Friend wants to upgrade. I buy his old CPU/motherboard/RAM. Good deal?

[TriggerHappy101]

Howdy,

So I have a super old gaming system (Q6600 w/ 8GB ram and a 8800 GTS 512MB) and a friend from work is looking to upgrade his system. He wants $150 for all of the below.

He has:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 6-Core 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Desktop Processor HDT90ZFBGRBOX
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103849)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314)

ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131655)

Is this a good buy for $150? (Of course I will have to buy a video card). I was thinking the Radeon R9 280 for about $210 on Newegg. I have 620Watt Corsair PSU so I think I am good there. What would a comparable performance I3/I5 system look like? I am guessing it would be comparable between the Intel Core i5-4590($200) and the Intel Core i3-4130($120)?

Also the motherboard doesn't have PCI Express 3.0. But I am guessing that doesn't matter cause no video cards are hitting 2.0 still (can't find recent data on this, just stuff from 2012.)

This will be for gaming.

Thanks in advance!

 

[MongGrel]

...

 

[mfenn]

Price checks are not allowed. Only you can determine the correct price you're willing to pay for used parts. I'd recommend checking sold listing on Ebay for a reasonable valuation.

We can discuss also discuss performance equality with new parts (Intel and AMD) which will further guide you to making a decision.

mfenn
General Hardware Moderator

 

[chusteczka]

The processor alone is worth that amount on eBay.

That is a strong processor that continues serving me well as my main system, with 1600MHz memory. I remain happy with my system with no itch to upgrade but then I do not game. A 600w PSU will suffice. Understandably, you will need a video card.

From my understanding with gaming, the video card handles the graphics and frame rate while the processor goes mostly unused. And that is a strong processor that still holds a respectful price on eBay.

You could ask your friend why he feels the need to upgrade, what frame rates are provided, and cpu utilization while gaming to determine if it fits your needs.

A comparable modern system would be:
CPU: $160 - $225
MB: $75 - $125
RAM: $75 - $80


EDIT:
Hopefully this is acceptable by the mods. My apologies if it is not.

 

[Blain]

So I have a super old gaming system (Q6600 w/ 8GB ram and a 8800 GTS 512MB) and a friend from work is looking to upgrade his system. He wants $150 for all of the below...

Is this a good buy for $150? (Of course I will have to buy a video card).

If it quacks like a price check, waddles like a price check... it is a price check.

Buy a Dell or Lenovo refurb (with warranties), if you're going to rebuild something.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Oops sorry. I forgot that price checks were illegal.

Whats the deal with PCI Express 2.0 Vs 3.0 though? Will I see a performance hit using a $200 video card? How about a $500 video card?

 

[lehtv]

Oops sorry. I forgot that price checks were illegal.

Whats the deal with PCI Express 2.0 Vs 3.0 though? Will I see a performance hit using a $200 video card? How about a $500 video card?

This is a bit old but still relevant: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012..._gpu_gaming_performance_review/5#.U9kDA_lxVUs

7970 comparable to a current $200 card (R9 280).

On a $500 card, the difference may be a few frames more. But you won't be running a $500 card with a 1090T anyway, it will struggle even with a $200 card because the performance per core is a bit low.

 

[Essence_of_War]

So I have a super old gaming system (Q6600 w/ 8GB ram and a 8800 GTS 512MB) and a friend from work is looking to upgrade his system.

Only you can determine the correct price you're willing to pay for used parts.
...
We can discuss also discuss performance equality with new parts (Intel and AMD) which will further guide you to making a decision.

OP,

Tom's Hardware puts the Q6600 as ~3 CPU tiers below the Phenom II x6 1090T, and they generally consider 3+ tiers to be a noticeable improvement in CPU power for gaming.

The 1090T is 1 tier below the modern intel cpus (SB i5s and above), and ranked in the same tier as all of AMD's more recent vishera/piledriver offerings.

 

[mfenn]

Oops sorry. I forgot that price checks were illegal.

Whats the deal with PCI Express 2.0 Vs 3.0 though? Will I see a performance hit using a $200 video card? How about a $500 video card?

PCIe 2.0 and 3.0 are completely compatible both ways. The components will negotiate to the highest speed supported by both. The extra bandwidth provided by PCIe 3.0 isn't really used right now outside of multi-GPU setups (and barely even then).

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Thanks for the input guys! I'm gonna get it.