I honestly only pay attention to what matches up so I don't really have an idea if one socket is better than the other for cpu's.
 
Submerged
Its more of the motherboard compatability issue with the sockets. Intel has many chips that are useful, but quite a few of them require different motherboard sockets. For some reason, Intel's socket changes are a little bit faster than most of the motherboard companies can keep up with (this is my opinion) in releasing universal processor sockets to be used by most of Intel's lineups.
Click to expand...
There will never be a universal socket that covers 1366, 1156 or 1155. The chips are way too different. I don't understand why all the confusion. If I were building a new PC it would have Sandy bridge K version in it.
The most I could afford. I remember when I bought my Q6600 for $350. The extreme CPUs were going for more than $1000. Sandy bridge 2600k for $330 looks like a bargain. And it will stomp any AMD processor you pit against it.
 
Ok I still don't know what to do. I'm not sure which is the right way to go. AMD or SB. If I go with the 1055T(6-core AMD) and the Gigabyte board I posted in the original post, it equals out to almost the same price as the Core i5-2300 and the ASUS board I posted earlier in the thread. As I have stated before I do not care for overclocking and just want a great gaming system for my budget. As for when I might upgrade again.......who knows. This is the first time I've been able to save up this much money for computer upgrades in a few years.
 
Go with the Intel since it does equal out to the same price. You will be getting a better deal out of it since the 2300 is more powerful. I'm sure you won't be building another computer or upgrading for 5-10 years so it's better to get the better cpu for the money. Then later on I'm sure you could save up $30 for a better cooler and thermal paste if you wanted to.
 
If you're not going to overclock then I would get the Sandy bridge i5 2300.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115076
I would get this MB. Watch the video. The pro version is sold out and
thats the one I would be interested in for the crossfire/SLI support.
This board will do sli/crossfire but the second PCI slot runs at 4x not 8x
It only matters if your going to use more than 1 video card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131681
So $184 for the CPU and $154 for the MB.
And this memory for $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231427
 
That hardware looks good. I've never used Gskill before but I'm sure it is good memory. That mobo though makes me alittle nervous because of the rating it has on Newegg and some of the reviews it got on there. I don't know if it means I should look at a different board. Also Sli/Crossfire support isn't a huge deal right now. If anything later on I could always get a different/newer board that supports when the time comes I might want to give Sli/Crossfire a whirl.
 

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