System Upgrade (500$)

burritobob

Honorable
Nov 14, 2012
1,082
2
11,460
Approximate Purchase Date: Black Friday ;)

Budget Range: Tops $500

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Minor Editing, Web Browsing

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: CPU, GPU, Motherbaord, RAM (if 8gb 1333mhz is fine) CPU Cooler, SSD (or better HDD)

Do you need to buy OS: NO

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Pref: Frys Newegg Amazon whatever is cheapest and has reasonable shipping to:

Location: Austin Texas

Parts Preferences: Dont care though no amd processors pls

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050 (running 2 screens but I game on 1 and surf web/skype etc. on the other)

Additional Comments: Playing BF3, Black Ops II, Dishonored, WoT, LoL, etc.
System Specs:
i5 2500k (stock fan & speed)
GIGABYTE h67m d2 b3
Asus hd6870 dcu1
8gb patiot memory 1333mhz
CoolerMaster GLite 371
500gb WD Blue
800w 80plus gold Silent Pro Coolermaster

And Most Importantly, Why am I Upgrading: Had this pc for a couple years now been thinking it is about time to upgrade. I wanna game at better settings anyways.
 
Solution
I would upgrade your motherboard to an ASRock Extreme 4 so you can overclock. I would use a Coolermaster Hyper Evo cooler. For an SSD I suggest a Samsung 840 Pro if you can afford it or a Crucial M4 if you need something more affordable. For a vid card I would go with a 7870. The rest of your build is still good.

mclovits

Distinguished
Apr 7, 2012
607
0
19,160
If I were you, at that resolution, I'd just get a GTX 660 Ti from Nvidia (I highly reccomend DirectCUII models from Asus) as well as maybe a Hyper 212 Evo to cool your CPU then Overclock it. Spend the Extra money on Maybe a better monitor or an SSD, hell, you could go with a Crossfire setup with some lower end cards too. That's just me.
 
I would upgrade your motherboard to an ASRock Extreme 4 so you can overclock. I would use a Coolermaster Hyper Evo cooler. For an SSD I suggest a Samsung 840 Pro if you can afford it or a Crucial M4 if you need something more affordable. For a vid card I would go with a 7870. The rest of your build is still good.
 
Solution