1. #1

    Question [PC UPGRADE] Help request

    Hello there tech guys!

    Yes I'm new, yes I'm a long time reader and yes I need your help.
    Two days ago my almost 3 year old Nvidea Geforce 9800 GT went BOOM on me while playing...

    wait for it...
    wait for it...

    MINECRAFT! (totally unrelated pic I made in my world that night: <insertinternetstuffhere>//oi51.tinypic.com/9vbfqg.jpg )

    I wanted to build the temple of time so I started up minecraft and my N64 Emulator but I guess the emulator+minecraft blew it.
    Anyways, I wanted to upgrade my PC and now due to my graphics card going BOOM the time has come.

    Thanks to your lovely template and EVEREST here my current PC specs:


    Current Build~
    Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Home Edition
    OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
    DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)


    Case-
    Manufacturer alienware
    Version Aurora R5
    Chassis Type Desktop Case
    Boot-Up State Safe
    Power Supply State Safe
    Thermal State Safe
    Security Status None


    BIOS Properties:
    Vendor American Megatrends Inc.
    Version 1301
    Release Date 08/22/2008
    Size 1024 KB
    Boot Devices Floppy Disk, Hard Disk, CD-ROM, ATAPI ZIP, LS-120
    Capabilities Flash BIOS, Shadow BIOS, Selectable Boot, EDD, BBS
    Supported Standards DMI, APM, ACPI, ESCD, PnP
    Expansion Capabilities ISA, PCI, USB


    Motherboard Properties:
    Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
    Product M3A32-MVP DELUXE
    Version Rev 1.xx


    Processor Properties:
    Manufacturer AMD
    Version AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor
    External Clock 200 MHz
    Maximum Clock 2200 MHz
    Current Clock 2200 MHz
    Type Central Processor
    Voltage 1.5 V
    Status Enabled
    Socket Designation CPU 1

    CPU Properties:
    CPU Type 2x
    CPUID CPU Name AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor
    CPUID Revision 00100F23h

    CPU Speed:
    CPU Clock 2206.83 MHz

    CPU Cache:
    L1 Code Cache 64 KB
    L1 Data Cache 64 KB
    L2 Cache 512 KB (Asynchronous)

    CPU #0 AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor, 2206 MHz
    CPU #1 AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor, 2206 MHz
    CPU #2 AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor, 2206 MHz
    CPU #3 AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor, 2206 MHz



    4x RAM
    Memory Device Properties:

    Form Factor DIMM
    Type Detail Synchronous
    Size 1024 MB
    Speed 800 MHz
    Total Width 64-bit
    Data Width 72-bit
    Device Locator DIMM_A1
    Bank Locator BANK0


    Video Adapter Properties:
    Device Description NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
    Adapter String GeForce 9800 GT
    BIOS String Version 62.92.52.0.9
    Chip Type GeForce 9800 GT
    DAC Type Integrated RAMDAC
    Installed Drivers nvd3dum (8.17.12.8026), nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um

    Harddrive:
    ST3250410AS ATA Device (232 GB)

    Monitor:
    SyncMaster Magic T220/T220G(Digital)

    Powersupply:
    750 Watt
    ================


    Upgrade Computer:

    Upgrade on what (you hope): Graphics Card, if needed RAM, Windows 7 Home, Hard Drive with min 1 Terrabyte

    Willing to Self Build: yes ofc

    How much you want to spend: due to the PC having cost 1800 when it was new (3 years ago) I'd go with... 500€?

    How much you can spend: 800

    What all you plan to use it for: Gaming, WTB Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Diablo 3 on ULTRA

    What Operating system you want to use & Bit: WIN 7 - 64-bit, English

    What Resolution you hope to be in: 1680 x 1050 No iidea if my sync master monitor supports higher resolution without me needing magnifying glasses

    What Settings do you Want & how much FPS: WTB Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Diablo 3 on ULTRA - FPS... hmm no idea

    What Country are you from: Ireland - Europe

    What can you re-use: Depends on what I have to switch out to get new stuff. I guess everything besides Graphics Card and Hard Drive

    Network will be wired or wireless: Wired..... 5 Mbit/s FTL >_> I hate Cork

    Any Additional Info Here:
    I'm no PC pro and the last time I built a PC from scrach was 5 years ago.. Please bear with me if I have no clue what a sandy bridge is......


