Need help for an upgrade!

[wray00]

Hi. I want to upgrade my pc with a new cpu, motherboard, video card and ram. For now these are the only components I've got money for, around $540. I'm going to use it for 3d max, photoshop and gaming.

Now, for the cpu I've narrowed it down to i5-3450, i5-3470, i5-3550 and i5-3570. I'm not interested in overclocking or the integrated graphics, but I would like to know if there is a noticeable difference, money worth, between the clock speeds, when working with 3d max or photoshop.

For the motherboard I'm thinking about a H77, specifically Asus P8H77-M LE.

For the ram, 1x8gb 1333 mhz, CL-9, maybe... I might add another one in the future.

And for the video card a EVGA GTX 650 1GB DDR5. I'm going to play games like Battlefield 3, Max Payne 3, Metro 2033, Fifa 13, RO2, BBC2, but not necessarily on ultra settings, also my current display has a maximum resolution of 1360x768.

Also I've got to get a new PSU. The one I'm using right now is a 6 year old 500W, but I don't even know the manufacturer. I don't know anything about PSUs, but I saw some very helpful threads, but definitely could do with some recommendations.

I've been researching for weeks for these parts, because of the very tight budget, including reading threads posted on this forum. So I would greatly appreciate some input.
Thanks!

 

[o1die]

Some suggestions:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031 (power cord not included; you can use your old one) $75 with shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157297 $97 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220619 $61
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 (better resale value, $15 gift card included) $220

Too bad you didn't order about one month ago, with all the sales. Now isn't a very good time for pricing. If you want the 650, checkout sapphire and evga brands. I'm not a gamer, so others can give you better advice about the video card.

 

[lostgamer_03]

Cut Down on the MOBO to a B75 or go AMD.

If choosing AMD you can save a lot of Money and still get a great CPU. And I mean a Whole lot, like 100$ and the difference won't be noticable due to the GPU that you might want to buy which is fairly weaker compared to the CPU. FX 4300 and FX 6300 are great and only comes at the price of around 130$. Here you can see some performance difference on some of the new CPUs with a GTX 680. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6396/the-vishera-review-amd-fx8350-fx8320-fx6300-and-fx4300-tested/5

If choosing Intel you'll be sure to get the best performance, but not compared to the Price. The H77 MOBO isn't necessary due to that you won't be overclocking or going SLI I believe. The i5-3570, which I own myself, is very expensive 200-230$.

Cut Down on the Ram too. Get 2x4 GB instead it's cheaper and you still get the same performance.

The PSU should be at least 500 watts if you're going to upgrade to what I recommend below. 80+ effiecency and bronze certification indicates that it's not just some garbage PSU, so go with that if your budget allows you to do so. A PSU with higher watt numbers that is cheaper without 80 effiency and without bronze/silver/platinum/gold certification might not be better than a PSU with that I just mentioned. So don't go too cheap on the PSU, it will hurt in the end.

If you do so, then you just might could afford a GTX 650 ti or even a GTX 660, which will be a major upgrade in gaming.

 

[payturr]

No no no - don't go with B75, it's not a good chipset for regular use. I recommend getting the Core i5 3450 with a H67 or Z68 board, H77 is good too, put in 8GB of 1600/1866 RAM, and opt for a Radeon 7770 over the 650 Ti (unless you have a preference) because I've seen better gaming performance from the former.

 

[lostgamer_03]

No no no - don't go with B75, it's not a good chipset for regular use. I recommend getting the Core i5 3450 with a H67 or Z68 board, H77 is good too, put in 8GB of 1600/1866 RAM, and opt for a Radeon 7770 over the 650 Ti (unless you have a preference) because I've seen better gaming performance from the former.

You don't say why it's bad. You only tell that YOU THINK it is bad. The performance of his hardware won't change at all.

Just look at the reviews. When it comes to performance this MOBO actually beats some Z77 MOBOs.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/B75M-D3H/10.html

Even better 3d performance than a X79? Holy moly.

And at the end, just read the conclusion. a 9.7 out of 10. I don't see how it isn't the best possible option if he isn't overclocking, want to keep a tight budget and still maintaining awesome performance.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/B75M-D3H/13.html

 

[wray00]

Thanks for your replies.
It would have been great to have taken advantage of the sales before the holidays.

I wasn't considering buying an AMD cpu before and I never used one. Looking at the tests from anandtech.com the FX 8350 looks like a pretty good cpu, but it's a few bucks more expensive than i5-3470 and it is more power hungry (125W vs 77W, 32nm vs 22nm).

The Fx6300 is really cheap, like $60 cheaper than i5-3470 very good for gaming, but I just want to make sure that it will work well with Photoshop CS6 and 3d max 2013.

How about this:

CPU: FX6300
Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 7770, 1GB, GDDR5
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3, but it has only pci express 2.0. Is that going to be an issue?
RAM: Kingmax DDR3, 1x8GB, 1333MHz

With the savings I could get an upgrade for windows 8.

 

[wray00]

What about a Sapphire HD 7850 1 GB?

Working with 3ds max and Photoshop comes before gaming.

What would be the best video card for the FX 6300 without bottleneck?

Is the FX6300 a good cpu for 3d max, considering it's low price?

 

[wray00]

Should I get a better cpu and cheaper video card?

 

[o1die]

Let's try this again:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727 $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138345 $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147096 $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130841 $170 after rebate

Total cost: $370

I use an older version of the biostar board; the 965 will give you good performance overall especially when overclocked. The biostar gives you about three levels of overclocking in the bios that automatically selects the best ram and cpu fsb for you.

Intel option:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115234 $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157303 $65

For $105 extra, you can go with Intel and not overclock the cpu. Total cost with above ram and video card, about $475; you can try your old power supply first, and get the antec later if you have any issues. The antec I linked is probably the best bang for the buck right now, unless newegg puts something else on sale.

 

[lostgamer_03]

Should I get a better cpu and cheaper video card?

If you read what I just wrote then I suggest you to get a cheaper MOBO, cheaper RAM, cheaper CPU and then use the saved Money for a better GPU.

 

[wray00]

After a lot of comparisons and looking at benchmarks I've decided on the FX 6300, good for multi threaded programs, games and it's cheap.
For the video card I'm going with the Sapphire or Asus HD 7770 Ghz Edition
Gonna get some cheap 8 gb ram and a Asrock or Asus motherboard with at least 1xSATA III.
Thanks lostgamer_03 for sugesting the cpu.