I was looking to upgrade my PC with somewhere about or below $200, and maybe in the $300 range if something will BLOW ME AWAY. I am in Ontario, Canada, so think USD but either with import tarrifs (NAFTA is only for the big guys I guess) or 13% sales tax.
I primarily use my PC for gaming, BUT the games I play most often do not challenge my GPU (Mostly Half Life 2 Mods, and Civilization 4) I do own and enjoy the occasional play through of Crysis.
If you could spot my systems' Achilles heel, let me know.
Here is my system:
■CPU
Athlon II 250 X2 Regor 45 nm
■RAM
Patriot Viper 1333 mhz DDR 3 ram clocked at 1066 because folks at the store didn't know about 'CPU - Ram Compatibility” and neither did I.
■MotherBoard
Gigabyte MA790Xt-UD4P
More or less locked into ATI (Crossfire potential) and AMD.
■Video Card
Saphire HD 5770, can someone help me retrieve the serial number? It looks like this one, though: SAPPHIRE HD5770 1GB GDDR5 PCIE
■Storage
2 x WD 250's in Raid, 500 GB seagate clunker, and an OCZ Vertex 60 GB SSD.
■Monitor: Trooping it out on a 1024 x 768 CRT. Someone may upgrade that for me (gift) but times are tough, still might need the hardware to keep up with ~ 1600 x 900)
■Power
OCZ 1000 Watt, older than anything else but my wonderful 6 year old case and the WD Drives. Oh, and my DVD drive. Optical disks schmoptical disks.
Upgrade Choices
■CPU
I was fixated on the 965 BE, but then I lost focus after wondering if an OC'd 955, 940 was equivalent to the stick 965 etc.
Also, I only really need the CPU for Civilization 4, and I have heard that it barely takes advantage of additional cores, so really only dual core (OS and background on one, game on the other) is important.
■Video Card
Additionally I purchased an HD 5770 this summer, upgrading from a 9800 GT, and was underwhelmed by the performance upgrade, perhaps I should NewEgg RMA as it could be a broken one?
My system can CrossFire 8x (Second HD 5770?), but I've also heard good things about both Kijiji/ebay and the new HD 6000 series cards. Take the loss $40-60 of unnecessarily buying a $160 card and buy a $250 to $300 one that will smoke 2 of them combined. Probably HD 6870 = $300 – Selling HD 5700 $100 = $200 Max, versus a second HD 5770 which looks to be $170 still.
■RAM:
I get the feeling this may be holding the above two back, and two sticks of good 1600 2 GB is pretty cheap. If you suggest this, what is better, 2 x 4gb or 4x 2 gb? Will this system ever need to use 16gb ram? Will that rape my electric bill (Gotta love my inclusive rent - even the net! But I have to move out in 6 -18 months)
■Storage:
Meh, I delete, compress and Defrag, and I often encounter second hand drives. Drives are cheap but I'd rather just work around the inconvenience. My SSD does raid and has come down to $110, but its not really THAT fast anymore and not all my games need to load like lightning, especially ones I haven't touched in months.
■Water Cooling
Being overwhelmed with all this choice of rapidly de-valuing electronics, maybe it is time for me to try water cooling. Even the CPU heatsink will be good for the Duration of AM3 motherboards, and AMD hardware has a long life. I know I do not fit the categories often cited as those who should water cool (Performance seekers and Quiet Enthusiasts) but I am a habitual tinkerer and am remotely considering making money on Custom P.C.s or repair in the future, so learning water cooling could be more than just fun. Besides, this stuff will cool a 1095 BE just the same as an Athlon II 250.
Other:
Screw Computers, Eat at Restaurants more...
Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.
Post refinement tips as well.
P.S. I've seen there is fanboyism on this site. I won't switch to intel unless I can get a 920 and mobo and ram for 200 bucks (realistically, less than that) In my own opinion, Intel is superior and AMD is what I can afford and is the only thing stopping a disastrous monopoly, so I root for them.
