Computer Upgrades

VP :3

VP :3

EGO Is My Life!
Joined
Jul 8, 2009
Messages
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So, I want to upgrade my computer. I've decided to go Nvidia this time, because my HIS Radeon HD 6850 has had quite a lot of fan issues... Mostly rattling, making it loud. How does this seem for an upgrade? I currently sit at

  • AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz (with stock fan)
  • ASUS M4A87TD-EVO
  • HIS Radeon HD 6850

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Just don't buy a 560 Ti. It may be a great card, but with the GeForce 600 series hopefully on the verge of release, I am of the hope that the price on the 570/580 will drop significantly. Also, why the AMD chip? It's not a snipe, but lately Intel has been more bang for the buck.
 
PBJ said:
Just don't buy a 560 Ti. It may be a great card, but with the GeForce 600 series hopefully on the verge of release, I am of the hope that the price on the 570/580 will drop significantly. Also, why the AMD chip? It's not a snipe, but lately Intel has been more bang for the buck.
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I don't really like Intel. To be honest I don't know what I have against them, I just don't really like them. :mellow:
 
We should respect VP's decision with going AMD. I mean, AMD still have very good prices for performance. Only thing that should be changed on that list is the 560Ti. With the 600 series around the corner (May I think), it would be better to hold out until then.
 
VP-77 said:
I don't really like Intel. To be honest I don't know what I have against them, I just don't really like them. :mellow:
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You have no reason to hate them, but you hate them anyway? O.o

While your choice CPU isn't necessarily a bad buy, it doesn't quite compare to Sandy Bridge (and presumably Ivy Bridge) when it comes to performance. It's also at the point in the year that computer technology is making large jumps -- Ivy Bridge and the 600/7K series GPUs launch within the next month or two.

My strongest recommendation to your build is to wait until these launches occur: it will not only cause a decline in price for Sandy Bridge and the 500/6K series GPUs, but further competition could potentially cause the price on AMD chips to lower as well. You never know if Ivy Bridge will have features that appeal to you over FX.
 
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This will probably be the only time I ever say this, but you might want to go with the MSI Hawk 560ti. It's only $20 more, has an awesome cooler, components, and is clocked 100MHz more. Oh and after the rebate it's actually $10 cheaper.

The only reason to go for the EVGA one, besides their awesome support is that the card may be eligible for the Step Up program. Which means you could upgrade to a 600 series card with similar performance for free. That's almost a gamble though, because the 560ti is eligible now, but that doesn't mean it will be in 2 months.
 
8120 is not much of an upgrade over your current cpu. I would simply keep your 965 and mobo for now and throw what you have left into your gpu upgrade and new heatsink, especially if this is simply a gaming system. If not, go with 2500k for sure. It does not matter if you like them or not, getting the most for your money is all that should matter.
 
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Great question. Was wondering myself. After a quick google, I came upon this:

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=883491&mpage=1

Looking at the details tab on newegg for the two different cards confirms that you definitely want to get the one I suggested since it comes with the lifetime warranty (in addition to all the other advantages I listed) vs the one you linked which only has 3 year warranty.
 
That warranty is the big thing that would win me over. Let me tell you guys a quick story bout an older video that I had an issue with (great thing bout this story is that it just happened to come thru eVGA, so very much related). Anyways, I had an old 9800gt video card that was having possibly heating issues, so I sent it in (since I signed up for the lifetime warranty) & I put in my old 7600gt to hold me over til my replacement came in. Needless to say, it took less than a week (+1 to eVGA for their speedy service) & I opened up the box & noticed immediately that the video card looked a bit bigger than the regular 9800gt. Turned it over to find out it was a refurb GTS450. Needless to say I was extremely estatic! I popped that sucker in & it started up great & havent had an issue since.

Unfortunately the current card only came with I think a 90 day limited warranty (which I knew due to my own history with nVidia cards that I wouldnt have an issue) I decided not to go w/ the limited warranty. Overall moral of the story: If you fill out the card for the limited lifetime warranty & read it carefully, you will be rewarded with awesome customer service with eVGA.

Needless to say, it doesnt matter if the video card comes from eVGA or another company, as long as its a high-end card that comes with a lifetime warranty, you better believe im gonna go for it (& I will encourage others to go that route as well).

The only thing I gotta do now myself is wait til I get myself some kinda part time job so that I can take care of rent then start setting aside $$ for a newer cpu, memory & mobo.
 
Thanks huckleberry for that catch.

And pillar, I've heard many things about that. EVGA, honestly, seems like the best GPU company out there to buy from.

Now my last question, is the motherboard I'm looking at good, or should I get a different? I wanna keep it under $200.
 
1st off, you should NEVER go for an open box item. Those only have a 30 day warranty to em & something could go wrong like 2-3 months into it & youd be sol @ that rate.

2nd off, (im glad I didnt post this yet cause I wouldve been so wrong on this), seems that z68 boards are the way to go since theyre the latest ones to come out (& theres more of those to choose from). I checked out the wiki site bout the difference on p67 & z68 & theres not much difference (you can o/c the gpu on the z68 but thats the most noticeable thing I saw).
However, if you still insist on a mobo w/ that chipset, then I would suggest this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498
 
That is a good budget board. The only thing it really lacks is usb 3.0 internal header (which is used to connect the usb ports of the case or a card reader). Beyond that, it is a great budget board.

As for z68 allowing gpu overclocking, that refers to the built in gpu of the core i5 processor, not a discrete graphics card. The real only useful feature is ssd caching which is not even that important as I would rather get a larger one for os and some programs considering the prices have come down vs hdd prices going up (for now). Basically, I would not let a mobo being a p67 version affect my decision that much.
 
I'm leaning towards the one I posted above. I'll survive without USB 3.0 in the front, as I only use one port, and that's for my microphone, the rest are in the back. Two USB 3.0's aren't a need for me.

I'd still like to give the open box a shot though.
 
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Well there is definitely a risk to be had with open box, but they can provide some impressive deals. However, I do not think the one you linked to is that much more impressive. It is also only a micro atx board which gives you less slots if you need to add additional cards. I do think the asrock should be fine for your needs.
 
Hmm, alright. And will my Q Connector from my ASUS board now work fine with the ASROCK? Or will it just be a matter of matching up the connectors, like mix and match?

Edit: Did some research, don't think it will.
 
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Running 4 of these on my current build. Looking at the supported RAM, it looks like mine isn't on the list. But then again, it wasn't on the list for my current board, and all 4 sticks of RAM are working and at 16GB. Should I play it safe and go ahead and buy new RAM?
 
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