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Help finding the best mobo/cpu combo for me

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January 5, 2014 11:04:47 AM

Hi guys,

My crap is quickly becoming obsolete as I am a competitive gamer in games with varying system requirements. A secondary, smaller priority is to be able to stream on Twitch.tv; specs found here: http://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/articles/1253460-broadcast-requirements.

Mobo: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A87TDUSB3/#overview
GPU: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3530#ov
PSU: http://www.corsair.com/tx750w.html
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846
Ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320

Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236067

*Side note* - I know it looks bad when almost every part of my rig is out of stock in online stores...

Other:
Sound is huge for me, I need to be able to hear EVERYTHING through my headset, which is the Steelseries Siberia USB, and it would help for streaming I am sure. I am running Windows 7-64 bit.

Thanks a bunch,
jfinnegan0

EDIT: Fixed the links -- SORRY!

More about : finding mobo cpu combo

January 5, 2014 11:33:42 AM

Links not working(for me, anyway). Could you either type out your current parts or go back to those sites and copy/paste the urls into your post?

Edit: never mind. highlighted links, did copy/paste into new tabs. laborious but it works.

Did you unlock that phenom II x2 to x4 and overclock(which should still be pretty decent)? If not, your upgrade options on that mobo are a somewhat limited( phenom II x4 BE is the best you will find on pcpartpicker.com, and no fx support for that mobo). I just assume you tweaked that highly overclockable gtx460 1GB(version 1) but you asked about cpu and mobo. Ram, lcd and psu look fine to me(hdd a little small but whatever). So in what sort of state is your cpu? Do you want a new one on the same mobo? a new amd fx and mobo? i5 or i7 and mobo?

You could also get a cheap phenom 2 x4(non BE) and overclock that. As asked below, what is your current budget for upgrading?
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January 5, 2014 11:33:46 AM

Your headset has an integrated sound card, so that will stay the same on any computer. What is your budget?
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January 5, 2014 2:23:40 PM

jtenorj said:
Links not working(for me, anyway). Could you either type out your current parts or go back to those sites and copy/paste the urls into your post?

Edit: never mind. highlighted links, did copy/paste into new tabs. laborious but it works.

Did you unlock that phenom II x2 to x4 and overclock(which should still be pretty decent)? If not, your upgrade options on that mobo are a somewhat limited( phenom II x4 BE is the best you will find on pcpartpicker.com, and no fx support for that mobo). I just assume you tweaked that highly overclockable gtx460 1GB(version 1) but you asked about cpu and mobo. Ram, lcd and psu look fine to me(hdd a little small but whatever). So in what sort of state is your cpu? Do you want a new one on the same mobo? a new amd fx and mobo? i5 or i7 and mobo?

You could also get a cheap phenom 2 x4(non BE) and overclock that. As asked below, what is your current budget for upgrading?


I am looking for an upgrade so I can get out of the tight boundary of AMD 3 socket. I need a good mobo upgrade, but I'm not certain of which mobo features I really need. Also I do not know how to overclock the GPU, and have not played around with the CPU either put of fear of breaking it. I know there are guides but I haven't had the time to really read up on them. That would the least expensive option one. As for my budget, I want to meet the minimum requirements to be able to stream while running games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or Dota 2 with absolutely no problems. There is no "budget" per se, rather just a price-tag for me as a sort of goal. I suppose $1000 would be the soft cap, above which I would begin to have trouble gathering the cash.

As for ewok93:
Good to know, that means I won't need an audio card or one built in to my motherboard, correct?

I am thinking that I will need to fully upgrade both the motherboard, the processor, and maybe the ram. Does 750w cover the upgrades? Is my GPU sufficient especially after overclocking? What about my monitor, is there anything wrong with it?

As a side note I want a motherboard that can last me awhile if I choose to upgrade it down the line.

Thanks for the help!
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January 5, 2014 4:34:27 PM

Every motherboard has a built-in soundcard. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2wixT That is all you should need, a great processor, video card, and motherboard. Everything else you have is fine, you can use the money left in your budget to get an SSD or a bigger monitor.
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January 5, 2014 7:09:20 PM

Before you go spending a bunch of money(possibly needlessly), I suggest you use your current mobo to try and first unlock and then overclock your cpu. You should also overclock your graphics card(you are missing out on a fair amount of performance by not doing so). I think your psu and monitor are fine both for now and in the future. Same goes for your ram. I do find your HDD a bit small but if it is ample for your needs then more power to you. If you decide to try and overclock your current cpu, you will need at least a decent air cooler to do so(assuming you don't already have one installed). Something like a cooler master hyper tx3 is inexpensive but quite capable and should do the trick. Do a little research and you should be able to safely push your parts to realistic limits without the worry of going nuclear.
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January 5, 2014 7:17:36 PM

Not at all worth it with that setup. He's looking at the difference between max and minimum settings.
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January 5, 2014 7:33:33 PM

ewok93 said:
Not at all worth it with that setup. He's looking at the difference between max and minimum settings.


True. I have a couple questions. No doubt about it that processors is great, I've read nothing but good things. About the motherboard, it isn't as good as some others, what am I missing? What exactly does the ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer get me? I am asking you, respectfully, to "sell" it to me, as I am not totally confident in its capabilities. As for the XFX Radeon HD 7970, I am not too knowledgeable about graphics cards, could you also give a short explanation as to why this one is good?

One other thing, one of my friends said my RAM is bad; why would he say that? You guys didn't mention anything about it.

Thank you!
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January 5, 2014 7:50:09 PM

Your RAM is perfectly fine. The 7970 is a great video card, it is one of the fastest you can get. The Asrock is a really nice motherboard that is great for overclocking, it runs cool and fast.
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January 5, 2014 7:53:05 PM

well if the op goes from dual core to quad core and gets an overclock from 3.7 to 4ghz(or higher), that starts to put them in i5 territory(both the move from 2 cores to 4 and several extra hundred mhz can mean making some previously unlauchable games actually playable). The gtx 460 1GB(version 1 with 256bit vram interface) is still a decent card(much more so with some time spent overclocking). Taking base and shaders from 675/1350 to 810/1620 and the ram from 900 to 1050 or 1100 takes it from hd6850/hd7770 territory to gtx470/gtx560ti/gtx560/gtx650ti/hd5850/hd6870/hd5870/hd6950/hd7790 territory. It might even overclock higher than that. It would be lacking somewhat in vram for some combinations of settings at say 1080p, but it seems many competitive gamers are willing to sacrifice a little(or a lot) of eye candy to get higher frame rates(but keep some settings that allow them to locate and engage enemies more easily). They may even turn down the resolution for better frame rates(more easily done on a crt than a lcd). There is some debate as to how much cpu you need for streaming, but that may depend somewhat on the program used and the available upload bandwidth. The level of graphics card is less important for that(well, you need a decent one if you want to stream pretty pictures). It may not be totally ideal, but rendering in 720p on a 1080p monitor and then streaming in 720p seems decent(not the best image quality for the streamer, but good for the audience who more than likely doesn't go above 720p to 1080p or higher when viewing streams, anyway).
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January 5, 2014 7:57:36 PM

Holy wall of text just go for the build I sent you, modify as needed.
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