    Any help appreciated and don't even try to "4chantriforce" me :P


    (at) Mods, thank you for moving, I'm totally blind not seeing that designated subforum >_> writing this from my laptop.. 11" screen ftl
    Last edited by I-Thalos-I; 2011-09-28 at 01:15 AM. Reason: forgot power supply

  2. #2
    The Lightbringer Uggorthaholy's Avatar
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    If you have 800 to spend, you'll likely get much more satisfaction out of a new rig, in all honesty. I know this isn't european, but I'm at work and the configurator is my quickest and best tool at my disposal.

    You can probably re-use the case and peripherals.

    Custom build by Uggorthaholy

    moboMsi P67 without SLi/CF support – $89.99
    cpuIntel i5 2500K – $219.99
    ramCorsar 1600 MHz Vengeance Low-Profile 2X4GB – $57.99
    gpuTwin Frozr GTX 460 – $169.99
    hdd1Samsung Spinpoint 1TB – $59.99
    osWindow 7 Home Premium 64-Bit – $99.99
    psuCorsair 80+ 650w – $84.99
    sinkCorsair A70 – $41.42

    Final Price – $824.35
    Note that certain parts can be changed in/out for personal preference, ESPECIALLY the case. I do not include SSD’s because I am not comfortable/knowledgeable enough to recommend them with any form of confidence

    You may want to invest in a new case, which is completely optional, and all about personal preference.

    This system will smoke everything on the market with a few key settings tuned down for the 460.. If in your budget, change the GPU to

    gpuTwin Frozr GTX 560 Ti – $239.99

    and enjoy the game ownage!

  3. #3
    It would seem to me upgrading your cpu and gfx card would be optimal over anything else. However your limited budget would mean limited upgrades and i can assure you that a new gfx card alone will not do much better than a 9800(ofc not a fried one).

    Not 100% but i think upgrading to phenom II x4 would be cheapest $129.99 area 1tb 7200rpm drives are cheap even seagate Western digital etc no HDD is to expensive currently aside from 10k-15k rpm drives.

    GFX cards

    Radeon 6870 $204 MSI twin frozr
    http://www.compusa.com/applications/...173&CatId=7005
    Memory Type: GDDR5

    Memory Interface: 256-bit

    Video Memory: 1GB

    Core Clock: 920 MHz

    Memory Clock: 4200 MHz

    Overclocked: Yes

    APIs: DirectX 11
    OpenCL

    1080p Support: Yes

    Video Output: DVI
    HDMI
    Display Port

    Low Profile: No

    Cooling Type: Fan

    Multi-GPU Support: CrossFire-X

    Minimum PSU Wattage Requirement: 500 Watt

    Nvidia GTX 460 EVGA

    http://www.compusa.com/applications/...049&CatId=3669

    Memory Type: DDR5

    Memory Interface: 192-bit

    Video Memory: 1GB

    Stream Processors: 336

    Core Clock: 763 MHz

    Memory Clock: 3800 MHz

    Shader Clock: 1526 MHz

    Overclocked: Yes

    APIs: NVIDIA CUDA
    DirectX 11

    1080p Support: Yes

    Video Output: DVI
    HDMI

    Low Profile: No

    Cooling Type: Fan

    Multi-GPU Support: SLI

    Minimum PSU Wattage Requirement: 450 Watt

    ---------- Post added 2011-09-28 at 01:32 AM ----------

    @uggorthaholy

    That is actually a quite nice build put it in a Haf 922 or bigger and a CM rs850 psu ooh wee think im a spend some money for no reason!

  4. #4
    Hello there!

    Thank you very much for the replies so far. I asked a friend as well and he suggested getting one of these:

    CPU
    192 €
    Intel® Core™ i5-2500K
    (Boxed, FC-LGA4, "Sandy Bridge")


    GPU
    172 €
    Gainward GeForce GTX 560 PHANTOM
    (Retail, HDMI, DVI)


    RAM
    45 €
    G.Skill DIMM 8 GB DDR3-1600 Kit
    (F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL, Ripjaws-Series)


    MOBO
    100€
    GIGABYTE GA-H67A-USB3-B3
    (Sound, G-LAN, SATA3, USB 3.0)


    Are these unicorn, dolphin or narwhaal?

