PC Upgrade Suggestions

[heroes42]

Hello everybody! So basically I’m just looking for some upgrade suggestions for my current rig and what I should buy next.

Budget Range: My dad offered to buy some upgrades as a Christmas present, so I presume my budget is around $300. Max maybe $400.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: I use this PC for just about everything, however the primary focus is gaming. Web surfing and movie watching are tied for 2nd place.

Current System Components:

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz (http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849)

RAM: Kingston (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz/Patriot (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333MHz (It’s either that, or vice versa with 8GB 1333 and 4GB 1600. I had a mix up when buying ram a year or so ago and accidentally bought 1333 instead of 1600, but installed it anyway and currently run 13GB @ 1333Mhz)

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435)

GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition OC 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102983)

PSU: APEVIA ICEBERG 680W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148028)

HD: Seagate Barracuda 1’TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433)

OD: ASUS 24X (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135221)

AUDIO: Rocketfish 7.1-Channel PCI Sound Card (http://www.rocketfishproducts.com/products/computer-accessories/RF-71SDCD.html)

CASE: NZXT Phantom Full Tower White (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067)

MONITOR: Dynex 40” 1080p LCD HDTV @ 1920 x 1080

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Wherever is cheapest and I don’t mind buying used parts.

Parts Preferences: Doesn’t matter to me, I just want the best bang for the buck. If it came to a tie between Intel/AMD or Nvidia/AMD, I would side with AMD.

Overclocking: I do plan to start overclocking, but for now I am studying guides.


All suggestions are welcome! And I'd extra appreciate an order in which I should upgrade my parts with some suggestions for each! Thanks!

 

[camohanna]

Your graphics card is fine, i would get an i5-3570k and the asrock extreme4 and coolermaster hyper 212 evo for cooling.

Or you could get an ssd and save the money for haswell.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/eTmW
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/eTmW/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/eTmW/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Intel 330 Series 180GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($166.74 @ Mwave)
Total: $496.71
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-18 17:29 EST-0500)

 

[camohanna]

Or something as simple as this

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fIk6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fIk6/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fIk6/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $279.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-18 17:32 EST-0500)

 

[camohanna]

I just saw that you have 4 sticks of ram, so you should probably consider this

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fJyx
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fJyx/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fJyx/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Total: $297.53
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-18 17:34 EST-0500)

 

[heroes42]

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll take these into consideration.

 

[camohanna]

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll take these into consideration.

Your welcome.