$750ish upgrade to transform a former budget beast into god-tier gaming

R

runo

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Okay, so my birthday is coming up in April and I'm saving up money now. By the time I order this, I should have about $720-750 to spend... maybe a little more, maybe a little less.

As fast as computer technology and its prices move, I'm hoping that Ivy Bridge and the AMD Radeon 7000-series will noticeably reduce some of the prices of the components I intend to buy... unless the AMD FX-series is really that bad of an idea, in which case I could definitely go for a Z68/2500K combo, or unless the parts are so good and so well-priced that I should buy them since I'll be waiting 'til April to order anyway. lol

What I'm keeping (though if I can stay in-budget and upgrade to better or add more, let me know!)
CoolerMaster Storm Scout Case
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
SeaSonic X650 Power Supply
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB 7200RPM HDD [Game & Storage Drive]
Crucial M4 60GB SSD [OS/Boot & Apps Drive]
Sony Optiarc CD-DVD ROM
Asus 24" LCD Monitor (and other peripherals; RAT7 mouse, G510 keyboard, Logitech G35 headset)

What I intend to upgrade to (sitting at just over $750, shipped)
ASRock Fatal1ty Professional AM3+ 990FX Motherboard
AMD FX-8120 CPU (though I don't quite grasp why people prefer the 8120 over the 8150 just yet, it keeps me underbudget)
Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24 1.5v
MSI Twin Frozr II 560Ti 2GB

What I'm upgrading from (it should be a pretty substantial upgrade, no?)
Gigabyte GA-890-GPA-UD3H 890GX chipset motherboard
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition [OC'd @ 3.8GHz]
4GB Corsair XMS DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24 1.5v
EVGA GTX 460 768MB [OC'd @ 33% increase]

What I intend to buy later
CPU Cooler for EXTREEEEME(!!!) overclocking
A second SSD, perhaps 64-120+ GB
A second monitor, probably a 24" LCD
Possibly a 2nd 560Ti a month or two after. I mean that when I say it. I want this rig to be a BEAST.
 
Wait for the video card. A 460 to 560 is a good upgrade, but the new line of cards are coming soon and both of them will be obsolete. A 460 backed up with an FX 8120 will have good FPS until the time comes.
 
Good call. I also happen to have a second, matching GTX 460; if I could SLI on a 990FX like I hear I can, that'll tide me over for quite a while.
 
Yeah ASRock is one of the few that support SLI. Then again I could be wrong as I haven't been following AMD since the FX series released. I know the ASUS Evo 990x definitely does. Just make sure your PSU can hold up in SLI, especially if overclocking is a factor.
 
In my opinion, don't buy a Bulldozer. I get being an AMD fan, but right now I just think they're a bad buy. Thubans are cheaper and compete well, and Sandy Bridge. Well, yeah.

Also, I don't know how long you want to wait on the video cards. The 7970 at $550 is coming out soon (is already out?) but the 78xx are due in February. Last I heard from nVidia, the 6xx series isn't for builders, but the 7xx should be coming out much later than that. Though all news about that is speculative right now, I could've sworn the last rumor I heard was April. I'd wait on someone else to confirm that, though.
 
a pet rock said:
In my opinion, don't buy a Bulldozer. I get being an AMD fan, but right now I just think they're a bad buy. Thubans are cheaper and compete well, and Sandy Bridge. Well, yeah.
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Funnily enough, I actually like Intel and AMD equally. Same for "ATI" and nVidia. I let it boil down to the effectiveness of the individual component and not its brand or manufacturer. I wouldn't have a problem swapping over to an Intel build (maybe a 2500K or a 2600K?) since I'm tearing the motherboard and processor out anyway, but I'm unsure of what Intel-based motherboard to go with.

Features-wise, an X79 seems right up my alley, but I haven't done a lot of research on them. I could save a lot of money just running my 460s in SLI and waiting until something mindblowing in terms of video cards comes out, but that still means I need to decide on a specific Intel processor and motherboard (though I think that RAM works fine, better is always good..er...).

Also, I don't know how long you want to wait on the video cards. The 7970 at $550 is coming out soon (is already out?) but the 78xx are due in February. Last I heard from nVidia, the 6xx series isn't for builders, but the 7xx should be coming out much later than that. Though all news about that is speculative right now, I could've sworn the last rumor I heard was April. I'd wait on someone else to confirm that, though.
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Yeah, good point. The thing is that a single GTX 460 768MB works really well for me. If I can SLI them, I'll probably be fine until 2013, and maybe for Christmas or something I can pick up a really beefy GPU.
 
