Should I go the cheap motherboard alternative?

hilariousness16

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Apr 20, 2011
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I'm usually very frugal with money so I'm still paranoid at the idea of spending 800+ dollars on a new mobo, CPU, RAM combo.

At the moment, my PC specs are-

amd athlon II X4
Cheap Foxconn mobo
6g ddr3 1080 MHz ( or around that)
Gtx 580
700w power supply
1tb hdd- windows 7 64 bit

I want to replace the whole mobo/processor/ram and get the i5 2500k, UD7 p67 motherboard and corsair vengeance 4g x 2 memory. I can get these right now but I'm careful with my money.

My main question is: Will an expensive motherboard, CPU and 1600 MHz memory REALLY impact the fps or gaming experience. My alternative is getting a lame motherboard that supports sli and getting another gtx 580 or even another monitor. I dont know which is more important, GAMING wise.

Any input will be appreciated$
 
Solution
lol I misunderstood.

I get it now -- your alternative is to keep most of the system you have now, but upgrade the mainboard to one that supports SLI and get a second 580.

You can certainly do that, but if anything is a bottleneck in your system right now, it's the CPU. You have more than enough RAM, so that's not an issue. And the 580 definitely isn't either.

If you're not happy with the system's performance in the apps/games you use now, you could try overclocking. The BIOS of the board you have now may not allow it though. If that's the case, you're back to the less expensive alternative.

I already have a Sandy Bridge system, so I'm a bit biased. You're leery of the upgrade cost though, so I'd suggest a board like the ASRock...
Would a UD7 give you extra performance over a UD5 or UD4 version of the board? Nope. It has some extra features, but unless you actually use them they won't do you any good.

What is the "lame" alternative board?

The faster RAM will help anything and everything you do on the computer. 1600 CL9 1.5v RAM is Sandy Bridge's sweet spot. The faster CPU will help any games or programs that are CPU-limited.

GTX 580 is overkill for a lot of games. 580s in SLI even more so. Get one 580 now and plan to add another one in the future when the games you play actually need the extra power.
 
lol I misunderstood.

I get it now -- your alternative is to keep most of the system you have now, but upgrade the mainboard to one that supports SLI and get a second 580.

You can certainly do that, but if anything is a bottleneck in your system right now, it's the CPU. You have more than enough RAM, so that's not an issue. And the 580 definitely isn't either.

If you're not happy with the system's performance in the apps/games you use now, you could try overclocking. The BIOS of the board you have now may not allow it though. If that's the case, you're back to the less expensive alternative.

I already have a Sandy Bridge system, so I'm a bit biased. You're leery of the upgrade cost though, so I'd suggest a board like the ASRock 890FX Deluxe4 ($155 or so) which would allow you to overclock your Athlon II X4 CPU. If overclocking doesn't give you enough oomph, you can always upgrade to a faster Phenom II CPU. Plus, the board supports SLI if you decide to do that.
 
Solution

hilariousness16

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Apr 20, 2011
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Hmm interesting.

I do realized like you said before, the gtx 580 is kind of an overkill at the moment, granted, there isn't a lot of directx 11 games at the moment, but doesn't hurt to max the games you play.

I am honestly content with everything at the moment, even reaching 50 to 60 fps in crysis 2 now. I think I might just hold off any tech upgradings, and at any point of time, rather upgrade the mobo then anything else.
Thanks for your input.