In your situation, you might actually want to grab one from Best Buy. Processors almost never fail—it's incredibly rare—so any bad experiences people have had with their return policies are pretty much irrelevant here, provided they actually have it in stock.
Or just wait for a used one at a reasonable price.
The power supply is fine, but for that kind of money, you could get a Sapphire Nitro with a much better cooler (it’s quite long) or a Gigabyte model with a 3-year warranty (though those are short). The main thing is, what kind of case are you running?
I'd definitely go with the NVIDIA GTX 950. Right now, Uzishop is the only one with anything decent in stock, though one of their options is way overpriced at Best Buy.
That first one from the link draws its power directly from the PCIe slot, and honestly, I don't see the point in spending an extra 100-$67 just to pick up some weak DDR3 card. The performance jump compared to what you're running now will be massive.
To be fair, you can find much better GPUs for roughly the same amount of cash (like that $250 ASUS card over at Best Buy), but your power supply is honestly a joke if you're looking to upgrade. You could potentially grab a GTX 750 for $300 or even a 750 Ti for $105—both would be a massive step up from that Microsoft card—but it really ought to be a priority to swap out that power supply first.
I believe any cooler up to 160mm will fit inside the Zalman Z1/Z3 cases (and most others for that matter), though unfortunately, the official website doesn't explicitly state that if I recall correctly. That said, the Z3+ is definitely the best value you can find in the $100 price range. If you're looking at higher-end chassis, I’d recommend the Fractal R4 (which runs about $120+) review. Personally, I think the black or white versions look much better than that "mirror finish" titanium grey .
Intel Core i7-4960X @ 4.2GHz (which is a 130W TDP processor, whereas yours is only 54W) 184W during gaming total system draw.
The GPU itself click here
Look, even with a junk power supply, you technically have enough juice, but honestly? Get rid of that thing immediately for your own safety—it’s low quality. It would be ideal if you just grabbed the one I linked for you.
It’s honestly wild how difficult—practically impossible—it is to track down any actual specs for these power supplies 🤦
crimsonstag84 said:That 300W rating exists for a reason 😛 because if you combine the 12V, 3.3V, and 5V rails, you get roughly 300W total, with the 12V rail providing about 156W to power the CPU and GPU.
Adam Moore3 said:So why are they marketing it as a Microsoft 500W Power Supply when the sticker clearly says 300W?! I know companies can be shady with these numbers, but this is ridiculous.
Think of it like this: $100 from Mom plus $100 from Dad equals a $500 budget. Pure logic right there.🎉
quietpilot23, did you mention that thing in Chicago earlier?
You could go that route, just make sure you order at the online price so you aren't overpaying for nothing. I highly doubt a gtx 950 will drop to $1000-$367; expect closer to $1300-$1400 once prices stabilize. Besides, forget about getting that card with your current power supply—it pulls well over 100w
Just order it and you'll have it in a few days. Honestly, hardly anyone keeps anything in stock these days. If you managed to survive this long without a GPU, a couple more days of waiting shouldn't be an issue.
Regarding the Linkworld unit, if I recall correctly, that "600W" model delivers 23A on the +12V rail.😬
You can definitely go that route—it’s totally fine. It might cost you an extra couple hundred bucks, but you're getting a solid 3-year warranty out of the deal.
Did you check those links I sent over? You can almost certainly order them if you really need to. Just a heads-up though—even at Digital Ocean, "in stock" doesn't always mean they actually have it ready to ship, if you know what I mean (just look at the reviews; people have been stuck waiting for weeks, sometimes even months). Also, Digital Ocean doesn't even have a physical storefront in New York City anymore; they moved their operations over to Canada.
This shop is a total mess, and their customer service is an absolute nightmare when you try to file a warranty claim. I’ve actually told people in chat that I always filter them out whenever someone asks for a recommendation.
Also, why go low profile unless you're working with an HTPC case? It's not that the card is bad, per se, but it's likely going to run hotter and louder than a standard full-sized card. It's not like you didn't have other options at that price point.
If I recall correctly, you mentioned in our chat that you already placed an order, mostly excluding the Inno3D option available downtown:
From what I remember, the Palit StormX Dual models (the ones with dual fans) were some of the top-tier 750Ti versions out there and they were quite solid, so I don't think a single-fan model would be a bad choice either. I've heard that the Gainward version has a pretty terrible cooler.
Look, if you check out the various mechanics around Chicago, they’ll all give you their own take. However, I find the whole value proposition pretty questionable. You have to weigh the cost of the diagnostic fee against whether the car can even be fixed in the first place. Then there's the hourly labor rate, plus you have to consider how long the repairs will actually hold up once the job is done.
That’s an LGA 1155 socket, so if you're looking to push some overclocking, just focus on finding a Z77 chipset. The catch is that decent stock is pretty slim right now—most of what's out there is refurbished or RMA units with barely a 3 or 6-month warranty. This one is supposedly different, though:
Keep in mind this is a bulk unit (no fancy retail box), but since MSI typically offers a 3-year warranty, it's easily your strongest option. Alternatively, just shoot an email over to Micro Center and ask them which Z77 boards they currently have in stock.
I linked mine today too, and honestly, the pricing just doesn't align with what I'm seeing on Nabavi.net.
Prices are going absolutely haywire. First, there was only an ASUS model listed at Micro Center for some ridiculous $533, then an EVGA card hit $1400 in Austin, and now its price has spiked $33 higher while the Gigabyte single-fan version dropped $33 lower. Now I see a Gigabyte Windforce with dual fans for $480...
At this rate, this post might be outdated by tomorrow morning 🤣
That’s why you should never jump on new GPUs the second they drop. You have to wait for the market to stabilize. Maybe prices will settle in a week or two, or maybe even by tomorrow or the day after—who knows...$433...
crimsonstag84 said:It's slightly weaker than the GTX 760, but it should still perform decently enough.
I've been digging through some reviews—specifically looking at Strix models over on Guru3D—and it seems like this consistently beats out the GTX 760 and the R9 270 x. It looks like an overclocked version might even hold its own against the GTX 960 (which is basically just a crippled version anyway, lol). Honestly, seeing those HD7950 numbers feels a bit too good to be true...
That’s why I think sticking to local reviews from PCMag is your best bet. One thing is certain: it definitely outperforms the 270, making it worth the price for $467 (checking Best Buy). If anyone is thinking about picking up a GTX 950, my advice is to hang tight for a bit longer until more options hit the market and prices actually drop.