Upgrade - Suggestions Please

Jprior87 · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:26

Hi all,

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully reply as I don't tend to post on here often, more of a reader than a poster.

Anyway for the last two weeks I have been trying to make my mind up if I really need an upgrade or not (we never really need, but us boys and our toys).

My Current Spec:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955BE (3.2GHZ) - haven't needed to OC it yet but I might at a later date.
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
GPU: XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
SSD: Intel X25-M Mainstream 80GB
HDD: 2 x Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
PSU: Corsair HX620w Modular PSU
Case: Lian-Li PC-7B Plus II - Which I have owned since 2007 and has treated me well.

Anyway I have a budget of say £500 tops prefer to spend closer to £300-400 and I have been looking to upgrade the following pieces.

GPU and Case, but PSU if mine cannot cope with whatever is out in today's market.

Thanks for the replies in advance, and hopefully if some expert advice I might be able to finally make a decision

iBSOD · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:29

GTX 560 SLI(mod. SLI will work on your board)

New CPU cooler?

More powerful PSU, not sure if 620 is enough...

stulid · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:29

Just a new GPU or two is all I can suggest, the motherboard supports symmetrical crossfire so you can add two 6870 cards etc and the quality PSU will easily cope.

You got a SSD and the case is still decent.

sk82jack · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:30

Great PSU, no need to upgrade unless your going CF/SLI.

What res do you game at?

Jprior87 · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:35

Oh yeah sorry forgot to include that useful piece of information. I game at 1920 x 1080 on a 22", I currently only really play BF:BC2, SC2 and LoL but also would like the upgrade I decide fork out on to last me for a while and play BF3 reasonably well even though the specifications are just educated guesses for that game at best for the time being.

stulid · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:37

Get a new GPU or two in there then.

Jprior87 · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:38

stulid said:
...and the case is still decent.

Stulid, you reckon it could house one of the current gen GPUs? other than being old and worn out it provides good air flow and cooling for my current components so if I could stretch some life into it I would more than be happy to do so.

stulid · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:41

You could put a pair of these in,

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC HAWK 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Lara Croft Game £148.98
(£124.15) £297.96
(£248.30)
Sub Total : £248.30
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £51.56
Total : £309.36

Or,

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 Game £199.99
(£166.66) £199.99
(£166.66)
Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi-Tower - Black (with Fan Controller Repair Kit) £134.99
(£112.49) £134.99
(£112.49)
Sub Total : £279.15
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £58.18
Total : £349.08

stulid · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:45

Jprior87 said:
Stulid, you reckon it could house one of the current gen GPUs? other than being old and worn out it provides good air flow and cooling for my current components so if I could stretch some life into it I would more than be happy to do so.

Just looked at some reviews with pics, theres loads of room in it.

Jprior87 · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:50

I like that case, its very similar to my Lian-Li with its basic look that just spells elegance. I have noticed that the newer Lian-Li cases seem to have lost that feel well to my personal preference anyway.

Thank you for suggesting that case I would have completely overlooked it as I was looking at the Coolermasters, Antec, Lian Li sections.

So you recommend continuing in my ATI venture I have been using ATI since the X1950 was considering a switch of teams but I hear ATI is still best bang for buck?

stulid · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:53

Its all the same these days, both have benefits, your motherboard is a good crossfire one so thought the pair of 6870 was a interesting idea.

If you can get a revision1 6950 card which are £224 then you can flash them with the 6970 BIOS to unlock extra speed.

Jprior87 · 15 Jun 2011 at 19:57

Well you have definitely given me another angle to look at and more options to consider. Thank you.

Pighardia · 15 Jun 2011 at 20:03

Personally i would go with a 6950 as i have found crossfire to cause a few problems, particularly with newly released games such as crysis 2 and The Witcher 2 which both needed updates before CF worked for me. Was running 2x5850's but switched to the Twin FrozrIII 6950, which i have been very impressed with so far, especially in terms of temps and noise. I game at the same res too.

Otherwise as you mentioned OC'ing your 955, a new cooler would be a good idea. I also recently purchsed an Antec Kuhler 620, which keeps my [email protected] very cool indeed.

You could pick both of them up for around £250, or go for the Khuler 920 as your budget is high enough

stulid · 15 Jun 2011 at 20:10

Pighardia said:
Personally i would go with a 6950 as i have found crossfire to cause a few problems, particularly with newly released games such as crysis 2 and The Witcher 2 which both needed updates before CF worked for me. Was running 2x5850's

I would just like to say that Crossfire performance with the 6 series cards is a long way from the medieval 5 series days.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd6870-hd6850-crossfirex_13.html#sect0

The main fact we can infer from our today’s test session is that CrossFireX technology works more effectively on the new AMD Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 graphics cards than on the older Cypress GPUs and Cypress-based products

Pighardia · 15 Jun 2011 at 20:15

stulid said:
I would just like to say that Crossfire performance with the 6 series cards is a long way from the medieval 5 series days.

Oh performance-wise definitely, but crossfire seems to cause a few problems in games. Quite afew people having to disable crossfire in games until patches/drivers are released etc. In the end i decided it wasn't worth the hassle, but plenty of people do happily use CF, and not everyone has these issues

i think that i have decided to always go for the fastest single card i can get form now on though

Jprior87 · 15 Jun 2011 at 20:32

Pighardia said:
Otherwise as you mentioned OC'ing your 955, a new cooler would be a good idea...

I currently have the Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ as my cooler, it's a bit dated and probably needs replacing but I'm a little out of the loop at the moment.

stulid · 15 Jun 2011 at 20:36

Just apply some new thermal paste to it, still use mine on a 4.8GHZ i5 2500K, seems to do well.

Pighardia · 15 Jun 2011 at 20:37

Jprior87 said:
I currently have the Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ as my cooler, it's a bit dated and probably needs replacing but I'm a little out of the loop at the moment.

Aah, wasn't in OP. Never used it, but think the Fenrir is still considered pretty good.

edit- ^ would seem so

Jprior87 · 15 Jun 2011 at 20:43

Ok... I just need to decide on the GPU as I am determined to hold on to my case a little longer.

stulid · 15 Jun 2011 at 20:47

So many choices

customer coolers, reference designs, with free games, some unlockable to the next model up.