Upgrading my pc

[masryp]

i play games like cod, far cry 2, conflict denied ops, maplestory, team fortress 2, track mania. the pc is on about 12 hours a day, the kids also play en we use office and convertxtodvd.
we now have a amd 64 x2 4200 with 4gb ram , 550w psu, gigabyte mb and a gigabyte 250 gts.
i wanna upgrade buth don't know wath to chose between: gigabyte ud3r with core i7 860 and sapphire hd 5770 or gigabyte ud3r with core i5 750 and msi 4870 oc. Can anybody advice me, or does anybody have a beter idea? i apriceate te help

 

[wa1]

I would choose the 1st option: i7 860 and HD 5770.
5770 is newer tech, less heat, less power consumption and dx11 ability.
With 550W PSU, it's enough to run 5770.
And make sure u get 6 gb of ram ddr3(triple channels).
That build will be great...

 

[masryp]

I would choose the 1st option: i7 860 and HD 5770.
5770 is newer tech, less heat, less power consumption and dx11 ability.
With 550W PSU, it's enough to run 5770.
And make sure u get 6 gb of ram ddr3(triple channels).
That build will be great...

thanks for the advise.
only for as far as i have read reviews, they say that core i7 860 is dual channel and not tripple channel, or is this wrong?
i dont know.

 

[enzo matrix]

all socket 1156 motherboards are dual channel only.

 

[wa1]

all socket 1156 motherboards are dual channel only.

sorry about that, my mistake...

 

[randomkid]

i play games like cod, far cry 2, conflict denied ops, maplestory, team fortress 2, track mania. the pc is on about 12 hours a day, the kids also play en we use office and convertxtodvd.
we now have a amd 64 x2 4200 with 4gb ram , 550w psu, gigabyte mb and a gigabyte 250 gts.
i wanna upgrade buth don't know wath to chose between: gigabyte ud3r with core i7 860 and sapphire hd 5770 or gigabyte ud3r with core i5 750 and msi 4870 oc. Can anybody advice me, or does anybody have a beter idea? i apriceate te help

Your PC seems to be very decent for what you are using it for except for the processor. You can save lot's of money by just upgrading to a better AMD CPU that will fit your motherboard.
What is the actual model of your gigabyte motherboard and what size and resolution is your monitor?

 

[welshmousepk]

Your PC seems to be very decent for what you are using it for except for the processor. You can save lot's of money by just upgrading to a better AMD CPU that will fit your motherboard.
What is the actual model of your gigabyte motherboard and what size and resolution is your monitor?

this.

grab a phenom II 955 and a 5850. you'll be flying.

 

[masryp]

Your PC seems to be very decent for what you are using it for except for the processor. You can save lot's of money by just upgrading to a better AMD CPU that will fit your motherboard.
What is the actual model of your gigabyte motherboard and what size and resolution is your monitor?

my motherboard is : gigabyte ga-ma69vm-s2, my monitor is : lg flatron L192ws.
i dont overclock and it my intention to keep the pc for 3 years once the upgrade is done

 

[masryp]

this.

grab a phenom II 955 and a 5850. you'll be flying.

the phenom II 965 was my first idea untill i read that a core i7 was more power.
The problem is i dont know what cpu power i really need, that's why i was thinking of a more powerfull cpu so i can whait a few years for the next upgrade.
the card you are talking about, is it able to run on a 550 w psu?
or is the 550 w psu the minimum?

 

[welshmousepk]

the 965 isn't that far behind an i7. in gaming, its a tiny margin. for the sake of upgrading your mobo/and RAM its just not worth the extra money.

and yes, a 550w PSU is fine for a 5770/5850. as long as its a good PSU.

 

[randomkid]

the phenom II 965 was my first idea untill i read that a core i7 was more power.
The problem is i dont know what cpu power i really need, that's why i was thinking of a more powerfull cpu so i can whait a few years for the next upgrade.
the card you are talking about, is it able to run on a 550 w psu?
or is the 550 w psu the minimum?

Highest CPU supported is Phenom II X4 945 3.0GHz:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_List.aspx?ProductID=2500

THe Phenom II X4 945 will cost you only $159 from newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=n82e16819103675

It good enough to last 3 years or even more but you have to update BIOS of your motherboard to support Phenom II AM3 processors.

