Gaming computer upgrade

So I have an HP desktop model number p6520f about a couple to a few a years old and I've added an hd 6770 to it and I'm looking to get even more performance. I was thinking about upgrading in the near future to a better cpu possibly the phenom ii X4 965 or 975 and installing an after market cooler to OC, THEN eventually adding a new card say a radeon hd 7850. If you haven't already guessed I am a gamer so thats what I mainly do with my computer. I need some thoughts from you guys on what I can do with this system, I know its not the most ideal but I want to be able to get the best performance out of it without having to buy a new computer.

Whatever you guys think is the best upgrade to my system LET ME KNOW!

My system specs:
AMD Athlon II x4 635 @2.9Ghz
6 GB DIMM DDR3 RAM
MSI Radeon HD 6770 1GB GDDR5
Cooler Master 500W PSU
Windows 7 Home

If you guys need any more specific information just let me know.

What is your budget?

If that's your plan then you might thinking about coming up with a budget for a completely scratch-built machine.

You wont be able to overclock that machine. Factory-built machines like that have a locked BIOS which won't allow access to any of the features you need to overclock. I looked at the specs from HP's website and the say that your motherboard will support up to a Phenom II 9xx processor with a 125 watt TDP, and that does include the 975. That does offer you a legitimate upgrade over your current Athlon II 635, but without being able to overclock the more powerful Phenom IIs you probably won't see as much of a performance boost as you'd like. The power supply is rated for 250 watts. I seriously doubt that it can feed a 7850. If you decide you want to go to a 965/970/975 processor and something in the league of a 7850 then you also need budget in a new power supply from a reputable manufacturer like Corsair. Additionally, the manufacturer states that your RAM is only running at 1066 mhz and is NOT running in dual channel (even though the motherboard supports it) because you have three sticks installed. For not much more money you can upgrade that to an 8gb kit (2x4gb DIMMS) of dual channel RAM that would give you better memory performance, but again the gains will be small enough that you aren't likely to notice them outside of benchmarking your machine. And of course, that adds even more to the cost of a system upgrade which is even more reason to consider a new build.

Bottom line, even if you do upgrade, you can forget right now about overclocking that machine. You can get some performance gains out of it with the above hardware upgrades, but you'll be looking at nearly as much money, if not more, than what you paid for the machine to begin with. Building a completely new machine from scratch will be more expensive but will provide you with much more performance, particularly because of the new overclocking potential you would receive. If you'd like advice on a budget gaming build, start a new thread in this forum, give us a budget, and tell us exactly what you want to do with the computer, what games you play, and what kind of frame rates you want to see in those games at the monitor resolution you will be playing with. We do this all the time. You'll get lots of ideas and good advice.

EDIT: Check this out.

http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=ChangeItem&ChangeQty=0

$440 in the cart, comes to $400 after two $20 mail-in rebates. Also comes with a coupon for a free copy of a game bundled with the processor. Hope this helps.

I disagree. He already replaced the PSU with something decent. 6770 isn't a terrible card, and a new mobo+CPU+cooler might run him $250. RAM doesn't really matter.

I managed to overlook his CM 500w PSU in his post. I'm not saying it's not a decent mid-range rig, Knufire, I'm just giving him options. Personally, my philosophy is why spend $400-500 upgrading a factory machine that I can't overclock when I can move up to $700-800 and build something with quality hardware and cooling that I CAN overclock. To each his own, I'm just giving him something to think about.

i might suggest upping the cpu mobo budget to $300 and getting a second hand 2500k + cheap z77/68 and some more ram if he can swing it. He could maybe flog his old parks for like $60 or something to help offset the cost

Now that would be an upgrade.

Uh, a new 990X board is less than $100 and will let him overclock and upgrade to Piledriver in the future. New Phenom II X4 might be $120-130, even cheaper used, and a Hyper212+ is another $20-30. For $250 he can have an overclockable machine that can play pretty much any game at medium settings. A 7850 in the future will let him play at high @ 60FPS and ultra with no AA would be more than playable. I don't see how getting a new rig is really worth it.

Or a 2500K/cheapo Z68. That'll run him $350 at the minimum though.

Wayward_Son said:

Now that would be an upgrade.

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It entirely depends on his budget, the problem is he cant rock a new graphics card in the 7850 range until he gets a better cpu. He gets a 2500k that would last him a while!

I like that idea more and more, but it introduces heat issues. That case wasn't made for overclockers and hardware junkies. Go look at it on Newegg and tell me you'd feel comfortable with an overclocked quad and a 7xxx series GPU being cooled by a single 92mm exhaust fan and top-mounted PSU. No thanks.

