help deciding upgrade path

[THRiLL KiLL]

need help in upgrading my system


Currently my system does everything i need... however im getting the upgrade itch.

Im based in the us

My Current system is:

Gigabyte X58A-UD3R /w icore 7 920 (overclocked to 4.0ghz and has a Thermaltake Spin2 cpu cooler)
12gb (6x 2gb DDR3 1600) Kingston Hyperx
XFX r9 290x 4gb (factory overclocked)
Corsair Carbine 500r case
X-Fi Pro Fatality soundcard (pci)
Ocz ModXtream 700
windows 8.1
ocz 128gb ssd (os)
intel 180gb ssd (games)
2x segate 2tb drives
4x segate 2tb drives in an external rosewill case (connected via estata to 2x esata raid card)

I mostly use this system to game with (mainly wow/hearthstone) and watch videos. from time to time i also run virtual machines

the only issue i have with the machine is that it BSOD when im on youtube, I watch hulu, animes and do tons of hours of gaming, but when i do youtube, it crashes (irq equals less then 0)



next paycheck i will have $300 to play with.


Here is what i was thinking of for upgrades (using used parts).

Just upgrade the processor and cpu cooler to
xeon w3690 ($200) and a corsair h100 ($100) cooler


or

X8DTi-F supermicro dual socket 1366 motherboard ($160) 2x xeon x5650 ($160) (i have 6x 1gb sticks of ddr3 ecc reg, but would upgrade later to 2 or 4gb sticks fully populated)


or

amd 8350 ($150) motherboard $100 ish and 8gb memory (later expanding to 16gb)


will the xeons systems slow down the videocard performance? or should i just go with newer parts? or is there somthing better for me?

 

[Ken g6]

Just upgrade the processor and cpu cooler to
xeon w3690 ($200) and a corsair h100 ($100) cooler

I like this plan best. You don't want to drop the speed of any individual core too much. This chip does 3.73 GHz stock at turbo. And I think you can overclock these old Xeons.

I might delay the new cooler though, because HardOCP gave your PSU a Fail rating. How about this EVGA instead?

 

[mfenn]

I like this plan best. You don't want to drop the speed of any individual core too much. This chip does 3.73 GHz stock at turbo. And I think you can overclock these old Xeons.

I might delay the new cooler though, because HardOCP gave your PSU a Fail rating. How about this EVGA instead?

:thumbsup: "IRQ less than zero" errors typically represent a hardware fault or driver error.

In this case, I would suspect the PSU or mobo because both are known to be sketchy. I'd replace the PSU first because it changes the rest of the upgrade equation the least.

 

[Burpo]

I would get a 95 watt Xeon X5670 for $100 before spending $200 on a W3690 130 watt CPU. Sure stock clocks are higher, but X series overclock better @ less power and heat. Any hexcore cpu overclocked on X58A-UD3R should be good to go 😉

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

thanks for the update on the psu, its probably the reason for the bsods... 🙂


i have had problems with the powersupply in the past, and had the fan fail on it. after i replaced the fan things got better.


So i guess ill get a x5670 / power supply and a water cpu cooler 🙂

 

[Ken g6]

I'd replace the PSU and make sure the BSODs go away first. If they don't, try updating your mobo BIOS and your video card drivers.

Then, if the BSODs go away, consider a new CPU.

 

[Termie]

Try running YouTube without a CPU overclock.

That'a a very big overclock on a very old processor.

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

i may have jumped the gun abit.

got a x5675 proc for $65 and a h100 for $50

when i get paid im going to get the new power supply 🙂


right now i am not worried about the bsod. truthfully itds been going on for about 2 years... and its once every few days.

 

[Burpo]

Great deal on that X5675.. You're going to like it! 😎
Are any more available like that?

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

it was a ebay auction 🙂


I just got that evga powersupply from newegg for $65


overall i think i did good... thanks for the help!