There's no point in getting dual 560 ti's a single one can run bf3 and skyrim on mostly max settings with 40-80 fps
 
He has a matching 460 lying around which will definitely be enough for a while.

460 sli even though 768mb is fast enough for most games.

But yea, just wait for the new GPU's.....haven't been following anything since im in college now and my desktop is at home but bulldozer looks good?
 
Bulldozer is weak compared to the 2500k. Depending on price, 2500k is the way to go (and prices on newegg right now suggest sandy for sure).

What do you need from x79 that z68 or p67 can't provide?
 
I'm your huckleberry said:
Bulldozer is weak compared to the 2500k. Depending on price, 2500k is the way to go (and prices on newegg right now suggest sandy for sure).

What do you need from x79 that z68 or p67 can't provide?
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Your comparing an 8 core CPU to what? a 6 core? They are both on par with each other. It might just be personal preference for him.
 
Cloakedsphere said:
Your comparing an 8 core CPU to what? a 6 core? They are both on par with each other. It might just be personal preference for him.
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Please read the thread before running your mouth. He said he has no preference either way for amd or intel, so I am telling him which is better. The fact you do not know that 2500k is four cores and 8120 is eight cores shows how much you know about these cpus. Read a review:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4955/the-bulldozer-review-amd-fx8150-tested

2500k owns bulldozer. Where have you been for the past few months?

And that review is for the faster 8150, but the only place these 8 core bulldozer have a chance is in programs that can utilize 8 cores which is almost nonexistent.

At least it wins in something: power consumption.
 
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I'm your huckleberry said:
Bulldozer is weak compared to the 2500k. Depending on price, 2500k is the way to go (and prices on newegg right now suggest sandy for sure).

What do you need from x79 that z68 or p67 can't provide?
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Fair point, as I'm never going to need that much RAM and I don't think the other features provide anything relevant to what I do as a gamer. The Z68 chipset seems more akin to my likings just looking at what it does over the P67 (overclocking, tweaking, etc.), though I'm still wondering what motherboard in particular to go with. I've been eyeing some of Biostar, ASRock and Gigabyte's selections, but as long as it's not a ridiculous amount of money then I could be swayed to choose anything. :o

My only real concern (previously, before I did some research on Ivy Bridge and X79s) was that maybe I'd need to upgrade my motherboard AGAIN to fit Ivy Bridge once that's launched, but it seems that if I go with a Z68, it'll fit both of them as they're both LGA 1155.

It also seems to be difficult to find any X79s that I like that has Socket 1155 -- maybe they don't even have LGA 1155s with X79s... I think I'm just going to go with a Z68.

EDIT: Right now I'm looking at the aforementioned eight gigs of RAM, putting my 460s in SLI and socketing a 2500K and maybe picking up this Biostar TZ68A+ motherboard. It seems to be a bit on the cheap (price) side, though saving money isn't a bad thing if it's a solid mobo.

The RAM, mobo and CPU put me at $390, shipped, which would save me a LOT of cash and still be pretty beastly with an SLI setup, I think.
 
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That board is a little cheap. It supposedly can't do SLI either:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Biostar/TZ68A_PLUS/13.html

I would want a mobo that can do at least x8/x8 through the pci-e slots so that you are not bottlenecked. x79 is only for sandy-bridge e, and it is more expensive with the lowest board right now at $200 on newegg. They are coming out with a new chip set for ivy bridge, z77. But many of the current boards are supposed to support ivy, possibly with a bios update.

So I like the idea of 2500k, cheapish z68 mobo, sli 460s, and 8gb ram. Should hold you over for quite some time. Take a look at this mobo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

Seems to be the cheapest with x8/x8 sli for z68. However, as with most cheap mobos, you are losing some features. Only real one of note that I know of is a usb 3.0 header.
 
Just to make sure you've got things straight, X79 is LGA 2011 is SB-E.

P67 and Z68 are LGA 1155 and are both SB.

The key benefits of X79 over 1155 is the quad-channel memory and six-core processors, neither of which play a large role in gaming right now.

The only benefits of Z68 over P67 are SSD caching and on-board graphics.

When Ivy Bridge releases, it will be LGA 1155 and should be a drop in upgrade for any other 1155 board.
 
@huckleberry: Thanks for that board. I swapped out the Biostar board I was eyeing and added the ASRock you suggested to my cart. Having both cards run well -- or having either card run at all, lolnoSLI-- is obviously crucial to my setup.

a pet rock said:
Just to make sure you've got things straight, X79 is LGA 2011 is SB-E.

