Need Mobo, CPU, GPU >~300$

[TristenTG]

Okay, this is the third time I've written this and it's messed up. (curse you iPhone)
I have a newish store bought inspiron that i slapped a GT 440 in and i want to upgrade

Here's what I have:
Corsair 500r
Hyper 212 evo
550w CM eXtreme PSU
What I can scrap from the old machine:
500gb HDD
4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 533MHz (I will upgrade to 2x4gb ddr3 1600)
Crappy Mobo (Dell Inc. 04GJJT (CPU 1))
Anthalon x2 ii 250 @3.0ghz
nVidia GT440


I'm looking to upgrade for about ~300$ shipped.
I need a CPU Mobo and GPU.
I've been looking at a GTX 550, but I just some input.

So thanks for the help in advance.

 

[Scott_D_Bowen]

Depending upon the price of 8GB of DDR3 (at a higher clock speed) you may be better off trying to make the jump to a GeForce GTX 560 Ti, if keeping the "4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 533MHz" lets you.

RAM prices are likely to lower over time, whereas decent video cards are always in hot demand.
Not to mention the modern processors have so much cache and significantly better prefetching of information that having DDR3-533 isn't as much of a deal as it once was. (Especially since lower MHz RAM usually has much tigher timings than DDR3-1600).

- How much extra $$$ would that give you towards a better video card?
- Which country are you in?



OK, maybe scratch this idea. The GTX 560 Ti is still twice the price of a GTX 550 Ti...

SDB.

PS: I'm assuming you meant GTX 550 Ti, as we don't seem to be able to get the GTX 550 in Australia (so as far as I can tell it either (a) doesn't exist, or (b) is an OEM or China only part, etc.).

 

[TristenTG]

I'm in America.
8GB ddr3 would only be about 25$ on newegg so not getting it wouldn't help much

Yes, sorry I did mean the GTX 550 ti


I almost 100% certain I will be getting a GTX550 ti unless I get the AMD equivalent (which would only be if it came with free things)

So as of now, I'm debating whether to get a FX, or stick with a phenom 965 (which I heard doesn't OC well)
That leaves me with about 200-180$ ish for a CPU and mobo
Thanks for the help, man.

 

[djangoringo]

CPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775 / http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=75429&vpn=BX80637I33220&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1310

MOBO : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157303

GPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127704 (109$ after rebate)

or http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=59591&vpn=ZT-50404-10L%2FZT-50504-10L&manufacture=Zotac&promoid=1310 (79.99$ after rebate)

 

[TristenTG]

CPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775 / http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=75429&vpn=BX80637I33220&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1310

MOBO : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157303

GPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127704 (109$ after rebate)

or http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=59591&vpn=ZT-50404-10L%2FZT-50504-10L&manufacture=Zotac&promoid=1310 (79.99$ after rebate)

Rebates are really not my thing.
Thanks for the advice, but i was thinking more along the lines of a higher end AMD, instead of the lower end Intel (and ivy bridge is a little up there)

Maybe this motherboard: http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GA-970A-DS3-AM3-SATA-Motherboard/dp/B0083R9QQG/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1354234343&sr=1-4&keywords=gigabyte+motherboard+AM3

this CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103996

This 550ti when its back in stock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

which is about 297$
and with 70$ more i can get a 1TB Barracuda.

I'm just not 100% about the cpu.
Does it overclock well with a hyper 212, or is it even a decent CPU?

Thanks for replying everyone.

 

[djangoringo]

The i3-3220 beats the fx 4100 in gaming, even in multi-threaded applications and has a lower power consumption, by the way it is an ivybridge cpu.
The lower end in this case is the amd cpu not the intel one.
See this : http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-4170-core-i3-3220-benchmarks,3314-6.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-4170-core-i3-3220-benchmarks,3314-7.html

And that's with the more powerful fx-4170.
And if you choose from the ncix + mobo from newegg it stays at the same price as the amd+mobo.

And go with the 550 ti on ncix even without rebates it still is at 99.99$ free shipping.

 

[TristenTG]

Best answer selected by TristenTG.