Looking for some advice on what to upgrade

[jarjar2k3]

Hey guys,

As stated in the title I am looking for advice on what I should upgrade. I am on a tight budget and am considering upgrading my motherboard, cpu and ram or my video card and power supply.

My current specs are:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 235 at 2.7Ghz
RAM: 6gb DDR2 Dual Channel
Vid Card: Geforce GTS 450 1GB DDR5 Clock Memory is 900Mhz and Shader is 1800Mhz
OS: Win7 Pro 64bit
HDD: 1tb seagate barracuda 7200 rpm
PSU: 450watt

I was thinking of upgrading to:

MSI AMD Series Motherboard and AMD Phenom II X6 1045T 2.70GHz AM3 Processor and ADATA Premier Srs 4GB DDR3 RAM (currently on sale for $260 mobo, cpu and 4gb ddr3+ shipping included in price) and keeping my video card to upgrade at a later date when I can spare the money again.

or upgrading my video card to:

GeForce GTX 550 Ti 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Card and a 600 watt Coolmax - VL-600B ATX12V Power Supply which would run me $30 less with shipping and handling included for both items.

I currently play TOR and will be buying GW2 once I've decided on the upgrade. So I'd appreciate any help/advice that you guys can provide in regards as to which of the two options I would benefit from the most for playing these two games. Thanks in advance for your help.

[chaud]

The 550 ti and a cheap PSU are a bad idea. Spending money on an old AMD CPU and motherboard are another bad idea.

What resolution do you play at? Have you tried overclocking your CPU yet?

[jarjar2k3]

I play at 1920x1080 and I tried to overclock the cpu but it seems that it's locked by the manufacturer. The PC is an e-machine ET1331G that I got on sale a few years ago. I didn't realize that the AMD processor and MSI motherboard were old. As for the PSU I am flexible and can get another one, which would you recommend?

Would this motherboard and cpu be a better choice:

This Bundle Includes:

MSI 760GM-E51(FX) AMD 760 Motherboard - Micro ATX, Socket AM3+, AMD 760G Chipset, 1333MHz DDR3, SATA II (3Gb/s), RAID, 8-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0
AMD FD4100WMGUSBX FX-4100 Processor - Quad Core, 8MB L3 Cache, 2MB L2 Cache, 3.60GHz (3.80GHz Max Turbo), Socket AM3+, 95W, Fan, Unlocked, Retail

With this RAM:

Crucial Ballistix BLS2KIT4G3D1339DS1S0 Desktop Memory Kit - 8GB (2x 4GB), PC3-10600, DDR3-1333MHz, 240-pin DIMM, 1.5V, CL9, Non-ECC, Unbuffered

I apologize ahead of time for not providing links but at the moment the forums will not let me until I've had more posts. I do appreciate the help, thank you!

[chaud]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1057659
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157279

~$350 and it will perform much better / last much longer.

[jarjar2k3]

Awesome, thank you! I was just looking at an i5 combo on Frys.com under the bare bones kit and was wondering if that was a better option.

Here are the specs for it and it's available at my local store:

Specifications
Essentials
Processor Number i5-3570K
# of Cores 4
# of Threads 4
Clock Speed 3.4 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 3.8 GHz
Intel® Smart Cache 6 MB
Bus/Core Ratio 34
DMI 5 GT/s
Instruction Set 64-bit
Instruction Set Extensions SSE4.1/4.2, AVX
Embedded Options Available No
Lithography 22 nm
Max TDP 77 W
Memory Specifications
Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 32 GB
Memory Types DDR3-1333/1600
# of Memory Channels 2
Max Memory Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
ECC Memory Supported No
Graphics Specifications
Processor Graphics Intel® HD Graphics 4000
Graphics Base Frequency 650 MHz
Graphics Max Dynamic Frequency 1.15 GHz
Intel® Quick Sync Video Yes
Intel® InTru™ 3D Technology Yes
Intel® Insider™ Yes
Intel® Wireless Display Yes
Intel® Flexible Display Interface (Intel® FDI) Yes
Intel® Clear Video HD Technology Yes
Advanced Technologies
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2
Intel® vPro Technology No
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology No
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) Yes
Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) No
Intel® Trusted Execution Technology No
AES New Instructions Yes
Intel® 64 Yes
Intel® Anti-Theft Technology Yes
Idle States Yes
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology Yes
Thermal Monitoring Technologies Yes
Intel® Fast Memory Access Yes
Intel® Flex Memory Access Yes
Execute Disable Bit Yes

If that is a good deal then I will get it, otherwise I will go with what you linked. Thanks a lot for helping me with this!

[chaud]

Yeah, that is the newer and slightly faster version, but what else is in that combo?

[jarjar2k3]

Motherboard, CPU, 8gb ddr3 ram and a 1tb Western Digital HDD it's for $293 before taxes

[chaud]

I am guessing it is a junky motherboard then. You should be able to link the combo without the http and www part of the url.

[jarjar2k3]

OK I'll give it a shot here is the link frys.com/product/7280723?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

It doesn't say what kind of motherboard it is but the max RAM it can hold is 32GB

---------- Post added 2012-09-06 at 12:24 AM ----------

I am thinking of going with this instead

frys.com/product/6272550 this is an i7 CPU

frys.com/product/5863493 this is an ASUS Rampage 2 motherboard

frys.com/product/6906857?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG and this Corsair Vengeance 8gb (2x 4gb) DDR3 1333 MHz Ram

[chaud]

The 3570k combo doesn't have a motherboard included as far as I can see on that page. The hard drive is a slow media drive but it is a decent price if you need it.

The i7 CPU you linked is two and next year it will be three generations behind. I'll actually be upgrading from a similar CPU when the next generation is released next year.

It would be better to buy something more recent unless you absolutely can't spend more. (Though that is a pretty nice price!)

[jarjar2k3]

At the moment $300 is pushing it a bit for me, I'd like to try and avoid spending more than I need too because I will be passing this pc on to my brother to take to college with him next year and I will be building a whole new rig come tax time.