Spare parts are basically like a relic from a bygone era—they have almost zero market value. The real headache today isn't just the part itself, it's actually finding a customer willing to pay for it. It’s no different than trying to offload an eight-year-old smartphone; you’d be lucky if someone offered you even $17 (even though it's still technically worth more than that)
I’ve been reading some international forums suggesting they intentionally overpriced the 260X just to clear out the remaining stock of the HD7790. Once those are gone, prices should drop as its successor takes over. Honestly, the 260X is actually more powerful than that weak HD7790—it performs more like a 5870 and handles that shitty audio processing much better. On the other hand, the 270X could be an absolute massive hit since it's positioned to replace the 7870 (which is currently retailing for under $467 here in the States). In terms of raw power, it sits right in the ballpark of the 660Ti, 760, or 7950—maybe even beating some of those AMD cards depending on how you look at it. From what I can gather, most of those performance differences are just noise, maybe a couple of frames per second on average, with a few exceptions. If the 280x hits the market for around $2,500, that would also be a solid deal, though we'll have to see how much of a markup the local scammers decide to tack on.
Honestly, a 300W offer is basically nothing $133—especially since that’s the most critical part of the build. Sure, those pricier OCZ units are solid, and Seasonic is even better, but you don't need absolute monsters like those
If you're dead set on looking there, xilence 580w will do the job, though it might be overkill for his setup. They aren't exactly a top-tier brand, but they aren't total junk either. Personally, I would have stretched the budget for something modular like the ocz-modxstream-pro- instead. If you were picking it up in a place like Chicago, it'd actually be a much better value and more reasonably priced
Yeah, go ahead and drop the links to those shops. I noticed you don't have any links posted here yet.
Either that, or just order that Corsair CX430 + $13 shipping—you can pay cash on delivery when it hits your doorstep. By the way, I think that power supply is available at Best Buy $100 (assuming they have it in stock).
Look, if everything was running smoothly before, it probably would have lasted a few more days. Even if someone managed to build an ultra-premium unit, you really need to swap that thing out ASAP—your current setup is pulling at least 200W just on the 12V rail alone.
And by the way, stay away from full load. Don't try running any heavy games (I'm talking actual AAA titles, not some random browser game). If your PC starts shutting down during those sessions, you already know exactly why.
New rumors surfacing regarding AMD's integrated graphics on the FM2+ socket Haswell Benchmarks Revealed!
Basically:
The Kaveri GPU is effectively just an underclocked 7790 that swaps out GDDR5 for DDR3 and ships with a single CU disabled. ... Dell claims they see a massive 30% jump in performance on their Kaveri FM2+ product page when you bump the speed from 1333 up to 2133 MHz!
It’s a bit more robust and carries an 80 Plus Silver rating (plus a 5-year warranty), whereas the cx 500 gives you that modular advantage where you can just ditch any cables you don't need. Though, let's be honest, you'll probably end up using most—if not all—of them anyway. If your main goal is just keeping costs as low as possible, go with a non-modular unit like this or grab that Fortron option. Alternatively, if you want to step it up, check out (Seasonic is widely considered the gold standard for PSU manufacturing under the hood here in the States)
All of these power supplies will handle your rig without breaking a sweat, even if you decide to overclock.
Jonathan Bennett46 said:Hey there, I'm trying to pick up that Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, but it looks like it's completely vanished from the market since it's such an old chip. Any advice? Can you recommend something in the same ballpark regarding price and performance? Thanks
It seems they aren't selling them anymore. Those CPUs were legendary and stayed relevant for a long time because they were solid, and so many people still have those AM3/AM3+ motherboards. Your best bet is to email the retailers on this list to see if they can source any, or just hunt for one used online. http://www.google.com/search?q=Intel+Core+2+Quad+Q9550
If your motherboard is a GA-MA770-UD3, http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=3302
you specifically need the C3 version of the Intel Core 2 Quad 125 W (that was usually what stores stocked). Your board won't support the C2 version which pulls 140W (the BIOS notes say N/A next to that version). Your only real option left is to look for a used quad-core from the listings.
It isn't anything to write home about. If you're actually looking for a meaningful jump in performance, grab an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 and an HD 7770 if your budget allows.
Lawrence Phillips said:If you grab an fx paired with a decent motherboard and a reliable cooler, you're basically looking at the same price point as an i5 3350p on a budget board.
That's true, but they both push the same graphics performance.
@Lawrence Phillips/">@@Lawrence Phillips Look, you could take an fx 6300 on a high-end motherboard with a decent cooler, overclock it, and pair it with an HD7950
Honestly, people obsess over graphics cards way too much. Take someone who just loves RPGs (or a mix of them): Skyrim (where you can sink 100-200 hours), Witcher 2, the Mass Effect trilogy, Deus Ex HR, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy, Diablo 3, the Dragon Age series, Path of Exile—not to mention those hardcore players stuck on MMOs like League of Legends, WoW, or Guild Wars 2. You can sink at least two years into those, and a standard HD7770 can max everything out (except maybe Witcher 2 if you're pushing ultra settings).
