PC Upgrade Options

Grossmond

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Dec 5, 2012
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I have asked once or twice on here for advice and I had a set back or two but it actually played to my advantage so to speak so before I made the final plunge of purchasing I wanted to toss out both upgrades I was looking at and what my needs are. My PCs main use is gaming, but I am looking at recording some of my games with the potential to stream here and there. Currently my rig is ancient but I have pushed it quite far...

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6400+
MOBO: ASUS M2N32-SLI
RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2 4GB

I am looking at either sticking with AMD or going to Intel, I do not favor one of the other I mostly concern myself with pushing the all might dollar as far as I can.

AMD Option
CPU: Phenom II X4 965 BE
MOBO: ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0
RAM: G.SKILL Value Series 8GB
Total = $231

Intel Option
CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge
MOBO: ASRock Z77 Pro3 LGA 1155
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 8GB
Total = $314

I can actually go a bit beyond these two prices, but trying to go above $400. I am also upgrading to Win 7 but that is not figuring into this cost. If anyone has an alternative to one of these setups or which option would be best bang for buck your help is awesomely welcome. I went with the Z77 board as someone who had helped me before said it was a good option for if I had a chance to upgrade to a better CPU at a later date.
 
Solution
For $300 i suggest this. You can upgrade to a better gpu later down the line and just use the discrete card you have now.

Microcentre:

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

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $263.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-11 01:55 EST-0500)

Newegg:

PCPartPicker part list...
I don't see a video card listed. what do you have?
if money is a problem what about a BIOS update to your current board. Maybe it will support the quad you listed?

but will tell you that Intel would probably be the way to go.

what is your monitor/resolution? what is your video card?
 

Augray37

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May 4, 2011
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idk swifty, with lower budget rigs the bang for the buck is much closer between intel and amd than with, say, a $1000 rig. however, no matter the budget, intel nearly always remains the more appealing option, regardless of value. between an overclockable quad-core phenom ii x4 and a non-overclockable dual-core, i'd almost go AMD and put the extra $80 toward a better graphics card with a budget in this range.
 

Augray37

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the stock cooler that comes with a Phenom ii x4 isn't bad (with proper seating and case air flow), but if you do get a cooler try this guy on for size...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835999048

it's basically a hyper 212 plus but cheaper.
 
a 550/560/are horrible suggestions and not a decent upgrade over the 260 which i would run before buying either of those. wouldn't pick a 650 either and I wouldn't buy a card with 1gig of video memory. might as well not buy anything.

augry I don't understand what you're writing.
 

Augray37

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how can i elaborate? explain to me what you see as the problem, and then i shall proceed to, apparently, defend myself.
 
not sure what you're looking for...??

I have or had all those cards. first thing is, at his resolution I wouldn't touch a 1gig video card.
the 560 is a glorified 260 and neither one are worth a hill of beans.
the 550 and 650 were both 1gig cards and even if they had 2gigs wouldn't be fast enough to run well at 1900 resolution.
want anything else?
 

Grossmond

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Dec 5, 2012
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I didn't even see the 650 thank you Augray37.

Swifty the other side of this for me is price point, the 3 gig and up cards start to get well out of my range. I could always do a 2 gig option of what Augray37 suggested as its only $10 more.

Is there no real difference between 1 gig and 2 gig?
 

Augray37

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you seem to think that i suggested the 560 and 650, of which i did neither.

i did, however, share a link to a 650 ti that was within the OP's price range. clearly he prefers nvidia, and clearly he is on a budget. judging by the prices of the two cards he offered, a 650 ti fits nicely. i don't know if you know much about building computers and playing games and the like, but it is more than fast enough to run games at 1920x1080p, provided the settings are turned down a bit, as can be seen here...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-650-ti-benchmark-gk106,3318-6.html

i honestly don't see the problem that you obviously have here. if you have an actual suggestion for the OP, please share it instead of spouting off how bad you think everything is without, as is often the case, a shred of evidence to back your opinion. we're here to help each other, not fight, remember?
 

Augray37

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no problemo buddy!

and oh my yes there is a difference, but is it worth it for the particular caliber of cards we're considering? in this case....it's a toss up. i suppose i lean a little toward yeah, if it's just 10 dollars more, but then you're getting closer and closer to HD7850 prices (i don't know how well you like AMD cards, but the HD7850 is a heck of a value). that option would also give you the ability to crossfire in the future; the 650ti does not. here's a link to a good one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202004

it also comes with a couple games. you can't go wrong with that honestly, if you can swing it. the 650ti is a great budget card for people that like Nvidia. the HD 7850 is the best bang for the buck overall right now, in my humble opinion.
 

camohanna

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For $300 i suggest this. You can upgrade to a better gpu later down the line and just use the discrete card you have now.

Microcentre:

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

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $263.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-11 01:55 EST-0500)

Newegg:

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

Newegg:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $320.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-11 01:55 EST-0500)
 
Solution

Grossmond

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Dec 5, 2012
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Wow, well that opens up my options quite a bit. That blows the i3 I was looking at out of the water, and am I wrong or will that also beat out the AMD option I was looking at even if I was to OC it?

Forgot to mention, but what makes that such a nice deal is that one of those Microcenters is actually really close to me.
 


I didn't say anything about a 3gig card.

The difference between a 1gig card and a 2gig card has nothing to do with how many FPS you get but whether or not you have to ability to play the game smoothly at all.

Put whatever you want to put on your machine.
 

Grossmond

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Dec 5, 2012
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Ya they are about 40-50 minutes from my house depending on traffic, which to me is a nothing of a drive. Going by their website I came out with...


MSI Z77A-G41 LGA 1155 ATX Intel Motherboard - $44.99
Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz LGA 1155 Processor - $189.99
Corsair Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800) - $49.99
Total - $308.48 (after tax)

Is that about what you came to Solf? I ask because going with Camo's first suggestion it comes to $264, but I mean if the extra performance warrants the extra $30 I don't mine because it stays within my budget I just want to make sure before making the plunge.
 

Grossmond

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Dec 5, 2012
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Well I went and got the parts yesterday, hell of a deal. Thank you for pointing out Micro Center, and even better I won a gift card at work so I was wondering if anyone can refer me to an upgrade to my GTX 260 for about $100-$150? If there is one worth getting that is?
 

Augray37

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May 4, 2011
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if we're talking about the MSI Z77A-G41, which i'm pretty sure we are, then...um...did YOU read them? it clearly says crossfire support.