Upgrading system

[mpere]

Hi everyone. I have been reviewing this forum on how best to upgrade my present system: I have an asus m3n72-d mobo, amd phenom II X4 810, nvidia GTX 260, CM scout case, 4GB kingston ram at CL6, 750w corsair PS. I am looking to upgrade to a AMD phenom II X4 965 Black Edition and do some OC for the first time. However, I like to know what mobo would be great with the 965, and would going to a ATI radeon video card improve my game playing or just stay with my 260. Also, what would be the best ram i could get within reason (USD $100-150).

 

[MadAdmiral]

The board I like to recommend is the Asus M4A79XTD EVO. It's fairly cheap, but a good board.

As for the GPU question, the answer is mostly yes, if you're willing to spend $150-400 on a new card. Here's a comparison of the 260 vs. 5770, 5850 and 5870. The 5770 is fairly close in performance (at $150 that's really good), and which one is better depends on the game. It is more future proof though. The 5850 ($300) is vastly superior, and the 5870 ($400) is the most powerful single card.

RAM: Corsair XMS3 2x2 GB DDR3 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $110.

 

[zach538467]

And to add, there isn't much of a compelling reason that I know of to get the x4 965 over the x4 955.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Forgot to mention that.

An addition to the GPU part: It's not really necessary to switch to a better GPU right now. The 260 should still be performing fairly well, and the new nVidia cards (Fermi) are due out in March. There hasn't been any indications about performance yet, so it's hard to tell what will happen then, but prices are surely to change.

 

[banthracis]

Gaming is VERY GPU limited not CPU.

Even with a 5970, an i7-920 won't beat a Phenom II x4 thanks to GPU limits.

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=869&p=23

 

[mpere]

The board I like to recommend is the Asus M4A79XTD EVO. It's fairly cheap, but a good board.

As for the GPU question, the answer is mostly yes, if you're willing to spend $150-400 on a new card. Here's a comparison of the 260 vs. 5770, 5850 and 5870. The 5770 is fairly close in performance (at $150 that's really good), and which one is better depends on the game. It is more future proof though. The 5850 ($300) is vastly superior, and the 5870 ($400) is the most powerful single card.

RAM: Corsair XMS3 2x2 GB DDR3 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $110.

Thanks for the advise. Looking at what I need to budget for I am thinking of this set up: cpu: AMD Phenom II 955BE, mobo: Asus M4A79 XTD EVO, ram: Corsair XMS3 4GB, gpu: HD 5870, ps: Ultra850W Modular, case: CM HAF 932, hdd: WD 1TB Black Caviar. This rig needs to last me for at least a year, and I'll be upgrading as newer parts come on the market. So would this stand the test for the nest couple of years.

 

[MadAdmiral]

That will last you several years without an upgrade. The only changes to that I would make are using the SeaSonic 850W 80 Plus Silver PSU, downgrading to a HAF 922, and picking up a Samsung Spinpoint F3 as the HDD.

The first change is because the SeaSonic has a great price right now, and they make some of the best PSUs.

The second one is mostly a money saver. The 922 is almost as big as the 932 and is significantly lower priced.

The third change is pretty simple. The F3 is by far the best HDD out today. It's faster than the older VelociRaptors, it runs cool and quiet, and it's cheaper than the WD. If you can't find it, a good substitute is the Seagate 7200.12.