Best card to pair with athlon II x2 240

[fragmental]

At new egg a phenom II x4 and an athlon II x4 are both $100, but the phenom is a 125w, so I probably can't use it. I haven't shopped around though.

My goal was to spend less than $200 on upgrades. I can afford to go a little higher, but lower is better. I've already spent $45(effectively 25 after rebate) on the psu. That leaves me with $155.

Did you see what I said above in post #22?

 

[nemesismk2]

i replaced my athlon ii x4 645 with a athlon ii x3 455 which i purchased for HALF the price of a athlon ii x4 645 making the athlon ii x3 455 great value for money. At THG the athlon ii x3 455 was the BEST buy for a number of months.

 

[Blitzvogel]

At new egg a phenom II x4 and an athlon II x4 are both $100, but the phenom is a 125w, so I probably can't use it. I haven't shopped around though.

My goal was to spend less than $200 on upgrades. I can afford to go a little higher, but lower is better. I've already spent $45(effectively 25 after rebate) on the psu. That leaves me with $155.

Did you see what I said above in post #22?

Are you not in the United States? Newegg has the 3.0 GHz Athlon II x4 640 for $75.

 

[fragmental]

Are you not in the United States? Newegg has the 3.0 GHz Athlon II x4 640 for $75.

I was referring to the athlon II x4 645 and the phenom II x4 965

I see the 640 for $75 though. It's out of stock at the moment.

 

[fragmental]

i replaced my athlon ii x4 645 with a athlon ii x3 455 which i purchased for HALF the price of a athlon ii x4 645 making the athlon ii x3 455 great value for money. At THG the athlon ii x3 455 was the BEST buy for a number of months.

Where did you find an x3 455 for half the price of an x4 645? Is the x4 645 not faster?

 

[fragmental]

6770 for $70 is going to be your best bet outside the used market:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...904&CatId=7005

It's as fast as a GDDR5 7750, the cheapest of which is $86 after a $20 rebate.

If you're looking for something to grow into, get this 7870 for $195 after rebate with free Farcry 3:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202010

The 7870 is an excellent card at that price.

This 650 ti with 2 gb of memory is nearly the same price, isn't nearly as fast, and only has 128 bit memory.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130841

Yet, this is what I'm getting even though it's more than I wanted to spend. As mentioned before, I want to try doing some 3d renderings using the gpu and cuda is much better supported. The 650 ti has a good number of cores. Also, as I've read the entire scene has to fit into memory and that's why I'm getting a 2gb instead of 1gb, even though my system will never be able to utilize that much memory in a game. 256bit memory would be better for gpu rendering, but I can't find a card with 256bit memory and a comparable number of cuda cores for the price.

I will probably have more money in a month or two and can look into upgrading the processor then. I'll probably buy 2 sticks of 2 gb memory before then, equaling 4 gb, to max out the amount of memory the system allows.

 

[FalseChristian]

I like the GTX 650 Ti, too, but you can't SLI them and they only have 1GB of RAM which is already outdated. Get something with 2GB of RAM.

It's too bad that you can't afford an AMD FX -8350.This 8-core CPU beats my Intel i5 2500K. AMD is finally in the game again.

 

[Arkaign]

That 8350 doesn't game near as well as your 5ghz i5 3.3 maybe

 

[daveybrat]

Because it's a Compaq computer and your options are limited, i'd suggest simply waiting for the AMD Athlon II X4 640 cpu to come back in stock.

At only $74.99, it's the best/cheapest upgrade you can do for that system besides a complete rebuild.

Just hit the auto-notify button so Newegg will let you know when it's available again.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103871

 

[SPBHM]

Because it's a Compaq computer and your options are limited, i'd suggest simply waiting for the AMD Athlon II X4 640 cpu to come back in stock.

At only $74.99, it's the best/cheapest upgrade you can do for that system besides a complete rebuild.

Just hit the auto-notify button so Newegg will let you know when it's available again.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103871

for $75 I think you can buy an used PII X4?

gaming is clearly something in which the l3 cache has a significant effect

 

[Bman123]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this so I will just go out and say it. Sell that tower on craigslist. If you have $155 already try to sell it for $150-$200, if it's newer someone will buy it and you'll have $300-$350 with the cx430.

I'd rather have $300 to spend on a tower then try to upgrade what you already have

 

[fragmental]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this so I will just go out and say it. Sell that tower on craigslist. If you have $155 already try to sell it for $150-$200, if it's newer someone will buy it and you'll have $300-$350 with the cx430.

I'd rather have $300 to spend on a tower then try to upgrade what you already have

Then I would be without a computer?

 

[fragmental]

I like the GTX 650 Ti, too, but you can't SLI them and they only have 1GB of RAM which is already outdated. Get something with 2GB of RAM.

It's too bad that you can't afford an AMD FX -8350.This 8-core CPU beats my Intel i5 2500K. AMD is finally in the game again.

The 650 ti I'm ordering does have 2 gb of ram. I got the 2gb version for 3d rendering with cuda.

 

[fragmental]

for $75 I think you can buy an used PII X4?

gaming is clearly something in which the l3 cache has a significant effect

Where can you get a used PII x4? In the anandtech forums? My post count is too low.

