You’d definitely notice the jump in performance, since the 7850 sits in a completely different league than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti.
As long as you're running Windows 7 64-bit, you can just toss any of them in there and grab the latest drivers online to get everything up and running...
Those two are basically identical chips—the only real difference is that the K version is unlocked for overclocking. In most retail stores, you'll see a price gap of about 30$17 bucks between them. If the K model is available, grab it; otherwise, just stick with the 740.
Exactly. That way, you can put more money toward a better graphics card, which is where you'll actually feel the performance boost in gaming, regardless of whether you're running an Athlon or a Phenom.
If you're asking me, then it's a definite yes. My only concern is whether you'll actually manage to snag an Athlon 750 K; those things fly off the shelves the second they hit the market because they're such a steal. That said, looking at the link, it seems they have some in stock, though they're charging a bit more there.
Where are you planning to buy from eventually, and what kind of prices are we talking about?
EDIT: Just look at how cheap this motherboard is at this new shop.
If you're paying cash, I’d seriously consider using one of those budget retailers—you'll just need to find someone to handle the assembly, but the savings are massive. Their shipping is $10 I believe, and they likely offer COD—I'm just not sure how long the wait would be...
That's a solid motherboard choice if you're sticking with the FM2 platform. As for the CPU—honestly, I wouldn't bother. You know why? It’s basically just an AMD Athlon II x4 740/750 K with a built-in 7560D graphics chip slapped onto it. Since you're already planning on picking up a decent dedicated GPU, that integrated graphics part is just wasted silicon for your build. Those A-series processors are really meant for people who don't game much, play very light titles, or plan on adding a real graphics card down the road.
Bottom line: you're better off grabbing one of those Athlons instead. Don't throw extra money away on features you won't even use.
I’d suggest steering clear of MSI motherboards for AMD builds. From what I’ve read, quite a few people have reported them burning out—basically letting off white smoke. They’re a solid company otherwise, but in this specific niche, just skip them. You're better off looking at something from ASRock, ASUS, or Gigabyte within that same price range. Regarding RAM—whatever you do, don't settle for those 2GB sticks... You're swinging between extremes when it comes to power supplies. 😬You definitely don't need a 600W Pro Line unit; you can save some cash there...
And stay far away from "green" drives. Go with a Western Digital Caviar Blue, or maybe a Toshiba if you can find one...
EDIT- As for the power supply—none of the options most of us suggested are actually "just enough." They all leave plenty of headroom for future upgrades. Honestly, you probably won't even need a beast like that down the road because technology is constantly evolving toward lower power consumption and less heat. In the long run, we'll likely need weaker power supplies rather than stronger ones. That said, if you're planning on pairing up two graphics cards from $1333 one day 😬
But I just checked the price on that link—it’s actually not quite as pricey as I initially thought...
Personally, I’d opt for something brand new. I haven't had much luck messing around with used graphics cards... It’s not like a CPU where you can just swap it out and forget about it; with GPUs, there's just too much junk and counterfeit hardware out there nowadays.
A 6670 with DDR5 would definitely be a solid move, but honestly, since you're currently running an 8800 GTS, it wouldn't really be a massive upgrade.
Think of the 7850 as a temporary placeholder if you're planning to upgrade the rest of your rig later this year. Your CPU is going to be the bottleneck, soaking up all the performance it can... especially if all you need is a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM to get everything else in sync.
Larry Bailey94 said:My bad, my bad—I grabbed the wrong motherboard specs earlier... he actually said it’s an ASRock N68-GE3 UCC, featuring GeForce 7025 / nForce 630a, DDR3, audio, VGA, G-LAN, S-ATA, RAID, PCI-E, mATX, socket AM3.
That won't work either; that Phenom isn't even on his CPU support list. Support up to 95W Socket AM3 processors
When dealing with those Phenom chips, I highly recommend picking up a decent board (something north of $100)—even if cheaper ones technically "support" them, there is a very real risk of frying your components.
It would be much smarter to just pivot to the FM2 platform with an Athlon II x4 740/750 K. Those perform about the same as a Phenom in gaming, and you'll end up saving quite a bit of cash in the process.
Larry Bailey94 said:So, an IT guy put this build together for me. He assured me the whole setup would be solid and run without any hiccups. His specific recommendation was to grab the GIGABYTE AMD RADEON HD 7770 OC with 1GB of VRAM, which is sitting right around $100.$43Oh, look what I stumbled upon! Gigabyte GF GTX650 Ti OC, 2GB GDDR5, featuring DVI and DP ports, available for $1.$100I honestly can't say for sure if this will actually work with the motherboard I have!
Motherboard: ASROCK FM2A75M-DGS, featuring an AMD A75 FCH chipset, DDR3 support, high-quality audio, SATA, RAID, VGA, Gigabit LAN, PCI-E, DVI, and D-SUB ports. This is a standard micro ATX board utilizing the FM2 socket.
Graphics Card: Gigabyte GF GTX650 Ti OC, 2GB GDDR5, featuring DVI and DP outputs.
600W power supply, LC Power super Silent Series, ATX2, v2.2, featuring a 120mm fan, black finish, with Active PFC.
Check out this AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition. It’s an AM3 socket processor running at 3.2GHz, featuring 8MB of cache and a solid quad Core architecture.
And finally, I went with 4 GB of RAM. He insisted that for my specific needs, anything more would be overkill—and honestly, it should be plenty. What are your thoughts? Like I mentioned before, he was planning on going with that GIGABYTE AMD RADEON HD 7770 OC with 1GB of DDR5 and an HDMI port, but I decided to pull the trigger on this GIGABYTE GF GTX650 Ti OC instead—it’s got 2GB of GDDR5, plus DVI and DP.
