Help Upgrading my PC...

[seminaljim]

Hey guys, think this is my first post on here so any help would be much appretaited... heres my build

 

• Case: NZXT h440
• Motherboard: ROG Crosshair IV Formula
• CPU: AMD Phenom II 1090t
• Cooling: Corsair h100i
• Memory: Komputerbay 8gb (2x4)
• GPU: XFX r9 290 (Black Edition)
• Hard Drives:
  • Samsung 840 EVO 250gb (OS, Games)
  • Western Digital Blue 500gb (User files, Media)

What I'm looking for is help upgrading my pc... what I'm having trouble with is what to buy and in what order?

 

I was thinking of getting a new SSD, maybe the Samsung 850 PRO (~£90) for my OS drive and using my 840 EVO for games etc...

And upgrading my memory (I think the komputerbay stuff is wonky), and maybe going with Corsair Vengeance or something similar (~100)

as I'll have aroun £200 to spend before christmas

 

I would like to also upgrade to something like the latest ROG Crosshiar V Formula-Z with the FX 8350? but those are around

£160 each at the moment.

 

So should I go for the SSD and Memory before christmas and hold out for the CPU and Motherboard? or is it best to just hold out and buy

like so... Motherboard > CPU > (Put into build) > Memory > SSD

 

any help, thanks

 

also, any suggestions in what components to buy please

[Faceman]

Go with Intel.  An FX8, no matter how overclocked will bottleneck a 290.

 

Your best upgrade is a Z97 motherboard paired with an i5 or i7, everything else is secondary to that major upgrade, and not even necessary.  More SSD space is a luxury, not a necessity and won't give you true performance gains like an i5 will.  Also, Memory, why do you think it is going bad?  Run Memtest and find out if any errors pop up.  If not, keep the memory.

[seminaljim]

Hey, thanks for the reply... Yeah Ive been thinking of going down the intel route but always get put off with the complexity of choosing the 'right one'... with AMD its simple, find best AMD processor, find socket type, buy motherboard with same socket... I get lost with the Intel naming conventions, etc... what specific ones would you suggest? I'm looking to play things like Star Citizen when its launched next year... and I don't mind spending a tad more if I'm certain its the right choice so anything ~£200, maybe more if I'd have to...?

 

With the memory, I'm always getting BSOD's, BAD_POOL_HEADER, ntos kernal stuff, and some more, also when I tested it with an app some time ago it was saying they were clocked at ~400mhz for some reason... I've had them for years now and I have the feeling something's up with them. I taken one out before and I had no BSOD's, then put the other one in to play Watchdogs, but now im getting the BSOD's again

 

PS, so is my Phenom II probably bettlenecking my system now then?

[Guest]

First, test your RAM with memtest for ~24hours to be sure, if it's faulty that's definitely the first thing you should buy. 

 

As for CPU I'd definitely go with Intel, especially if you have the budget. There are a few popular choices: i5 4690K, i7 4790K or i7 5820K. 

- The i5 is just an all around solid CPU, enough for gaming etc. 

- The i7 4790K is about 100$ more. It has hyperthreading, would recommend it if you want to stream/do some productivity stuff. 

- If you want to spend even more, the 5820K is a solid choice. It runs on the new X99 chipset so you'll need a X99 motherboard and some DDR4 RAM. 

 

If you get a second SSD, get a cheap one. The 840EVO is more than enough, you won't feel a difference between the "cheaper" ones and for example the 850PRO. 

[Faceman]

Hey, thanks for the reply... Yeah Ive been thinking of going down the intel route but always get put off with the complexity of choosing the 'right one'... with AMD its simple, find best AMD processor, find socket type, buy motherboard with same socket... I get lost with the Intel naming conventions, etc... what specific ones would you suggest? I'm looking to play things like Star Citizen when its launched next year... and I don't mind spending a tad more if I'm certain its the right choice so anything ~£200, maybe more if I'd have to...?

 

With the memory, I'm always getting BSOD's, BAD_POOL_HEADER, ntos kernal stuff, and some more, also when I tested it with an app some time ago it was saying they were clocked at ~400mhz for some reason... I've had them for years now and I have the feeling something's up with them. I taken one out before and I had no BSOD's, then put the other one in to play Watchdogs, but now im getting the BSOD's again

 

PS, so is my Phenom II probably bettlenecking my system now then?

Well.. not so much on AMD.  Socket type is not all there is to it with AMD.  Because their processors are so old, and require so much power, you need a motherboard with excellent VRM phase designs(which often aren't listed on the spec sheet) just to run the FX8 at stock, overclocking is a whole other ballgame because of the power draw that is required.  Star Citizen is an MMO, and it is going to be incredible CPU bound, a processor with strong single core performance is going to be very beneficial and because you named this specific game, you should set your sights on just Intel because AMD doesn't have anything competitive when it comes to single core performance processors with architecture from this decade.

 

Naming can be easily learned.  Basically, what you are looking at is either an i5 or an i7.  A processor with a "K" at the end of it means it is unlocked, and overclockable.  In order to overclock with Intel, you need a K processor, and a Z motherboard.

 

     The difference between i5 and i7 is simple.  i5 is 4 cores, 4 threads, i7 is 4 cores, 8 threads(hyperthreading).  Right now, games don't benefit from hyperthreading(8 threads), and we're not sure when, if ever they will.  We've been promised it for a long time, and we still haven't seen consistent, and massive gains between an i5 and i7 in games.  In 99% of games, an i5 = i7 when it comes to performance.  If money is an issue, buy an i5-4690k.  If you have money to spend, and want to be prepared IF games start to take advantage of hyperthreading, then buy an i7. 

     For intel compatible motherboards, you don't have to worry about VRM phase designs, all of the voltage regulation is done on the chip, so a low end Z series motherboard will overclock the same as a high end Z series motherboard.  The quality of overclock you get all comes down to the chip, often referred to as the silicon lottery.  What you should look for in a motherboard is features and aesthetic.  The main feature you have to decide on is if you want the option to go SLI/Xfire in the future.  From there, you narrow it down to what aesthetic of motherboard you want.  There are some other features like onboard audio, SATA ports, and included software.  Its really very simple to learn in an hour and shouldn't be the reason you are afraid of Intel.

 

As for the memory, run MemTest for an extended period of time, 8+ hours, and also google that error code you are getting to see if it says anything specific.

[seminaljim]

OK, think I got it now... here's what I'm thinking now. I'm gonna get the 850 pro the now, and get i7-4790k, with the ROG Hero board just after christmas. Im wondering about memory now tho, Is there memory I can get that I can use now with the crosshair VI formula, and then use on the Hero when i get that? Cuase the max on the forumla is 16gb, and im not sure if they take 8gb sticks; im looking for 16gb memory...