Looking to upgrade

PSGamer · 2 Mar 2011 at 16:32

Hi,

I built a pc with overclockers two years or so ago, but im just looking for something with more umph, i built mine during the release of the I series intel processors, so my system is as follows

Asus Barebones
Core 2 Duo 2.5Ghz Processor
4gb of OCZ Ram DDR2 (I believe they are quite low mhz)
Nvidia Geforce GT240 (Will Be used in the proposed build)
1x 320 GB HD, 1x 500GB HD (May use the 500GB in the next build, though i'm trying to go for upgrades on everything)
Sony DVD DL Burner. (Will Be used in the proposed build)

But i just wanted something a little more... streamlined, a little better, an upgrade really. I'm looking at about £300 - £400, and this is what i've come up with. Oh, and i use my PC for gaming(Starcraft 2... MW2...League of Legends)... Photoshop, the occasional CAD work and video conversion. Would the proposed computer be hitting a bottleneck due to the older card?

Here it is;

Thank's for reading!

Cookeh · 2 Mar 2011 at 17:19

tbh, your graphics card needs an overhaul more than anything.

If you kept current HDDs as no real need to upgrade them you could get this:

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
(£104.16) £124.99

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
(£91.66) £109.99

Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU)
(£53.61) £64.33

Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
(£49.99) £59.99

GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99

Sub Total : £329.41
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £67.88
Total : £407.29

Slightly over-budget yes, but it has a quad core that clocks very well and will last several years to come (and seeing as games are needing more and more cores, and CAD/video conversion are very CPU dependant it makes more sense than the dual core i3). It also has a powerful graphics card that will not bottleneck your cpu and will run all the latest games.

What case/PSU combo do you currently have?

PSGamer · 2 Mar 2011 at 17:55

its just a basic asus barebones, and the PSU is only like... 300W or so, so it wouldnt handle a quadcore and graphics needing extra power.

Would it be cheaper to go with a dual core Phenom, and a compatible MB for unlocking? I remember reading about AMD just turning Quad core phenoms into tri cores and dual cores just to meet demand.

Thanks for the reply, definately gives me something to think about.

Cookeh · 2 Mar 2011 at 18:22

It would be cheaper, and all motherboard support unlocking.

But stable unlocking is never guaranteed - there are reasons that the cores are disabled

I personally highly doubt that that rumour of changing quads down to meet demand - simply doesn't make economical sense or sense in terms of business

PSGamer · 2 Mar 2011 at 19:11

That's True,

Yeah, those were just whispers in the wind so, im not too sure about them either, just someone speculating i guess.

Thanks for the help, looks like i might have to... concentrate on the graphics card a little more =]

Cookeh · 2 Mar 2011 at 21:42

No problem, if you shop around you can get the same parts cheaper

Might let you get a beefier graphics card like a HD5850/6870

PSGamer · 4 Mar 2011 at 23:56

Hm, Just seen that the MB you suggested is Micro ATX, so my case would be fine, it'd just need a new PSU to juice the quad-core and GFX, So i was thinking about something like this: (Trying to keep it below £350 ideally, i know i said 300-400 but meh, trying to get it around that price)

Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard - £59.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 "95W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £81.98
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £124.99
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel - £35.99
Coolermaster Elite Power 500W Power Supply - £34.99

Total with Shipping - £349.94

Is that pretty Solid for the Price =] Thanks.

Cookeh · 5 Mar 2011 at 12:10

It's not bad!

Just to let you know, the PSU doesn't have 80% efficiency, so you'd be better off with the CX430 - even if it is a bit more costly.

The 840 is effectively an unlocked Athlon II - so no L3 cache, and that can make a big impact. Infact, some benchmarks have shown a Athlon II X4 getting destroyed by a Phenom II X2 in some games :eek:

!