Suggestion for upgrade

[plainzwalker]

I am split between upgrading either my CPU, which means I could have to upgrade the MB or upgrade my graphics card.

My cpu is an AMD Athlon II x4 630 and my graphics is Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 with 1gig

My motherboard only supports up to AM3. I am looking to spend upto $200 or so, or equivalent in euros since I am currently in germany.


Sugguestions?

Thank you

 

[elheriel]

Could you tell us what power supply you have ? This might be a limit to how much (if it all) you can upgrade.

 

[plainzwalker]

I have an Antec 550w (model: BP550 PLUS)

 

[idroid]

buddy, upgrading that build is extremely pointless... you could get a Phenom II and a 6850 (that will exceed your budget) but it will be outperformed by a almost 2 years old i3 21xx

 

[plainzwalker]

So you are suggesting?

 

[idroid]

i could link you a cheap phenom X4 and a GPU but idk.... i think its better if you save a little bit more moeny and buy the 599.89$ build in my signature and upgrade it later, THAT build does have a LOT of upgrade room... not yours

 

[plainzwalker]

So you are saying new mb/cpu/gpu then? Thats fine, if its something I need to do then I need to do it.

 

[idroid]

So you are saying new mb/cpu/gpu then? Thats fine, if its something I need to do then I need to do it.

Yep, go to the first link in my signature and find the $590ish build, you could probably reuse the HDD and case of your PC to get a bit better CPU like the i3 2120

 

[idroid]

take a look at this: (6850 vs GTX260) http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/291?vs=318 now look this: (7850 vs 6850) http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=539 see the HUGE performance difference between the GTX260 and 7850?

 

[plainzwalker]

I won't ever compare Radeon cards against Nvidia, and after looking at your builds everyone except for the budget build and 2nd most expensive build has a Radeon card in it I can see what you like. Every time I've put a radeon card into a system I have had nothing but problems with it. With I will go ahead and look at stuff today, thank you for the time.

 

[idroid]

I won't ever compare Radeon cards against Nvidia, and after looking at your builds everyone except for the budget build and 2nd most expensive build has a Radeon card in it I can see what you like. Every time I've put a radeon card into a system I have had nothing but problems with it. With I will go ahead and look at stuff today, thank you for the time.

what do you mean by "never compare a radeon vs a nvidia card"? right now the radeon cards are faster than anything nvidia's got.

AMD drivers have being improved A LOT.

 

[plainzwalker]

I can't compare them, period. Just like I will buy another used car or HP laptop. It is all about experience, if you consistently have had bad experience with something why would you keep going back?

I would switch to intel except for the fact that then I would have to look at buying new memory and I haven't owned an intel since my 486sx.

Its just about personal preference really I guess.

 

[idroid]

I can't compare them, period. Just like I will buy another used car or HP laptop. It is all about experience, if you consistently have had bad experience with something why would you keep going back?

I would switch to intel except for the fact that then I would have to look at buying new memory and I haven't owned an intel since my 486sx.

Its just about personal preference really I guess.

Too bad, because a cheap intel G850 beats the FX-8150 in gaming and AMD cards have extremely good drivers now... well, your choice

 

[elheriel]

That CPU is probably going to drag the system down a bit by it's lack of L3 cache, but your budget will only allow you to change one component, and that should probably be your graphics card.

It's sad to see that you won't trust Radeon anymore as they do make great cards these days but I totally understand that. I have also been frustrated by other companies in the past... I guess it's one of the reasons why I will never build another system without a Corsair power supply

Anyway, given how you're an Nvidia guy, how would that look to you ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127593

You don't have to go with MSI, I'm just linking it to give you an idea of the price and specs of the card. Keep and mind that prices and availability will vary with european sellers, but I expect this one to fit your budget just fine. Just make sure the card will fit your system and is compatible with everything. PSU, motherboard, case space... these are things you wanna be absolutely sure of before open the box of the GPU.


If you can't find them (or if they are too expensive) in europe, you could try the 560 SE, which is a bit less powerful and cheaper, or the 560ti which is considerably more powerful and somewhat more expensive. I would expect the 560ti to sell for around 200-220 euros.

 

[plainzwalker]

Basically I decided to go with the following... even though I am still debating about it. Depending on where I order from the prices range from $400+ paying cash locally to $300 if I buy it from the states and having it mailed over.

I really would go with a radeon, but like the last one I bought I don't want to buy it and then after a week decide its garbage and can't return it.

GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 or Asrock 970 Extreme4 depending on where I order from
AMD Phenom II X4 965
EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Yes this is out of my budget, but I guess if I am going to upgrade before my 4 year cycle then might as well spend some decent money I guess. Video card could be better, but I can never justify spending a lot on video cards when I don't play a lot of high end games, and I don't have 1080 monitors.

 

[plainzwalker]

Just to close this out here is what I went with:
AMD Phenom x4 965
Asrock 970 Extreme4
Sapphire Radeon HD 7770

The radeon card, despite my hesitation, is doing a good job so far. Not sure where else I can improve the system though. Apparently I need to either switch hard drives, or look into getting a solid state one for my boot drive since according to the windows score that is the lowest rating.