P67 and Z68 are LGA 1155 and are both SB.

The key benefits of X79 over 1155 is the quad-channel memory and six-core processors, neither of which play a large role in gaming right now.

The only benefits of Z68 over P67 are SSD caching and on-board graphics.

When Ivy Bridge releases, it will be LGA 1155 and should be a drop in upgrade for any other 1155 board.
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Thanks! I didn't quite understand the major differences between the X79 and the Z68/P67 until I did some research, let alone the major differences between Z68 and P67. I don't intend to upgrade to hexacore technology until it's actually a necessity or at least massively beneficial, much as I've yet to even get my hands on a quad core of any sort since it's just recently -- in my eyes, anyway -- become great for gaming.

The biggest reason I chose the Z68 is the SSD caching; as someone who owns an SSD as their boot drive and intends to expand with more than one SSD (and may be totaling up to 3) after the upgrade, SRT looks pretty appealing -- assuming it'll work across multiple 64GB drives, if I'm grasping the concept correctly -- since my storage array may consist entirely of solid state technology by this Christmas.

I don't use a lot of space on my hard drives (I'm coming close to about... 180GB now) across my 60GB SSD boot drive with Win7 x64 loaded onto it, and my slowest-loading games; then there's my Spinpoint F3 500GB, which contains all my games and all my programs and music.. and still has several hundred gigs left on it.
 
Intel owns AMD in almost every category, including price.

Given the premium you pay, and the performance margin, not sold on the 2500k. Once you have the Intel don't forget, you aren't upgrading, basically ever, till you get another mobo.

That being said, the Bulldozer chip, for the money, sucks. I built my rig for the Bulldozer over the summer (990FX mobo) and stuck in a 1090t as a place holder for like $149 bucks. And then Bulldozer came out, and, well, take a look at all the reviews. The 8 core processor barely beats it's older, larger die 6 core sibling.

I say wait for it. You can grab a screaming quad core phenom for a lot less, and save the money for Piledriver over the summer, which AMD thinks will be at least a 20% step up in performance over the Bulldozer.
 
Frankly, Sandy Bridge and Phenom2 x4's are both very reasonably priced. The reason SB's more expensive than all the P2's is because it is flat out better. It's not even that much more expensive, unless you're convinced you have to have X79 LGA 2011. Which is a waste of money for gamers.

Now, obviously if you only play games that are very not CPU-limited, a Phenom 2 can match SB. But in games that need CPU horsepower like Civ 5 or Starcraft 2, you will see a gain of 50% over the Phenom line.

Intel uses the same socket across two generations. So buying into Sandy Bridge means a drop-in upgrade for Ivy Bridge. After that, it's a moot point because you'd be switching mobos for both companies.

While waiting is always an option, I would not hold out too much hope for Piledriver. It may just turn out to be another disappointment like Bulldozer. Ivy bridge will be here soon and things are looking great for an improvement on very solid technology.
 
Now, obviously if you only play games that are very not CPU-limited, a Phenom 2 can match SB. But in games that need CPU horsepower like Civ 5 or Starcraft 2, you will see a gain of 50% over the Phenom line.
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I highly doubt the 50% gain. A 3.3ghz i5 vs a 3.6ghz Phenom is gonna be closer then that. Yes, the AMD will bottleneck the GPU, but here's the catch:

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz -- $229.99

AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition 3.6ghz -- $149.99

$80 is a LOT of cheese. And if my completely horrible math skills are right, that's a 65% price increase for what is most likely not 50% more performance. I'd stash the $80 in something else, like a better GPU or more memory, or heck, you can almost buy an SSD for that cash. Don't forget the price premium for "good" Intel boards.

I say wait, sink in a nice little Phenom onto an awesome upgradable board. And if you're still convinced on Bulldozer, hit it over the summer when you know there will be a price decrease.
 
I posted a link to a legitimate review site that had 50% performance increase from stock i5-2500k to stock X4 975. You don't have to doubt the "most likely not 50% more performance" when I already gave you a link (obviously ymmv). It also means that if you're getting that much more performance out of a CPU upgrade, sinking $80 into a GPU won't get you as much of an upgrade. It is still a pretty nice chunk of change, but it gets you performance. So that's why I say: if you've got the money and want the performance, go for it.

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I definitely would not go with old tech at this point for $80 less. 2500k is the way to go hands down. No point in spending that much money as well if you are only going to upgrade to something that may have similar performance or slightly better but cost more a year or so down the road.
 
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