Posts by rowdydrifter15

Thanks for all the advice, everyone! 👍

The i5-4460 is officially in, and I went ahead and treated myself to a Fractal Design Define Mini case along with an 8GB RAM stick.
My old setup was driving me crazy with how loud it was, but this one is practically silent—even when the side panel is off. 😁

What I totally missed before was that my last build had a Phenom X2 555BE instead of an X4, so I figured it was time for some more drastic upgrades. I’ll be putting the old rig up for sale here on the forum soon, so if anyone’s interested, shoot me a PM.

Bryan Taylor6 said:You nailed everything except for which Phenom you're actually running.....

If you switch over to an Intel Core i5-4440, you won't even need a dedicated graphics card... the integrated GPU should be more than enough for what you need... plus, I think the processor itself is strong enough that those extra cores won't be a dealbreaker... besides, different programs just use cores differently anyway...

It's a Phenom II 955 (maybe a 945), but I'm not sitting at that PC right now.

Man, every single time I start building a rig, I end up even more indecisive than when I started. 🙄

Right now, I'm looking at two paths: Intel or AMD.
Intel:
Which i5? + what motherboard? + 8GB RAM (if I go this route, I probably wouldn't grab a GPU).

AMD:
FX 6300 + motherboard? + GTX 750 + 8GB RAM

Now I'm stuck wondering about motherboards and which i5 to pick. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Kimberly Gomez34 said:rowdydrifter15, what's the deal with your Phenom X6? Is it actually dragging you down during processing, even with that SSD? Based on how you described your needs being pretty basic, that rig should technically be cutting it... You might just need an extra 4GB of RAM or a new GPU if yours finally kicked the bucket.

By the way, what kind of games are we talking about here? What counts as "old school" to you—something from 1999 or maybe 2010? It’s such a subjective thing. If you're looking at titles from the 90s up through roughly 2006, you could probably max those out even on integrated graphics from something like an Intel Core i5-4440, and maybe even some newer stuff.

Also, quick heads-up guys: right now, the R7 250 and 250X aren't worth the money at all. You can find the R7 260 (non-X) in most shops for the same price, or sometimes even less.

http://www.amazon.com/s?k=r7+260

First off, thanks to everyone for the replies.
Let's just say I'm leaning more towards a full system swap rather than upgrading this one. If I had the version 2.0 motherboard, I might have considered jumping to an FX 6300, but with this setup, I'm passing.

The games I play are seriously old and light (Europa Universalis 2, Napoleon: Total War, Close Combat 3😁 and things like that).

I have a chance to snag a GTX 650 2GB for $233. It's still under warranty, and I've seen people on various forums saying it's decent for light video editing because it has "CUDA." I honestly have no idea what that actually means, but it keeps coming up everywhere. If anyone can explain that simply, I'd appreciate it.
I only really need a dedicated GPU if it helps with video editing. Right now, I'm using an EAH 5450 I "borrowed" from an old office PC, and it actually handles everything else fine. Honestly, maybe even an APU with plenty of RAM would cut it, but I'm out of the loop and too nervous to try building something myself.

Amy Vaughn12 said:So, you don't have a GTX 460? What kind of motherboard are you running? I guess if your board is actually compatible, you might be able to just throw an FX 6300 in there and call it a day.

ASRock 870 Extreme 3
From what I know, this board is AM3, not AM3+
I don't have a GTX 460 anymore. I wasn't even thinking about upgrading this rig, but if it actually makes sense, why not...

fadedorca66 said:So, what kind of software are you using to put those clips together?

I was using Pinnacle Studio 16 until my GPU kicked the bucket. It's been nearly a year since I've touched any editing. With this new build, I could probably handle much newer software now.

Amy Vaughn12 said:So, come on, just give me a number. How much would you actually drop on this?

The lower, the better.😁

Money isn't the issue here. My problem is that I always overdo it and end up buying rigs I don't actually need. For example, four years ago, I built a setup with a Phenom X4, a GTX 460, some Extreme 3 motherboard, 4GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD, and a fancy NZXT case. I dropped maybe $1,500 to $2,000 on it just to play two modern shooters, and then spent the rest of my time watching movies and browsing the web. Back then, I could have put together exactly what I needed for about $1,000.

Let’s say I’d give maybe $600 to $$1000 for something matching those specs. Of course, if there’s a damn good reason to go above that budget, I might consider it. But realistically? I just need a machine to edit about ten 10-minute videos a year for fun.

👍

Hey there!

I'm looking to put together a PC that I'll spend about 99% of my time using for web browsing and playing some really old, obscure games. That other 1%? Just ripping movies for my own enjoyment—I travel a lot, so I usually have plenty of footage to burn.

Budget isn't a massive deal, but honestly, since my needs aren't anything special, I'd rather not overspend.
I don't mind hunting for deals on eBay or Craigslist. As for what I already have on hand: I think it's a Seasonic 520W PSU, 4GB of 1600MHz RAM, a 1TB HDD plus a 120GB SSD, and a case.

If you guys don't mind, I could really use some advice here. It's been a few years since I've dealt with hardware, so I'm pretty out of the loop.

Thanks in advance!!!

Need an evaluation on this build:

Phenom ii 555 be (can't unlock extra cores, at least not on my board)
Asrock 870 Extreme 3
Radeon HD 6450🙂 (my 460gtx just kicked the bucket)
Case: NZXT M59
One more thing—is the stock cooler from an MSI 460gtx actually worth anything?

Thanks!