Hello everyone, new poster/old lurker looking for some suggestions on a system upgrade.
Let me preface by saying I don't have much of a tech background - what little I have I've cobbled together from browsing sites like Toms in my freetime.
So I'm planning on upgrading my *aging* system with some following needs and restrictions.
Needs - Outside of the normal web surfing/word processin' stuff, I don't have a highend taste in graphic games (give me gameplay anyday). That being said, I like the ability to at least run most anything out there, but I dont need 80 FPS at Crysis on max settings. Give me TF2 all day, any day. I also don't play MMOs (anymore) so no SSDs. I'm mostly looking for something that will give me a snappy operating environment with the ability to comfortably play most newish games.
Restrictions - This is a budget *upgrade* When I'm doing accumulating (and paying off) my student debt I'll build a new system, ground up. For now, I'll be reusing the following pieces of hardware, which will put some limitations on how much I want to spend elsewhere. Please don't tell me just to build a new rig for a few hundred more -- When that time comes, hopefully soon, I'd like to have a second capable machine for playing games with friends when they visit. So, the following pieces of hardware will be re-used.
Case
HD - 250 gb 16 mbcache WD, SATA -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144701
Power Supply - 350 WATTS
Monitor - MAX 1280x1024 RES -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116353&cm_re=va912b-_-24-116-353-_-Product
Thats it -- I'm not looking to purchase a new case/PSU OR a new monitor. When I do buy a new monitor and case/psu it will be for a full build. I know I can get better HDs on the cheap, but I'm fine with the limited space and the 16mb cache. The 350 watt PSU and the monitors max res will obviously limit how much I should be spending. As far as I can tell, the PSU shouldn't be too much of a problem, because the monitor's max res means I won't be needing a power hungry card. Thus, my planned upgrade looks like this.
Phenom II x2 550 BE
Cheap Asus Board, microATX (needed) and hopefully able to unlock a 3rd core on the 550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131619
Sapphire 4670 1gig -- Good enough to run anything I want smoothly AT 1280x1024? Low power, low cost. Don't care for DX11
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102855
4GB DDR3 1333 -- Should be plenty for my needs
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231189
That's it, coming in a bit over ~$300.
So I'm wondering if (1) I'm going overboard on the CPU/RAM (2) the PSU will be able to handle the load, after hopefully unlocking a 3rd core and (3) whether there are any obvious bottlenecks. Please keep in mind the monitors max res when thinking GPU - I'm not buying another monitor until I build a serious $ machine. Also, whether there are any future price-drops, etc that would dictate holding off a few weeks on the purchase. Comments welcome and appreciate, thanks!
* I should note, I'm not looking for a lot of upgrade ability in this. Just looking for something that can reasonably handle most new games and will make a decent backup/2nd machine for buddies to use.
Let me preface by saying I don't have much of a tech background - what little I have I've cobbled together from browsing sites like Toms in my freetime.
So I'm planning on upgrading my *aging* system with some following needs and restrictions.
Needs - Outside of the normal web surfing/word processin' stuff, I don't have a highend taste in graphic games (give me gameplay anyday). That being said, I like the ability to at least run most anything out there, but I dont need 80 FPS at Crysis on max settings. Give me TF2 all day, any day. I also don't play MMOs (anymore) so no SSDs. I'm mostly looking for something that will give me a snappy operating environment with the ability to comfortably play most newish games.
Restrictions - This is a budget *upgrade* When I'm doing accumulating (and paying off) my student debt I'll build a new system, ground up. For now, I'll be reusing the following pieces of hardware, which will put some limitations on how much I want to spend elsewhere. Please don't tell me just to build a new rig for a few hundred more -- When that time comes, hopefully soon, I'd like to have a second capable machine for playing games with friends when they visit. So, the following pieces of hardware will be re-used.
Case
HD - 250 gb 16 mbcache WD, SATA -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144701
Power Supply - 350 WATTS
Monitor - MAX 1280x1024 RES -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116353&cm_re=va912b-_-24-116-353-_-Product
Thats it -- I'm not looking to purchase a new case/PSU OR a new monitor. When I do buy a new monitor and case/psu it will be for a full build. I know I can get better HDs on the cheap, but I'm fine with the limited space and the 16mb cache. The 350 watt PSU and the monitors max res will obviously limit how much I should be spending. As far as I can tell, the PSU shouldn't be too much of a problem, because the monitor's max res means I won't be needing a power hungry card. Thus, my planned upgrade looks like this.
Phenom II x2 550 BE
Cheap Asus Board, microATX (needed) and hopefully able to unlock a 3rd core on the 550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131619
Sapphire 4670 1gig -- Good enough to run anything I want smoothly AT 1280x1024? Low power, low cost. Don't care for DX11
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102855
4GB DDR3 1333 -- Should be plenty for my needs
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231189
That's it, coming in a bit over ~$300.
So I'm wondering if (1) I'm going overboard on the CPU/RAM (2) the PSU will be able to handle the load, after hopefully unlocking a 3rd core and (3) whether there are any obvious bottlenecks. Please keep in mind the monitors max res when thinking GPU - I'm not buying another monitor until I build a serious $ machine. Also, whether there are any future price-drops, etc that would dictate holding off a few weeks on the purchase. Comments welcome and appreciate, thanks!
* I should note, I'm not looking for a lot of upgrade ability in this. Just looking for something that can reasonably handle most new games and will make a decent backup/2nd machine for buddies to use.