Planning for $250 CDN upgrade

[Floppy Kant Fish]

Hi, 

I am planning to put another $250 into my pc.

My current rig is:

Fx-4100 @ 4.4ghz

Cooler Master Seidon (siedon?) 120m (just picked it up this week after my Corsair H60 started leaking)

4x2gb Elpida 1333mhz ram kit. (its about 4-5 years old found it in a broken HP desktop.)

450 watt Thermaltake TR2 (Im happy with this psu, but i think i got a golden unit because its completely silent. I put one of these in my grandparents computer and it coil whines a bunch and the fan is noisy)

NZXT Sentry 2 (it currently only has one fan plugged into it, I was tired of constantly having to change the fan on the radiator.)

Asus M5 A97 motherboard

Bitfenix Spector Pro Blue LED fans (120mm & 140mm)

Asus Directcu 7770 non- overclocked because I don't really know how much power the cpu is drawing and I don't want instability issues because I am hitting the upper limit of the psu,

Storage:

Corsair LS force 60gb (boot)

Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm 1.5 tb (main storage)

Seagate Green 5400 rpm 2tb (backs up this computer aswell as other laptops and devices on the network)

 

My monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 2433. For the longest time I thought it was an IPS panel but it after abit of googling its actually a TN panel but theres no color shift when changing your viewing angle (within a reasonable angle). The color is also more vibrant than my laptop which has HP's 1920x1080 display which google for the most part says its an IPS panel. 

 

case is a rosewill challenger, mods are:

side panel window

metal brackets in the corners of the case (makes it more rigid)

repainted to look like a Subaru rally car. Link to post.

I can cut out parts of the hdd cage to support a Windforce or equivalent length GPU.

 

I am looking for parts that lead to the biggest increase in FPS in the following titles:

Battle field 3 and 4.

um thats it really, the other games I play like mass effect, deadspace the Fps is up in the 100s sometimes.

 

I want to keep the system with an Amd Cpu just because its something different. (all my friends have either an AMD gpu with a intel cpu or a intel/nvidea mixture)

 

I know at some point the PSU has to go aswell as the ram.

 

Here are what I think my options are:

option 1: New psu and ram. I would have to do some research in deciding a psu but I have heard good things from the Corsair lineup, I would probably go with a 600 or 700 watt psu. I know that high but I don't like the feeling that the components are drawing almost exactly what the psu continuous is. For ram I know that BF4 would benefit from this but idk about bf3, I was thinking of finding some Crucial Ballistix tracers for bling, or (cause of Linus's endorsements) a Gskill kit because it just plain works. Ill still go with an 8gb kit just lower latency and a higher mhz than what I got.

option 2: I have been looking at the R9 270X which literally almost doubles the frame rate in Battle field 3 (source). (plus, I really like the looks of the Windforce cooler. link)

option 3: I am not sure if the FX 8350 will have a greater effect than changing out the gpu but on CPUboss the 8350 destroys the 4100 in every category (single/multi thread, power consumption) (source). But I have no idea what that equals in FPS numbers.

 

[DarrenP]

Hi, 

I am planning to put another $250 into my pc.

My current rig is:

Fx-4100 @ 4.4ghz

Cooler Master Seidon (siedon?) 120m (just picked it up this week after my Corsair H60 started leaking)

4x2gb Elpida 1333mhz ram kit. (its about 4-5 years old found it in a broken HP desktop.)

450 watt Thermaltake TR2 (Im happy with this psu, but i think i got a golden unit because its completely silent. I put one of these in my grandparents computer and it coil whines a bunch and the fan is noisy)

NZXT Sentry 2 (it currently only has one fan plugged into it, I was tired of constantly having to change the fan on the radiator.)

Asus M5 A97 motherboard

Bitfenix Spector Pro Blue LED fans (120mm & 140mm)

Asus Directcu 7770 non- overclocked because I don't really know how much power the cpu is drawing and I don't want instability issues because I am hitting the upper limit of the psu,

Storage:

Corsair LS force 60gb (boot)

Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm 1.5 tb (main storage)

Seagate Green 5400 rpm 2tb (backs up this computer aswell as other laptops and devices on the network)

 

My monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 2433. For the longest time I thought it was an IPS panel but it after abit of googling its actually a TN panel but theres no color shift when changing your viewing angle (within a reasonable angle). The color is also more vibrant than my laptop which has HP's 1920x1080 display which google for the most part says its an IPS panel. 

