Mobo + CPU + SSD = €350 Upgrade ?

jonski

Heres what I have

Processor (CPU) AMD PHENOM II X4 955 (3.20GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3) - BLACK EDITION
CPU Cooling - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2
Motherboard - ASUS M4A77T/USB3 - AM3 Socket - 770 Chipset - ATX
Memory (RAM) - XMS3 4 x 2 GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 CL9 Memory Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9
Graphics Card - VTX3D Radeon HD 7870 X-Edition - 2 GB GDDR5 - PCI-Express 3.0 (VX7870 2GBD5-2DHX)
Memory - WD20EARX Caviar Green 3.5" Hard Drive - 2 TB SATA 6.0 Gb/s, 5400 rpm
Power Supply - Dell XPS 630 750W PSU ( DW002 ) - ATX
Monitor - S23B350H SyncMaster LED monitor 23" Full HD Resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels, Inputs HDMI, VGA, Response time 2 ms
Case - Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 Chassis
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

I was hoping to upgrade the cpu to that new fangled FX 8350 type thingy and some class of motherboard plus get a 120gig ssd drive but I only have €350 to spend . I mostly use the pc for Battlefield 3 ( and now 4 ) plus Company of Heroes 2 . I am using AMD cpus for as long as I can remember and never had an issue with them so I am happy to stay there . Also overclocking isn't an issue .

Ye have been steering me straight for about 12 years now so what do ye reckon this time around ? This is my 47th Birthday money I'm spending so surely we must be close to the end

BloodBath

These should do the trick. I'd get an 8320 and overclock it personally but you have the budget to go for the 8350 if you want.

With overclocking you're going to end up with similar end results anyway.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009O7YU56/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008RPZ5H8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E391KA8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1E15ZCLRNQYR5

raymix

8320 is as good as 8350, simply 0.5Ghz OC headroom in Vcore and temperature "department", it will easily clock to same clocks and give same performance. 8350 is a better choice if you are aiming highest possible OC you can get and don't care about price difference.

6300 and 6350 are, however, better choices for gaming-only upgrade, they will clock the same and run a little colder at same frequencies since they have less cores.

If you are pushing high OC, any entry level OC board will do just fine (like UD3, UD5, M5A97 or M5A99FX (sli) etc). Anything with 8+2 VRM
If running reasonable OC, any AM3+ board will do just fine, even with 4+1 VRM.

For SSD i'd suggest Samsung 840 EVO series over PRO, costs much less and very close to performance to the point where getting PRO makes no sense for every day tasks. Kingston V300 is fine, too.

jonski

If I said it would be 2 1/2 to 3 years before I could upgrade again ( except for gfx card ) would that influence ye're choices ? ... it is one of the reasons why I was trying to stretch to the 8350 .

jonski

Hmmm they won't deliver that SSD to my address , not sure why as I have only ever bought one item from Amazon before . Also I presume I will need some kind of adapter for the SSD to fit .

BloodBath

Change the seller to Amazon. I had the same issue. You will need a sata cable if you don't have one spare. If your drive bays don't support 2.5" drives you can get an adaptor but to be honest they are so small and light you can literally stick them anywhere inside a case. A bit of tape will do the trick. They don't have moving parts so it's not a problem.

The 8320 and 8350 are the same processors only the 8350's are higher binned processors that come clocked higher. If you were to overclock yourself you are going to end up at about the same max clock speeds unless you go for crazy cooling which you aren't. You're only going to get a moderate overclock on that processor with that Arctic cooler.

jonski

jonski wrote: »

Also overclocking isn't an issue .

Wow , I could have been clearer with that sentence , I should proof read what I write .... then get someone else to proof read it

overclocking isn't an issue as I won't be overclocking

BloodBath

Ah just go for the 8350 then.

jonski

Interesting thing to be aware of , The price on Amazon isn't the price we pay over here In Ireland , they deduct the British vat of 20% and add on the Irish vat rate of 23% , also their rate of conversion from sterling to euro is nicely above current conversion rates .

BloodBath

Yes. It's cheaper to pay in pounds and have your bank charge you for the conversion.

They usually charge €1-2 which works out cheaper for the majority of things than Amazons conversion.

raymix

jonski wrote: »

Interesting thing to be aware of , The price on Amazon isn't the price we pay over here In Ireland , they deduct the British vat of 20% and add on the Irish vat rate of 23% , also their rate of conversion from sterling to euro is nicely above current conversion rates .

I use Amazon Currency Switch Chrome extension to see prices in EUR. Disable Amazon converter, it is way off.
As bloodbath mentioned, just purchase with pounds and let the bank do the conversion. The extension is pretty accurate, the price will change by few cents depending on which day items will be dispatched and you get charged.

This screenshot was taken few weeks later after the purchase, on the very bottom that's a price on bank statement. It's off for about €1, but it could be few reasons...

jonski

Got my delivery this morning , thanks for the advice ppl .

One last question before I bother ye in a different thread about the build . Should I use the stock cooler or go with my own one , CPU Cooling - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 ?

BloodBath

If you aren't going to be overclocking any further go with the arctic. It should be fine unless noise is an issue.

Check your load temps with it first and see where you are.