Planning an upgrade

September 29, 2011 7:33:33 AM

I'm currently running:

Mobo: Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H
RAM: Gskill 1600mhz 2GB x 4 = 8GB total
CPU: Phenom II x4 945 Revision 3 @ stock 3.0Ghz 95W TDP
HDD: 500GB Samsung Spinpoint
GPU: XFX 5770
PSU: Corsair 750W
4-5 Year Old LCD Acer Monitor 21.6" (Native 1680 x 1050 Resolution) Planning to upgrade this as well.

I plan to upgrade my GPU to a 6950 2GB [is there a CPU bottleneck possibility?] and getting two OCZ Vertex/Agility III SSD 60/90GB
I plan to use the 60GB as a dedicated boot drive + misc apps [i.e norton, msn, skype, etc] and the 90GB as a dedicated games drive.
I won't be making any purchases until Christmas - Boxing day!!

Approximate Purchase Date: Christmas Week - Boxing Day in Canada

(Keep in mind I'm in Canada!)
Budget Range: -Two SSDs approx $200-250
-GPU 6950 2GB will need model recommendations
-Monitor $200-250 [May go as high as $300 if justified]
-Possibly good wireless gaming headsets??? open to suggestions [must include reason(s) for recommendation]

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming & Entertainment(Equally Important), surfing the web, running 1000 pages of spread sheet [Just kidding].

Parts Required: Monitor, GPU, SSDs x2 and maybe gaming headset? o.O

Websites (Most to least preferred) : Canadacomputers.com, NCIX.com, Newegg.ca, Tigerdirect.ca.
Country of Origin: Canada
Overclocking: Never
SLI or Crossfire: Never
Monitor Resolution: Mainly 1680x1050 but 1920x1080 & 1920x1200 would be good options to have.
Additional Comments: Cookies!?!?!??

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Rizlla

September 29, 2011 7:51:23 AM

Are you not open for the idea of OC'ing at all? You might get a bit of a bottleneck with that CPU in some places, but not much and this is usually sorted by OC'ing the CPU. Just making the clock rate a bit higher.

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coffeecoffee

September 29, 2011 8:12:11 AM

Rizlla said:

Are you not open for the idea of OC'ing at all? You might get a bit of a bottleneck with that CPU in some places, but not much and this is usually sorted by OC'ing the CPU. Just making the clock rate a bit higher.

I know I can get to 3.3GHZ on this CPU using the stock cooler but 0.3GHz in practice is 10% and that won't translate into more than MAYBE 1-3FPS in games which doesn't make a difference for me - plus there is always a risk associated with OCing regardless of how "safe" it is. With all possibilities considered I don't think it makes a worth-while difference.

~Coffee

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AdrianPerry

Homebuilt system Authority

September 29, 2011 8:32:41 AM

Christmas is too far away. Wait a couple of months and then post again.

AMD has BullDozer lined up and supposedly the new 7xxx series of GPU's as well.

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