1. #1
    Keyboard Turner
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    Computer Upgrade

    Hi there! I'm interested in upgrading my desktop and I would like some help/opinions/thoughts. I currently have:

    HP Pavilion Elite e9220y PC
    AMD Phenom II x 4 910 Processor
    ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics card
    8GB DDR3 system memory
    1 Terabyte hard drive
    Windows 7 64-bit

    I was looking at these for an upgrade:

    Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
    Motherboard: Intel BOXDH77EB LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
    Graphics: XFX - Ultra Overclock Edition Radeon HD 7770 1GB DDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card
    Power Supply: Dynex™ - 520W ATX CPU Power Supply

    Sorry I couldn't post links. This is my first post and I am unable to post them.

    Thanks!!

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by erincantoo View Post
    Hi there! I'm interested in upgrading my desktop and I would like some help/opinions/thoughts. I currently have:

    HP Pavilion Elite e9220y PC
    AMD Phenom II x 4 910 Processor
    ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics card
    8GB DDR3 system memory
    1 Terabyte hard drive
    Windows 7 64-bit

    I was looking at these for an upgrade:

    Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
    Motherboard: Intel BOXDH77EB LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
    Graphics: XFX - Ultra Overclock Edition Radeon HD 7770 1GB DDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card
    Power Supply: Dynex™ - 520W ATX CPU Power Supply

    Sorry I couldn't post links. This is my first post and I am unable to post them.

    Thanks!!
    That looks like a good upgrade but i'd go with an nvidia video card that has slightly over 1GB of VRAM. Everything else is fine. Maybe a SSD drive down the road.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by erincantoo View Post
    Power Supply: Dynex™ - 520W ATX CPU Power Supply
    That just sounds bad in modern system.

    --

    Intel Core i5-3570K is good choice - with good cooling you can oc that to 4.6GHz without any issues (and even more if you know what you do).

    Also buy more ram, and SSD would be a must have

    about video card - don't listen nVidia/amd fanboys - just compare tests and price

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Alexeht View Post
    That just sounds bad in modern system.

    --

    Intel Core i5-3570K is good choice - with good cooling you can oc that to 4.6GHz without any issues (and even more if you know what you do).

    Also buy more ram, and SSD would be a must have

    about video card - don't listen nVidia/amd fanboys - just compare tests and price
    I agree with regards to the psu. Over 8GB of ram isn't really needed for gaming to be honest. I had 16GB for a year and i think it was a waste not using half my ram.

    As far as video cards, I just recommended Nvidia because Wow is more optimized for Nvidia cards but the choice is up to to OP. I know many don't agree with this but it's just a personal recommendation. Of course he/she doesn't have to go that route.

  5. #5
    Keyboard Turner
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    Hi! Thanks for replying so fast.

    So on the psu, is dynex not good? What would y'all choose?

  6. #6
    Oh well more than 8GB may be not necessary, but wow in 64bit is able to take 3.2GB on my PC - and if you use a lot of addons it probably can use more.


    520W psu is ... Buy 800W one (better have some more power than just enough, and 800W psu are cheap now, so there no reason to take 700w or something) - idk how good is dynex, but I would buy OCZ or Corshair.
    Last edited by Alexeht; 2012-11-20 at 03:41 AM.

  7. #7
    Don't worry about an SSD if it doesn't fit into your budget. That's more of a luxury than anything else. It won't increase performance in games where it actually matters. And don't listen to the above poster in regards to the power supply. Get one from a good brand, at least bronze certified and no more or less than 450-550w for a build like that. 800w is not only a waste of money for a build that consumes that little power, but it'll be awful where efficiency is concerned. Get one from Corsair, XFX, Seasonic, PCP&C or Antec and you'll be fine. Any more RAM than 8GB is absolutely pointless as far as gaming is concerned, so unless it's cheaper to get 16GB don't bother.

  8. #8
    450W psu will ruin that hardware if he will want it to use whole potential of cpu and oc it. And 800W psu silver 80 cert are cheap anyway.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by erincantoo View Post
    So on the psu, is dynex not good? What would y'all choose?
    There's a blurb near the middle of this gigantic pic guide that recommends PSUs: http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...uide/Guide.png

    Here's a list of all recommended PSUs. If its not on the list, its probably not a good buy: http://www.overclock.net/t/183810/fa...power-supplies

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Alexeht View Post
    450W psu will ruin that hardware if he will want it to use whole potential of cpu and oc it. And 800W psu silver 80 cert are cheap anyway.
    Maybe for someone who needs an 800w PSU, but otherwise it's an enormous waste of money. Even with three 7770s it would be overkill.

