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Tom's Hardware > Forum > Systems > Homebuilt > [Solved] 4 Step Upgrade/New PC - $1,800 from a $650 Machine

[Solved] 4 Step Upgrade/New PC - $1,800 from a $650 Machine

Forum Systems : Homebuilt [Solved] 4 Step Upgrade/New PC - $1,800 from a $650 Machine

I am looking for anything more cost effective. Also, should I look into selling the entire old machine and converting over to Intel and nVidia GFX cards? I have someone who is very interested in purchasing it.

NOTE: The motherboard needs to be upgraded because the PCIe 2.0 x16 slots are too close together, so I can't fit two cards there, and it only runs DDR2 Ram.

I will first list what I currently have in my machine, then the next post (2nd of this thread) will list links to the four wishlists I have (titled step 1 through 4)

All of these items can be found on newegg, although some may be out of stock.

Case
1 x Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case~
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

Motherboard
1 x ASUS M4A78 Plus AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

GFX Card
1 x XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 0HD%205770

Power Supply
1 x Antec Basiq BP500U 500W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 63938&SID=

Processor & Heatsink (Currently Stock)
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGIBOX~
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 63938&SID=

Hard Drives Extra copy of windows 7 on the 640GB, and 3-4 variations of linux mainly for troubleshooting/failsafe reasons
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

Optical Drive
1 x SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black EIDE/ATAPI Model SH-S222A

Monitor
1 x Acer P235Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 0P235Hbmid

Message edited by Setrax on 11-04-2010 at 06:57:25 AM

Reply to Setrax

_________________________________________________________________________

Step One
Core Changes, Ones that most likely won't have to change by the time I get to step 3-4.

Motherboard
RAM
Heatsink for CPU (Keeping one one)

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] r=14171325

_________________________________________________________________________

Step Two
Minor changes, I have a terrible keyboard/mouse, and a tiny ass case too.

Gaming Keyboard
Gaming Mouse
Full Tower Case

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] r=20999908

_________________________________________________________________________

Step Three

Graphics Card
SSD Drive for Operating System

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] r=21000628
_________________________________________________________________________

Step Four

Second Identical Graphics Card for CrossFire
Second Identical Monitor for Dual Screen

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] D=21006008

_________________________________________________________________________

Total Cost: $1,800

Please comment on anything that would save me money while increasing performance. Yeah, anything more cost-effective.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by Setrax on 11-04-2010 at 06:57:08 AM

Reply to Setrax

Setrax wrote :

_________________________________________________________________________

Step One
Core Changes, Ones that most likely won't have to change by the time I get to step 3-4.

Motherboard
RAM
Heatsink for CPU (Keeping one one)

Gaming Keyboard
Gaming Mouse
Full Tower Case

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] r=20999908

_________________________________________________________________________

Step Three

Graphics Card
SSD Drive for Operating System

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] r=21000628
_________________________________________________________________________

Step Four

Second Identical Graphics Card for CrossFire
Second Identical Monitor for Dual Screen

Firstly chuck out / sell that PSU after you've ordered a nice 750W Corsair one, or 850W or even 1000W depending if you want to get 5870 CF or something. Basiq is not good at all - One of Antec's black sheep and you don't want to risk any bought parts with it.

2. Your processor is fine for now, either sell your 5770 or buy another one and hook them up (This can be done with PLENTY of OC room with a 600W Antec/Corsair/Seasonic) for CF 5770.
If you want something beefier go for 750-850Antec/corsair for future - You can keep these quality PSU's for hopefully 1/2 a decade or so MOBO hmm.. depends what you want, - OC potential? You definitely need one with 2 PCIe x 16 lines. If you've really got money to spend on this you could WAIT for Sandy Bridge to come out, sell your parts (EVERYTHING) and stock up.

$1800 will be a lot for when SB comes out. Most likely an i7 SB (i5 is WAYYYYYYYY overkill considering an i5 SB can HT almost up to an i7 980x). It also seems like u can wait since u want a 'step by step' upgrade.

Personally i dont like antec 300, and since u almost got 2000 (Which is the limit u should spend on a system up front) you should get a nice HAF 922/932, or a storm scout =).

Consider getting a g15/19 and a good mouse with i5/i7 SB, GTX 460's in SLI (Or w/e is great value + performance at that time) 4 or 8 GB of 1600MHZ ram (how much u use?) and ur monitor.

Reply to vibhas

I looked into a g15/19 series, but they seemed overpriced to me.

I'll look into getting a i5. With intel motherboards there's the advantage of having 6 slots for RAM.

Message edited by Setrax on 11-04-2010 at 01:33:43 PM

Reply to Setrax

What sort of provisions will I need to run two 470's SLI?

Reply to Setrax

How is this, for an intel $2100 set up?

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] r=14180625

I'd get $500 from selling my old rig, so I'd only need to get around $1600.

I could make a first payment of like $500, then pay the rest off per month.

Ez

Reply to Setrax

just a quick list of suggestions:
I'm more a micro-atx guy but I like a few of your selections so far, i just detailed them a little bit for you..

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Stock Heatsink/Fan
ASUS CuCore Series EAH5770 CuCore/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16
8GB (4 x 2GB) G.SKILL Dual Channel Kit DDR3 1333 Model F3-10666CL8D-8GBHK
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB
OCZ Technology 60 GB Vertex 2 Series SATA II
SAMSUNG BLU-RAY COMBO 8X BLACK BD ROM/DVD WRITER
DELL 2208WFP 22in Widescreen Flat Panel LCD - this are ones that I have, I'm sure you have a monitor in mind..

Message edited by malmental on 11-04-2010 at 02:05:16 PM

------------------------------ A+, Net+, MCDST, DSCE (Dell)
Reply to malmental

I am currently debating the Intel vs AMD situation, but im not sure intel's performance increase justifies the $300 price increase as well, but idk...

Should I get a 60GB or 90GB SSD? I don't think I need the extra 30GB...

Reply to Setrax

for the OS and a few games, I can maintain them on the 60GB.
i keep it clean of files much as possible.

------------------------------ A+, Net+, MCDST, DSCE (Dell)
Reply to malmental

Yeah, Alright.

Could you take a look at my AMD vs Intel thread here?

Looking for some more input there.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] vidia-1425

Reply to Setrax

Best answer

selected best answer before i could even get to it..
damn.

------------------------------ A+, Net+, MCDST, DSCE (Dell)
Reply to malmental

Haha, I read your post, but keep on posting, I'll pick you for best answer here cuz you did help out in that thread.

Reply to Setrax

I will have the scrap this thread and the other one and make a new one for the intel computer...

I hope toms hardware doesn't mind me making a lot of threads. It's more for organizational purposes.

Reply to Setrax

Best answer selected by Setrax.

Reply to Setrax

i'll be waiting..

------------------------------ A+, Net+, MCDST, DSCE (Dell)
Reply to malmental

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] w=0&nojs=0

Reply to Setrax

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