Looking at upgrading! - Canuckland

[Davitz]

Please note im not super computer savvy and when it comes to building computers im a noob.

Alright so at the moment im using this:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8500 2.33GHz
MSI MS-7399
(Did a check using SiSoft Sandra and that's apparently my mobo and any info I can find on it, which isn't much, says its for the Duo's :\)
Radeon HD3650 512MB
500W PSU
4GB DDR2 800MHz

Yeah, its bad I know.

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Now there's a few ways I was looking at upgrading the parts above.

I would either upgrade the GPU to a HD5750, then later on upgrade the CPU and MoBo.

Or I'd upgrade the CPU and MoBo first and then the GPU sometime in April when I get my tax return.

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I've got roughly $225CAD to spend and im not looking for much performance, just a steady 25-30 FPS in 10mans on Medium/High graphics, AA, Liquid Detail and Shadows turned off. On a 1440x900 Display.
Anything under budget is a GODSEND.


For the CPU/MoBo combo I was looking at:

Phenom II X4 920 Quad Core 2.8 GHz
ASUS M4A785-M Motherboard

As stated above, im not very Savvy with what will perform well so if you wise people know of other combo's for under $225CAD (Doesn't really get me much :\ )

Please share!

[muCephei]

EDIT: IGNORE THIS FOR A SECOND

I just realized you're using DDR2 right now, my suggestion required DDR3, I'll get back to you in a bit

[Optimoos]

Where in Canada are you? If you're in a major center in the west, I'd suggest visiting Memory Express, if you're in the east check out Canada Computers. If you're in a smaller city/town either of them can be ordered from online, or the old fall-back tigerdirect.ca.

In terms of what you're looking for and your budget, I think you're in a bit of a tough spot. Your current system isn't entirely outdated and your upgrade budget is limiting you from moving too far up. I haven't checked on the differences between your system and the upgrade you listed, but it is also likely that your memory will be incompatible and you'll have to buy that as well.

On that note, one thing you haven't mentioned is how much memory you have in your current system - if you're somehow under 2gb it may be worth doing a memory upgrade before anything else (although this really becomes incentive to do your full cpu/mobo/memory upgrade rather than spending money on your current system).

If I were in your position, I would spend some time researching overclocking your CPU and see what kind performance you can squeeze out of your current cpu/mobo/memory without spending anything. Then you've got the money now to upgrade your GPU. I'm an ATI/AMD fan but if we're talking about WoW, NVidia simply wins at putting out higher frame rates. For ~$225 CAD you're probably looking at a GTX460 from NVidia. If you can fit another $25 + tax into your budget, there are AMD 6870s available for $250 which will essentially give you one of the latest single GPU cards from them which should last you for a good amount of time.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

[muCephei]

In terms of what you're looking for and your budget, I think you're in a bit of a tough spot. Your current system isn't entirely outdated and your upgrade budget is limiting you from moving too far up. I haven't checked on the differences between your system and the upgrade you listed, but it is also likely that your memory will be incompatible and you'll have to buy that as well.

On that note, one thing you haven't mentioned is how much memory you have in your current system

If you can fit another $25 + tax into your budget, there are AMD 6870s available for $250 which will essentially give you one of the latest single

He did, he uses DDR2 4GB. His current system memory is also compatible with the new one he put together.

But I do agree, $225 limits you. Is it possible to toss on another $25-$30? For $251CAD (plus tax, which you didn't include in your parts either) I can suggest a new CPU, mobo and RAM. The RAM will be DDR3, allowing for easier upgrade later on.

[Optimoos]

He did, he uses DDR2 4GB. His current system memory is also compatible with the new one he put together.

That got edited in after (or while) I made my post.

[Davitz]

I may be able to add on a few $, hopefully work doesn't stiff us for our Blizzard pay, since living in the maritimes in winter is such a wonderland. -_-;;

Regardless, New budget $275, $50 extra should be a little better wiggle room.

