Thinking about a new build.

MBrown

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
5,726
35
91
An update: I took the advice and decided to do the following.

I bought a Gigabyte Radeon 6950 and flashed it with a Gigabyte 6970 bios
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125356

and I bought a 27" Acer 1080p monitor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009250


Thanks for the advice guys.









____________________________________________________________________________________

My current system is a q6600 @ 3.0ghz
4GB or ram
80gb intel ssd
500GB western digital black
GTX 260 core 216 OCed
22inch LG 1680x1050
Antec p182
650W corsair(or is it 620...I don't remember)

I am thinking about getting the following.

AMD Phenom II x6 1090t
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103849

Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128441


4GB Gskills DDR31600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277

PowerColor 6850 Radeon (with the expectation of getting a second one later)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131374

Lian Li PC-k56
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112235



I would be bringing over the PSU, SSD, HDD and DVD drives. Any suggestions? Should I look at Intel? Anything coming out real soon that I should wait for? Should I even upgrade? Any input is welcome. Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:

Anomaly1964

Platinum Member
Nov 21, 2010
2,465
8
81
I'd wait a few more weeks, sounds like P67 boards MAY be coming out sooner than expected...
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,322
14,724
146
You don't tell us what the main use of the computer will be, but you're going to be taking a huge hit in performance going with a Phenom II instead of waiting for the Sandy Bridge re-release for most tasks.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=288
As for buying one video card now and another later...meh, so far, I'm not all that impressed by SLI/XFire results. Buy the best video card you can afford now, then if it's not as good as you want...sell it and replace it with a better one as your budget allows.
 

mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
14,539
428
136
That looks like a side move on the cpu, and a smallish upgrade in graphics, my advice is keep what you have and maybe upgrade GPU but your cpu is still good.
 

Davidh373

Platinum Member
Jun 20, 2009
2,428
0
71
You're looking at about a 20% bump on CPU, and a 20% bump in graphics... Not worth an all new build in my opinion..

GPU bench
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/318?vs=291

CPU bench
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/53?vs=146

Save another $50, drop the UD5 AM3 for a UD3 1155, and a Sandy Bridge i5 2500k, then, if you can, get a 6870. The CPU would easily be a 40%+ boost, and the GPU close to a 30% boost. OR, you may just want to hold on to that 260 until the next line of cards releases, likely getting you close to a 50% boost for around the same price.
 

MBrown

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
5,726
35
91
Ok. So I guess the consensus us that my CPU @ 3.0Ghz is still plenty. So if I keep that and upgrade to a GTX 560ti, am I going to be bottlenecked by my CPU? Also I have a Gigabyte P35-DS3L so it doesn't have PCI Express 2.0. Is that going to hinder my performance on a GTX 560 by much?
 

fffblackmage

Platinum Member
Dec 28, 2007
2,548
0
76
Ok. So I guess the consensus us that my CPU @ 3.0Ghz is still plenty. So if I keep that and upgrade to a GTX 560ti, am I going to be bottlenecked by my CPU?
Depends on the game, but probably not by much.

Also I have a Gigabyte P35-DS3L so it doesn't have PCI Express 2.0. Is that going to hinder my performance on a GTX 560 by much?
You'd lose maybe, at most, 1% of performance? Modern day graphics cards still don't saturate PCIe 1.1 x16. Don't worry about it.
 

Davidh373

Platinum Member
Jun 20, 2009
2,428
0
71
Ok. So I guess the consensus us that my CPU @ 3.0Ghz is still plenty. So if I keep that and upgrade to a GTX 560ti, am I going to be bottlenecked by my CPU? Also I have a Gigabyte P35-DS3L so it doesn't have PCI Express 2.0. Is that going to hinder my performance on a GTX 560 by much?

I don't think you will. The GTX 560 is a great card too btw.
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
Yeah, a Phenom II X6 1090T is going to be a side-grade from an overclocked Q6600 except for in the very few apps that can use 6 cores.

I'd say that grabbing a GTX 560 or 6950 is a great plan.
 

Dean

Platinum Member
Oct 10, 1999
2,757
0
76
I'd wait a few more weeks, sounds like P67 boards MAY be coming out sooner than expected...

NCIX just Started taking orders again for B3 Stepping MSI boards. I ordered a system tonight. I may have to wait a bit, but hopefully not too long.
 

f4phantom2500

Platinum Member
Dec 3, 2006
2,284
1
0
4GB of ram is still fine right?

ram is really cheap right now, you'd might as well upgrade now rather than pay more later...the last time i waited because i didn't need 4gb of ram at the time, but by the time i wanted to upgrade the prices had like tripled...-_-...
 

MBrown

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
5,726
35
91
ram is really cheap right now, you'd might as well upgrade now rather than pay more later...the last time i waited because i didn't need 4gb of ram at the time, but by the time i wanted to upgrade the prices had like tripled...-_-...

The thing is I don't know if I should invest in DDR2 right now.
 

Davidh373

Platinum Member
Jun 20, 2009
2,428
0
71
It's surprising how long the Core 2 Quads and 4GB RAM has held up against games. Heck, the 8800GT is still a pretty decent card at low res.
 

betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
2,677
0
0
Nice choice. Hope you can hold out and save up for SandyBridge + B3 mobo + DDR3.
 

dpodblood

Diamond Member
May 20, 2010
4,020
1
81
Yeah don't bother wasting money on DDR2. Wait for the SB boards to be re-released, and get your self a 2500-K and 8gig DDR3. I'm sure your overclocked c2q will do fine until then.
 

dpodblood

Diamond Member
May 20, 2010
4,020
1
81
Well nobody want's a Biostar board lol... But MSI boards have made their way back to NCIX already. My guess is in a few weeks we will see the other big names making their way as well.
 

1ceHacka

Senior member
Mar 3, 2006
565
1
0
1ceHacka said:
Biostar SB boards are already back on the market. I am assuming the big names will follow suit in the coming weeks.

Well nobody want's a Biostar board lol... But MSI boards have made their way back to NCIX already. My guess is in a few weeks we will see the other big names making their way as well.

Never said to buy the biostar, simply referenced their availability. Reading comprehension.