Upgrade options?

riskyfrisky

riskyfrisky

riskyfrisky

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Joined
23 Mar 2012
Posts
470
Location
SY13
Hey everyone!

First post and i need guidance on what upgrades i should make to my rig below:

AMD Phenom II X4 975 BE
Asus M4A88TD-V EVO USB3.0 (AM3)
4GB GEIL DDR3 (1333Mhz)
XFX 5850 1GB
Corsair HX520 PSU
500GB Seagate Barracuda
Windows 7 64bit

The machine has served me well since i built it, though the processor is an upgrade from last year and is currently running at it's stock 3.6Ghz speed. I know overclocking is an option but i haven't got a clue what to do so that i can deal with separately.

I play a lot of games on it; Tiberium Wars 3, Crysis (both), Metro 2033 (screen tear galore!), Skyrim, Just Cause 2 etc.

The 5850 has been superb since the day i shoved it in, however, since installing the high res texture pack for Skyrim it seems to be breaking a sweat. I had to lower the settings in Skyrim quite a bit after installing the texture pack, and Metro just feels sluggish full stop.

I don't have a great deal of money at the moment but once i figure out an upgrade path i can plan accordingly.

Any ideas, talk to me people!
 
Last edited:
beejjacobs said:
It really depends how much you want to spend, a 7850 would be a nice upgrade for ~£200:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/512?vs=549
and would run fine on your PSU.

Also, 8GB of RAM is probably a good idea :)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-307-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

What res. do you play at?
Click to expand...

Oh sorry i knew i'd miss something out, i play on a 24" BenQ 1920x1200. I'm currently unemployed so money is tight but i am saving for this purpose.
 
Beejjacobs thanks so much for your help.

I've been wrestling with ideas for upgrades for a while but it's nice to get an opinion from someone else.

I'll probably start by getting the Crucial SSD, hopefully during that time the GPUs will come down in price a bit.

Say i wanted something a little beefier than the 7850 for longevity, what would you recommend, the 7870? My GPUs usually last me about two years but i would like to extend that this time round.

Thanks again.
 
+1 to all of beejjacobs's suggestions

The Crucial M4 SSD is a fine example of a modern SSD; it is fast, reliable and good value. If this is your first SSD then you are really in for a treat.

The Corsair Vengeance 8GB kit is a really nice RAM kit and I have personally used this kit twice on builds for friends and family and in each case it is excellent performing and robustly constructed RAM.

However, if you are on a really tight budget then you may want to consider this OCUK 8GB 1333MHz kit. It isn't as quick or snazzy looking as the Vengeance, but it should perform almost as fast, is covered by a lifetime warranty from OCUK and is a lot cheaper.

As for the graphics card, considering you have a 520W PSU then the HD 7870 probably does offer you the best performance graphics card before you start pushing the PSU. The HD 7950 and GTX 580 can now be had for only a bit more (~£300) though I personally wouldn't be comfortable putting one of these cards on that PSU (though others may disagree).
 
Yeah looking at the comparison i do think i'd be better off in the long term with a 7870.

Realistically i won't be making the GPU upgrade until at least my birthday (August) at the earliest so i've got plenty of time to decide and, hopefully, the prices will come down a bit too.

Thanks for your help again mate, it's appreciated.
 
riskyfrisky said:
Yeah looking at the comparison i do think i'd be better off in the long term with a 7870.

Realistically i won't be making the GPU upgrade until at least my birthday (August) at the earliest so i've got plenty of time to decide and, hopefully, the prices will come down a bit too.

Thanks for your help again mate, it's appreciated.
Click to expand...

Cool :) well by then Nvidia should have a few more GPUs out too, so there will be even more options!

That 8GB RAM kit cmndr_andi linked to is crazy cheap for 8GB - really good if you're on a budget
 
cmndr_andi said:
+1 to all of beejjacobs's suggestions

The Crucial M4 SSD is a fine example of a modern SSD; it is fast, reliable and good value. If this is your first SSD then you are really in for a treat.

The Corsair Vengeance 8GB kit is a really nice RAM kit and I have personally used this kit twice on builds for friends and family and in each case it is excellent performing and robustly constructed RAM.

However, if you are on a really tight budget then you may want to consider this OCUK 8GB 1333MHz kit. It isn't as quick or snazzy looking as the Vengeance, but it should perform almost as fast, is covered by a lifetime warranty from OCUK and is a lot cheaper.

As for the graphics card, considering you have a 520W PSU then the HD 7870 probably does offer you the best performance graphics card before you start pushing the PSU. The HD 7950 and GTX 580 can now be had for only a bit more (~£300) though I personally wouldn't be comfortable putting one of these cards on that PSU (though others may disagree).
Click to expand...

Yeah this will be my first SSD, truth be told i wasn't even considering them because of the price. But a friend got one in his rig and he says there's no going back so i'm thinking that it's probably the upgrade that's gonna give me the best performance increase.

Thanks for the link to the cheaper memory, i'll check it out. It's good stuff i presume, have you used it yourself? I don't care what it looks like, my P182 doesn't have a side window lol. I think i'm the only 'enthusiast' who doesn't want to show off the inside of his rig!

I wouldn't be comfortable going higher than a 7870 with my PSU either to be honest and i really don't want to buy another PSU just for the sake of a GPU.
 
I haven't personally used that OCUK kit (as it wasn't available when last I needed more memory) but may well be on my list next time. It is a pair of relatively generic 4GB DDR3 1.5V 1333MHz modules and must be pretty good quality considering OCUK are backing it up with a lifetime warranty. Please bear in mind that it is currently on a weekly deal at £24, and the standard price is £30 - so if you want to go for it I would act quick (the weekly deal changes every wednesday).

Edit: Damn, the deal just changed and that kit is back up to £30 :(
 
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