    Edit: oh and while we're at it... WTF is a Sandy Bridge >_> that's like everywhere on every page.
    Edit2: oi52.tinypic.com/wan535.jpg this is how my PC looks from the inside atm
    Last edited by I-Thalos-I; 2011-09-28 at 03:17 AM.

  5. #5
    The Lightbringer Uggorthaholy's Avatar
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    SandyBridge is the chipset on the i5 2500k

    You want a GTX 560 Ti, not a plain 560. There is a massive difference between the 2.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by uggorthaholy View Post
    SandyBridge is the chipset on the i5 2500k

    You want a GTX 560 Ti, not a plain 560. There is a massive difference between the 2.
    sandybridge is an architecture not a chipset

    Basically any i3/i5/i7 with 4 digits (i3-2100/i5-2500k/i7-2600/etc) is a "sandy bridge" cpu.. it's the latest line of cpu's released by intel.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.

  7. #7
    Stood in the Fire Zkeya's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by I-Thalos-I View Post
    Hello there!

    Thank you very much for the replies so far. I asked a friend as well and he suggested getting one of these:

    CPU
    192 €
    Intel® Core™ i5-2500K
    (Boxed, FC-LGA4, "Sandy Bridge")


    GPU
    172 €
    Gainward GeForce GTX 560 PHANTOM
    (Retail, HDMI, DVI)


    RAM
    45 €
    G.Skill DIMM 8 GB DDR3-1600 Kit
    (F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL, Ripjaws-Series)


    MOBO
    100€
    GIGABYTE GA-H67A-USB3-B3
    (Sound, G-LAN, SATA3, USB 3.0)


    Are these unicorn, dolphin or narwhaal?

    Edit: oh and while we're at it... WTF is a Sandy Bridge >_> that's like everywhere on every page.
    Edit2: oi52.tinypic.com/wan535.jpg this is how my PC looks from the inside atm
    And you want a P67 motherboard to O/C the 2500k.

  8. #8
    The Lightbringer Uggorthaholy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by taekvideo View Post
    sandybridge is an architecture not a chipset

    Basically any i3/i5/i7 with 4 digits (i3-2100/i5-2500k/i7-2600/etc) is a "sandy bridge" cpu.. it's the latest line of cpu's released by intel.
    That's what I meant to type. I rush what I type a lot when I'm at work lol

  9. #9
    And hello again! Back from work.

    I checked some of the suggested motherboards but those mentioned here don't have onboard graphics or USB 3.0.
    Without onboard graphics I wont be able to boot up in case there is something wrong with the graphics card again. Or will I?

    The motherboard also says in the link that it's without SLI support but the GPU you linked below is SLI ready, in case I want to use two....so I don't really get it.
    I'm no longer into PC hardware that much so I might overlook something.


    Alright then.. stating the facts here.

    If I buy a new MOBO it should be a P67 Type, everything else is a no no in terms of overclocking
    In terms of GPU it doesn't matter if its NVidea, ATI, <enter name here> as long as its a GTX 4XX or more
    and CPU Intel® Core™ i5-2500K is a must have.. no way around it...

    right so far?
    Last edited by I-Thalos-I; 2011-09-28 at 11:42 PM.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by I-Thalos-I View Post
    And hello again! Back from work.

    I checked some of the suggested motherboards but those mentioned here don't have onboard graphics or USB 3.0.
    Without onboard graphics I wont be able to boot up in case there is something wrong with the graphics card again. Or will I?

    The motherboard also says in the link that it's without SLI support but the GPU you linked below is SLI ready, in case I want to use two....so I don't really get it.
    I'm no longer into PC hardware that much so I might overlook something.


    Alright then.. stating the facts here.

