Upgrade suggestions?

[Ss750rdr]

Currently, this is what I use, in an on off the shelf at WALMART PC with a few minor upgrades. Lately, I have been contemplating on getting a new one under 1000 bones!

AMD Athlon 64 X 2 5000 Black edition
Vista 32 bit
4GB Corsair Memory
500 Watt Coolermaster PSU
9800GT 512MB

 

[curriegrad2004]

Well... Athlon X2 5000 is an AM2, so you might be able to install it on an AM2+ board. Just replacing the mobo might be the best case for you.

Look at the AMD 790 series chipset with a high-end graphics card. If you're like me who wants to use every single last drop of hardware, you can use a hybrid CrossfireX system and go from there... But the performance is going to be crap.

 

[HeatSurge]

IMO it's not cost-effective to buy anything but one of the new P55 boards with one of the equally new core I7-860's if you were to buy RIGHT NOW.

Thing is, I'd personally wait a bit until they start releasing SATAIII boards... maybe new build for Christmas? Also, DX11 cards are coming just in a month or two... I'd really wait to see prices/performance on those before buying anything right now.

There's a reason that walmart PC is cheap (within the store)... it's kind of older. 9800 GT wouldn't really cut it for me either...

BTW I also think that PC is seriously overpriced (comparing to prices outside of Walmart).

Check this config out:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=7748189

For $300 more, you can have a FAR better PC (almost enthusiast grade)... with badass tight-timing memory, brand spankin' new CPU with hyperthreading (4 physical 8 "logical" cores), a very high-performance CPU cooler, badass case, keyboard + deathadder (ownage) mouse included, a GTX 275 (which should be about twice better than the 9800 GT probably), a fuckin' sweet case, and to top it off a 1.5 TB hard drive...

Expect to overclock that CPU to 4.0Ghz with that cooler too... if not more (with some tweaking / higher fan speeds). Memory should also run tighter or overclocked than at advertised speeds.

If you want to spend even a bit more, you can get a SLI mobo / another video card / second HDD for RAID-0 or even two SSD's for RAID-0 / etc... but as it is, I think it would kick major ASS, and definitely would be MUCH better than that piece of shit above from walmart... just my 2c.

P.S. Do not actually go ahead and buy the cooler above. I'm not sure if it will fit in that case (it's quite tall), nor am I sure that it fits the new socket type for the P55 mobos (gotta check)... the rest should work A-OK together. I just threw it in as an example. If you really want to buy something right now you can talk about the config above to me or soulzz on vent if we're on... or post here.

Like I say, I'd really recommend waiting a couple of more months for ati/nvidia to both release their DX11 cards and the new processors' / p55 boards' prices to go down just a bit.

 

[balls2dawall]

Quick Overview; i7 920, Evga X58 Motherboard, Evga GTX260, 6GB DD3 1333 Memory. 600W SLi/Crossfire Ready, Vista 64bit w/ Windows 7 upgrade. Didn't include HD have 320GB would sell for 25. Nice affordable price: 950 + some shipping

Notes: Could bring price down w/ cheaper board
and video card
ONLY DVD ROM...no bells and whistles here


This is what I came up with:
Processor: 200
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0302727

MB: 240
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188049&Tpk=141-BL-E757-TR

Memory: 80
http://www.directron.com/tr3x3g1333c9.html?gsear=1

Video Card: 185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130433

Case: 40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119106

Power Supply: 50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153077

OS: 103
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=207383670&listingid=34586491

DVD Drive: 20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276


I did Intel now for a AMD:
AMD X2 550; 6GB DDR3-1333; 1TB Storage; Vista 64bit w/ upgrade windows 7; Ati 4890 w/ hybrid crossfire; All for $770. The CPU can be unlocked to quad core.

CPU & MB: 162
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.254101

Memory: 65
http://www.directron.com/tr3x3g1333c9.html?gsear=1

Vista: 102
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=207383670&listingid=34586491

Case: 80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133044

Power Supply: 40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152028

Storage: 95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

DVD Drive: 20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276

 

[HeatSurge]

Good research balls.

Yeah that's an amazing sale on the 920. Other components are arguably worse than what I have thus the lower price (esp. GTX 260 vs GTX 275 for gaming) and no mouse/keyboard but still alright systems for a lot less than that walmart shit with far better processors.

With AMD, I'd really go for phenom - quad core ftw.

Sadly, I'd buy intel right now, even though I was an AMD fanboy... before they started blowing at core2 release and never really caught up.

 

[Ss750rdr]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will keep those in mind. I think I am gonig to go ahead and build a new system in a few months or so.

 

[Ss750rdr]

The I7-860 processor and P55 board seem very cost effective, i agree, but I am not sure. I have read a few posts in other tech forums that Intel will revamp that socket in Q1 2010. Any comments? I have always been a fan of AMD, but am seriously considering switching to Intel.

 

[Soulzz]

Tom, wait till the Core i5 comes out. You'll save a bunch of money and they are faster then the i7's.

 

[HeatSurge]

Um it's out already lulz... and right now, it's more expensive apparently (i7-920 per balls' post = $200 vs mine i7-860 per my post = $299)... but it might fall in a month or two - it might be ridiculous release prices...

 

[amazon3d]

I can say right now I would rather a faster dual core than this quad core. Most of the applications I have been running don't understand multi-threading. (Adobe premier, Audicity, BF2142, etc.) So at least 2 of my cores sit idle 95% of the time.

 

[HeatSurge]

For games, this is mostly true. However, things are changing. Slowly, but they are...

So, for production/encoding/etc. and perhaps future games, quadcore is the way to go imo. You can't OC dual-core processors that much higher currently anyway...

 

[balls2dawall]

The AMD dual core I listed has been known to ulock with some of the higher end boards; but, the quad core would be the lower end quads nothing like the 955. Best of all for 100 bones. I would personally get a good board and a good processor; the other stuff is easy to upgrade later.