upgrade thoughts

Hawkesbury

Hawkesbury

Hawkesbury

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Joined
23 Nov 2009
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252
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GB
Morning all,

So last year I created this thread - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18378095

Since posting that and actually buying anything I got a new job on the other side of the country so thought I would save as much money as I could and didn't do anything.

My current specs are

MSI 760GM-E51 (FX) AMD 760G (SOCKET AM3+) MOTHERBOARD
Phenom ii X2 550 BE @ 3.7
8 Gb DDR3 Ram (4x2GB)
500gb HD
HD 5770 1GB
nexus value 430w PSU
Antec 300 case

The PC is used for some CAD work (inventor, revit and sketchup), general internet browsing, editing some photos (and the very rare video) and playing a few games - BF3 (will play BF4 on release), defiance and an odd MMO.

The area that I find most frustrating is the games, becoming rather laggy and generally not that enjoyable due to continually playing at low settings.

Other things of note.

I have overclocked the CPU, but cannot get it stable above 3.7 ghz. I am using a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 CPU Cooler which was about £10. In order to get it to fit over the normal RAM I had to bend some of the fins on the block to make it all fit....

SO what do I do?

option 1.

Stage 1. Budget £120-150. This is to do now. CPU/cooler?
Stage 2. budget £200 - new graphics card in November for BF4.

option 2.

Smallest finance package possible - £330 ish from what I can see, and pay off in full in November so get hit with a £20 fee. making total budget £330.
But buy every thing now.

any thoughts?
 
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Your CPU and GPU are both pretty weak to be honest.

I don't know what resolution you are gaming on but that could factor into your decision making.

If it were me I would upgrade both.

But if I were to prioritize I would upgrade the GPU first to something like a 7850 at least.
That 7770 is going to struggle playing anything like BF3 at decent settings, even at low resolutions.
 
That's a very small budget for you needs.

CAD and video editing are very core intensive so you need either an i5/i7 or an 83**.

The problem is for the 83** a 970/990x is advised due to the additional features..

So either way you need a new motherboard.

Anyway of increaseing your budget?
 
budget is limited due to family commitments.

I am playing BF3 at 1920x1080 resolution, it works, doesn't look pretty...

what about an FX6300? that's more cores than I currently have and should OC reasonably on a £30-40 cooler? which could come into the low budget.

What would happen with an fx8320 in my mobo? would it work?
 
oh and I am right in thinking that a fx6300 set up would be better than an i3 one for what I would be doing? As I wouldn't have the budget for an i5 ever....
 
The 6300 would be better than you've got but something like 8320 would be much better for you needs.

The problem with the motherboard is the CPU may start to throttle which means it won't be working near its best and overc locking becomes very hard.

A friend of mine has recently upgrade from a 6300 to an i5 and he said he can't believe how much smoother BF3 is, the lag he suffered had gone.. They are expensive but worth it.
 
Doomedspeed said:
The 6300 would be better than you've got but something like 8320 would be much better for you needs.

The problem with the motherboard is the CPU may start to throttle which means it won't be working near its best and overclocking becomes very hard.

A friend of mine has recently upgrade from a 6300 to an i5 and he said he can't believe how much smoother BF3 is, the lag he suffered had gone.. They are expensive but worth it.
Click to expand...

The work computers we use only have i3's in them and are fine for all design package stuff we are doing. The i3 is noticeably quicker than the phenom ii x2 550 that I have though. I agree i5 or i7 would be better, but I haven't tried one so can't comment, and they are currently out of budget, unless someone can show me a way for £350 max including an upgraded GPU.

As much as i would like to i cannot see myself getting into i5 budget territory, although i3 i guess i could do, but this would have an impact on GPU.

so i guess the real question comes down to

1. FX6300 + Cooler + 7870
2. I3 xxxx + mobo + cooler + £100 GPU
3. FX8320 + stock cooler + 7850
 
I am itching to spend some money today, does anyone have any thoughts?

is the refurbished H80 cooler worth buying over an air cooler? only if i went the fx6300 route.

Thanks
 
Just to throw a spanner in the works, as nobody else has picked it up, but I would seriously look at replacing that cheap Psu.
 
Idleman said:
Just to throw a spanner in the works, as nobody else has picked it up, but I would seriously look at replacing that cheap Psu.
Click to expand...

Well said, though appearently it is 80+, that suprised me. :)

It does look like it needs replacing though, especially if your going for the 7870.
 
Doomedspeed said:
Well said, though appearently it is 80+, that suprised me. :)

It does look like it needs replacing though, especially if your going for the 7870.
Click to expand...

Would it be fine if I went 7850 then? Do newer cards use less power? Would it be worth waiting till november and picking one up then but do cpu now?
 
Hawkesbury said:
Would it be fine if I went 7850 then? Do newer cards use less power? Would it be worth waiting till november and picking one up then but do cpu now?
Click to expand...

well maybe, i just meant any GPU really..

There have been some instances were under load some unbranded or value PSU's have blown and taken other components out with it (CPU, GPU, mobo ect).. Whereas if a good branded (80+) PSU blows it just takes itself out..

This normally happens under load, so that's why adding a GPU (which draws a fair bit of power) will do this.
 
At the moment his PSU is probably fine, but to add a better gfx card I would advise upgrading it, the one above is the minimum I would recommend for a low-mid end card.
 
You'll struggle a bit to upgrade due to the age of everything. If you got a 6300 you'd get some performance increase, but the GPU is holding you back mostly in BF3. At least with the 6300 if you later upgrade your board to a 970/990 one, it'll still work in it.

A full decent upgrade would be:

970/990 board
FX-6300 / FX-8320
7850 graphics card
500W PSU
 
Potty27 said:
Personally I'd buy this now:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £34.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 140 CPU Cooler £26.39
Total : £151.37 (includes shipping : FREE).



Then save up and get a used 6870/560/560ti for £50-£65.

You can upgrade the GPU again at a later date if needed, but that should get you going.
Click to expand...

As teppic (above me) infered, theres little point of getting the 6300 and overclocking it as that board won't overclock (well) enough to justify the outlay. And it won't lead to any FPS increases...

and if SR doesn't appear on AM3+ there is no upgrade path (apart from the 8320/8350 (which you will need a 990 board for)
 
A CPU upgrade will definitely be needed for BF4. There's no way a dual core (AMD or Intel) will run it properly. If these games are the main concern I'd save up for an 8320/7850 build, as it's the cheapest way to get high performance. As above, don't bother putting an 8320 into your current board.
 
Doomedspeed said:
As teppic (above me) infered, theres little point of getting the 6300 and overclocking it as that board won't overclock (well) enough to justify the outlay. And it won't lead to any FPS increases...

and if SR doesn't appear on AM3+ there is no upgrade path (apart from the 8320/8350 (which you will need a 990 board for)
Click to expand...

My path would be cpu/cooler/psu (small OC) - GPU - new mobo if needed.
 
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