Upgrade Advice

rafared

Hi All,

Looking for advice on possible upgrades to my current system which is....

Msi 790 GX-G65 Mobo which is a socket Am3

Phenom II X3 720 cpu running at 2.8Ghz

4 Gigs of OCZ DDR3 ram

Radeon HD 4850 X2 512mb GPU

I'm not sure whether to try to sell this system (or if it is even worth selling at all) and building a new system or upgrading some of the components.
I need a general use system, some gaming but not necessarily cutting edge stuff.
I have about 300-400E to spend. Dont mind using 2nd hand parts either.

Thanks in advance to anyone offering advice.

iamcornholio

Could you fill this out please

1. What is your budget? [€xxx]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Video editing/3D Modelling/HTPC/Internet] (If gaming include which games)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes/No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] (If possible state brand and model of the parts to ensure compatibility)

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes/No]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] [Yes/No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.]

BloodBath

This should be a good upgrade. The board and cooler will allow a reasonable overclock as well.

What power supply and case have you got?

What resolution is your monitor?

What HDD's? Any ssd?

Item|Price
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€100.31
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC Windforce 2X, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€170.56
ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0, AM3+, ATX|€61.70
Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel|€17.89
4GB G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€27.06
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€396.51

TerrorFirmer

When you factor in the sale price of your old hardware, bloodbath's suggestion is extremely economical and a huge step forward. Board is DDR3 so your old ram should be OK if you want to cut out the extra 4gb for budgetary reasons but overall, can't fault it. If you cut out the extra ram and cooling fan, you could either put more money into a better card, or try squeeze in an SSD.

rafared

BloodBath wrote: »

This should be a good upgrade. The board and cooler will allow a reasonable overclock as well.

What power supply and case have you got?

What resolution is your monitor?

What HDD's? Any ssd?

Item|Price
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€100.31
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC Windforce 2X, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€170.56
ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0, AM3+, ATX|€61.70
Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel|€17.89
4GB G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€27.06
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€396.51

Hi BloodBath. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it.

PSU is a Corsair 750W.

Monitor is a 24inch Ilyama, resolution 1920x1080

Dont have a SSD although I have a Samsung 1TB Sata drive, speed 7200 I think.

All housed in a CM Storm Sniper case which is a big brute of a case with tons of room.

Ram is OCZ GOLD PC3-8500 DDR3-1066 in twin 2 gig sticks.

The CPU has a big mother of a custom fan which I cant remember the name of either but it was the "dogs" when I bought it supposedly.

It is probably 4 years since I put it together and since then I have not kept up with developments in components.
It has never been OverClocked either.

rafared

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

When you factor in the sale price of your old hardware, bloodbath's suggestion is extremely economical and a huge step forward. Board is DDR3 so your old ram should be OK if you want to cut out the extra 4gb for budgetary reasons but overall, can't fault it. If you cut out the extra ram and cooling fan, you could either put more money into a better card, or try squeeze in an SSD.

Hey thanks for the reply, much appreciated.
I assume you mean sell the old board, cpu, Ram and Graphics card as a unit or sell the components individually.
I haven't a clue how much they would be worth or if anybody would even want them.

Any Ideas?

BloodBath

You probably don't need the cpu cooler if you already have a good one. You could put the money into getting 2 x 4gb of matching ram and then selling off your old board, cpu, gpu and ram. It's easy to get rid of stuff on adverts.ie.

You would probably have more success selling them separately. I have no clue about price though. Search for your parts on adverts.ie and see what they have been selling for recently.

I'd say somewhere in the region of €100-120 for the lot.

You should look at adding an ssd at some stage too.

rafared

BloodBath wrote: »

You probably don't need the cpu cooler if you already have a good one. You could put the money into getting 2 x 4gb of matching ram and then selling off your old board, cpu, gpu and ram. It's easy to get rid of stuff on adverts.ie.

You would probably have more success selling them separately. I have no clue about price though. Search for your parts on adverts.ie and see what they have been selling for recently.

I'd say somewhere in the region of €100-120 for the lot.

You should look at adding an ssd at some stage too.

Cool mate. Thanks a mil for the advice.