Upgrading single parts or getting a new build?

[Khêll]

Hey guys,

 

A friend of mine wants to upgrade his PC but is not sure if it's still worth it.

 

His current build is:

 

Amd Phenom X-2 Black Edition (AM3 Socket)

 

4GB of 1333mhz RAM

 

MSI Radeon HD 5770 Hawk

 

And a AM3 Micro Atx Mobo.

 

Is it worth keeping any of these parts?

 

If not, as he is on a low budget, he would change the MOBO, CPU and Ram first and keep the GPU.

 

Do you have any suggestions for a Mini-Atx Mobo, CPU and Ram for around 350-400 euros?

 

Thanks a lot for your help and opinion!!

 

 

 

 

[Thebman712]

i would say add another 4gb of ram and put in a 750ti in and maybe add this http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-adx645wfk42gm

 

can we get a budget for your friend also

[Khêll]

Do you have any suggestions for a Mini-Atx Mobo, CPU and Ram for around 350-400 euros?

 

 

thx for your answer.

 

Budget would be 350-400 euro

[D3MON]

Hey guys,

 

A friend of mine wants to upgrade his PC but is not sure if it's still worth it.

 

His current build is:

 

Amd Phenom X-2 Black Edition (AM3 Socket)

 

4GB of 1333mhz RAM

 

MSI Radeon HD 5770 Hawk

 

And a AM3 Micro Atx Mobo.

 

Is it worth keeping any of these parts?

 

If not, as he is on a low budget, he would change the MOBO, CPU and Ram first and keep the GPU.

 

Do you have any suggestions for a Mini-Atx Mobo, CPU and Ram for around 350-400 euros?

 

Thanks a lot for your help and opinion!!

another 4gb stick of ram (or if hes running 2x2, get another 2x2), unlock that sucker if you can and overclock the hell out of the card, if it still doesnt perform well enough get a r9-270 9non x)

edit:-

cpu: ive ran an unlocked phenom for ages and its still beastly and munches through anything ive run at it, im running an 8320 now (different rig) and its not faster per-se but theres more headroom, id say keep the phenom and try and unlock it.

ram-4gb is enough, 8gb will be better.

gpu: had a 6670 and was good, got a 7770 was great all round, have a 7850 and love it, tried a r9-270, will be upgrading at some point (but no hurry), a 5770 is still okay once overclocked depending on his needs, if its not good enough.....buy a r9-270(msi/asus..)

piece of cake.

[Khêll]

cpu: ive ran an unlocked phenom for ages and its still beastly and munches through anything ive run at it, im running an 8320 now (different rig) and its not faster per-se but theres more headroom, id say keep the phenom and try and unlock it.

isnt a dual core a little slow and doesnt it run much hotter than multicores?

[D3MON]

isnt a dual core a little slow and doesnt it run much hotter than multicores?

allot of phenom2's started life as 4 and 6 cores, they would often be locked down from 6 cores to 4 cores and quad cores would be locked down to 3 or dual cores, either due to disfunctional cores, tdp's over thier permissable margins or just to fill demand. if he has a 780g chipset (im betting he does) if he goes into bios and you do a bit of digging you should be able to try and unlock the hidden cores.

its a bit of a lottery, i have a 960t quad core that started life as a hex-core that doesnt unlock (but overclocks like hell!) and my phenom2 x2 555 dual core which unlocked to a b55 (same as a phenom2 x4 955), and still overclocks damn well.

there are a few possibilty's

-it unlocks 1 core

-it unlocks both cores

-it unlcoks but isnt stable

-it unlocks but requires more voltage to be stable

-it unlocks and is stable

it unlocks and is stable and overclocks like a motherf****r.

if he gets lucky and unlocks 4 (or maybe even 3) cores and is stable id say keep it, if he wants to do video work sure get an fx8320 but for gaming it wont make a blind bit of difference (trust me ive just done it...I did it because i do a bit of transcoding)

for gaming either overclock the gpu balls to the walls and if it still doesnt perform to his standards (maybe he wants 60fps in bf4) THEN you upgrade gpu.

same with ram, upgrade when you need to, not when you want to.

im currently working on upgrade a pc then 5 years (half a console generation) OR 2 years (moores law) buy a new pc, 2-5 years later upgrade the cpu/board/gpu on the pc, then 2-5 years alter buy a new pc.

same with phones, buy a new phone every-other generation.

if tick-tock works for intel then why not do it as a consumer...

