Possible upgrades

[Wolgast]

Hello, it's been a couple of years since I built my pc and feel like maybe I should upgrade something. I mostly play SC2, some BFBC2, and a bunch of other games at 1920x1080; not the smoothest at higher settings.

Was thinking maybe a new video card but not sure;

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
e7300 @ stock 2.66 GHz
4GB G.SKILL PC2 6400
Antec Earthwatts EA-500
Radeon HD 4830 512MB

I only have a budget of about $200-300 right now. What do you guys think?

 

[eloric]

Step 1) Get a heatsink, and overclock that CPU until it almost smokes. Here is a chiller that may carry forward to your next build: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus for $37

Step 2) Upgrade your GPU with as much card as yoru budget and PSU allow: MSI R6950-2PM2D2GD5 Radeon HD 6950 2GB for $245

Here is the review of that card: Benchmark Results: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 . Quite acceptable performance at highest settings.

 

[Wolgast]

Best answer selected by Wolgast.

 

[Wolgast]

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking along the same lines but was a little timid about ocing

 

[eloric]

I just realiszed something: what case do you have? The 6950 is a looooooong card, and you may not be able to fit it into your box. That would be really bad, and you probably would not like me. Please check to see if it will fit, or just let me know which case it is, and I will check.

Here is an overclocking guide.

Thanks, btw, for the best answer.

E

 

[Wolgast]

I have a Sonata III. I also forgot to mention I have a SilenX IXC-120HA2 cpu cooler, do you know how that compares to the Hyper 212?

 

[eloric]

Darn, can't find a measurement anywhere. Just to be sure, could you literally get out a ruler and check?

Your heat sink? Just fine - better than the cooler master hyper 212 (by one tenth of a degree!!!) Frosty Tech's comparison

 

[Wolgast]

Looks like I have about 11.1 inches to fit it, after taking out a case fan haha darn. I also have to thank gigabyte for not putting any sata ports under that length.
Also, looks like I'm getting a 3.6 stable overclock; still gotta test to see if I can go higher. I entered what my system would be like in the antec power supply calc and it says I would need at minimum, a 418w psu. Mine is rated for 408w on the 12v rails but 500w total. Should I get a new one just to be sure or does that seem okay?

 

[eloric]

11.1 inches? Wow, that is going to be tight! Do you own a Dremel tool, just in case?

3600 Mhz is plenty fast - that is a decent overclock. It sure is fun to see how far you can go.

When you settle down, you might want to play around and see where the sweet spot is between performance, temp and voltage. I have an i7-920 with the same base clock speed, and run mine at only 3300 Mhz for an everyday overclock.

If you want to pursue extreme overclocks, you will definitely be stressing your power supply, and should think about an upgrade. Enthusiast computing does not follow the rules of normal users, and you should have excess capacity, if nothing else, to keep your power stable.

If, however, you just want you machine for regular use, the Antec Supply Calculator is pretty conservative, and your actual power consumption is likely much less. For example, most of time you are not going to run your system at 90 percent utilization 9the recommended default), but maybe closer to 70 percent under heavy usage. Just don't go crazy on your voltages or run Prime95 for 24 hours and you should be OK.

Also, Antec is a reputable brand, and is not likely to fry your other components if it fails. If it is very important for you not to suffer down time on your system, you could buy another PSU and keep it in reserve. It can always go into your next build, and won't go to waste.

When you decide, here is the search I use to find a PSU.