Seriously? Are you kidding me? How can someone calling themselves an IT professional not realize that an AM3 socket processor won't fit into an FM2 motherboard? It's like trying to plug a Ford spark plug into a Tesla—it's just fundamentally incompatible.
The GTX 650Ti OC just isn't worth the price tag. $433 If you can grab an HD7770 for roughly the same price, just go for it—it's a noticeable step up from the 7850.
If you check the Links, you'll see that getting the 460W LC Power Pro Lin Series is actually a much better value for the money. It's a smarter play for the same price.
If you shop at that link, you’re going to end up paying way more than everywhere else... a 7770 will probably cost $130+ in the future.
Whatever you do, don't go for a 2x2 GB RAM setup—your motherboard only has two slots total. That'll definitely bite you later on. You should grab at least a single 4GB or even an 8GB stick instead. for example, this
As for the power supply (if you actually have one), grab this one or this first—both are solid choices, but those two are much more battle-tested by actual users.
EDIT—your graphics card is fine, especially if you aren't playing at Full HD or obsessing over maxed-out settings in the latest titles... If you can swing it, stepping up to an ATI 7850 would be the move. Given what you'd be spending at that link, you really ought to check if this one performs better. Generally speaking, the 650Ti outperforms the 7770, but since yours is an OC and some kind of GHz edition, you'll need to find someone who tracks those specific special editions to see if the 650Ti still holds the edge.
Look, if I were in your shoes, I’d just go with the AMD Radeon RX 450. It’s basically the Seasonic of power supplies—top-tier quality—and honestly, it might even end up being cheaper for you...
EDIT Or, if you’re willing to spend the cash, this is the absolute winner: 560w gp3. That GP3 series is battle-tested and rock solid (though even the 460W GP3 from $127 would be more than enough for your setup)
If you're already picking up those other parts from places like Best Buy, Micro Center, or Newegg, you can definitely snag a premium power supply there for less, like this one or this actually, check out —it’s pretty sweet because you can strip off any cables you don't need, which keeps things much cleaner inside the case. Otherwise, maybe this option
Bottom line—they’re lying. These cheap power supplies are mislabeled; they’re designed for basic office PCs, just like the name implies. Even if the wattage numbers aren't total fabrications, they simply won't hold up under a heavy load. You're basically inviting a hardware failure (or even an explosion) if you push them too hard. When you're looking at a PSU, the real metrics are the amperage on the 12V rail and the overall build quality—specifically the capacitors and internal components. The two options I suggested for you are at least twice, if not three times, more robust than those budget office units. They offer superior construction, quiet operation, efficient cooling, plenty of cable options, and critical safety protections that cheap units completely lack.
By the way, that "600W" unit isn't a total disaster; it can handle decent loads. However, if you decide to go with a 100W processor like the x4 750 k paired with something like an HD7850, I wouldn't touch it. It might be fine for an AMD Athlon x4 740 (65W) and a lower-end card, but you're much better off investing in quality now so you don't have to worry about it for years. You don't want to be stuck wondering if your power supply is going to buckle when you eventually try to upgrade a component or move it into a new PC later on.
There's absolutely no way that processor is going to keep up with that graphics card.
If I were in your shoes, I’d take full advantage of that GPU discount at Micro Center, depending on what your budget looks like. 1. ATI 7850 2. Nvidia gtx 650 3. ATI 7770
Then you could just order something like this: An AMD Athlon x4 740 or 750 k processor (see $200) A motherboard that's at least an ASRock FM2A75M ($150) One 8GB stick of RAM (roughly $50)
You can grab those from some budget online retailers that offer cash on delivery (Newegg, Amazon and B&H Photo if I recall correctly) plus $17 shipping. And if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself, just find someone who knows how to build a PC and can drop it off for you...
Also, do you have a decent power supply? If not, you could pick up this or this from Micro Center, or maybe something from one of those shops like a Corsair CX430, a Silverstone Strider 400W, or a Zalman... (something in that $117 ballpark)
That’s just completely not worth the investment, and honestly, it doesn't make any sense since your current setup already handles everything you need perfectly.
You’re going to have to overhaul the entire platform if you're looking to make use of a single 7770 or 7850. You might be able to hang onto the case, the CPU cooler, and your storage drives—provided they're SATA. What was the name of that 600W power supply again? I know it wasn't one of those cheap office units from Best Buy.
Basically, along with the graphics card, you'll need to swap out the processor, the motherboard, and the RAM (you'll need DDR3). Everything else just needs a quick check.
Paul Garcia42 said:Alright, thanks... $250 but that's really it. It seems a bit pointless to drop over $1,000 if everything works just fine at 'standard ' 😁
If you can push it up to 7770 ($300), go for it; otherwise, 7750 is perfectly fine What kind of CPU and power supply are you running?
My God, NVIDIA really is killing those cards (especially the 7 and 8 series). They’ve been out for years now, but they were already krepati even when they were newer
Jack Alvarez said:Like I mentioned, Black Ops 2 runs at 1920x1080 with everything cranked to the max at a steady 60 fps, so it’s still holding its own!!
Look, I never said it was bad; there's no need to swap it out if it's still pulling the weight. That was just my educated guess—once more demanding titles hit the scene, this will likely be the first thing needing an upgrade, since everything else is still plenty capable enough.