Discussion Forums > Technology
Back to school upgrade
kitamesume:
hmmm, if thats the case, i'd list the upgrades you can do. although we're ditching AMD CPUs for the sole reason of efficiency.
i5-3450 or i5-2400
at least 4GB of ram
motherboards... lga1155 Asrock Z68 Pro3-M is good, its a beauty.
HD7850 would be a pretty choice, HD7870 would be kinda better for that overkill PSU.
downgrade to a 500watt PSU with a "gold" tag on it, actually thats an upgrade. reasons? only duo-GPUs(or more) needs more than 600watts, really.
an SSD is a good bet for a slug-pesticide, not the best bet though. another option would be a raid5 5x1TB array of WD blacks, wouldn't be worth it for the price though, and a little overkill as a storage, i mean using WD blacks is overkill.
vuzedome:
Oh come on, the guy's a student, don't need an overhaul. Just stick in new and better GPU plus extra ram sticks in there, if that's not enough then wipe your OS and start fresh to feel the extra fresh.
krumm:
that cpu and gpu is fine, but the gpu would not be a bad upgrade. If your going to update anything then go for at least the 7850. The 7770 is not a real upgrade. A ssd is a possible upgrade as well. 4-8 GB ram is good and probably will not get you any speed to upgrade.
I would look at the price/performance difference between the 7850 and 7870 and upgrade that, but I don't use more then 1 monitor so the 5770 I have works fine.
datora:
.
What do you use your computer for?
Do you intend to to more/something else with it?
What are it's full specifications?
What's your budget? / What market in the world are you purchasing in?
An SSD for your system drive & heavy apps should be the very first thing on your list. 128 GB can be had for ~$90 & under in the U.S. these days ... a good, fast reliable one like a Crucial M4 or a Samsung 830. It's unlikely you need a 256 GB , but if you do they generally have a small performance boost in read/writes, but larger doesn't have any more than the 256 range.
If you have 4 GB "old" slow-ish RAM, like DDR3 1033, and your mobo can handle it, consider looking at 8 GB (or 16) of DDR 3 1833 or even 2133. If you already have 1600, the jump won't generally be worth it, unless you're into overclocking.
Your x4 core Deneb ... what's the base GHz? [ EDIT: OKay - I see I missed it's a 965 @ 3.4 GHz ] Are you overclocking? Consider upgrading the cooling block and pushing it into the 4.3/4.5 GHz if it can handle it [ EDIT: you can push 4.2 GHz stable in almost all Deneb 965s without too much effort; I've seen numerous system reports @4.5 GHz on a good air cooler before water becomes nearly mandatory; stick with air and be happy with 4.2/4.3 if you get it. ] (also, you'll probably bump the RAM MHz in the process). Budget for a couple decent, quiet, hi air-flow case fans so your system doesn't sound like a Harrier taking off.
[ EDIT: the Bulldozer FX-6200 x6 core barely outperforms a Deneb 965 running ~ 3.6 stock 3.4 GHz; not worth the ~$140 "upgrade," even if you have an AM3+ socket mobo. If I can find it, there was an outstanding comparison report I read on that some weeks back ... save your money and stick with the Deneb 965, but seriously consider pushing it to 4 GHz & maybe higher. ]
Now, we can discuss your GPU. Why is your current one inadequate?
[ further EDIT: read this review. All of it. It's eye-opening:
- AMD FX-6200 CPU Review: A Small Bulldozer Refresh
Gives me great dissapoint. I invested in an AM3+ mobo specifically to eventually upgrade to this CPU. Looks like a total waste of money. Better investment would be to find a Phenom II X6 1100T @ max. GHz and maybe mildly OC one of those. It will out-perform and use quite a bit less wattage. The FX-6200 uses ludicrous amounts of electricity at a high overclock to seriously compete with an 1100T in nearly every single category. I haven't looked into an FX-8150 yet, and won't due to price at this time. ]
kitamesume:
^ exactly why stay away from AMD CPUs for the sole purpose of efficiency.
at the moment the only thing that needs an upgrade on his system are an SSD, a mild bump in GPU, a new HSF for overclocking, and more ram.
anything else would lead to an overhaul of the whole unit, not the best option imho unless you'll aim for an i5+HD7870 no less.
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