Would I see a Difference with a New Build?

samuelspark

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Sep 12, 2011
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Approximate Purchase Date: Hopefully soon

Budget Range: $450 - $550 Before Rebates and after Tax (.06%) shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Casual Gaming on Mid-Low Settings, Watching Videos

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, OS, Optical Drive

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: microcenter.com newegg.com tigerdirect.com

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: 1TB HDD

Overclocking: OC with the TurboV feature in the ASUS mobo

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

My Future Build
Phenom II x2 560 ($47.99)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0347369
Asus M5A97 EVO AM3+ ATX AMD ($119.99)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0366622
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 7,200 RPM ($59.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=samsung%20spinpoint%20f3
G.Skill Sniper Super Low Voltage RAM 8GB DDR3-1600 MHz ($49.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461&Tpk=8gb%20ddr3
Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 PSU ($59.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182200&Tpk=rosewill%20630w
NZXT M59 Black Midtower Gaming Case ($49.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146058&Tpk=nzxt%20m59
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ ($25.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
HIS Radeon HD 6790 ($134.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161377
TOTAL = $178.06 at Microcenter, $370.94 at Newegg, $559 initial payment (+$12.55 shipping)

My Current Build
Intel Q9300 Stock
Some 775 Socket Emachines mobo
500GB Seagate Barracuda
4GB DDR2
250w FSP Group PSU
Some Emachines case
GT240 512MB DDR5

Would I see much of a difference with a new build?
 
Solution
Buy a better case. Then upgrade your CPU to at least a i5-2500k 4gb is still good for playing games. I'm on 2gb and I just finished DEUS EX: HR.

You should upgrade your stuff by this order.

PSU
Case
GPU
CPU/Mobo/Ram

cutebeans

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Buy a better case. Then upgrade your CPU to at least a i5-2500k 4gb is still good for playing games. I'm on 2gb and I just finished DEUS EX: HR.

You should upgrade your stuff by this order.

PSU
Case
GPU
CPU/Mobo/Ram
 
Solution

mrmotion

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Dec 8, 2009
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Your quad is fine, leave it as is. Buy a new case, new power supply. 200$ if you got overboard. That still leaves you with $300 for a new video card and ram. Stick with your quad for a little while longer until your budget allows more of a upgrade, not a "possible" side grade or possible degrade if unlocking your phenom doesnt work.
 

bucknutty

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This upgrade seems unwise. The CPU your planning on will give almost no improvment over the one you have. It seems to me your best bet would be to update the PSU and Video card and just role with what you have. That CPU and video card together would be able to play most any game on medium high-ish settings.

Then in a year or 2 get a new chip board and ram, OR save your money for a bit and go big.

Go i5 2500 $200
z68 mobo $100
4x4 1600 ram $ 100
6770 $100
PSU $60 and then all the other parts you are looking at. I know this blows your budget but in a year or so i think you will be much happier with your performance level.
Or look into reuseing old case HD and Optical to save a few bucks.




 

nordlead

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Aug 3, 2011
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There is absolutely nothing wrong with top mounted PSUs, since they vent out the back. A decent PSU can run on 30C air temperature, and a good one can run on 40C. Bottom mounted PSUs only advantage is that they can draw in cool air from outside the case. However, a drill and some ingenuity will allow you to flip a PSU over even though it is on the top. Of course, that is only if you care that much.

Also, a well ventilated case has two properties. A fan in the bottom of the front of the case drawing air in, and a fan in the top of the back of the case blowing the hot air out. You can always take a drill to it and add vents yourself, but having read a study once on fan placement the one I described worked best. I really wish I could find the website again, but I'm yet to run across it again. Besides, it isn't like you are putting in double GTX590's or anything crazy like that.

Anyways, here is what I would do....

I would keep the current processor since you have to get to Phenom II X4 955 before you'll notice any benefit for gaming, so there isn't much reason to switch platforms. The only meanwhile reason to switch processors is to also upgrade to DDR3 RAM, but I don't think it is worth it for how much you'll have to spend.

With $400 I'd probably do something like this.

GPU - Radeon 6850 $150 (there are better buys, but I didn't know if you use rebates.) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908
PSU - Corsair CX500 - $60 but there is a 10% discount code and a $20 rebate. Good PSU unless you plan on going SLI/Crossfire in the future, then it won't be big enough
HDD - the one you picked $60

Total - $270 + tax
- save $26 on PSU
- save $10 on a different 6850
Total with discounts - $234 + tax

Re-use everything else, save the money, and upgrade to an i5-2500k later, or maybe whatever good Ivy Bridge CPU comes out. If you really can't re-use the case, then add a case for $50.
 

superflykicks03

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Sep 9, 2010
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Im assuming that you have an older E-machines PC and you are worried that the video card will not fit? If its possible to move your mobo into a new case and keep that Intel quad that could be a good move.

A couple of things to watch out for:
Make sure that you can pop out the I/O plate on the back so it can be installed in a new case. Some OEMs just build the IO plate into the case.

Also, check to make sure that the power, reset, led etc headers on the motherboard are compatible with the standard ATX headers found in a new case. I tried to move a Dell motherboard for a friend one time only to find that it would not accept the power & reset cables due to some propitiatory config.

Of course, all this is was a waste if you decide to just go with a new mobo and proc :)
 



would have been nice to know this a lot sooner. The stuff you picked isn't an upgrade and NOT getting a quad core at this point in time is a loosing proposition. Also "unlocking", c'mon already. If you want a quad buy a quad. $550 isn't a lot when you need everything but give some time and several people will make reasonable suggestions as far as better components go. I'll look later to see what I can find too.
 

nordlead

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Aug 3, 2011
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tell him to buy his own?

Seriously, now the question becomes how do you build two PCs for under $550, because if your dad only browses the web you can buy a AMD Athlon X2 for cheap with a regular AM2 motherboard and no upgrade path and take all that saved money and put it toward your graphics card and PSU.

EDIT: better yet, trash pick a computer and put puppy linux on it for him :-D
 

cutebeans

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You won't be getting anything worthwhile with that budget of yours. =( Tell your dad to up the budget or something. The best way is upgrade the GPU and PSU of your current one. Use remaining money to buy your dad a good system.
 

mrmotion

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Dec 8, 2009
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dont you a have a p4 or something in the basement you can give your dad? hell ive got at least two dells floating around in the crawl space as a "just in case" machine. Craiglist a p4 for under $50 and call it a day