Please help me to choose my upgrade parts

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PandaBear270

PandaBear270

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Jul 12, 2013
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Hello friends, I am deep disoriented about what I should upgrade and not, keep parts, etc...

What I have:

- AMD Phenom II X4 965 at stock. I tried to overclock it in all the ways I know, multiplier, multiplier + NB multiplier, front bus, etc... to 3,8 3,9 and 4,0. No luck, I get BSODS and freezes at any voltage setting. Either my PSU is holding me back or the motherboard is unable to OC. Therefore I had a frustrating experience with OC at all.

- CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Seidon 120M. I bought it because I wanted to overclock the phenom, but even keeping it under 60 celsius on load, I get the above issues. I am not sure If I should keep it or get its big brother, the Seidon 240. Worth it?

- Motherboard: The cheapest one I found when I built my computer, because I was on a budget. Currently an ASRock 960GM-GS3 FX.

- GPU: I got a nice and cheap Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 Vapor-X that is OCed from factory. I was able to run source games, Battlefield, RO2, etc all in high graphics and 1080. But all people says is weak :( so i am not sure to keep it, get a second one and crossfire or totally replace it.

- Hard disk drive: This is totally out of question. I had to get a laptop 5400rpm 465GB Hitachi that is clearly bottlenecking me...

- Memory: I have two kingston modules, 4 gb each. I can overclock them from 1333 to 1600. My brother have 4 modules of 2gb each, elpida 1333, that I could exchange with him just if needed.

- PSU: I am currently using a generic, white OEM 500w unit, with two sata connectors, two 4pin connectors and the two cpu/atx ones. This is what I am not sure to do. In my backroom I have a Sharkoon WPM 600W which is way way more decent (80 efficiency, lots of cables). So I should use this in the upgrade or get a more powerful one?

- Others: I have a Xonar DG audio card, a spare Core i7 3820 that I do not know if still functional or what (x79 motherboards are too much priced, i couldn't test it), a generic CD reader, generic card reader, and a 21,5 1080 LCD monitor.

What I want to do with my PC? Light gaming, most of it Source engine, occasional adventures into COD and BF world, etc and also record with fraps and edit with vegas and encode it with several edition and rendering tools. I plan to ocassionally mine, or contribute to folding@home.

My budget to upgrade is max 410 € (557 Dollar). I have think getting i7 4470, FX 8350, Core i5, etc...
ANY suggestion or idea will help me to decide what to do, and I will appreciate it. Thanks.
 
Solution
dottorrent
I would say the top one is better. The bottom one is powerful, but the GPU will limit the performance. And the middle one has a board that doesn't support that CPU. The top one is the best option. Save the X79 board for a later time.
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dottorrent

dottorrent

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May 20, 2012
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Firstly, swap that board. That board is terrible and I can't see how that is even supporting that 125w CPU in the first place. Get something like an Asus M5A97 2.0. Honestly, motherboards with good heat sinks on them = decent to good overclocking results.

Secondly, you're getting those BSODs due to the generic garbage PSU used inside the system. And definitely don't use that Sharkoon unit. It has a fake efficiency rating and poor quality components used inside it. Get one made by Corsair, Antec, XFX, Seasonic, Silverstone, etc. At least 500 watts will do, just don't use cheap garbage or they'll cost more in components.

I would swap that 7770 for the GTX 660. The 7770 is a good card in the budget sector, but it's really geared for smaller resolution gaming. The 660 is a much stronger card and will help your games run in High or higher. They're cheap now, so grab one while you can and sell that 7770 to a friend or on Ebay.

Your Cooler is fine. 60 degrees centigrade is just fine for a CPU. The mobo and PSU must go.

Definitely use that sound card. I have one and it is absolutely fantastic for gaming, media and movies.

Just in case you disagree, look at this upgrade kit I have prepared for you -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.48 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($94.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.94 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $488.39
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-03 18:47 EST-0500)

Hope you like it.
 
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PandaBear270

PandaBear270

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Jul 12, 2013
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Thanks man!
I am dubious about the CPU because I was planning to get a 8 core CPU due to consoles having 8 AMD cores and therefore future games being optimized for that way.
About the PSU, I remember now I have a "old" 750w from my previous Intel build somewhere. Tomorrow I will look at it and check if is quality or garbage. Meanwhile, inspired by your build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 240M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($68.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $388.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-03 20:06 EST-0500)

What do you think? I can get the GPU the next month. I have not issues at all with it, as I said, I was able to run BF4 @ High in 1080p in 30-40 fps.
I want to get a powerful processing solution that will keep me away from upgrades to the next 3 years. There is where the overclockable eight cores come to game.
 
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PandaBear270

PandaBear270

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Jul 12, 2013
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Okay, after 8 hours of intense investigation and hard work, I have refined three options that fit my budget and will allow me to improve.
This one is, in my opinion, the most clever to gaming, but lots of people says that 6300 needs to be OCed in order to perform correctly:

This one would be for future proofing against newer games taking advantage of multiple cores, and also multitasking. With a big ass cooler to be able to OC to 5GHz:

This is the experimental one. I get a motherboard for my spare Core i7 3820 (remember that I am totally blind on it, I don't even know if it will work after a year inside a box) and a second 7770 to crossfire. (The case is a must because my current one is Micro ATX):


Since dottorrent is right about the power supply I will wait for January, when I get another 410€ to get a good one and maybe more components.
If any of you guys can help me to choose one of the three options it would save me alot in time and energy. Thanks.
 
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dottorrent

dottorrent

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May 20, 2012
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I would say the top one is better. The bottom one is powerful, but the GPU will limit the performance. And the middle one has a board that doesn't support that CPU. The top one is the best option. Save the X79 board for a later time.
 
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