Buying an i7+1156mobo will not be worth it since you will probably never use the extra cpu power anyway.
--- Randomkid

 

[masryp]

the 965 isn't that far behind an i7. in gaming, its a tiny margin. for the sake of upgrading your mobo/and RAM its just not worth the extra money.

and yes, a 550w PSU is fine for a 5770/5850. as long as its a good PSU.

the psu i use is a xilence 550w, is that good enough? i see that a 5850 needs a second connector for power and that psu has only one.
I know that there is a adapter for it buth my previous pc supplier says that a adapter is never as good as when its directly from the psu.
the reason i asked if 550w is enough is because i see on sapphire's site that a 500w psu is the minimum, and according to my previous pc supplier ( again), you better have a psu that is stronger then what is minimum recommended.

 

[masryp]

Highest CPU supported is Phenom II X4 945 3.0GHz:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_List.aspx?ProductID=2500

THe Phenom II X4 945 will cost you only $159 from newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=n82e16819103675

It good enough to last 3 years or even more but you have to update BIOS of your motherboard to support Phenom II AM3 processors.

Buying an i7+1156mobo will not be worth it since you will probably never use the extra cpu power anyway.
--- Randomkid

thanks for the advise, i am thinking strongly to go for amd.
i dont do bios update because to what i hear there are risks, and i cant risk that.
the problem is i see so many reviews buth i dont know what i really need, and i hate lagging computers.
i also run windows 7 ultimate 32bit.
i dont use 64bit yet because i dont know if that will give me an advantage.

what happens if you have a motherboard with the right socket for the processor buth the processor is not supported?
one of the kids has his own computer and his motherboard is: gigabyte ga-945gm-s2 and his cpu is intel core 2 e7400.
i did a windows experience index test and the result was: 4.3 ( on the processor) i think that's strange because our main computer ( the one i wanna upgrade) is a gigabyte ga-ma69vm-s2 mb and amd athlon 64 x2 4200+ cpu, and it's score's 4.9.
i do not understand that becuase the intel is a 2.8ghz cpu and the amd only 2.2ghz
the intel cpu was meant as an upgrade and was advised by our previous pc supplier( he left the country in a rush)

 

[randomkid]

Updating the bios is not difficult. You can usually do it in Windows so please check your BIOS update package as it comes with a menu driven utility to update the BIOS.

The only problem I had when I updated is that I have to reinstall WINDOWS so you better have backup your files before you update the BIOS but I heard that this is not necessarily the case for others. But better to be on the safe side.

Perhaps you do have to update your intel motherbaord with the e7400 too.

 

[welshmousepk]

the psu i use is a xilence 550w, is that good enough? i see that a 5850 needs a second connector for power and that psu has only one.
I know that there is a adapter for it buth my previous pc supplier says that a adapter is never as good as when its directly from the psu.
the reason i asked if 550w is enough is because i see on sapphire's site that a 500w psu is the minimum, and according to my previous pc supplier ( again), you better have a psu that is stronger then what is minimum recommended.

the minimum recommended PSU for a GPU is always given plenty of headroom, and it includes the pwower draw of the entire (average) system.

if you are above that, you will be fine. i dont know about xilence, so i probably wouldn't want to recommend it with a 5850. but a 5770 should be no problem at all.

 

[masryp]

Updating the bios is not difficult. You can usually do it in Windows so please check your BIOS update package as it comes with a menu driven utility to update the BIOS.

The only problem I had when I updated is that I have to reinstall WINDOWS so you better have backup your files before you update the BIOS but I heard that this is not necessarily the case for others. But better to be on the safe side.

Perhaps you do have to update your intel motherbaord with the e7400 too.

i checked the website it says not supprted, and i dont know if an update would help in that case.
thanks anyway
i am thinking of goiing for the amd phenom ii 965 125w, bang for buck wise, and the gigabyteud4p motherboard, with a ati hd 5770 based graphics card, what i dont know is what brand i should take: gigabyte or sapphire or xfx?
any suggestions?
and then there is the thing called memory, what do i need?
i was thinking of goiing for ocz platinum ddr3 1333mhz cl7 4 gb kit, is that good or can i better take something else?

 

[masryp]

the minimum recommended PSU for a GPU is always given plenty of headroom, and it includes the pwower draw of the entire (average) system.

if you are above that, you will be fine. i dont know about xilence, so i probably wouldn't want to recommend it with a 5850. but a 5770 should be no problem at all.

thank you for the advice, i keep my psu and go for the 5770. what brand is the best as graphics card?
i am thinking of a 4gb kit ocz platinum ddr3 1333mhz cl7 what's your opinion?

 

[enzo matrix]

thank you for the advice, i keep my psu and go for the 5770. what brand is the best as graphics card?
i am thinking of a 4gb kit ocz platinum ddr3 1333mhz cl7 what's your opinion?

I have personally had good experience with HIS.
XFX apparently has a transferable warranty or something so if you sell it, they get the warranty.