Board, RAM & CPU Upgrae Advice Required

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I built my PC 4 years ago now and it's starting to struggle a little. I recently upgraded the video card to an ATI 4870, but it's time to change the board, RAM & CPU as well.

I currently have an Asus board, an AMD Phenom II X940 Black Edition and 4 GB Kingston DDR2.

What can I upgrade it to that would be worth doing? Budget no more than £400. Is it worth switching to Intel? I don't really mind, but all options are open.

If suggesting Intel, then I'd like to stick with the reference board unless there's a reason not to.

TIA :D
 
Soldato
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Posted this in another thread a minute ago!

Something like this?

could spend the extra on different RAM to match the Blue colour scheme if your fussy like me :p

Or even a new PSU... or CPU cooler to replace the stock one...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £239.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2133HC11DC01) £35.99
Total : £357.96 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
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Last edited:
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Internet browsing, playing Eve & GW2 and the odd letter. I like to run games at max settings and not have stutter or whatever.

*Edit*

So it's basically twice as fast according to those benchmarks - thanks for that :)

if you have the cash to use, i5 is the way to go, but if you AMD you could do GFX too?

Asus HD 7850 DirectCU II V2 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games
AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail
ASRock 970 Extreme4 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit

Shipping : FREE
Total : £388.96
 
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if you have the cash to use, i5 is the way to go, but if you AMD you could do GFX too?

Asus HD 7850 DirectCU II V2 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games
AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail
ASRock 970 Extreme4 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit

Shipping : FREE
Total : £388.96

Which is best between them? Or do I need to go back to that comparison site?
 
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the 4870 will be holidng you back for better gaming graphics

id personally get the below

then when more funds, get an i5 and sell the i3

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III PC Game £179.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £83.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
Total : £387.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

 
Soldato
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Intel is the best. The i5 is a superb chip and can be overclocked easily without influencing power draw as much as an AMD chip.

This is my suggestion:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £159.95
1 x MSI HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £95.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
1 x BeQuiet Shadow Rock Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
Total : £412.30 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Not as good a GPU but the 7850 is an extra £50.
 
Soldato
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No need for the superfast RAM, save yourself a fiver.

were you speccing a trinity build? :)

EDIT: Don't get an OEM CPU and not get a CPU cooler. Rookie mistake. :)
 
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