Ideas for upgrade to AMD Phenom II X4 965 based system?

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Temrael

Temrael

Honorable
May 26, 2013
3
0
10,510
Hi guys,

Complete noob at this but have been frustrated by my PC's performance lately. It's ended up stupidly unbalanced through me giving better bits to the kids PCs (as they tend to game a bit more than I do, lucky buggers!).

Ok, so current spec...

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 (recently OC'd very slightly)
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-770T-USB3
RAM: 4Gb (2 x Cheap 2gb DDR3 1333)
Graphics: ATI Radeon x1950

I was considering keeping the CPU and mobo and buying...

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Graphics: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 650 Ti OC 2GB GDDR5


How does that look in terms of bang for buck? My aim is to give it a new lease of life for around £200. I know it's not going to suddenly become cutting edge at that sort of money but should allow me to game pretty happily, turning detail down on some newer games.

Ideally I'd have a bit of money left over as the airflow and cooling isn't great and I should probably look at a larger case and better CPU fan at the same time.

Any constructive thoughts on the above would be very welcome indeed. Any other hardware I should be considering?

Cheers,

Tem
 
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Temrael

Temrael

Honorable
May 26, 2013
3
0
10,510
Thanks guys, thats really helpful. I think I might actually push the boat out and up the gpu to an AMD 7950. It's only money, right? ;)

For the case I might scrimp a bit though and go for the CoolerMaster Elite 430, will still be loads better than the case I have at the moment.

Any recomendations for a good cooler for the AMD Phenom II X4 965, the Zalman I have on at the moment runs pretty loud.

Tem
 
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X79

X79

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Apr 17, 2013
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You could get an H100i liquid-cooled solution for the CPU and then get an overclockable CPU to go with it.

However the case then needs to have some space up top for the radiator. Like dual 120mm fan space and such.
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

Glorious
May 11, 2012
12,914
3
48,960
Agreed, RAM and GPU upgrade is all you need to get good gaming performance on that rig.
The 7950 is a good choice, and comes with a ton of free games.

If youv already got an aftermarket cooler on it then chances are getting something like a 212 EVO would be a sidegrade at most. From there, IMO your best of jumping straight to something like an NH-D14.
 
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Temrael

Temrael

Honorable
May 26, 2013
3
0
10,510
Thanks guys, after doing some playing I'm not so sure I necesarily need a new case and cooler.

My current cooler is the Zalman CNPS10X Quiet, I just experimented with re-doing the thermal paste and rotating it round 180 degrees so that instead of blowing on the GPU (duh!) it blows at the intake fan for the PSU. Seems to have dropped temps by about 8 degrees under load and seems quieter! Things are still a little cramped in there but I might try it for a while and see.

I'll probably just go with the GPU and RAM for now, what do you think?

Tem
 
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