Final check before buying, CPU upgrades

[rking12345678]

Assuming the person coming to look at my laptop buys it I'll have a total budget of around $200-$250 to spend on the above mentioned upgrades. I currently have a x2 5000+ @ 2.2ghz CPU and an HD 4670 GPU, I'm looking at a Sapphire Vapor-x 1GB HD 4850 ($99) for a GPU upgrade so that takes care of half of my budget. I'm considering for a CPU upgrade either (prices include shipping):

AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz ($101 on newegg)
AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz ($101 on neweg)
AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition Heka 2.8GHz (assuming I can reuse the stock heatsink/fan my current CPU is using) ($104 on newegg)

The computer won't be overclocked anytime in the near future so the stock heatsink/fan should be fine, and it's used for gaming, as a HTPC, and for sometimes photo editing using GIMP, runs Windows 7 64bit, has an MSI K9N6PGM2-V2 motherboard, 3 (soon will be 4) GB RAM, and is in an Antec 300 case with a 500w OCZ PSU.

Which of my above choices would be the best value for me, or which of the CPU choices best matches the rest of my system once finished? Thanks for any information.

 

[Davidh373]

Go for that GPU Upgrade, get the AMD Phenom II X3, but I would spend (or wait till you have) $135 for the X4 non Black Ed.All you are paying for with the Black Ed. products is for an extra couple hundred Mhz overclock. This doesn't give much of a performance boost and with your upgrade budget it isn't worth it for you. Quad-Core is going to get more important with games, as is having a decent GPU. As unfortunate as it sounds, you are probably going to want to upgrade that new G-card within 6 months to a 5k series Radeon, or a 400 series NVidia. That PSU is also going to need to be upped to a 650W once the next G-card upgrade is mad

 

[rking12345678]

I'm not looking to play the latest and greatest at the highest of settings, I was content running on a Core 2 Duo 1.66ghz/2GB RAM/x1400 GPU laptop for the longest time (and would be still, but having a desktop is more fun at the moment) so I'm confident what I'm upgrading to now will suit me for a long enough time. Thanks for the suggestions though, I'll see if I can stretch what I can afford to get that processor you mentioned.

 

[mfenn]

What is your current GPU? For gaming I would say go for the Heka, the Athlon II X4 is probably faster for the rest. Make sure your current board supports those CPUs though.

 

[rking12345678]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-855-_-Product

The above is what I have for a GPU currently. I bought it a month ago, unfortunately at that time I needed to upgrade since I was stuck with my onboard video and that was the extent of my budget. As for CPUs, my board supports everything listed according to this link, and MSI's list of compatible processors which doesn't want to load for me this morning. http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-MSI/K9N6PGM2-V2.html

edit: As well, another option I do have is to put money into http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103809 and hold onto my current video card for the next 3 months at which time I could put $150+ into a GPU upgrade. This CPU is the highest one newegg has that my board will support, so by the time this doesn't cut it for me I'd probably be looking at a new system alltogether.

 

[mfenn]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-855-_-Product

The above is what I have for a GPU currently. I bought it a month ago, unfortunately at that time I needed to upgrade since I was stuck with my onboard video and that was the extent of my budget. As for CPUs, my board supports everything listed according to this link, and MSI's list of compatible processors which doesn't want to load for me this morning. http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-MSI/K9N6PGM2-V2.html

OK, instead of the 5850, I would take a look at the GTX 460 1GB. That should save you enough money so that you can get a Phenom II X4 955. The 955 and GTX 460 1GB are a very well-matched pair IMHO.

 

[rking12345678]

Newegg's Phenom II x4 955 is a 125w processor, my board supports processors up 95w max. The x4 945 would be the farthest I could go as far as a quad core. As well, I was looking at the 4850 originally since the 5850 is $100 past my budget's limit.

edit: The games I'm interested in currently would be stuff from 2009 back to 2001, I have so many to catch up on that I'm not too worried about what's coming up. I play on a 19" monitor @ 1440x900 resolution, I don't care to much about having every setting at max as long as the game looks decent so if I have to put settings at medium or whatever that's fine. I watch DVDs using a 32" HDTV @ 720p connected via HDMI cable, at some point I plan on getting a blu ray drive but that's going to be a while off still. I think that covers what uses this computer gets, so hopefully this information's helpful enough. Thanks again for the info.

 

[mfenn]

Newegg's Phenom II x4 955 is a 125w processor, my board supports processors up 95w max. The x4 945 would be the farthest I could go as far as a quad core. As well, I was looking at the 4850 originally since the 5850 is $100 past my budget's limit.

edit: The games I'm interested in currently would be stuff from 2009 back to 2001, I have so many to catch up on that I'm not too worried about what's coming up. I play on a 19" monitor @ 1440x900 resolution, I don't care to much about having every setting at max as long as the game looks decent so if I have to put settings at medium or whatever that's fine. I watch DVDs using a 32" HDTV @ 720p connected via HDMI cable, at some point I plan on getting a blu ray drive but that's going to be a while off still. I think that covers what uses this computer gets, so hopefully this information's helpful enough. Thanks again for the info.

Shoot, I forgot about the 95W limit. Sorry about that.