    If I buy a new MOBO it should be a P67 Type, everything else is a no no in terms of overclocking
    In terms of GPU it doesn't matter if its NVidea, ATI, <enter name here> as long as its a GTX 4XX or more
    and CPU Intel® Core™ i5-2500K is a must have.. no way around it...

    right so far?
    If you want to overclock and have the option of using onboard graphics, then you want to get a z68 motherboard... that's the only chipset that can do both (p67 can overclock too but can't use integrated graphics).
    Pretty much all gpu's are "sli ready"... if you don't plan to sli then you don't need to get an sli ready motherboard... but you'll still get an sli ready gpu just because all good gpu's are sli or crossfire ready.
    I wouldn't recommend getting anything less than a 460/560... or 6850 in the ati cards.
    If I understand you correctly, you want to play skyrim on ultra? In which case you should get a 6950/560ti at least, and preferably 6970/570... possibly even a 580 if you can wing it.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.

  11. #11
    Is there any downside for using a z68 over a p67?

    Normally I would't care about such things but so far, with every computer I had, was it a laptop or PC, the GPU was the first to die so onboard graphics are always welcome in order to be able to boot up still

  12. #12
    The Lightbringer Uggorthaholy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by I-Thalos-I View Post
    Is there any downside for using a z68 over a p67?

    Normally I would't care about such things but so far, with every computer I had, was it a laptop or PC, the GPU was the first to die so onboard graphics are always welcome in order to be able to boot up still
    Understandable concern, and that gives the Z68 a point in your book. There is no downside of going Z68 over P67, only upside.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by uggorthaholy View Post
    Understandable concern, and that gives the Z68 a point in your book. There is no downside of going Z68 over P67, only upside.
    Pretty much.
    In some cases the z68 equivalent costs a bit more, but lately they've come down to about the same price as p67.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.

  14. #14
    Necroing my own thread for the purpose of clarification after a so long time.
    I've waited a few weeks to check the prices on various hardware and i guess the time is right now. So before I buy the stuff I want to make sure that this gets approvey by at least one of you guys ^^

    CPU

    Intel® Core™ i5-2500K
    Boxed, FC-LGA4, "Sandy Bridge"


    RAM

    G.Skill DIMM 8 GB DDR3-1600 Kit
    F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL, Ripjaws-Series


    GPU

    Gainward GTX560 Ti PHANTOM
    HDMI, 2x DVI


    MOBO

    GIGABYTE GA-P67A-D3-B3
    Sound, G-LAN, SATA3, USB 3.0


    HDD

    Samsung HD103SJ 1 TB
    SATA 300, Spinpoint F3



    And this just in: I'm batshit scared by overclocking. I read up on it a bit and there is so much that can go wrong. I'd appreciate any kind of tutorial.

  15. #15
    The Unstoppable Force DeltrusDisc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by uggorthaholy View Post
    SandyBridge is the chipset on the i5 2500k

    You want a GTX 560 Ti, not a plain 560. There is a massive difference between the 2.
    A plain GTX 560 is not that much worse than a 560 Ti, it's the 550 Ti that no one wants, that is horrible.

    @Milkshake86.... he does NOT need an 850 watt PSU, holy shit. With that's being suggested so far, he'd be perfectly fine with a good quality 500 watt PSU. Some people and over-watting their computers, damn.
    "A flower.
    Yes. Upon your return, I will gift you a beautiful flower."

    "Remember. Remember... that we once lived..."

    Quote Originally Posted by mmocd061d7bab8 View Post
    yeh but lava is just very hot water

  16. #16
    The above mentioned parts, plus an OEM version of Windows 7 would cost me a total of 789,49 Euro so that is still under my budget of 800 Euros. However, if there is a way to lower the price without paying in power instead I'd appreciate the help.


    The only real thing I want to know is IF i should press the "buy button" with those items in my cart ^^

  17. #17
    The Unstoppable Force DeltrusDisc's Avatar
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    List is approved by yours truly!

    In terms of overclocking... nowadays, especially with the 2500K and 2600K, they are meant to be overclocked, and unless you pull a "oh I can just add 0s and make my computer go faster?! OKAY!!!" *turns to 1,000,000THz*... you won't have any problems.

    Here's an excellent guide on OCing these CPUs.

    http://www.overclock.net/t/1100100/i...rclocking-tips
    "A flower.
    Yes. Upon your return, I will gift you a beautiful flower."

    "Remember. Remember... that we once lived..."

    Quote Originally Posted by mmocd061d7bab8 View Post
    yeh but lava is just very hot water

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