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Forums - PC Discussion - Help Me Upgrade My PC

Pemalite said:
...

However with that said, I have an Athlon 2 x4 620 in my brothers gaming machine that I built him and if you go into the BIOS and turn on "Advance Clock Calibration" - You may win the lottery like I did and unlock the L3 cache on that processor and turn it into a Phenom 2 x4.

Yep. Worth a try.

Now he already has a Socket AM3 compatible motherboard so if we can find the model of his motherboard *hint hint* he may just be able to buy something like a Phenom 2 x6 or Phenom 2 x4 for cheap.
Something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Just checked and it says compatible up to Phenom II X6. I think he needs to decide between full CPU+GPU upgrade or just a new CPU plus wait, there's no obvious choice and depends on how badly he needs the improvement.

Then drop in a Radeon 7850 (Or better) and overclock the processor and maybe upgrade the Ram to 8gb and it should be more than enough for StarCraft 2 without breaking the bank to much.
Should run pretty much any game fine really.

I wouldn't recommend OCing to someone who isn't planning to.

SC2 favours Nvidia cards according to Anandtech, if that's the main purpose of the computer (consider also the SC2 expansion comes out soon) then probably Nvidia?





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I think you're best bet is to go with a Phenom II X4 or X6 (preferably one of the Black editions, 975 minimum) if you can get it cheap. The Phenoms are actually on par with the new Bulldozer and Piledriver chips when it comes to gaming and for the most part are superior in single threaded performance. An update the GPU to either and AMD 7850 or an NVidia 660 would probably also help.

If you do decide to upgrade your CPU then I'd do it fairly fast as the Phenoms are likely to be going out of stock soon and some retailers may even up the price due to short supply. Otherwise, I'd look for a whole new motherboard and CPU setup when the new Intel chips are released.



 

thranx said:
ok here are some more detailed specs. Looked up my order history from newegg.com for the exact parts.

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392

Hope that helps. thanks so far for all the info you guys have provided


Well the good news is, regardless of the Gigabyte 770 based board, it will support any Phenom 2 processor regardless.

I would go for this Phenom 2 x4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

And this Geforce 660: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130825

8gb of ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231544

That would bring the upgrade to $318 (With rebate) and you will happily be able to play StarCraft 2 at max.

Unfortunatly the Phenom 2 x6 1090T/1100T are hard to find these days and would be double the price of that Phenom 2 x6 if you managed to grab one.
And a rule of thumb for Phenom 2 based chips is never use all 4 memory slots, it will limit the overclock due to the memory controller having to manage more and sometimes (Depending on the system) you need to increase the voltages to retain stability even at stock, if you are happy on the off-chance you may need to  increase voltages then grab the same kit again and whack it in.

 

sethnintendo said:
I've been wanting to get a new graphics card in the 120-180 price range. What are some of the top selections for that price range?

Geforce 660 - $179 with a $20 rebate.
If you want to go cheaper than the Radeon 7770 at $120.

If you're willing to go second hand, the Radeon 6970 2gb. :)



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--

Ok so after looking over the posts it looks like I might be best off upgrading my mobo, cpu, and ram now, and than next year I can upgrade my video card with more money. I think in the long that will give me a good boost now, and another good boost next year so that way i dont have to upgrade for a couple more. So I will revise my budget to 250-350 for a cpu, mobo, and ram, and than sometime next year i will probably drop another 250-300 on a video card. Would that change any of your guys opinion on what parts?



thranx said:
Ok so after looking over the posts it looks like I might be best off upgrading my mobo, cpu, and ram now, and than next year I can upgrade my video card with more money. I think in the long that will give me a good boost now, and another good boost next year so that way i dont have to upgrade for a couple more. So I will revise my budget to 250-350 for a cpu, mobo, and ram, and than sometime next year i will probably drop another 250-300 on a video card. Would that change any of your guys opinion on what parts?

You don't need to change RAM particularly. 4GB is fine.

I think that's the right idea, because a graphics upgrade less than a $160 isn't worth it.



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ok so i came up with this on newegg.com Any suggestions you guys would change? i am going to try and buy it sometime in the next few weeks.


