PC Upgrade | What do you think?

[Sam R]

PC Upgrade

What it is now:

AMD FX-4100

Corsair 8GB Ram

WD 250GB HDD

OCZ 500w PSU

Asus M5A97 PRO

Radeon HD 7770

In Win MaNa 137 Case

Windows 7 64bit

What I'll add:

Cooler Master HAF XB

OCZ ZS Series 750W Power Supply

XFX Radeon HD 7770 (CROSSFIRE)

Silverstone HE01 Heligon

Enermax T.B.Silence Case Fan (x3)

[allthatremains94]

More storage is all I can think of.

[ACK]

You can add and SSD which will definitely make your computer much more responsive.

[zephiK]

@OP: what is your budget and the purpose of your computer?

I'd prefer a Intel build over a AMD imo. Definitely add a SSD in there (~128GB)

[Sam R]

Thanks for the reply guys ill get a SSD in the future after this upgrade :)

[Sam R]

@OP: what is your budget and the purpose of your computer? I'd prefer a Intel build over a AMD imo. Definitely add a SSD in there (~128GB)

I have already build it, im upgrading not changing everything.

[Ghost]

You may want to sell you old gpu instead of crossfiring. You will end up with better performance.

[star102]

Originally posted by Ghost

You may want to sell you old gpu instead of crossfiring. You will end up with better performance.

Thats not true if he buys a second 7770 he wil get more performance than a 7950 which is way more expensive

[zephiK]

@OP: what is your budget and the purpose of your computer? I'd prefer a Intel build over a AMD imo. Definitely add a SSD in there (~128GB)

I have already build it' date=' im upgrading not changing everything.[/quote']

Changing your motherboard and CPU isn't changing everything. Since you're changing the case, you're technically "changing everything" by your definition.

Every upgrade has a budget too.

[Paperchase]

If i were you I would increase my storage, preferrably with an SSD, but it doesn't matter that much.

It might not be enough with a 500W PSU when you're running two HD 7770's in Crossfire. But who knows, I might be wrong.

[Sam R]

You may want to sell you old gpu instead of crossfiring. You will end up with better performance.

It would not bottleneck, i quote 'no as that's equal to a HD 7850'

Source: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/371096-15-4100-bottleneck-crossfire-7770

[Sam R]

If i were you I would increase my storage, preferrably with an SSD, but it doesn't matter that much.

It might not be enough with a 500W PSU when you're running two HD 7770's in Crossfire. But who knows, I might be wrong.

Im putting a 750w PSU on

[Sam R]

Any more comments?

[star102]

Get a corsair or seasonic psu

[Dave :)]

A couple: Although crossfire performance is good, getting that performance is hard. With crossfire, you will have more issues with stability then a single card. I would recommend selling the 7770 and using the money to buy either a 7870 or 7850.

If you do decide to go with crossfire, you won't need a 750W PSU. Silverstone strider Plus 650W unit would be more than enough. I would look at the quality of the PSU, rather than the wattage. If you decide to go with a single set up, you won't need to upgrade PSU at all

[Dim]

Originally posted by Ghost You may want to sell you old gpu instead of crossfiring. You will end up with better performance.

Thats not true if he buys a second 7770 he wil get more performance than a 7950 which is way more expensive

Look below. The 7770 will only achieve 7870 performance in crossfire, and even then with heavy microstuttering.

Sell it and get a 7870 or 7950, for sure.

[Dim]

A couple: Although crossfire performance is good' date=' getting that performance is hard. With crossfire, you will have more issues with stability then a single card. I would recommend selling the 7770 and using the money to buy either a 7870 or 7850. If you do decide to go with crossfire, you won't need a 750W PSU. Silverstone strider Plus 650W unit would be more than enough. I would look at the quality of the PSU, rather than the wattage. If you decide to go with a single set up, you won't need to upgrade PSU at all [img']http://linustechtips.com/main/core/images/smilies/smile.png

This, absolutely.

Dave knows what he's talking about and that is certainly the smartest way to do it.

Crossfire might sound good, but it will be harder to sell later on, has more problems, has microstuttering, and doesn't scale linearly.

[FinnHallqvist]

2 Things from me.

1. 500 watts should be enough for crossfire + the cpu but you should upgrade to 600-700 watts to prevent possible crashes. 750 is too much in my opinion

2. @Dave There is a tool which is called RadeonPro. If you use it right there is no microstuttering and it works as fluid as with one more powerful card. So there is no problem by using crossfire (if you do it right).

[Dave :)]

Originally posted by FinnHallqvist

2 Things from me. 1. 500 watts should be enough for crossfire + the cpu but you should upgrade to 600-700 watts to prevent possible crashes. 750 is too much in my opinion 2. @Dave There is a tool which is called RadeonPro. If you use it right there is no microstuttering and it works as fluid as with one more powerful card. So there is no problem by using crossfire (if you do it right).

Hmm, thanks. Must say, i've never come across that, then again, the only time i tried to crossfire i gave up after a week or two. :P Seems to work well going off reviews. Is there a similar program for nVidia? You still have to factor in the heat output and power output etc, but the main turn off was the compatibility. Does RadeonPro still prevent random crashes due to driver issues though?

[TechFan@ic]

Sell the 7770 and get an HD 7950, there is no need for a new power supply.

[star102]

A couple: Although crossfire performance is good, getting that performance is hard. With crossfire, you will have more issues with stability then a single card. I would recommend selling the 7770 and using the money to buy either a 7870 or 7850.

If you do decide to go with crossfire, you won't need a 750W PSU. Silverstone strider Plus 650W unit would be more than enough. I would look at the quality of the PSU, rather than the wattage. If you decide to go with a single set up, you won't need to upgrade PSU at all

I have to admit crossfire would be better if Amd would start making there drivers better i used crossfire and it always wordked fine for me, but my friend who had the same setup had several issues with crossfire

[Money]

The whole stability issue thing Dave mentioned earlier is 100% true. I had a perfectly good and functioning 6870, then I purchased another and my whole system went haywire. It's really finicky.

[Dim]

As you move up in cards, your card usually is better value for money.

The only SLI/Xfire other than 680s, 690s, or 7970s that I can see being productive is Xfire 7950s or SLI 670s because they are almost at a high-end level.

Otherwise, it's more of a hassle than a help.

[Sam R]

Where would i sell it?

[Dim]

Where would i sell it?

To a friend is usually the easiest. eBay is another option. You could still probably get $80-100 for it.

It's up to you of course, but it's better that you don't buy another regardless.

Only one investment in a 7770 is better than two.