RE: Below
In terms of what I want my computer to do better, I want it either to be a graphics beast or process "turns" in Civilization 4(or maybe 5) and its demanding python-based mods blazingly fast. Or potentially, be a fun and challenging project (the water cooling for the hell of it option)
I primarily use my PC for gaming, BUT the games I play most often do not challenge my GPU (Mostly Half Life 2 Mods, and Civilization 4) I do own and enjoy the occasional play through of Crysis.
If you could spot my systems' Achilles heel, let me know.
Here is my system:
■CPU
Athlon II 250 X2 Regor 45 nm
■RAM
Patriot Viper 1333 mhz DDR 3 ram clocked at 1066 because folks at the store didn't know about 'CPU - Ram Compatibility” and neither did I.
■MotherBoard
Gigabyte MA790Xt-UD4P
More or less locked into ATI (Crossfire potential) and AMD.
■Video Card
Saphire HD 5770, can someone help me retrieve the serial number? It looks like this one, though: SAPPHIRE HD5770 1GB GDDR5 PCIE
■Storage
2 x WD 250's in Raid, 500 GB seagate clunker, and an OCZ Vertex 60 GB SSD.
■Monitor: Trooping it out on a 1024 x 768 CRT. Someone may upgrade that for me (gift) but times are tough, still might need the hardware to keep up with ~ 1600 x 900)
■Power
OCZ 1000 Watt, older than anything else but my wonderful 6 year old case and the WD Drives. Oh, and my DVD drive. Optical disks schmoptical disks.
Upgrade Choices
■CPU
I was fixated on the 965 BE, but then I lost focus after wondering if an OC'd 955, 940 was equivalent to the stick 965 etc.
Also, I only really need the CPU for Civilization 4, and I have heard that it barely takes advantage of additional cores, so really only dual core (OS and background on one, game on the other) is important.
■Video Card
Additionally I purchased an HD 5770 this summer, upgrading from a 9800 GT, and was underwhelmed by the performance upgrade, perhaps I should NewEgg RMA as it could be a broken one?
My system can CrossFire 8x (Second HD 5770?), but I've also heard good things about both Kijiji/ebay and the new HD 6000 series cards. Take the loss $40-60 of unnecessarily buying a $160 card and buy a $250 to $300 one that will smoke 2 of them combined. Probably HD 6870 = $300 – Selling HD 5700 $100 = $200 Max, versus a second HD 5770 which looks to be $170 still.
■RAM:
I get the feeling this may be holding the above two back, and two sticks of good 1600 2 GB is pretty cheap. If you suggest this, what is better, 2 x 4gb or 4x 2 gb? Will this system ever need to use 16gb ram? Will that rape my electric bill (Gotta love my inclusive rent - even the net! But I have to move out in 6 -18 months)
■Storage:
Meh, I delete, compress and Defrag, and I often encounter second hand drives. Drives are cheap but I'd rather just work around the inconvenience. My SSD does raid and has come down to $110, but its not really THAT fast anymore and not all my games need to load like lightning, especially ones I haven't touched in months.
■Water Cooling
Being overwhelmed with all this choice of rapidly de-valuing electronics, maybe it is time for me to try water cooling. Even the CPU heatsink will be good for the Duration of AM3 motherboards, and AMD hardware has a long life. I know I do not fit the categories often cited as those who should water cool (Performance seekers and Quiet Enthusiasts) but I am a habitual tinkerer and am remotely considering making money on Custom P.C.s or repair in the future, so learning water cooling could be more than just fun. Besides, this stuff will cool a 1095 BE just the same as an Athlon II 250.
Other:
Screw Computers, Eat at Restaurants more...
Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.
Post refinement tips as well.
P.S. I've seen there is fanboyism on this site. I won't switch to intel unless I can get a 920 and mobo and ram for 200 bucks (realistically, less than that) In my own opinion, Intel is superior and AMD is what I can afford and is the only thing stopping a disastrous monopoly, so I root for them.
RE: Below
In terms of what I want my computer to do better, I want it either to be a graphics beast or process "turns" in Civilization 4(or maybe 5) and its demanding python-based mods blazingly fast. Or potentially, be a fun and challenging project (the water cooling for the hell of it option)