what to upgrade first

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

Hey guys I'm looking at doing a slight upgrade to computer. Because of financial reasons id prefer to only replace one component if possible.... So if i could get some feedback on which component would give me the best boost, and possibly a good subsitute to replace it with, that wouldnt completely blow the rest of my components out of the water

Windows 7 home edition
Processor: AMD phenom II x4 955 3.2 quad core 8.0mb cache
Motherboard: MSI 790x-g45 http://us.msi.com/product/mb/790X-G45.html#/?div=Basic
Graphics Card: 2x HIS Radeon HD 5830 crossfired
Power: Corsair TX 650w
Cooling: Bought a higher performance one for my processor in case i wanted to overclock but dont recall what it was.... ( not very tech savvy)
Ram: 2x 4gb 2x 2gb ddr3

Im guessing just by going off performances chart that my video cards need to go (plus one of my fans on my second one tends to act funny from time to time)
Anyways if someone could let me know what replacement/s would give me the most bang for my buck I'd appreciate it. btw preferably would like to spend around 400 bucks or less on it if possible.

Huge thanks in advance guys. Sorry if my info sucks, like i said im pretty poor at my tech skills any advice would be great help

my current cards are about 10in length.from back to hard drive its about 13in

laviniuc · Nov 30, 2013

what you have here is a well balanced platform.

they are a pain to upgrade because upgrading just one thing gets you no big gains. personal suggestion... if you can bare with it half year/1 year - no show stoppers - as in, no games you cant play at all. then stick with it, keep your money and then get the next gen hardware next year (summer/autumn/winter) - complete combo, cpu+mobo+gpu

laviniuc · Nov 30, 2013

otherwise, for 400 bucks now, you get either a gpu that will be very bottlenecked by the cpu or mid level current generation hardware (cpu+mobo+gpu) that you need to change again next year.

patrick47018 · Nov 30, 2013

Are you happy with the performance of your current cards? And if so go for an SSD I recommend the Samsung 840 EVO. If not you will likely want to look at a new graphics card on monday, aka cyber monday

Inertia01 · Nov 30, 2013

if your video cards are playing up and your not happy with gaming performance for less then 400 you can look at the 4gb gtx 760 or the amd r9 280x both will give you a nice boost in performance and are both single cards which will be running cooler and use less power. Also to help you can always overclock your cpu as well to help performance

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

laviniuc :

ok thank you, quick question my 2nd graphic card tends to have a problem with its fan. after a couple hours of play it starts seizing and releasing in about 5 sec interval (goes for 5 sec then seizes for 5). should this be a serious problem its been doin it for a month now. its part of the reason i was thinking of upgrading because to buy a replacement is oddly expensive considering that the card is outdated

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

Inertia01 :

will either of those easily outperform my current duo?

Inertia01 · Nov 30, 2013

tmel86 :

yes your crossfire cards are and older generation and were mid range back then. A single 760/r9 280x will be faster and has newer technology and with more driver releases will only get better

laviniuc · Nov 30, 2013

both i think would get bottlenecked by the cpu. and your pair of 5830's is a fairly powerful combo. it would give the 280x a run for it's money

laviniuc · Nov 30, 2013

Inertia01 :

tmel86 :

yes your crossfire cards are and older generation and were mid range back then. A single 760/r9 280x will be faster and has newer technology and with more driver releases will only get better

they were not mid range. back on the 5xxx days, the 58xx was the high end there was no 59xx line, it had only the top of the line dual gpu.

laviniuc · Nov 30, 2013

with this said, chances are if you find benchmarks to compare against the scores will seem off the scale since the new gpus would run on a newer cpu/mobo. on your current config you can't go much higher then where you are now.

Inertia01 · Nov 30, 2013

laviniuc :

Inertia01 :

they were not mid range. back on the 5xxx days, the 58xx was the high end there was no 59xx line, it had only the top of the line dual gpu.

yes they were the 5870 was the top of that line the 5830 being lower. Also the OP said his current gpus fans are cutting out which in a crossfire setup is not good they will burn out his cards are old and dont have the same memory output most current games require atleast 2-3 gig vrm

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

thank you both for your opinions. if i was to get a mobo and cpu what combo would you prefer for either of those two graphics cards that wouldnt break the bank. and if i was to get those would i need new hard drive, or are they all compatable?

laviniuc · Nov 30, 2013

i know, what i mean is that they were on the same class the 79xx line is today. which is way above the mid. 2 of them should easily outperform the current mid range lines

(when they switched to 6xxx amd/ati invented a new line for 69xx which became the 79xx and 280(x). on the 5xxx there was no 59xx the 58xx was king.

and yes the 5830 was the slowest of them but it still has a 256 bit bus and had only lower clocks if i remember well enough.

laviniuc · Nov 30, 2013

hard drives are compatible, thank god. since they introduced the sata interface everything is backwards and forward compatible

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

laviniuc :

so getting a new mobo, graphics, and processor wouldnt give me any bottlenecks from existing equipment..

sorry for so many questions im so noob with this stuff

Inertia01 · Nov 30, 2013

tmel86 :

If your upgrading cpu/mobo aswell and on a budget the amd fx 8320 with any am3+ supported board would be the best option as the intel counterparts are usually more expensive the 8320 is a nice cpu future ready and can OC well when needed and wont bottleneck either of those cards

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

Inertia01 :

tmel86 :

If your upgrading cpu/mobo aswell and on a budget the amd fx 8320 with any am3+ supported board would be the best option as the intel counterparts are usually more expensive the 8320 is a nice cpu future ready and can OC well when needed and wont bottleneck either of those cards

am3+??? dont know what this is, or what kind of mobos these are

Inertia01 · Nov 30, 2013

tmel86 :

No there wont be any bottlenecks you will have a complete stable system

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

the reason i ask these is for the geforce card its 260$ and the fx 8320 is 130$ another mobo should be around 130. So it will only be around 100 bucks more IF all my other components are compatable... which is where im very new with

a mobo you would recommend???

Inertia01 · Nov 30, 2013

tmel86 :

Inertia01 :

am3+??? dont know what this is, or what kind of mobos these are

AM3+ is the socket used with amd cpus. If you want a decent board the MSI 970a-g46 would be cheap and do the job nicely

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

just want to say you two have been great i couldnt have asked for more info

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

Inertia01 :

tmel86 :

AM3+ is the socket used with amd cpus. Whats your budget and ill help you find a suitable motherboard

if im going to buy all the other components i might as well not skimp out on a few extra bucks for my mobo.

Inertia01 · Nov 30, 2013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130637 from newegg $79

tmel86 · Nov 30, 2013

Inertia01 :

im willing to spend another 50 bucks on a mobo would it be recommended? or would it not make a difference

what to upgrade first

Honorable

Judicious

Judicious

Splendid

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Judicious

Judicious

Judicious

Honorable

Honorable

Judicious

Judicious

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Share this page