The store I would order this from is local to me and on a native reserve. The owner and store has status and therefore, tax exempt. (My first time in there I asked them if they charged tax and we had a nice little chuckle)

I may just wait until April as well and get all the parts at once with my tax return and i'll have a much better budget, but im impulsive as all hell and tend to get impaitent for upgrades. Its a curse, a horrible horrible curse.

Edit// TigerDirect would be the ideal source since thats who the store orders from.

[muCephei]

Alright then!
You're using the AM2+ CPU interface in your parts, which unfortunately will not have anything new coming out for it. I would suggest you go for the AM3 interface because you could put a very pretty CPU into it later. Additionally, WoW is much more CPU heavy then GPU heavy so I would upgrade the CPU/Mobo first. For those reasons, I suggest:

ASUS M4A88T-V - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813131668
AMD Athlon II X4 640 - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16819103871
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820226101
Total: ~$260CAD

This still has a quad-core CPU and has the interface on the motherboard to throw in the high end Phenom II X4 if you want when you have the cash.

[Davitz]

Oh I like that o-o and they ship Purolator express cheap O_O

[muCephei]

It comes out to about $320 for me with shipping, tax, etc. I could probably knock some stuff off here and there if it'll help

[Davitz]

Well, i'll wait until the end of Jan and then i'll have more around $400 to spend.

Waiting till then shouldn't be too hard since i'll probably be glued to L4D2 on the 360 for the next while. The GF happens to like killing zombies with me.

I was thinking of

Phenom II x4 955 BE
Asus M4A88T-V EVO (Love that MoBo you suggested :3)
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB

[BicycleMafioso]

Well, i'll wait until the end of Jan and then i'll have more around $400 to spend.

Waiting till then shouldn't be too hard since i'll probably be glued to L4D2 on the 360 for the next while. The GF happens to like killing zombies with me.

I was thinking of

Phenom II x4 955 BE
Asus M4A88T-V EVO (Love that MoBo you suggested :3)
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB

Stick to her. Seriously.

Looks good otherwise. Stick to that, too :'P

[muCephei]

Well, i'll wait until the end of Jan and then i'll have more around $400 to spend.

Waiting till then shouldn't be too hard since i'll probably be glued to L4D2 on the 360 for the next while. The GF happens to like killing zombies with me.

I was thinking of

Phenom II x4 955 BE
Asus M4A88T-V EVO (Love that MoBo you suggested :3)
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB

If you can wait, do so. That's WAY better

[Asera]

I get everything from NCIX (ships from Ontario now), or Greenlyph (store on Queen Street in Halifax)

But if you can get tax free parts from a native reserve, especially if you live in Nova Scotia... for the love of god do it. 15% sales tax is ridiculous.

[Davitz]

New Brunswick actually, so its 13% here. I feel the pain though, three years ago it was 15% here, that was just insane.

But yeah, if I order it'll most likley be from the store on the reserve to save some taxes and then get the ram from Newegg and get it purolator expressed over, since the store's supplier doesn't carry mushkin.

And 4 gb of DDR3 for $50 is cheaper than anything I can find on Tiger Direct O_O.

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So, completed project will be:

Phenom II x4 955 BE
Asus M4A88T-V EVO
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB DDR3
500W PSU (Have)
Sapphire HD 5750 1Gb

Running at a 1440x900 Res what kind of settings should I be able to handle to get a minimum of 30FPS during 10mans?
Shadows off of course, darn things suck up to much fps.

[muCephei]

The 5750 will be able to handle WoW without issue. You could even have some shadows on :P

Check out some benchmarks on it. I don't think there are any WoW benchmarks, but they have games that are WAY more graphically intense where the 5750 does very nicely.

[BicycleMafioso]

I get everything from NCIX (ships from Ontario now), or Greenlyph (store on Queen Street in Halifax)

But if you can get tax free parts from a native reserve, especially if you live in Nova Scotia... for the love of god do it. 15% sales tax is ridiculous.

Don't move to Sweden, then. Apart from newspapers/books at 6%, every other sales tax starts at 25%. Seriously.
EDIT: Or is it called VAT? Meh. Anyway.