[ForsakenLive]

Why don't you get something like this.
I still believe saving up a bit and getting an intel chip would be better.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3N5VR
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3N5VR/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3N5VR/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor (£57.31 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI A88XI AC Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard (£71.90 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£44.44 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£169.99 @ Novatech)
Total: £343.64
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-19 20:55 BST+0100)

[Khêll]

Thanks for all your replies guys, you are awesome.

 

He will try to unlock his CPU and if it doesnt do anything, he can still buy a new rig.

 

Thanks a lot guys!

[Khêll]

-it unlocks 1 core

-it unlocks both cores

-it unlcoks but isnt stable

-it unlocks but requires more voltage to be stable

 

so my buddy unlocked his cpu and got 4 cores out of it and the mobo automaticly increased the voltage. but it wasnt stable like this so my buddy blocked one core and now with 3 cores it runs smothely.

he told me he incresed his fps in gw2 by 20-30.

 

should he try to unlock only the forth core and block the third to see if the core is faulty or unlock all four again and increase the voltage more?

 

is a 500W psu enough for his rig? he runs 2 hdds.

 

thx for your help

[D3MON]

so my buddy unlocked his cpu and got 4 cores out of it and the mobo automaticly increased the voltage. but it wasnt stable like this so my buddy blocked one core and now with 3 cores it runs smothely.

he told me he incresed his fps in gw2 by 20-30.

 

should he try to unlock only the forth core and block the third to see if the core is faulty or unlock all four again and increase the voltage more?

 

is a 500W psu enough for his rig? he runs 2 hdds.

 

thx for your help

congrat's, it's a trial and error thing that can require some time and tinkering...but thats part of the fun.

id say bump the voltage to 1.45, loadline calibration to 0% and cpu multi to 15 or 16, ram to whatever is standard/stable etc etc

but for cpu dont give up on that 4th core just because it failed to boot once...

give it a little voltage, at a reasonable speed (like 3ghz) and try.

gimme a few hours, ill try and find the bios settings im using as a starting point but its going to mean rebuilding a pc as my cpu and motherboard is currently sat on the table next to me, ive had a few beers and its 11:30pm (30 mins to midnight) and im meant to be gaming.  B) 

fwiw ill give you basic settings, there's no guarantee it will work (what boards he using, im guessing an asus m5a78l-m le, amiright?) but with a few tweaks you'll stand a batter chance.

a 500w psu is plenty, im currently running a 550w with an 8320@4.4ghz and a 7850 and while watching teksyndicate and torrenting im drawing 175w, thats only 31% load, while transcoding files i was only at 220w which is still under 50% load...

[jtrier1]

Hey guys,

 

A friend of mine wants to upgrade his PC but is not sure if it's still worth it.

 

His current build is:

 

Amd Phenom X-2 Black Edition (AM3 Socket)

 

4GB of 1333mhz RAM

 

MSI Radeon HD 5770 Hawk

 

And a AM3 Micro Atx Mobo.

 

Is it worth keeping any of these parts?

 

If not, as he is on a low budget, he would change the MOBO, CPU and Ram first and keep the GPU.

 

Do you have any suggestions for a Mini-Atx Mobo, CPU and Ram for around 350-400 euros?

 

Thanks a lot for your help and opinion!!

 

I would have your friend upgrade the mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU and GPU (to avoid bottlenecks) Here is what I suggest:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3NRhw

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3NRhw/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3NRhw/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($109.99 @ NCIX US)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($18.16 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($49.99 @ Micro Center)

Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($65.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($192.98 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($64.99 @ NCIX US)

 

 

Total: $502.10 (366.51 Euro)

 

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-20 18:49 EDT-0400)