Upgrade minimal components for best performance

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jbombo34

Member
Jul 14, 2013
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Looking to upgrade a few pieces of hardware to increase performance on my current rig. Have plans to build a custom desk once I get new parts in. Here is my current set-up and what the budget is on getting new pieces.

Built current set-up in spring 2011, primarily but not limited for gaming. It doesn't have to be the best but would like the best performance I can get.

Mobo:
MSI 890FXA-GD70 AM3+ AMD 890FX (Priority upgrade)

PSU:
CMPSU-850TX 850W (not planning to upgrade unless needed)

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo Socket AM3 125W (Hopefully won't have to upgrade this, has been awesome and have not OC'd it)

RAM:
G.SKILL 8GB DDR3 1600 (prob going to add two sticks of 4GB to get to 16, looking at going 32 though)

Hard Drive:
WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache for booting, apps, etc(would like to go to SSD here, have 2 TB alt storage as well)

Video:
SAPPHIRE 100290SR Radeon HD 5870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 (have not had a single problem)

$500-$700 budget depending on what I go with. Live and Buy in the US, shipping is not a problem and any and all suggestions are appreciated. Also, might dive into the LC stage, I know it would look more attractive in a show case but know very little about the set-up/cost/maintenance on LC.

Thanks!
 
denis280

denis280

Diamond Member
Jan 16, 2011
3,434
9
81
Just trow in a ssd.and if you are doing video and photo editing more rams won't hurt.but why changing the Motherboard
 
Essence_of_War

Essence_of_War

Platinum Member
Feb 21, 2013
2,650
4
81
If you're gaming, what resolution are you gaming at, and in what games?
What other things are you doing with this comp other than gaming?

The Phenom x6 is still a pretty decent CPU, and with a limited budget, I probably wouldn't worry about upgrading that. I probably wouldn't touch the MoBo either until I was ready to upgrade the CPU and do them both together.

For gaming, you'll see the best returns from new GPU, and for general system usage, you'll see the best returns from adding any SSD.

You could pick up:
a 7970 for $340 AR
OR
an Nvidia 770 for ~$400
any of which would be a big upgrade for gaming. Coming from a 5870, which is still a pretty respectable card, I'd have a hard time recommending any less of an upgrade than that.

For an SSD, you could pick up either a Samsung SSD or Sandisk SSD for ~$100 for 120 GB, or ~170 for 250 GB.

For RAM, there is a decent sale on some ADATA DDR3-1600 2x4GB for only $50 AR.

Depending on if you include selling your old GPU in the budget you gave, you may well be able to do all of those if you'd like.
 
Cerb

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
It's not too fast, but not exactly slow, either. Definitely not worth a CPU upgrade, without doing a $1000+ overhaul, you could take advantage of a better video card at 1080P or higher, with your current CPU, and a video card and SSD upgrade should be good to hold on to, for when you do replace the CPU. If you're inclined towards an SSD, get a ~250GB one, at least, IMO.

More than 16GB RAM, for a gaming machine, is not going to be useful any time soon. By the time it is, we'll be on DDR4.

A HD 7950 for $250 would be good, too. Not much slower than the 7970, and still comes with a couple games.

What are the basic specs on your current RAM (speed, voltage, and 1st 3 timing numbers, and/or model #)?

With $700, if you are not going to re-use your HD 5870, IMO, sell it, and use that added money to get a ~500GB SSD. It looks like, with selling it (they're going for $80-120), you could squeeze in the HD 7970, RAM (2x4GB), and a Samsung 840 500GB, which would be pretty sweet. I get $763 shipped, prior to rebates, for ~$730 AMIR, for all of that. Given that Amazon and Microcenter have been having the best SSD prices, lately, it would no worse on shipping costs to stagger the upgrade, either, getting video card and RAM now, selling your current video card, and then buying the SSD.

You don't need that big of an SSD, but it's pretty much a no-compromise upgrade, over your HDD, and is so close to fitting your budget, at least AMIRs. A ~250GB one would do fine strictly within the budget, and not require any shenanigans.

That still leaves you with a CPU bottleneck, but the CPU upgrade options are kind of underwhelming, when viewed with the need to reduce the video card performance, and/or get a smaller SSD, and/or do both of those to get a $50+ heatsink and fan so that you can overclock it so that it always beats a Core i5. Let that be your next step, at some point later on. New video cards will come out faster and cheaper, but you shouldn't have any need to upgrade a 7950 or 7970 for 2+ years, at 1080P (maybe longer, but my crystal ball isn't that good :)).
 
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J

jbombo34

Member
Jul 14, 2013
91
0
66
Yea selling the GPU is a great I didnt think about that. I would do that here on the forums I pressume? I could hold back on RAM and just two more sticks of the 4 gb. Put me up to 16 and focus on a SSD and GPU... side note forum response on a phone sucks.
 
