Need help with choose pc upgrade

nasman123

nasman123

nasman123

Associate
Joined
27 Jan 2012
Posts
15
hi guys,

i am about to give my current pc to my best friend and i need help with upgrading my pc.

my current pc spec:-
amd phenom ii 955 black edition
msi 770-c45
4gb ram
His hd5770 1gb graphics card
mid-tower pc case



I don't have a huge budget and was hoping for no more than £400 for everything, including bigger hard drive - it just needs to be somewhat better than the above spec. Can it be done?
 
£400 isn't going to get you very far.

I'd keep what you've got and upgrade the graphics (and if necessary the PSU), the memory, and maybe add a SSD.

Then when more funds are available I'd look at swapping out the motherboard and CPU.
 
Unfortunately ive made my promise and I cant let him down now. Looking at the above specs, could you please tell me which today's spec will closely match it like for like?
 
I'm selling everything in the tower , except for monitor and hard drives. I do play games, but I don't know the resolution. What I want to know is what components match or slightly better my spec that are like for like in power to this pc? This will give me an idea of price.
 
Last edited:
This

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x MSI HD 7750 2048MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £71.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £28.98
1 x Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £453.96 (includes shipping : £11.75).




Or

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £95.99
1 x Asus F2A55 AMD A55 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £64.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £28.98
1 x Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £381.97 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
hi linwelin, thank you very much for taking your time to help me with the components. I'm most interested in the 2nd basket, but want to clarify the following:-

1. How much faster is the AMD A10 processor, compared to the 955 black edition and would i not be better off with the 965 black edition?

2. I noticed that you've gone for the A10 integrated trinity as a gfx option, but don't you think i'd be better off with say an AMD 965 black edition + a seperate Radeon HD 7770...are these not a lot more faster?

3. How much better is your "2nd basket" spec compared to my original system?

I hope you can forgive me for asking these questions, but i just want to make sure that i can squeeze the best tech for the money.

PS: I may post my own spec just for your opinions :)

Thanks!
 
Here is the spec i could build:-

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition + heat sink - £76
PowerColor HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB GDDR5 - £88
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 - £50
Crucial 8GB DDR3 1866Mhz Ballistix Tactical - £45
BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - £29
XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' PSU - £40
Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD - £54
Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM - £15

What do you think? In your opinion, how good is this compared to my current system and/or your spec?

Is there anything that you would change to gain performance/save energy or money?
 
Last edited:
I only spec the AMD build because of your limited budget, the first build is a better spec and is upgradeable.

The A10 is around the same speed as your current CPU give or take.

Intel is your best bet

I think it is pointless getting a AMD 965 but that is just my opinion, id rather go i3 ivy then upgrade to i5 when you have more funds.
 
thanks mate...what about the integrated trinity vs seperate gpu? which is faster and by how much? Also the intel system, how much faster is it compared to my current spec?
 
i looked at the anandtech site and from comparison, the 965 seems to beat the A10 in many ways mate and it's cheaper.

i think what this comes down to is the gpu. what resolution did you play skyrim? Also how does the trinity compare to the 7770? is there only a small amount of difference in speed or is there a massive difference?
 
Last edited:
I doubt a £95 APU is going to beat a £90 GPU..personally I would go with the Phenom 965, I don't see how it is pointless still a decent CPU. Why buy i3 now then upgrade later when i5 will be outdated by haswell. When people upgrade it's to the latest generation usually so I don't see the point of trying to upgrade to i5 when Haswell be out
 
nasman123 said:
i looked at the anandtech site and from comparison, the 965 seems to beat the A10 in many ways mate and it's cheaper.

i think what this comes down to is the gpu. what resolution did you play skyrim? Also how does the trinity compare to the 7770? is there only a small amount of difference in speed or is there a massive difference?
Click to expand...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45.00
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.98
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £35.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 (MB-364-GI) £35.00
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £397.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).



I'd suggest that, no GPU but I would look around for a 2nd hand 1GB 460 which should be ~£50. The 7750/7770 isn't great value to be honest (is better than the Trinity APU though) an overclocked 460 thrashes them (link), infact as you can see even at stock speeds it wins ;) Or use the IGP for now and save for a 7850, AMD have announced another "never settle" free games bundle which once it comes into effect will bag you Tomb raider and Bioshock infinite
 
nasman123 said:
i looked at the anandtech site and from comparison, the 965 seems to beat the A10 in many ways mate and it's cheaper.

i think what this comes down to is the gpu. what resolution did you play skyrim? Also how does the trinity compare to the 7770? is there only a small amount of difference in speed or is there a massive difference?
Click to expand...

Have a look at this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcA9W1xb0Cs
 
dacads said:
Or pickup a Radeon 6870 used for around £80 which will easily beat both the gtx 460 and radeon 7770

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/540?vs=536
Click to expand...

I still have my EVGA 1GB 460 the new drivers have helped it's performance too. Mine has been clocked to 900Mhz (factory is 763Mhz) but even 850Mhz should be easily do able on any card. Once overclocked it's on par with a stock 6870 and of course the 460 has CUDA support and PhysX, for around £50 it's a bargain.

I'd prefer a 6870 over the 7770 but at £80 that's priced too close to the 1GB 7850. Once the never settle games bundle kicks in it becomes even easier to justify spending a little more on the 7850 GPU (I'd want the 2GB 7850 but that's £150ish).

Idleman said:
I thought you were keeping the hdds!
Click to expand...

I went off his first post bud

nasman123 said:
£400 for everything, including bigger hard drive
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your input guys.

@ honosuseri - that is a great spec intel system, but surely when it comes to price, pound for pound, the amd system is much better? Also when in real-world, is there really a huge difference in fps playing games between the igp and the dedicated gpu?

@ linwelin - thanks for the link...that video i assume is just the amd-trinity, without another dedicated gpu?

@ idleman - yes, but it's only 500gb, so will be used for extra storage.

Guys, honestly i'm not a big gaming fan...i use the ps3 and xbox 360 mainly for that. i want to use the pc mainly for video+3d & photo editing and the odd game....mainly at resolutions of no more than 720p, if that helps!
 
honosuseri said:
I went off his first post bud
Click to expand...

Just thought, as the OP wants a system which will perform better than his current system, it would make more sense to spend the money on the core components. Adding a bigger hdd is not going to make much difference. Better to use the smaller hdds for the time being and upgrade later, if he needs more storage space.
Also OP, do you need a ODD?

Guys, honestly i'm not a big gaming fan...i use the ps3 and xbox 360 mainly for that. i want to use the pc mainly for video+3d & photo editing and the odd game....mainly at resolutions of no more than 720p, if that helps!
Click to expand...

Might of helped if you had mentioned it earlier. :D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom