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Input on this upgrade please!

A

awelwood

Junior Member
Ok so my socket 939 setup crapped out and was sorely in need of an upgrade anyway...I need a new mb/cpu/gpu and plan to keep my current 450w ps, HDD, ram, etc.

I use this for gaming on a 24" screen on 1920x1200. My main concern is ease of upgrading later on while not spending to much now. I figure in another year or two when quad core is used in more games and perhaps dx11 I'll get a bigger power supply with a quad core cpu and dx11 gpu. I'm assuming AM3 mb is good enough to not have to change out in the near future?

For now I'm thinking a fast dual core and a 4850 is the best bang for my buck, I've never messed with OC so probably won't try:

Current Combo deal on cpu/mb for $177:
AMD Phenom II X2 545 Callisto 3.0GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDX545WFGIBOX - Retail
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.315743


and the $99 4850 that has had alot of talk for being good for the money:
SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail


Currently not playing a whole lot - Fallout 3, Dragon Age, that sort of thing. Plan for this to work with Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, etc as those come out.


Any input is appreciated!
 
No suggestions? I really just need a good mb/cpu suggestion thats upgradeable and not to expensive for medium gaming...
 
Pick up that GPU. AMD is most likely bang for the buck, but I've always been an Intel fan. I just put together a x4 955 BE the other day, and it didn't seem to give any issues after a bit of use. I'm pretty sure future games will need a stronger CPU, but I mean who knows? If you're on a tight budget, the proc will hold you down until the next time you decide to upgrade (As long as you don't decide to hold out until a whole new socket...)
 
Or what you can do is get this cheap quad core and OC it to 3.2Ghz+ (easily done even with stock voltages). Motherboard wise, this is a very good board which also has USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps support, so more future proof.

Oh and by the way, you cannot keep your current RAM since AM3 platform uses DDR3 memory only. Here's a very good set of DDR3.
 
Intel wise this seems like the only thing in about the same price range, review of the i3 on this site seems pretty decent...


$214 if bought together:

Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80616I3530 - Retail

ASUS P7H55-M PRO LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.323340



I thought about that RAM issue and figured that was the case. I assume its still an issue with the intel setup?
 
Yep. All of the current generation chipsets from both AMD and Intel (AM3, P55, H55, H57, X58) support DDR3 only.
 
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