  11. #11
    Theres no point in getting a 3570k unless your going to get a good overclocking mobo along with it. You need to be looking at z77 boards. Id recommend a asrock z77extreme 4 great price to performance but if you need cheaper you can go with one of the Asrock z77 pro boards which would just limit you to single video card usage. Also a 450+ psu from a good brand would work as well Seasonic and Corsair both very reliable and would power the system just fine. The 800 people are recommending is ludicrous.
    Last edited by demonskies; 2012-11-20 at 09:32 PM.
    CPU:i5 4670k@4.3Ghz GPU:Gigabyte GTX760 WF3 Mobo:Asrock Z87E-ITX RAM:8Gb GSkill Ares@1600MhzCase:Atomic Orange Bit Fenix Prodigy Cooling: Corsair H100i HDD:1Tb WD Cav Black SSD: Samsung 830 128Gb PSU:Seasonic M2II620 KB:Razer Black Widow Mouse:Razer Naga 2014

  12. #12
    Good point about mobo demonskies, and about psu - why are you using 750W then? I admitt that 800W for single video card is a overkill, but really putting 450W psu on modern system also sounds wrong (and as I said before 800W psu are cheap so 600W would be good imo).

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Alexeht View Post
    450W psu will ruin that hardware if he will want it to use whole potential of cpu and oc it. And 800W psu silver 80 cert are cheap anyway.
    No it will not. A 3570K + 7970 both overclocked to the max will consume 525W power peak according to the handy dandy PSU calc http://www.overclock.net/t/1045231/p...psu-calculator . A lower powered card like the 7770 will only consume 425W fully overclocked at peak.

    Quote Originally Posted by Alexeht View Post
    Good point about mobo demonskies, and about psu - why are you using 750W then? I admitt that 800W for single video card is a overkill, but really putting 450W psu on modern system also sounds wrong (and as I said before 800W psu are cheap so 600W would be good imo).
    If you don't need the wattage, its better to go for a better brand than higher wattage. For a 'good' brand like Seasonic or Corsair, 800W units are easily $100+ and even more for modular. Moreover, the OP is budget squeezed (note the 7770) so he has a reason to save some money on the PSU without skimping on quality.

    Demonskies' build has some pretty expensive parts like the HAF 932, Corsair H60, 2TB Caviar Black and Razer KB/Mouse. As such, it makes sense if he wanted to have a 'luxury' PSU.

  14. #14
    100$ for psu sounds cheap (at least for Europeans). Anyway that 520W psu will block a possibility of upgrade PC later (as 3570k is really good cpu, and 7770 kinda weak gpu - my old 5850 is much better than that).

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Alexeht View Post
    100$ for psu sounds cheap (at least for Europeans). Anyway that 520W psu will block a possibility of upgrade PC later (as 3570k is really good cpu, and 7770 kinda weak gpu - my old 5850 is much better than that).
    $100 would be 100 Euros for Europeans because your stuff is expensive.

    A 520W PSU will only block SLI/Crossfire. However, you should never plan on SLI/Crossfire. You're almost always better off buying a new card. The window for SLI/Crossfire is at 0 to 1 generations from your current card. At 2 generations, a new card at the same price as the original would have double the performance. Since SLI/Crossfire only brings an additional ~60% performance, its rarely a valid option. Moreover, you have SLI/Crossfire centric problems like lack of support and microstutter.

    The only exception for SLI/Crossfire are people who go enthusiast/top of the line SLI/Crossfire (eg. 680 SLI or 690 SLI).

  16. #16
    Yeah I got 5850 in crossfire and will not make that mistake again ;( (there are only few games where performance from 2nd card is high)

    http://www.dabs.com/products/corsair...fs=50113&src=3 <-- 52 pounds for a 600W 80+ Bronze psu I call cheap

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Alexeht View Post
    http://www.dabs.com/products/corsair...fs=50113&src=3 <-- 52 pounds for a 600W 80+ Bronze psu I call cheap
    CX 600, not on the list, probably not recommended: http://www.overclock.net/t/183810/fa...power-supplies . Plus, its Corsair CX, a blemish on Corsair's otherwise good streak. Its also not modular.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Alexeht View Post
    Good point about mobo demonskies, and about psu - why are you using 750W then? I admitt that 800W for single video card is a overkill, but really putting 450W psu on modern system also sounds wrong (and as I said before 800W psu are cheap so 600W would be good imo).
    I got a 750 at the time (2009) because I was planning on getting a 2nd 5870, which are a little more power hungry then the 7xxx series, The 5870 did everything I needed so I never found a reason to buy a 2nd one. So Im now stuck with the perfectly usable 750w. If my psu where to die today I would more than likely by a 520w modular Seasonic or maybe if the price was right a 600ish. lol. I recently upgraded from my i5 750 and asrock p55 extreme board to the 3570k/z77 extreme 4 plus added the SSD, h60 and a 2nd 1tb Cav Black. Just waiting for the perfect time to upgrade the video card and when the money is able to be used lol. My 5870 still performs very well, Im not playing BF3 with 450fps on ultra but it still plays most games CS:go, WoW, Skyrim, and many others on ultra settings with shadows off with acceptable fps.
    Last edited by demonskies; 2012-11-21 at 07:38 PM.
    CPU:i5 4670k@4.3Ghz GPU:Gigabyte GTX760 WF3 Mobo:Asrock Z87E-ITX RAM:8Gb GSkill Ares@1600MhzCase:Atomic Orange Bit Fenix Prodigy Cooling: Corsair H100i HDD:1Tb WD Cav Black SSD: Samsung 830 128Gb PSU:Seasonic M2II620 KB:Razer Black Widow Mouse:Razer Naga 2014

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