 

case is a rosewill challenger, mods are:

side panel window

metal brackets in the corners of the case (makes it more rigid)

repainted to look like a Subaru rally car. Link to post.

I can cut out parts of the hdd cage to support a Windforce or equivalent length GPU.

 

I am looking for parts that lead to the biggest increase in FPS in the following titles:

Battle field 3 and 4.

um thats it really, the other games I play like mass effect, deadspace the Fps is up in the 100s sometimes.

 

I want to keep the system with an Amd Cpu just because its something different. (all my friends have either an AMD gpu with a intel cpu or a intel/nvidea mixture)

 

I know at some point the PSU has to go aswell as the ram.

 

Here are what I think my options are:

option 1: New psu and ram. I would have to do some research in deciding a psu but I have heard good things from the Corsair lineup, I would probably go with a 600 or 700 watt psu. I know that high but I don't like the feeling that the components are drawing almost exactly what the psu continuous is. For ram I know that BF4 would benefit from this but idk about bf3, I was thinking of finding some Crucial Ballistix tracers for bling, or (cause of Linus's endorsements) a Gskill kit because it just plain works. Ill still go with an 8gb kit just lower latency and a higher mhz than what I got.

option 2: I have been looking at the R9 270X which literally almost doubles the frame rate in Battle field 3 (source). (plus, I really like the looks of the Windforce cooler. link)

option 3: I am not sure if the FX 8350 will have a greater effect than changing out the gpu but on CPUboss the 8350 destroys the 4100 in every category (single/multi thread, power consumption) (source). But I have no idea what that equals in FPS numbers.

I'd get a new PSU and RAM first. Than upgrade your GPU, than CPU. In that order as you can afford it. 

[Ssoele]

CDN? Do you mean CAD?

[Floppy Kant Fish]

CDN? Do you mean CAD?

yeah ive seen both used, ive also seen CAN. Its all the same

[Floppy Kant Fish]

I'd get a new PSU and RAM first. Than upgrade your GPU, than CPU. In that order as you can afford it. 

I can get all three of these options, I am basically asking which of the three is more important. It will probably be spread out a month or two apart.

[DarrenP]

I can get all three of these options, I am basically asking which of the three is more important. It will probably be spread out a month or two apart.

No i'm saying as you go along. Get the first upgrade now. Later when you can afford it get the next one etc.

[marsh1399]

if you want more frame rate, if you want to get more fps get more ram 8 gigs should be good and possibly a new cpu. 

Here are some suggestions:

cpu: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286

ram:http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

 

p.s if you can afford it possibly get another 7770 and crossfire them? also both cpu's have the same tdp of 95 watts 

[Floppy Kant Fish]

if you want more frame rate, if you want to get more fps get more ram 8 gigs should be good and possibly a new cpu. 

Here are some suggestions:

cpu: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286

ram:http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

 

p.s if you can afford it possibly get another 7770 and crossfire them? also both cpu's have the same tdp of 95 watts 

Ill have to consider this option of the cpu and ram, but for crossfire would I need a high wattage psu? (not sure if these numbers are correct) a pci lane provides 75 watts of power and a pci-e 6-pin provides 75 watts also making it 300 watts for both cards. then theres the CPU which is 95 watts at stock clocks (395 watt). Then the 3 drives and the mobo isn't that really close to the 450 watt psu limit? getting the GPU wouldn't be a problem there $80 at a local computer store.

[Floppy Kant Fish]

No i'm saying as you go along. Get the first upgrade now. Later when you can afford it get the next one etc.

yea that's what I ment

[Ssoele]

yeah ive seen both used, ive also seen CAN. Its all the same

 

CAD is the only official one to be used. See http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/exchange/

 

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network and ad nothing to do with currency.

