Old school build: ASUS M2N-SLI, AMD 5000+ worth upgrading?

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nvercrst

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Dec 18, 2012
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Awhile back I was forced to sell off my main desktop, I've had some parts from old systems laying around for awhile, and recently put them together in an (almost) complete build. This beast is spread out across my desk right now and I'm wondering if its worth upgrading a few components and throwing it in a case, or saving up for awhile and starting over from scratch.

Motherboard: ASUS M2N32-SLI http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M2N32SLI_DeluxeWireless_Edition/overview/
CPU: AMD 64 X2 Athlon 5000+
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT (This card makes a high-pitched noise, like an old CRT tv when it's running, it probably doesn't have a lot of life left)
RAM: 3GB DDR2 667
160GB WD SATA Hard Drive
Corsair 500W PSU
No case yet :)

My thoughts were maxing out the ram, I believe at 8GB, and putting in one of the new Nvidia GT 730 cards.

I also flashed the latest BIOS - Version 5002 which says it adds support for AM3 CPUs! I was also thinking of grabbing a used or refurbished AMD phenom II x4 if this is possible.

Are some or all of these upgrades worthwhile? I'd like to do some light gaming since its been awhile since I could play anything remotely new. Right now I'm playing Morrowind and AoE on my crappy work laptop so just about anything would be better than that!

 
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Darkbreeze
That 470 would be bottlenecked significantly by your cpu so it is probably not a good choice unless you don't mind the bottleneck for now because you plan to upgrade to a motherboard and CPU later that CAN handle that card and would just prefer to not have to purchase a GPU now AND another later. However, if that's the case there are much newer, better cards that would be less expensive than that older 470.
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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The GT 730 is pretty low end so that cpu might run with it ok but it's lower on the totem pole than the Recommended minimum of Athlon X2 240e. It's three years older too. Not that I generally recommend anybody spending their money on this setup, but you could get a higher end A series processor and compatible motherboard, and get better gaming performance than you could with that 730 and the rest of your hardware.
 
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nvercrst

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Dec 18, 2012
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Yeah an new MB/CPU would be awesome. Definitely going to do that in the future. Last night I was able to get the 5000+ running at about 2.8GHz stable, and played some Skyrim on medium at 1080p! (about 20-30 fps)

I'm still debating upgrading the video card though because it's making some pretty weird noises. Would an older card be a better option? I saw a GTX 470 on Amazon for about $65 shipped. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B003EEMFTI/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1412878821&sr=8-1&keywords=GTX+470&condition=used
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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This card should be ok with your cpu and should offer a slight to moderate performance advantage over your current card when it was new considering it's tier level and GDDR5 memory.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GT 730 1GB Video Card ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $59.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-09 15:27 EDT-0400
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,408
7,630
176,790
That 470 would be bottlenecked significantly by your cpu so it is probably not a good choice unless you don't mind the bottleneck for now because you plan to upgrade to a motherboard and CPU later that CAN handle that card and would just prefer to not have to purchase a GPU now AND another later. However, if that's the case there are much newer, better cards that would be less expensive than that older 470.
 
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nvercrst

Honorable
Dec 18, 2012
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That definitely makes sense. Thanks! Yeah I think I will probably just invest in a decent graphics card that I can also use down the road when I upgrade to a newer motherboard and CPU. Thanks again for all your help!
 
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