Cerb

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
Essence_of_War said:
Sadly, I don't think it does anymore :(
Click to expand...
Yup. I had it in the cart, with Far Cry 3 and Tomb Raider coupons, when I composed the post. Now, trying again, nothing :(. Somebody got the very last of them, this very morning.

P.S. Without the included games, a GTX 760 is roughly equal in value to a HD 7950.
 
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DSF

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
0
71
It would still be good to answer Essence of War's questions about what you do with the computer and what resolution you play at.

Personally, unless you're experiencing slowdowns or currently do RAM-intensive work like photo editing I wouldn't worry about buying more RAM. 8GB is pretty respectable for a gaming machine, so it could be essentially a useless purchase unless you know your system will utilize it.

I do agree that a video card upgrade is the way to go, and Nvidia and AMD both have solid choices. Just look up benchmarks for the games you intend to play and see which one makes the most sense for you.

I also agree that an SSD is a good choice, although I'm not sure I'd splurge on a 500GB model at this point. Most games don't see a serious benefit from loading off an SSD, so you really just need it to hold your OS, productivity apps and a few games where it will make a difference. something in the 250GB range can do that just fine and cost quite a bit less.

Side note...there's an app called Tapatalk that may make responding on the forums slightly easier.
 
Cerb

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
DSF said:
I also agree that an SSD is a good choice, although I'm not sure I'd splurge on a 500GB model at this point. Most games don't see a serious benefit from loading off an SSD, so you really just need it to hold your OS, productivity apps and a few games where it will make a difference. something in the 250GB range can do that just fine and cost quite a bit less.
Click to expand...
I agree. The 500GB was mostly because it was so close to being in-budget, and would offer enough space for many games, mods, other programs, etc. (this is especially an issue with Steam games, especially if you use mods, since Steam really wants to have everything held inside of one directory). 250GB is big enough to not be annoying to manage, though, even with a fair collection of installed games.

If you keep programs running in the background, rather than just having a game running, 8GB can get pretty tight, already. I currently don't have but about 50 tabs open, and my Chromium is using 3.3GB, FI, all by itself. You can do fine with 8GB, but if the OP is using up >5GB on a regular basis, more would improve the overall experience of using the computer, and even with recent price hikes, is fairly cheap as far an upgrade cost is concerned.
 
J

jbombo34

Member
Jul 14, 2013
91
0
66
DSF said:
It would still be good to answer Essence of War's questions about what you do with the computer and what resolution you play at.
Click to expand...

Primarily Game at 1980 or Max Res whichever is best. Been playing BF3 and planning on BF4 but, ran EQ2 at near max settings. Don't play EQ2 but in the future EQN is something I would consider playing.
 
Cerb

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
http://techreport.com/review/23246/inside-the-second-gaming-performance-with-today-cpus/6

There's a pretty realistic view of performance differences of CPUs, and some performance expectations, using a HD 7950 (comparable to a GTX 760). You would get good min FPS gains from a faster CPU, but as you can see, your 1100T holds up pretty well, overall, and is rather excellent for BF3. Even where a CPU upgrade would be pretty substantial, it would only offer about 1/2 to 2/3 what a GPU upgrade will, with your current CPU.
 
J

jbombo34

Member
Jul 14, 2013
91
0
66
Will check it out when I get to work. Just moved here and don't even have my comp set up let alone a space to set it up. My new wife has allotted me about 100 sq ft to put my couch, tv sound system and computer... :( hence the reason for a custom desk.
 
DSF

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
0
71
Cerb said:
(this is especially an issue with Steam games, especially if you use mods, since Steam really wants to have everything held inside of one directory). 250GB is big enough to not be annoying to manage, though, even with a fair collection of installed games.
Click to expand...
Actually that's old info. Steam is now programmed to ask where you'd like each game installed, and you can set up several locations. I currently have L4D2 and Borderlands 2 on my SSD and everything else on my 1TB conventional drive.
 
Cerb

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
DSF said:
Actually that's old info. Steam is now programmed to ask where you'd like each game installed, and you can set up several locations. I currently have L4D2 and Borderlands 2 on my SSD and everything else on my 1TB conventional drive.
Click to expand...
Ah,cool. Will remember that.
 
Z

z28dreams

Senior member
Apr 7, 2002
224
0
76
Others have given good advice.

If you're not gaming much, I'd just throw in a 256gb SSD (a cheap one like the samsung 840 probably) and call it a day.

It's not worth putting any more money into the cpu, motherboard, ram, etc unless you want to start an entirely new system from scratch.

Spend that $160 or so, play with it for a while, then decide if you really want more power for games. I'd save most of that $750 budget to build a new machine in 2 years or so.
 
DSF

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
0
71
I agree with denis280 about the SSD but disagree about the video card. Not that the 770 is necessarily bad, but that particular model has an old-style cooler that will likely be louder than a comparable card with a dual- or tri-fan cooler.
 
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