Hardware Helping Hand
In a nutshell, my current base system is getting a little long in the tooth. This Athlon 64 X2 4200+ has done me very well for the past several years, but I figure it’s time to get a long-term upgrade now while I can still afford it (some of you know what I mean here….).
Upgrading the CPU means upgrading the motherboard, which means upgrading the RAM. I’m thinking along the lines of an AMD FX CPU, mobo, and hopefully 8GB of RAM. Near $300 would be great, $400 would be doable, suggest anything higher only if you’re willing to donate ;)
So, for an example:
CPU: AMD FX-6300 (I prefer the lower wattage models, don’t need an octacore unless the price is really right).
Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 Evo R2.0 – 4 DIMM slots ideally, USB 3.0 is nice, haven’t researched the different chipsets available.
RAM: Not sure… 8GB of whatever suits best. Always had good luck with Corsair.
Any ideas, suggestions etc. would be appreciated.
Comments
Here is a good Start
Mwave Haswell Z87 Series
CPU: 1 x Intel Core i5 4570 Quad Core LGA 1150 3.2GHz CPU Processor
Motherboards: 1 x Gigabyte GA-Z87-D3HP LGA 1150 Motherboard
Memory: 1 x Kingston HyperX blu 8GB (2× 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz Memory KHX1600C9D3B1K2/8GX
Video Card: 1 x Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card
Power Supply: 1 x Thermaltake SMART 650W 80Plus Bronze Power Supply
Storage (SSD & HDD): 1 x Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5” SATA III SSD MZ-7TE120BW
Optical Drive: 1 x Samsung SH-224DB (BB) 24x Internal SATA DVD OEM Burner Drive
Advanced Build Options: 1 x Upgraded CPU Cooler Installation
Assembling Fee
Total $1,297.93 Inc. GST
Ta
Robag
eww amd radeon
nvidia is the way to go
GTX TITAN PCI-E 3.0 6GB only ~$1,200
seriously i wouldn’t know how to build a PC for 300 bucks and be happy to game on it
what slaker said
Drop the ati and got the nVida
Ta
Robag
Just to clarify...
The rest of the PC is fine: PSU, GPU, HDD etc. have been incrementally upgraded over the years. The only things that haven’t been upgraded are the CPU, board and RAM.
Ro
I need to engage your consultancy services to start sourcing parts for mine!
Ashi, i cant provide you with any support here! im the in same boat as you (looking to upgrade parts etc) and am PAST confused!
Hey
Hi. I had some luck with an asrock motherboard when purchasing for in laws. Was cheap but good. The only complaint was how it handled the stock fans. But I’m guessing you’ve got a fan controller which would sort that. Not sure how much of it was the case too.
The socket numbers have updated since I purchased. I was getting a 1155 I think. This looks to be the equivalent mobo.
B85 pro m (I’d link but am on my phone and it’s.Not playing nice). Price was about 90
Cpu is a bit pricier. Can get an i3 within the budget. I’d got the i5 4470 for 200 ish if u can push the budget that far.
Ram from.corsair about 94. Brings u in a bit over budget. What do.u think?
Ok, so thinking about this
I’m still keen on an AMD CPU, so I’m going to stick with the FX-6300 for ~$140. I love having an OS that can actually make use of multiple cores!
It does have an 1866MHz memory speed, so it would benefit from something like the Corsair “Vengeance” (because silly names haven’t been bred out of the industry) 4GB x 2 2133MHz kit for ~$110.
That leaves the motherboard. ASRock do seem to have some inexpensive offerings going. The 980DE3 has too low a memory speed and capacity. The 970-Pro3-R2 (again with the silly names, I had to check and make sure this wasn’t the same board I mentioned initially) for ~$90 looks good, but I need to go and look at whether there’s much difference between chipsets these days. The M5A97 EVO R2.0 v3 mk VII subsection B. appears to get a good rap as an overclocking board, but is near $140. Same with the M5A99X EVO, but with a “better” chipset apparently.
So, taking these prices I get ~$340 ($390 for the “better” board). That just about does my budget, including postage and stuff. I’ll sit on it for a few days and see what I think then.
Memory Speed
Will you really notice the difference between say a 1600 to 2133?
Here is a question
Is a 4 year old i7 1336 socket CPUs compare to these new i5/i7 2011s?
I mean, with an Asus P6X58D extreme Motherboard with a 1336 socket, if I want to upgrade in means not just a CPU but the mobo too.
How much better are these new CPUs? Is it worth it?
Kinda
The difference between DDR3-1600 and DDR3-2133 might not be as noticeable as, say, between 1066 and 1600.
The rationale for getting DDR3-2133 memory is because AMD’s Piledriver CPUs have an integrated memory controller clocked at 1866MHz. So I have the option to use the 2133 as DDR3-1866 with more aggressive timings, or to overclock the CPU.
Ask
I only ask, because I have 8 GB of 1600 sitting on my desk.
I had to take it out because my MB could only address 2 slots at a time; I cycled all of the dimms through and had the same issue, so it’s not the individual dimms that are the issue – I really couldn’t be stuffed buying a new MB to address the other 8 GB as it’s not my primary machine any more either.
It’s cossair with some strange name as well.
@Shad CPU chart at Intel
Have a look at this chart Shad
Intel® Processor Comparison
The biggest difference is you core clock speed and the Front Side Bus
Hope it helps
ta
Robag
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