- Joined
- Jan 3, 2012
Wakirimas Forum Brethren,
After much soul searching and shopping around the internet for the past three days I have finally settled on my "upgrade" (new build basically). Some of these items are part of combos with special pricing. This is what I have so far:
Motherboard:GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
1.) I've looked at:
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
but this would add about $63.00 to my total. It has a faster bus and more PCI connections and can do Crossfire (which I will probably never do). I just don't know if it's worth the extra money right now. Shopping "creep" has led me beyond my budget already. Is the additional capability really worth the extra dollars?
CPU:AMD FX-4170 Zambezi 4.2GHz (4.3GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor FD4170FRGUBOX
1.) I have read some commentary that performance gamers already consider this a legacy cpu that is barely adequate for today's gaming.
Memory:G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
PSU:Antec EarthWatts Platinum Series EA-550 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Power Supply
1.) I actually wanted to buy but it is now sold out:
Rosewill FORTRESS Series FORTRESS-550 550W Continuous@50°C,80 PLUS Platinum Certified,Single +12V Rail,ATX12V v2.31/EPS12V v2.92,SLI Ready,CrossFire Ready,Active- PFC Power Supply
It was $10.00 cheaper but has a 7 year warranty. Rosewill is a new name to me but they project a very good image of quality. I've have had my current Antec 430 Watt PSU for 8 years. I had planned on re-using it for the new rig (with smaller TDP footprint than this). Recently I was running an overclock under load and the system simply rebooted. It did this repeatedly under a load that, a few months ago, was rock solid. I saw that as a sign that I better get a new PSU. I chose Antec originally because of their reputation and it has been justified. I don't mind spending the extra $10 on Antec.
Also Power Supply Calculators put this system at 438 Watts. I figured that 550 should be enough to run what I've got so far maybe even at full tilt. Any comments are welcome.
HDD:Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
1.) They don't appear to make smaller HDDs (80GB) anymore so I chose a 250GB but this one was on special for even less than 250GB - no brainer. I'm going to add an SSD in the future for the opertaing system and use the HDD for everything else.
GPU:I am still trying to decide on which of these two to settle on:
A.) EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P3-1469-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
B.) EVGA 02G-P3-1568-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
1.) I've stuck with 2GB and 256-bit knowing how demanding graphics are today. I wanted to go AMD but the same class requires a PCI 3.0 slot but my chosen motherboard only goes up to PCI-E 2.0 X 16.The argument against #A is that I can achieve the same overclocking on the TI and have 48 more CUDA cores. The difference is $50.00. Normally I wouldn't hesitate but I'm already over my budget.
I have heard good things about EVGA particularly that their utilities and overclocking technology. Is it really worth the extra dollars?
Again, as with the CPU, hardcore enthusiasts seem to view this card (even the TI version) as quaint back in the day. I understand that this is generally regarded as a very low middle end card now, soon to be budget/entry level.
OS:Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade 64 bit.
1.) This is almost the single most expensive part of the "upgrade". My kids have it and I am not a fan but I'm only on 32-bit XP so I really don't have a choice. I want to start with the new HDD so I'm not sure how I can "upgrade" to a clean drive now. It used to be the new OS would ask for the old installtion disk and you were good. Hopefully that's still the case.
Anyway that's what I've built so far. Any suggestions on trimming uneeded fat or getting a huge improvement for the a few more dollars are welcome.
Again I understand that this system is already outdated by most gaming/performance standards. Some older games might play acceptably but the newest games are out of reach and I'm ok with that. At least I can play the older games I like maxed out and much faster than before.
Most of all though this current build is the new foundation and I think very upgradeable in the future when I have the resources to actually build a "hot" gaming rig again.
Any and all advice is welcomed.
Sincerely,
Old School Ninja
After much soul searching and shopping around the internet for the past three days I have finally settled on my "upgrade" (new build basically). Some of these items are part of combos with special pricing. This is what I have so far:
Motherboard:GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
1.) I've looked at:
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
but this would add about $63.00 to my total. It has a faster bus and more PCI connections and can do Crossfire (which I will probably never do). I just don't know if it's worth the extra money right now. Shopping "creep" has led me beyond my budget already. Is the additional capability really worth the extra dollars?
CPU:AMD FX-4170 Zambezi 4.2GHz (4.3GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor FD4170FRGUBOX
1.) I have read some commentary that performance gamers already consider this a legacy cpu that is barely adequate for today's gaming.
Memory:G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
PSU:Antec EarthWatts Platinum Series EA-550 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Power Supply
1.) I actually wanted to buy but it is now sold out:
Rosewill FORTRESS Series FORTRESS-550 550W Continuous@50°C,80 PLUS Platinum Certified,Single +12V Rail,ATX12V v2.31/EPS12V v2.92,SLI Ready,CrossFire Ready,Active- PFC Power Supply
It was $10.00 cheaper but has a 7 year warranty. Rosewill is a new name to me but they project a very good image of quality. I've have had my current Antec 430 Watt PSU for 8 years. I had planned on re-using it for the new rig (with smaller TDP footprint than this). Recently I was running an overclock under load and the system simply rebooted. It did this repeatedly under a load that, a few months ago, was rock solid. I saw that as a sign that I better get a new PSU. I chose Antec originally because of their reputation and it has been justified. I don't mind spending the extra $10 on Antec.
Also Power Supply Calculators put this system at 438 Watts. I figured that 550 should be enough to run what I've got so far maybe even at full tilt. Any comments are welcome.
HDD:Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
1.) They don't appear to make smaller HDDs (80GB) anymore so I chose a 250GB but this one was on special for even less than 250GB - no brainer. I'm going to add an SSD in the future for the opertaing system and use the HDD for everything else.
GPU:I am still trying to decide on which of these two to settle on:
A.) EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P3-1469-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
B.) EVGA 02G-P3-1568-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
1.) I've stuck with 2GB and 256-bit knowing how demanding graphics are today. I wanted to go AMD but the same class requires a PCI 3.0 slot but my chosen motherboard only goes up to PCI-E 2.0 X 16.The argument against #A is that I can achieve the same overclocking on the TI and have 48 more CUDA cores. The difference is $50.00. Normally I wouldn't hesitate but I'm already over my budget.
I have heard good things about EVGA particularly that their utilities and overclocking technology. Is it really worth the extra dollars?
Again, as with the CPU, hardcore enthusiasts seem to view this card (even the TI version) as quaint back in the day. I understand that this is generally regarded as a very low middle end card now, soon to be budget/entry level.
OS:Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade 64 bit.
1.) This is almost the single most expensive part of the "upgrade". My kids have it and I am not a fan but I'm only on 32-bit XP so I really don't have a choice. I want to start with the new HDD so I'm not sure how I can "upgrade" to a clean drive now. It used to be the new OS would ask for the old installtion disk and you were good. Hopefully that's still the case.
Anyway that's what I've built so far. Any suggestions on trimming uneeded fat or getting a huge improvement for the a few more dollars are welcome.
Again I understand that this system is already outdated by most gaming/performance standards. Some older games might play acceptably but the newest games are out of reach and I'm ok with that. At least I can play the older games I like maxed out and much faster than before.
Most of all though this current build is the new foundation and I think very upgradeable in the future when I have the resources to actually build a "hot" gaming rig again.
Any and all advice is welcomed.
Sincerely,
Old School Ninja