[Floppy Kant Fish]

CAD is the only official one to be used. See http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/exchange/

 

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network and ad nothing to do with currency.

good for you for pointing out an error. this is off topic.

[Joshua Ondangan]

new PSU + ram (I'd advice on the seasonic m12ii 520w/6xx 80plus bronze and g.skill ripjaws X 2X4GB 1600mhz cl9 or the corsair vengeance or dominator 2x4gb 1600mhz cl9)

 

after than an upgrade to a 6300 or the 8320 seeing as your mother board should at least let you play with it.

 

then after that grab a gpu by then there might be new gpu. if not the 270x is good.

[Floppy Kant Fish]

new PSU + ram (I'd advice on the seasonic m12ii 520w/6xx 80plus bronze and g.skill ripjaws X 2X4GB 1600mhz cl9 or the corsair vengeance or dominator 2x4gb 1600mhz cl9)

 

after than an upgrade to a 6300 or the 8320 seeing as your mother board should at least let you play with it.

 

then after that grab a gpu by then there might be new gpu. if not the 270x is good.

 

for the power supply I was looking at the Fractal Design Integra R2 (link)

Ill look at this seasonic one aswell.

I am most likely going to go with the gskill (here) because I can't find a corsair kit thats around $90 that doesn't have a green pcb, gross.

If I can't find a blue or black heatspread edition for the gskill ill search for something else thats in stock.

 

On memory express's site there is also a 2133 mhz kit for $3 more but it has higher latency's, so I don't see the point.

 

For the video card I am kinda excited to see whats after this atrociously named series for AMD and we will see if Freesync becomes a thing, with the rumor of the new display port. 

[Joshua Ondangan]

for the power supply I was looking at the Fractal Design Integra R2 (link)

Ill look at this seasonic one aswell.

I am most likely going to go with the gskill (here) because I can't find a corsair kit thats around $90 that doesn't have a green pcb, gross.

If I can't find a blue or black heatspread edition for the gskill ill search for something else thats in stock.

 

On memory express's site there is also a 2133 mhz kit for $3 more but it has higher latency's, so I don't see the point.

 

For the video card I am kinda excited to see whats after this atrociously named series for AMD and we will see if Freesync becomes a thing, with the rumor of the new display port. 

Imo just grab the standard 1600mhz cl9. since most likely you won't benefit from faster ram. it's only for people who either makes use of it or just want extreme performance.

[Floppy Kant Fish]

Imo just grab the standard 1600mhz cl9. since most likely you won't benefit from faster ram. it's only for people who either makes use of it or just want extreme performance.

yeah I will, I feel like the 2133mhz kit is to get an extra $3 out of someone because it looks to be the exact same as the 1600mhz version just with a higher latency to compensate for the higher clock. It might be possible to increase the clock without increasing the latency on the 1600 mhz kit. But from a LTT video the performance gain might not be worth the extra strain on the ram.

[Floppy Kant Fish]

So as a bit of an update. I have been really busy lately but i have managed to finally find time to make some adjustments and install a new power supply.

 

I got the Thermal take Smart Power 750watt. A bahd of mine got the same power supply a week later and we both have no complaints. The psu works and is very quiet but not silent.

 

I have also moved both my hdd up in the hdd cage to occupy both the top slots to hopefully reduce the vibration noise. The ssd was moved to the top of the power supple and I used velcro to hold it in place.

 

For a new cpu i am looking at the fx -6350 as the next step in this upgrade process. I am currently trying to learn how to over clock ram.

 

The summer has been hell on the room that has my computer in it. Yesterday the room reached 35 degrees celcius at 2pm. I have had to put the cpu back to stock speeds then i just ran Asus cpu auto overclocker which gave a light 300mhz increase.

 

I am planning to over clock the 7770. I have never bothered to do this in the past with other video cards because I have always had a reference video card. When I overclocked those reference cards the performance increase was marginal or worse. So i never really bothered with the gpu itself. Currently after a 2-3 hour gaming sesh the card will reach about 63 degrees celcius. I know at about 1.1ghz on the core the voltage will need to be increased, with the new power supply I am confident that it will not be an issue.