 

[Davidh373]

Newegg's Phenom II x4 955 is a 125w processor, my board supports processors up 95w max. The x4 945 would be the farthest I could go as far as a quad core. As well, I was looking at the 4850 originally since the 5850 is $100 past my budget's limit.

edit: The games I'm interested in currently would be stuff from 2009 back to 2001, I have so many to catch up on that I'm not too worried about what's coming up. I play on a 19" monitor @ 1440x900 resolution, I don't care to much about having every setting at max as long as the game looks decent so if I have to put settings at medium or whatever that's fine. I watch DVDs using a 32" HDTV @ 720p connected via HDMI cable, at some point I plan on getting a blu ray drive but that's going to be a while off still. I think that covers what uses this computer gets, so hopefully this information's helpful enough. Thanks again for the info.

Sorry, I missed that as well... Get the X3.

 

[heyheybooboo]

I'll cast a vote for the PhII 945 you linked up.

Going forward (I'll guess) it would be an easy move to an AM3+ mobo and should be a (relatively) simple OC (but probably not on your current GForce 6150 mobo).

When you are ready to build up to a new rig, you can pop the X2 back in the MSI with the HD4670 (to off-load h.264 from the CPU) for your dedicated HTPC.





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[Davidh373]

Yeah, I guess I didn't realize the X4 was 95W, so yeah, back to that for me.

 

[Davidh373]

OK, instead of the 5850, I would take a look at the GTX 460 1GB. That should save you enough money so that you can get a Phenom II X4 955. The 955 and GTX 460 1GB are a very well-matched pair IMHO.

The OP has $200-$250. The 460 is $200 on it's own, leaving no money for a CPU.

 

[mfenn]

The OP has $200-$250. The 460 is $200 on it's own, leaving no money for a CPU.

Yeah we've been over that. I misread 4850 as 5850 and thought he could shave $100 off the GPU.

 

[rking12345678]

I was able to sell my laptop, my budget will be $250 or so. I'm looking at either an Athlon II x4 635 2.9ghz CPU ($100), HD 4850 1gb GPU ($100) and 2gb RAM (bringing me up to 4gb total, I have 3gb currently and would be replacing the 1gb stick) ($50) -or- Phenom II x4 945 ($140) and the 4850 ($100) which will leave me at 3gb for another two months for upgrades. Worthwhile or no?

 

[mfenn]

I was able to sell my laptop, my budget will be $250 or so. I'm looking at either an Athlon II x4 635 2.9ghz CPU ($100), HD 4850 1gb GPU ($100) and 2gb RAM (bringing me up to 4gb total, I have 3gb currently and would be replacing the 1gb stick) ($50) -or- Phenom II x4 945 ($140) and the 4850 ($100) which will leave me at 3gb for another two months for upgrades. Worthwhile or no?

It's pretty close in terms of performance. I would probably get the 945 over additional memory because its a lot easier swap out memory than it is to swap out a CPU.

 

[Firsttime]

If you're coming at this from a strictly gaming perspective the GPU's tend to be the limiting factor in performance these days. Since you are on a hard $250 budget I would go with a 5770 and then get the 635. Drop in a 4th gig of ram when you can afford it.

 

[rking12345678]

Would that card run on an OCZ ModXStream 500w PSU? Other things attached are one DVD RW drive, one HDD, a PS/2 keyboard, and three USB devices should that matter any. Otherwise that makes sense and I'll probably do that.

 

[Firsttime]

My friend runs his on a 420 watt PSU with a AMD 945, so yes, you will be fine.

 

[rking12345678]

Thanks for the suggestions then, I've bookmarked that link to the 5770 and a link to the 635 and should be ordering in a few days. I'm hoping in that time I can find a bit extra for my budget to get the 945 but either way it looks like I should be set for quite some time.

 

[Davidh373]

If you're coming at this from a strictly gaming perspective the GPU's tend to be the limiting factor in performance these days. Since you are on a hard $250 budget I would go with a 5770 and then get the 635. Drop in a 4th gig of ram when you can afford it.

I vote for what he said!

 

[Davidh373]

It's pretty close in terms of performance. I would probably get the 945 over additional memory because its a lot easier swap out memory than it is to swap out a CPU.

What he said!, sorry, I quoted the wrong guy...

 

[rking12345678]

With that card my budget will allow only for the 635 CPU, I won't be kicking myself down the line because I bought that CPU will I? I found this link which suggests the 635 isn't too bad compared to the 955 so as I read it I think it'll be fine, but I'd like to be sure since this is a lot of money to me and I'd like to make sure I'm getting the most of it.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/122?vs=88

 

[mfenn]

For gaming, the 955 is quite a bit better. For everything else, they're pretty much equal. If you think you might want the 955, get it now, as the CPU is more of a pain to upgrade than RAM or a GPU.

 

[rking12345678]

I won't be able to upgrade my motherboard for a very long time and the 945 is the highest CPU it supports so I think that should be where I start then. Is there a better choice for a $110 GPU than the 4850 I linked to in the original post or will I be fine with that?

 

[mfenn]

I won't be able to upgrade my motherboard for a very long time and the 945 is the highest CPU it supports so I think that should be where I start then. Is there a better choice for a $110 GPU than the 4850 I linked to in the original post or will I be fine with that?

Dammit, I keep forgetting that you can only get the 945! Anyway, I would say to get that. A 4850 for $110 is not bad.