Upgrade Path Suggestions

Garee · 1 Jan 2011 at 17:23

I ordered some upgrades for my original system and now this is my new set up:

Code:

Phenom II 550 X2( Unlocked to 4 core @ 3.1Ghz )
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler
ASUS M4A7TD-V EVO
4GB Crucial 1333Mhz 9-9-9-24
ATI 6950 ( I plan to flash the bios to 6970 )
OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB SSD
1TB Samsung F3 HD
Antec Modular 650W
Coolermaster 690 II Lite

I have around £350 - £400 left over to spend and would appreciate any upgrade suggestions.

My options:

1. Buy an AM3 motherboard that supports crossfire, keep my PII 550 and buy another ATI 6950.

2. Buy an AM3 motherboard that supports crossfire, buy a new CPU + better cooler and buy another 6950 in the future.

3. Wait for sandy bridge and buy an i5 2500k, 1155 motherboard that supports crossfire and buy another 6950 in the future.

4. Other??

My main use is gaming at 1920x1080.

Thanks!

Cookeh · 1 Jan 2011 at 17:36

Save the money?
Nothing that system can't handle at 1920x1080.
Only thing I would consider doing is getting a better coolers and overclocking the nuts off the cpu (should get to around 3.8GHz easily enough)

Garee · 1 Jan 2011 at 17:38

Cookeh said:
Save the money?
Nothing that system can't handle at 1920x1080.
Only thing I would consider doing is getting a better coolers and overclocking the nuts off the cpu (should get to around 3.8GHz easily enough)

I can't seem to overclock it at all. It crashes during Prime95 usually within the hour.

Cookeh · 1 Jan 2011 at 17:44

Garee said:
I can't seem to overclock it at all. It crashes during Prime95 usually within the hour.

Doesn't sound stable, that's the issue with unlocking cores

I'd get this then.

I'd also consider upgrading the heatsink to something a bit beefier, such as this.

Cookeh · 1 Jan 2011 at 17:50

If you're looking for a Crossfire motherboard, then this is a good board - solid overclocking capability as well:

Foxconn A7DA

LiamJ · 1 Jan 2011 at 17:58

Your processor, will already be bottlenecking your 6950 by a huge amount. Mine bottlenecks my HD 6850 so much that it only reaches 40-50% usage when playing games like Black Ops, with my CPU at 100%.

Garee · 1 Jan 2011 at 18:25

How about a X4 965 + a Corsair H50 and i'll try and get it to 4GHz? Keep the original motherboard and just hold off until my system starts to struggle.

Cookeh · 1 Jan 2011 at 18:32

Garee said:
How about a X4 965 + a Corsair H50 and i'll try and get it to 4GHz? Keep the original motherboard and just hold off until my system starts to struggle.

Sounds like a plan.

H50, while quiet isn't the best cooler though

Garee · 1 Jan 2011 at 18:34

Cookeh said:
Sounds like a plan.

H50, while quiet isn't the best cooler though

Any recommendations? I just jumped on the brand name as I am clueless regarding coolers.

Cookeh · 1 Jan 2011 at 20:06

Garee said:
Any recommendations? I just jumped on the brand name as I am clueless regarding coolers.

Well, perhaps the best cooler around atm is the Thermaltake Frio - but it can be extremely noisy (43dBa).

Akasa Venom is also very good (and looks great imo), but its out of stock atm.

Titan Fenrir is very popular and a solid performer.

Best thing to do is to read some reviews