Help and advice needed to upgrade my computer

tt4770 · Jul 1, 2014

Hi im thinking of upgrading my computer:
specs:Mobo- Intel DH61HO
Processor -Intel core i3-3210@3.20ghz
Memory-4gb ram
(Using Intel's stock heat sink)
500gb Hitachi HDS721050CLA660
Plz advise me good upgradable parts instead of these. Budget $500-$600
Thanks

jaraldo · Jul 1, 2014

Hi,

First off, for $500-600 you can build a brand new better computer.

Can you list what games/settings you want to play and what the computer will be used for?

tt4770 · Jul 3, 2014

Games: Just cause 2, Fsx , Minecraft, euro truck sim2 and gta 4 and others.
Purpose:For Gaming+Basic home & school use.
I might think of building a new pc...
Mid or higher settings just for a decent fps for the games and probably a computer i could use for some time would be great.
I think if i was to build my pc ,i find it slightly difficult to choose amd/Intel .
(Not saying that intel is better than amd or amd is better than intel. I respect both manufacturers)

jaraldo · Jul 3, 2014

Hmm, well it's hard to say. Your game choices are pretty modest and don't need so much power. You could add to your current build, something like a $300 upgrade to the get 8gb ram, a graphics card like the r9 270 and a 120gb solid state drive.
(would need to know your power supply)

All of those parts I listed you could actually be reused in a new computer again if you wanted to build new later on.

If you were interested in building new, you could do something like these. I assumed you didn't need an operating system and had one.

*not sure why, but rebates aren't being applied*
Both builds are around $610 after rebates.

Amd Build 8320 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bBm4Bm
Intel Build i5-4440 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PGfJmG

If you think you might be into overclocking or SLI/Crossfire, the AMD build will be better for you. I put in a nice power supply that's on sale and would be all you'd need for a long time and could handle any single card you wanted along with a few dual cards. (7 year warranty/gold rated to

)

If you aren't into that kind of stuff, the intel build will be the way to go. I put in a h97 motherboard so you can upgrade to one of the new intel CPUs in a year or 2 if you wanted to.

Other than that, the rest of the parts are the same on both builds. Do your research, you will find many intel vs amd topics turning into huge wars about which is better. There will probably be some of that in this topic to sooner or later

tt4770 · Jul 4, 2014

i have decided i would go with the amd build.
Thanks alot for helping me out jaraldo for my build.
And Just 1 question. Is it better to get an ssd for OS and a harddrive for other storage later?
otherwise Thanks again.
, you're awesome!

jaraldo · Jul 4, 2014

Hey, since deals change quite a bit day-to-day, I changed a few parts to low the price down again. The graphics card is just slightly less powerful, but it actually a very good price/performing card.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r7-265-review,3748.html

You can look here, it's actually comparable to the r9 270

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($149.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($74.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston XMP Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.91 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 265 2GB Video Card ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Enermax ECA3253-BW ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $595.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Do you already have a hard drive?

A SSD is great, but not necessary. In a $900+ build you would get one, but in this budget range you want to put all the $ into CPU/GFU. You can buy one when you have the money and move your information from the HArd drive to the SSD.

When you do buy promise me you won't get the v300 though, I actually bought one for $59...but they are really slow. It's actually a scam of sorts sadly :S
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/184253-ssd-shadiness-kingston-and-pny-caught-bait-and-switching-cheaper-components-after-good-reviews

One last thing, if you are interested in overclocking, don't overclock until you have a GOOD cpu cooler. The one that comes with the 8320 is garbage. The hyper 212 is the minimum but I'd get something similar to this
if you wanted to really overclock later
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd14

Enjoy your new build!

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Help and advice needed to upgrade my computer

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