Upgrading - Will it work?

[addii12]

Hello

So I just decided what parts I will buy and since I am new to upgrading / building computers I wanted to know from you guys if my parts will work together.

This is what my build will look like

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 HDZ955FBGIBOX 3.2 GHz/6 MB L3/125W

Mobo: Msi 770T-C45 (own)

RAM: OCZ OCZ2G10664GK 4GB 1066MHz PC2-8500 Dual Channel DDR2 Kit

HDD: 1x 250gb 1x500gb 1x750gb (own)

PSU: forton 500W (own - But will it be enough or do I need a 750W)

GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1 GB DDR5 Dual DVI-I / HDMI / DP PCI-Express Graphics Card 100284L

DVD: What came with my current computer

This will mostly be used for gaming and movies.
Any suggestions?

 

[capt_taco]

Looks to me like everything will work. I would actually go to a 5770 for the video card -- for the extra $20 or so, I think you'll be glad you did.

500W should be more than enough to run it with either video card, so don't worry about that.

 

[arges86]

Everything looks good,
+1 for the HD5770
I'm always a little cautious about 'off brand' hardware especially PSUs.
They tend to not be as reliable or last as long. I always recommend getting a PSU from a brand you trust w/ an efficiency rating of at least 80+

 

[addii12]

So I decided to go for the HD5770
and I realised I spelled fortron wrong

its a fortron 500w.. I also found the model number on the PSU and its AX500-A
so it might be this one?
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16817104934

also in this picture of my mobo would it be the blue slot I would use for the GPU? (not talking about the ones for Ram)
http://www.dvhardware.net/article36679.html

And 1 more question.. Will I be able to use the some cooling unit that is currently on top of the processor for the new processor? the current processor is ab Amd athlon 64 x2, 2200 MHz 4200+

 

[dndhatcher]

The graphics card goes in the blue pcie slot.

When you get a new processor it will come with a stock heat sink that will be fine if you dont overclock.

 

[capt_taco]

I'm always a little cautious about 'off brand' hardware especially PSUs.
They tend to not be as reliable or last as long. I always recommend getting a PSU from a brand you trust w/ an efficiency rating of at least 80+

That's what originally came to mind, but I think Fortron is actually an obscure sub-brand of FSP, which is one of the top-rated manufacturers. Or at least they were a couple years ago. Sparkle is also one of FSP's offshoot brands if I remember right. So unless I'm confused or FSP has gone downhill (I honestly don't know), I think he's good to go.

 

[arges86]

i believe Sparkle is a privately held company...
FSP is an abbreviation for Fortron Source Group.
i honestly don't know much about the company and would prob. never use them unless there was a compelling sale or something

 

[capt_taco]

I'm honestly not 100% up to date on it, but there's a lot of cross-farming and rebranding that goes on with power supplies.

For example, Corsair and Antec, two of the top brands, both used to be made by Seasonic. So did Earthwatts and a couple of other brands which had a somewhat lesser reputation. Then Corsair started sourcing some of their units to Channel Well Technology, which also made PSUs for Thermaltake. FSP was making PSUs under their own name, plus sourcing them to Sparkle, OCZ and PCP&C.

I'm not entirely sure what it's evolved into now, but basically we're talking about a dozen or so Chinese factories trying to make the same thing with varying degrees of skill, and an equivalent number of American companies rebranding those PSUs, and it all depends on who's buying from whom at any given time, in an effort to either save money in the short term, or restore their reputation in the long term because two years ago they went to a crappy factory to save money and it turned out they were cutting too many corners.

Like I said, I am not completely sure what comes from where anymore, but we're mostly comparing factories in Taiwan with factories in Xinhua Province with factories in Shengzhou Province. Only bona fide advice I can give is that if you can trace the actual manufacturer to a .tw domain name extension instead of some mainland Chinese sketchiness, that's probably the best sign you can have about a power supply.

 

[randomkid]

Hello

So I just decided what parts I will buy and since I am new to upgrading / building computers I wanted to know from you guys if my parts will work together.

This is what my build will look like

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 HDZ955FBGIBOX 3.2 GHz/6 MB L3/125W
Mobo: Msi 770T-C45 (own)
RAM: OCZ OCZ2G10664GK 4GB 1066MHz PC2-8500 Dual Channel DDR2 Kit
HDD: 1x 250gb 1x500gb 1x750gb (own)
PSU: forton 500W (own - But will it be enough or do I need a 750W)
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1 GB DDR5 Dual DVI-I / HDMI / DP PCI-Express Graphics Card 100284L
DVD: What came with my current computer

This will mostly be used for gaming and movies.
Any suggestions?

Looks good as it is.
But to possibly make a finer comment, what is your monitor resolution? This will help justify if you really want an HD5770 you later decided to get is needed or whether HD5750 is enough? or you need higher than both.

 

[addii12]

I have a 24" monitor with the resolution of 1900x1200 and another TV/Monitor 1440x900

 

[capt_taco]

If you're at 1900x1200, you're going to be pushing the limits of even the 5770 with the more intense games. It's right in the sweet spot for the 5850, if you can afford it. Not that the 5770 is going to be BAD at that resolution; you might just notice it a bit off peak performance unless you turn down a little of the detail.

In any case, I definitely wouldn't recommend the 5750 for a monitor that large.

 

[dndhatcher]

I agree with Taco. 5750 is weak at 1920x1080. I have a 5770 and it will play most games at high settings, but will max out very few of them.

 

[addii12]

The 5850 is a bit above budget so I will settle for the 5770 since maxing games out isn't that important for me

 

[arges86]

you can always try OCing it
Even w/o changing the voltage you can sometimes get a few extra 100 Mhz out of the cards. The OC forums have great Stickies on what to do

 

[addii12]

I might do that.
Also I read somewhere that standard voltage for Ram was 1.8V but the Ram I am getting is 2.1 isn't that ok? will I need to change something when i connect them

 

[randomkid]

I have a 24" monitor with the resolution of 1900x1200 and another TV/Monitor 1440x900

Agree with the rest that you should get at least HD5770. Maybe it will not be at maximum resolution in the most GPU intensive games but it will be better match to your rig than the HD5750.

 

[dndhatcher]

In the BIOS you should be able to manually force the RAM voltage and timings to what the RAM is rated for.

 

[capt_taco]

I might do that.
Also I read somewhere that standard voltage for Ram was 1.8V but the Ram I am getting is 2.1 isn't that ok? will I need to change something when i connect them

Yes, you'll need to go into the BIOS and set the RAM voltage to 2.1V manually. If you don't, your system will usually start freezing randomly for no apparent reason at all, and will basically be unusable. Most BIOSes have a pretty obvious setting for RAM voltage, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

For reference, 1.8V is the official standard for DDR2, but DDR3 is 1.5V (though 1.65V is pretty prevalent as well). I believe regular DDR was 2.5V, but that doesn't really apply to much these days.