It’s got enough power and cables for now, but honestly, the internal components feel a bit cheap. I guess you won't need to swap out that i5 processor for at least three years, IMO. By then, who knows how much more powerful everything will be? You might just end up buying an entirely new rig, maybe keeping only the case (since you usually don't reuse the PSU when building from scratch). You'll probably want a new graphics card in a couple of years if you're aiming for high settings on everything, but the power supply should hold up fine—unless you decide to go with some heavy-duty dual-chip setup 😬
I suspect it might be due to the memory controller on the Richland platform—it supports up to 2133MHz, I guess. I'm not entirely certain, though I doubt the motherboard would be the limiting factor here.
EDIT: Heh, I haven't really messed around with RAM or studied it much, so I don't know for sure. 🙂
GTX 650 -> HD 7770 -> GTX 650 Ti -> HD 7790 -> GTX 650 Ti Boost -> HD 7850
I think I already mentioned which power supplies would handle any of these cards. It might be easier if you just dropped a link to the store you're shopping at or some local shops you're looking at, then we could just send you the direct links.
Zachary Cruz6 said:Hey there! I'm wondering which power supply I should pick up. I'm getting a new graphics card and I'm not sure if my current 230W unit will cut it. CPU: Intel Core 2 duo E7500 @ 2.93GHz GPU: Zotac NVIDIA ® GeForce ™ GTX650 2048 MB GDDR5-RAM PCIe x16 2x DVI, 2x HDMI Also, is this card worth the price$279 or is it actually any good?
I'd go with either the Corsair CX430W Bronze or the Silverstone Strider 400 w.
The HD 7770(AMD) is probably the better GPU here; it beats the GTX 650 regardless of those 2GB specs, which honestly don't offer much more than 1GB when you're just running a single monitor.
Maybe grab this one while you're working on that flash BIOS update. I guess you might even find some used X4 chips for $150... though that really depends on what you're trying to do.
You’ll probably need to flash your BIOS first if you want to swap in those AM3 processors... what else are you running in there? I mean, what's the rest of your setup look like—CPU, PSU brand and model, specific GPU, and RAM? If you aren't sure, maybe just download Speccy and check your specs there.
The graphics performance is decent for this resolution, though I guess it’s a bit weaker than what you'd get with the integrated chips in Dallas/Fort Worth.
Still, maybe we can track down something better. What kind of budget are we looking at? 😛¸
EDIT: I did some digging, and there isn't much out there that's significantly better—just a few configurations floating around, but this might be the best bet...
Honestly, these comparisons don't really mean much. I guess an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT is more in line with an HD 6670 GDDR5, whereas the HD 7750 is already way faster.
If you aren't swapping out the CPU, an HD 7750 might actually cut it, though I guess you should probably bump up the processor a bit... it should definitely hit 3.3GHz without needing to mess with the voltage.
It looks like you've already cycled through quite a few options... maybe you just ended up with a dud chip. You could try bumping up the FSB instead of the multiplier, then dialing back the 😁RAM ratio.
By the way, that motherboard isn't exactly top-tier—it’s an older chipset (basically a repurposed AM2+ board) with 4+1 phase regulation and no heatsink to help cool the components.
I'm not entirely sure what else I'd suggest since I haven't done much overclocking on junk boards like this one. 🙂
Those Wolfdale core 775 CPUs won't fit on your motherboard...
I guess it might be smarter to just grab an Intel Celeron($100-which honestly eats those 775 dual-cores for breakfast) + a decent 1155 socket board($100) + 4GB of RAM + some used GPU (like an HD 5770/6770) while you still have the cash. You could probably pull all that off for about $400.
You can upgrade, but you’ll likely need to update the BIOS on that board if you're going with Haswell processors... personally, I'd probably go this route instead:
1 x MSI HD 7870 2GB GDDR5 256bit, R7870-2GD5T/OC, 28nm,dual fan 1 x Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz (Max Turbo FQ 3.3 GHz) ,6MB
$993 (AMD)
A stronger GPU is probably a better call; losing a few hundred MHz on the CPU isn't really going to be noticeable, and it's way cheaper.
Drew Sanchez82 said:The Optical Drive doesn't really matter for this list, but you didn't mention what kind of power supply you're running. As far as the motherboard goes, you could definitely toss an i5 in there along with a 660. Your RAM is pretty weak too, so you might want to look into upgrading that; it's usually the cheapest part of any build.
I don't think the RAM needs an upgrade; it's just the slower DDR3 version, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and 4GB should be totally fine.😉
Zachary Cruz6 said:I already have the graphics card, I just want to pick up the processor.
That GPU probably won't do much for you in gaming... honestly, you might be better off grabbing an Athlon II X4 740 setup with an HD 7790 instead of going with that i5 platform... it’ll likely perform better in games.
Intel Core i5 system with NVIDIA GPU ASUS Motherboard EVGA GeForce GTX, 1GB, 2DVI, HDMI
Total: $300.00
An i5 with a compatible motherboard would cost about the same...
briskhound13 said:I've got an OptiPlex GX280 P4 3.0 with 1.5GB of RAM, and I'm just looking to play SC2. Would upgrading to something like an HD 5450 actually be worth it? And if I do go through with it, am I going to need a new power supply? http://az413224.vo.msecnd.net/img/42821/m_42821_1.jpg
Nah, honestly, the whole setup is just too weak. You'd probably need to start from scratch with something new for at least $833...
Shame about Hamilton, I really wanted to see a Mercedes 1-2 finish. But he just seemed to lose so much pace before hitting the pits; I guess maybe he was just a little lost on track somewhere...