Selling the old machine for a couple hundred would offset the price of the rest of the hardware he'd need for a solid budget build.

I think it would still be fine. A 7850 is only 130W (and he could get one that exhausts air outside of the case), and Sandy Bridge is extremely cool running.

Wayward_Son said:

I like that idea more and more, but it introduces heat issues. That case wasn't made for overclockers and hardware junkies. Go look at it on Newegg and tell me you'd feel comfortable with an overclocked quad and a 7xxx series GPU being cooled by a single 92mm exhaust fan and top-mounted PSU. No thanks.

Selling the old machine for a couple hundred would offset the price of the rest of the hardware he'd need for a solid budget build.

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ghetto mod



Sorted

Also is the case only matx? ( just looked at the mobo that goes into it. if so then going with a 2500k + matx would still be a killer combo. Considering the intels clock via the multi intel matx builds are just as good as normal ones

If he swapped both his motherboard and processor out, how well would they play with his Windows 7 validation that came with the HP?

Microsoft is WAY lax on those rules. All he has to do is call them and tell them his motherboard was replaced, and they'll reactivate the key.

Wayward_Son said:

If he swapped both his motherboard and processor out, how well would they play with his Windows 7 validation that came with the HP?

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ah balls, didnt think about that. . Yer He would need to get a new copy/key. On that note NEVER by the retail version, the upgrade version uses exactly the same disk and you can do a clean install as if it were a retail. Also its £80 instead of £120 and im sure its the same in the US.

Or if your a student you can get it well cheap ( i got mine for £30). . I suppose he could get away with just upgrading to a new AMD processor on the same socket, whats his mobo? AM2, AM2+ or AM3?

Ah really knufire? Wouldnt it not matter its a totally different chipset? IE intel over AMD?

Yes, Xander, his case is mATX but with a BTX layout (motherboard flipped over onto the other side of the case). AMD mATX overclocking isn't bad, either. Look at my sig. I'd recommend the Gigabyte 880 model still on Newegg. I have the same model in my backup rig running my old 955be @ 3.6 ghz, but I always had trouble with that chip above 3.7 or so. No doubt in my mind the board would run my main 1090T at the same speed as this 785 board I'm using, but I didn't feel like swapping them. Why mess with a good thing, right? But I'm threadjacking.

Thanks guys for all the reaponses! After reading them all I'm still a bit torn. If by all means possible I would really not like to replace the motherboard. And there is no way to change the bios settings whatsoever? If I can't overclock then I guess I would be okay as long as a had a decent amount of performance increase. Btw I don't have exact numbers on my budget because I plan to do this in a few months but I would say no more than 300-400$.

Edit: Im not totally ruling out the idea of upgrading the motherboard it just seems like a big hassle.

Wayward_Son said:

Yes, Xander, his case is mATX but with a BTX layout (motherboard flipped over onto the other side of the case). AMD mATX overclocking isn't bad, either. Look at my sig. I'd recommend the Gigabyte 880 model still on Newegg. I have the same model in my backup rig running my old 955be @ 3.6 ghz, but I always had trouble with that chip above 3.7 or so. No doubt in my mind the board would run my main 1090T at the same speed as this 785 board I'm using, but I didn't feel like swapping them. Why mess with a good thing, right? But I'm threadjacking.

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this is true! But wha i mean is that matx overlcocking in intel Sb/IB is as good as overclocking on a normal board literally no difference! but yer, i think in light of his $300-400 budget i think 2500k, z77 matx, new 8Gb of ram and a SSD (i think that might take him overbudget + the SSD too). Knufire knows his combo deals. Then again you could just second hand it off ebay

xander89 said:

this is true! But wha i mean is that matx overlcocking in intel Sb/IB is as good as overclocking on a normal board literally no difference! but yer, i think in light of his $300-400 budget i think 2500k, z77 matx, new 8Gb of ram and a SSD (i think that might take him overbudget + the SSD too). Knufire knows his combo deals. Then again you could just second hand it off ebay

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So how do I know that one of those motherboards will fit my case?

Motherboards/PSUs/Cases are made to a certain specification (ATX) so that everything fits. Pretty sure any micro ATX motherboard should fit.

Your CPU is the main thing holding you back. A new motherboard will not only let you OC what you have, but let you upgrade to better CPUs in the future. Frankly, a new motherboard and OCing the Athlon and saving up for Piledriver is a better option then buying a Phenom II.