Upgrade Advice Please?

R00041

R00041

R00041

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2 Feb 2010
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Hi All...

My first post, so please forgive any basic mistakes or amateur behaviour:

I bought my computer last year, and I thought I was buying all the right bits, but I still find the performance isn't what I expected. My vague goal is to run crysis on high settings on a decent resolution, and 2X AA.

Anyways, here is my spec:

Processor - AMD Phenom 9950 Quad Core 2.6GHz
Ram - 8GB Samsung DDR800
Mobo - ASRock K10N78
Graphics - GTX 260
PSU - Storm Ice 700W
Hard Drive - 500GB internal
Monitor- Samsung 2433BW
OS - Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit (The RC, I will be buying 7 Home Premium soon)

I'm looking to maybe spend a £150-£200 on upgrades, a bit more if it will be significant. (Excluding what I could make from selling anything I replace!)

I have also only recently discovered eye-finity, so this might be something I'd be interested in... (The extra monitors won't come out of the £150-£200 budget)

So yeah, any advice?

What would you do?

Thanks for any helpful advice!
 
Eyefinity will need a change of graphics card, this is pointless, your 260gtx is still good for crysis.

I believe its your processor that's the problem, a 9950 wasn't any faster than athlonX2 when it was released.

If you can find out what your motherboard can support upto, a more modern triple or quad core will be best.

I also have doubts about your psu ability.
 
If your psu is weak, and I am meaning in AMPS it can cause problems with performance, I have never heard of this make, a cheap psu can also blow up taking components with it.
 
This is from custom pc mag, may 09,

The lacklustre performance continued in games, with none of the phenomX4 CPUs able to pull ahead of the phenomII X3 or athlon X2 CPUs.

Its poor review continues along these lines.
 
An X4 620 is faster than a Phenom 9950 in Crysis:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=21&p2=106

However even a Q6600 at stock speeds is only slightly faster in Crysis:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=21&p2=53

This review also indicates that a Q6600 and a Phenom 9950 have similar performance in Crysis at stock speeds:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_phenom_9950_9350e_performance/page7.asp


Luckily your motherboard supports AM3 processors:

http://www.asrock.com/MB/overview.asp?Model=K10N78-1394

I would get a Phenom II X4 955BE if you want to upgrade your processor:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM

There will be a decent performance increase over a Phenom 9950:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=21&p2=88

The PSU seems to have got reasonable reviews:

http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/power-supply-units/jeantech-storm-700w/

http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/review.php?id=318

You could always get a newer PSU such as a OCZ StealthXStream 600w:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-023-OC

It is an excellent PSU:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/451

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/power_supply/ocz_stealthxstream_600_watt_psu/1
 
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So you and I are in agreement that his CPU should be ebay'd and a far more useful 955BE fitted.
 
If the OP had a motherboard with a stronger VRM then perhaps overclocking the 9950 upto around 3GHZ to 3.2GHZ would be an option(they actually were better than the earlier ones).

In this case it isn't so an upgrade to a 955BE would be ideal if possible.
 
I had a quick check on the auction site and the Phenom 9950 has gone for between £67 to £85 recently.

Even if you sell it for around £70 including postage you should be able to get at least £50 after all the fees and postage costs are deducted.

Edit!!

I am surprised that the Jeantech actually has made a reasonable PSU since some of their other units are not so great!!

Perhaps the more expensive ones are made by better OEMs.
 
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CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
An X4 620 is faster than a Phenom 9950 in Crysis:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=21&p2=106

However even a Q6600 at stock speeds is only slightly faster in Crysis:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=21&p2=53

This review also indicates that a Q6600 and a Phenom 9950 have similar performance in Crysis at stock speeds:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_phenom_9950_9350e_performance/page7.asp


Luckily your motherboard supports AM3 processors:

http://www.asrock.com/MB/overview.asp?Model=K10N78-1394

I would get a Phenom II X4 955BE if you want to upgrade your processor:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM

There will be a decent performance increase over a Phenom 9950:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=21&p2=88

The PSU seems to have got reasonable reviews:

http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/power-supply-units/jeantech-storm-700w/

http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/review.php?id=318

You could always get a newer PSU such as a OCZ StealthXStream 600w:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-023-OC

It is an excellent PSU:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/451

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/power_supply/ocz_stealthxstream_600_watt_psu/1
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice! Much appreciated. Would this be the best Processor I could use? I'd like to get as future-proof a model as possible! What about going down the intel route? An i5/i7?

Will the recommended PSU be fine running the new processor with my GTX260? Also, I'd be pretty keen to swap the GTX260 for a comparible ATI unit to get some eyefinity. I've got the screens anyways, so I may as well.

Thanks for the help gents!
 
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