 

[nemesismk2]

Where did you find an x3 455 for half the price of an x4 645? Is the x4 645 not faster?

I got my x3 455 from amazon while i was looking for new dvds. Now i mostly purchase everything online from amazon because their prices are really good

Yes the x4 645 3.1ghz is faster sometimes but for gaming i found that the games use use liked the higher speed of the x3 455 3.3ghz so performed better.

 

[Bman123]

Then I would be without a computer?

I pm'ed you

 

[fragmental]

I pm'ed you

I don't see any pm?

 

[hdfxst]

If this is what you have http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...infoCategory&lc=en&cc=us&product=4107708#N210 then it can handle a 95 watt Phenom II X4.This might your best bet http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=HDX850WF

 

[Hubb1e]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this so I will just go out and say it. Sell that tower on craigslist. If you have $155 already try to sell it for $150-$200, if it's newer someone will buy it and you'll have $300-$350 with the cx430.

I'd rather have $300 to spend on a tower then try to upgrade what you already have

Intel G645 $70
ASRock B75M-DGS Intel B75 Motherboard $55
4GB of memory $18
AMD 7770 $100
COOLER MASTER Elite 430 $30
Hard drive $50

This will play anything you throw at it minus BF3 64 player maps plus it can be upgraded with fast CPUs and cheap memory. You can spend money on that old computer and the suggestions so far are fine, but you're better off with this in the long run. Borrow a computer for a few days. Use the computer at the library or at school. Swipe the Victoria Secret Catalog 13 year old style.

 

[SPBHM]

If this is what you have http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...infoCategory&lc=en&cc=us&product=4107708#N210 then it can handle a 95 watt Phenom II X4.This might your best bet http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=HDX850WF

I wouldn't recommend this CPU, it's a Phenom II X4 without l3 cache (exactly the same as the Athlon II X4),

945 used to be 95w I think, also some of the 955s.....

on the same site there is a 955 (but 125w) for $69...
if you can undervolt (unlikely on the HP MB, but maybe with some software?) it will probably work fine (as long as there is no lock on the bios for working with higher TDP CPUs)

 

[frozentundra123456]

That 8350 doesn't game near as well as your 5ghz i5 3.3 maybe

According to anands bench, the 2500k beats the 8350 in every game tested even when both are at stock. But I get the impression that the OP does not want to spend the money for a new CPU and the higher end video card it would require to be fully utilized.

My recommendation to the original question would be a HD7750 or HD7770. The 650Ti is somewhat faster than either, but in general seems to be still too expensive for the performance it gives.

 

[fragmental]

According to anands bench, the 2500k beats the 8350 in every game tested even when both are at stock. But I get the impression that the OP does not want to spend the money for a new CPU and the higher end video card it would require to be fully utilized.

My recommendation to the original question would be a HD7750 or HD7770. The 650Ti is somewhat faster than either, but in general seems to be still too expensive for the performance it gives.

Yeah, I think that price/performance wise the 7750(and the 6670) and 7770 were the best choice. I may have even been able to max out the cpu and memory and the 7770 would still have been a good match for the system.

Either way, I got a 2gb version for the 650 ti, just because I want to do 3d rendering stuff with the cuda cores. Now I've spent all I can and will probably have to wait until sometime in February before I can spend more money.

The cx430 came in the mail today. I ordered the 650ti on the 31st and it's still in packaging :/. Once it comes in I'll do some bench marks and post some hard numbers.

 

[fragmental]

I just thought I would mention that it's been a while since I've built computers. I used to build a lot of them. The cx430 had a bunch of atx connectors that the native power supply didn't have, but I figured it out. The cpu connector split in two, and I only needed one of them. The 24 pin adapter was fine with 20 or with 24, but now it has 24, which is probably better for some reason.

I was pretty nervous when I switched computer on for the first time, though.

 

[fragmental]

Just for clarification, here is what I actually have now.

Compaq Presario CQ5320F
Amd Athlon II X2 240
Nvidia 6150 se integrated
3gb ddr3
2 tb hard drive
corsair cx430 power supply

And I will have this 650 ti 2gb when it comes in.

I can upgrade to 4gb of ddr3 and can also upgrade to a faster 95w am3 processor. All other upgrades would require at least a new motherboard, cpu, memory and case.

 

[SPBHM]

Just for clarification, here is what I actually have now.

Compaq Presario CQ5320F
Amd Athlon II X2 240
Nvidia 6150 se integrated
3gb ddr3
2 tb hard drive
corsair cx430 power supply

And I will have this 650 ti 2gb when it comes in.

I can upgrade to 4gb of ddr3 and can also upgrade to a faster 75w am3 processor. All other upgrades would require at least a new motherboard, cpu, memory and case.

nforce 6150SE 430 is really old, made for Athlon 64 (with 1000MHz HT), also 75w!? that's really bad when it comes to AM3 CPUs, I can't see any good option... better replace the CPU+MB when you can and stick with the 240 (if you don't intend to replace the MB now)...

you could buy something like a 905E but it's harder to find I guess, and at 2.5GHz hardly all that fast.