G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL $44.99


GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel B75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $74.99

Intel Core i5-2310 Sandy Bridge 2.9GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor $164.99


Total after tax is 305.63



hd 7770/7850 and an i5



Squilliam said:
Mazty said:
Squilliam said:
Mazty said:
Squilliam said:
I would say just upgrade the graphics chip and wait until you have enough money and do the whole rest of the system next year.


No point. A better GPU would be throttled by that CPU. 2.6Ghz?? As a lot of RTS' are dependant on a good CPU, he should look into getting a whole new mobo setup. IMO save up for a good i5 as that'll last you for a long time. 

This is what I said.

No it's not. You said:
" upgrade the graphics chip "

That would be a waste of time as anything he upgrades to would either be useless or be throttled so badly that he wouldn't see an increase in performance. He shouldn't upgrade the GPU UNTIL he's upgraded his CPU. 

Why would it be a waste of time? I run a similar system with the only difference being 200Mhz and Phenom II vs Athlon X4. You're GPU/CPU limited in different parts of a scene so unless your CPU is hopelessly outdated you can still improve things with a stronger CPU and an Athlon II X4 is pretty decent still.

I'm not 100% with the older architecture but I think the Athlon X4 II series is more likely to bottlekneck a modern GPU then a phenom II. I have a friend who was getting massively bottleknecked by his Phenom I series when using a HD5770 (talking 20+fps less then what he should be getting) and so because of that being an entry level gamer card I'd recommend rehauling the pc starting with the cpu *if* my idea that the athlon X4 II architecture is equal to the phenom I series. If it's equivalent to the phenom II series then yes, he will get benefits from a better gpu. 



thranx said:
ok so i came up with this on newegg.com Any suggestions you guys would change? i am going to try and buy it sometime in the next few weeks.


G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL $44.99


GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel B75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $74.99

Intel Core i5-2310 Sandy Bridge 2.9GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor $164.99


Total after tax is 305.63

You don't need the RAM.



Soleron said:
thranx said:
ok so i came up with this on newegg.com Any suggestions you guys would change? i am going to try and buy it sometime in the next few weeks.


G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL $44.99


GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel B75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $74.99

Intel Core i5-2310 Sandy Bridge 2.9GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor $164.99


Total after tax is 305.63

You don't need the RAM.


Why not? Windows 7 will use as much as it can for Superfetch.
And some games can push you over the 4gb barrier easily enough, especially if he runs a "Dirty" System where he has hundreds of items in the taskbar loaded with Windows.
Besides, it's cheap and he won't have to worry about it again in the future, but don't assume someone doesn't need more than 4gb of ram, I have 32gb and use it all and will probably move to 64gb with Ivy Bridge-E.

So perhaps a better idea would be to ask him if he needs it?

Alternatively he can ditch the 8gb of ram, channel that into a faster processor and end up with a Core i5 3470 instead. (3.2ghz, 3.6ghz turbo). - And it will be Ivy Bridge and not Sandy Bridge too.

Mazty said:

I'm not 100% with the older architecture but I think the Athlon X4 II series is more likely to bottlekneck a modern GPU then a phenom II. I have a friend who was getting massively bottleknecked by his Phenom I series when using a HD5770 (talking 20+fps less then what he should be getting) and so because of that being an entry level gamer card I'd recommend rehauling the pc starting with the cpu *if* my idea that the athlon X4 II architecture is equal to the phenom I series. If it's equivalent to the phenom II series then yes, he will get benefits from a better gpu. 


An Athlon 2 for all intents and purposes -is- a Phenom 2. Just the L3 cache has been chopped/turned off. That's it.
Some Athlon 2's you can unlock into Phenom 2's if you enable "Advance Clock Calibration" in the BIOS, the difference in performance however is highly dependant on the game/benchmark you are using.
See here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/81?vs=105&i=2.5.3.4.6.25.26.27.28.29.30.31.32.33.34.35.36.37.38.39.40.41.42.43.45.46.50.49.48.47.44

An Athlon 2 x4 though overclocked to 3.8ghz+ is still nothing to sneeze at as far as gaming is concerned.



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--