Once you've had your fill, it's easy enough to upgrade when you actually need to. In two years, the power of a card like a gtx 760 will be available for a fraction of the price. Sure, game requirements creep up because of "next-gen" consoles, but even those have limits; things will plateau and basically stagnate for years once they stabilize. It’ll be just like the stretch from 2007 to 2011/12. There wasn't a massive leap in tech between Crysis 1 and BF3
Now, for heavy hitters like Crysis, sure, you'd want a beefier GPU for those high-end details. But most people just play through a single-player campaign (even if they don't finish it)—take a mediocre title that relies solely on visuals; you can knock that out in 5 or 6 hours. An average gamer finishes that in two sitting sessions, deletes it, forgets it ever happened, and moves on to the next thing. Spending three grand on a GPU just to clear a handful of games like that is overkill. 🤷
My point is, everything is relative. It all depends on what you play, how long you play it, and how demanding (or spoiled) you are, but ultimately, the budget dictates everything.
Honestly, my advice is not to stress yourself out over CrossFire this early in the game. You’ll be able to cruise through most titles with just a single card for quite a while. When you eventually feel the itch for more power, you can simply sell that one card and pick up something beefier. For instance, you could aim for something on par with today's HD7970 or GTX770 levels—something an overclocked fx 8320 can handle effortlessly (and by then, cards with that kind of performance will be significantly cheaper). Plus, you won't need to go out and buy a massive high-end power supply if you aren't running CF/SLI, nor will you have to deal with the headache of whether specific games even support CrossFire.
It's likely that some mid-range options from NVIDIA will hit the market soon, though I'm not sure if they'll arrive before the end of the year. But look, if you are absolutely dead-set on CrossFire, you could always opt for an asymmetrical setup if money gets tight—pair a solid mid-range platform with a decent mid-range GPU. That way, you can catch up on all the big hits you've missed, and later down the road, you can just add a second matching card. Or, of course, you could just swap the whole thing out for a single, more powerful unit.
I can't say for certain about your specific situation, but you could definitely pack a more powerful GPU in there. Since it's overclockable, it's going to be much more future-proof than your standard i5.
EDIT
If you're planning on buying something soon, I’d honestly suggest waiting a bit. We should see some new ATI cards hitting the market around October or November, which will give you a better idea of where prices land. You'll likely see the 7 series drop in price, and everything tends to get noticeably cheaper leading up to Christmas.
There are even some new retailers popping up; check this out:
I think it’ll hold up just fine, though you won't be hitting maximum potential if you ask me. It would honestly be better to unlock everything and really push that CPU to its limits. If you want to be strictly technical about its ceiling, we're looking at the GTX 760 or the Radeon HD 7950—though many people argue that even with the latter, you might run into some bottlenecks in certain scenarios.
Just skip those green drives if you're looking for an OS drive... They're meant for extra storage (for anyone already running on an SSD), but honestly, I wouldn't touch them even for that purpose.
copperotter20 said:I was actually planning on picking up that Radeon HD 7770 myself. Should I consider throwing in an extra 2 GB of RAM? Would that make any real 😁 difference?
No,
The only thing you should really look at adding is another 8GB if you're serious about photo or video editing.
What are you talking about with those $370-$133 prices? Are you looking at an internal hard drive? A fair market price should be closer to $450-$167. For instance, check this out: http://www.google.com/search?q=Seagate+BarraCuda+1+TB
1. Needs to fit a PCI-E slot. 2. Current setup—don't plan on changing anything else for the foreseeable future.😁 Intel Core I5 2500 k 3.30 GHz Socket 1155 LGA Core speed : http://prntscr.com/1ug1gy ) ASUS Z68X-UD4-B3 x.x 8GB RAM (2x4 GB DDR3) Western Digital 1 TB Hard Drive Power supply is a Corsair 450 w CMPSU Current GPU is an Nvidia GeForce 9600 gt 512 mb GDDR3 3. Playing at 1280x1024 resolution. 4. Budget is roughly around $167 maybe a little more.😁 5. Any retailer that ships nationwide across the US. 6. My main reason for upgrading is that my current card doesn't support DirectX 11. I need a new card that supports DirectX 11 and offers better performance, because I can tell my current one is struggling with some modern titles.
Pick up at least an HD7770. It would be a shame to go any lower; at your resolution, it will perform beautifully. You actually have a very solid machine, but the graphics card and the monitor (assuming that's your max resolution) are definitely your biggest bottlenecks.