Recommendations for System Upgrade

[ximhkx]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. 95% gaming, 5% schoolwork

2. What YOUR budget is. $800

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. US

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc. NONE

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
ASUS M4A79 Deluxe AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - WILL KEEP
Western Digital 36 GB Raptor 10,000 RPM
Some crappy video card

have monitor, case, keyboard, mouse, CD drive, etc

*

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. Default speeds

8. What resolution will you be using? 1920 x 1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it? this week or next week

I'd like this system to be as quiet as possible. Thanks!

 

[danielhep]

I would upgrade the video card to a 560 Ti - 448 and more ram. Perhaps an SSD? Not sure how it compares to a 10,000 RPM drive, though.

 

[lehtv]

Upgrade the video card to 7850 2GB or 7870 2GB. That will still leave $450-550 for a CPU+mobo+RAM upgrade next month (Ivy Bridge) though that may not be needed

 

[ximhkx]

sounds good. should I go ahead and go for an SSD now?

 

[lehtv]

Sure, if you want to. It'll make the system more responsive, whether that's worth it to you I can't say. There are still people who think SSD's are too expensive for what they do, but likewise many of those who have jumped the bandwagon say that they would never go back

 

[Denithor]

I'm guessing that 36GB Raptor is your boot drive? If so, you're already comfortable keeping minimal stuff on your boot drive, which means you are well ahead of most people in being ready for an SSD. Go ahead, take the leap, you won't regret it! Make sure to get one with Sata 6GBs connection so when you upgrade the rest of your system to either SB/IB you get the full speed advantage.

Best options for SSD today are Intel (520 or 510), Samsung (830) and Crucial (M4).

 

[ximhkx]

yup, I use my raptor as my boot drive and my other hd for all my other crap. I just ordered a samsung 830 ssd today. can't wait to see how it runs!

 

[lehtv]

You'll be limited to SATA II speeds with it, but it will still be a huge improvement over a hard drive. What size did you get?

 

[ximhkx]

I got the $139 128 gb deal

 

[mfenn]

I got the $139 128 gb deal

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Very nice find!

I dunno what the performance of "some crappy video card" is exactly, but assuming you have a reasonable PSU, the 7850 is both in your price range and good bang for the buck.

 

[ximhkx]

a 9500 GT is what I had to resort to after my 4870 decided to crap out on me. As for the PSU, I'm using a Enermax Liberty 500W.

 

[mfenn]

a 9500 GT is what I had to resort to after my 4870 decided to crap out on me. As for the PSU, I'm using a Enermax Liberty 500W.

Yeah, you should be fine with a 7850 on that PSU.