Posts by crimsonstag84

Grab it while you can... it probably won't last long.

EDIT:

I wouldn't really suggest grabbing anything else until you've got the PSU and GPU sorted, just so you know it actually works... the BIOS is really just for the processor. A better graphics card might help, but I guess you'll still be held back by that processor and having only 1GB of RAM.

You can, just please don't pick the HD 6450 😛

These comparison sites are honestly some of the worst out there—I'm talking about stuff like IGN, CPUBoss, and HardwareZone.

The Intel Core i3 is basically just a dual-core chip with Hyper-Threading, so I guess it's decent enough for basic tasks or single-player games, but it doesn't really make sense to pick it up when you could grab an AMD FX 8300 and a solid AM3+ motherboard for maybe 300-$133 more.

It’s been mentioned a few times already... you just need to flash (or rather, upgrade) the BIOS, and then it should support most AM3 processors.

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=2644

To get support for the X3 440, you'll need the F5J BIOS, which I think Bryan Taylor6 already linked for you:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...aspx?pID=2644# Go to Support -> Download, select Type BIOS -> and pick whichever Windows version you're running.

Here are some instructions:

It might be best to put the F5J BIOS setup on a USB stick and boot from there.

There you go—that should be a solid build for those lighter games, plus a decent power supply.
You definitely need to swap out that PSU, though. Someone’s selling this thing with only 5A on the 12V rail.🤣 🤣

Basically, it might manage 150W, but honestly, I doubt it’ll even hit that.

EDIT Does the card have to be low profile?

I wouldn't touch those early Phenoms if I were you; they get incredibly sluggish once you move past two cores.

This looks like a better bet:

And this one is also a solid choice:

EDIT: Honestly, forget about gaming on an HD 6450... maybe at 720p on low settings, but that's about it.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 XFX 3GB DDR5, XFX-Nvidia GeForce GTX 960
Crucial 8GB Module, 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800, CL=11, Buffered, NON-ECC
Intel Core i7 Desktop PC
GIGABYTE Main Board Desktop AMD 970A(970A-DS3P)
LC Power CPU Cooler LC-CC-95 - 90mm
EVGA 550W PSU - 80 Plus Bronze power supply

Total: $1369 Hub

Ideally, it would look like this... though if that's over budget, maybe sticking with an Intel Core i5-4460 is the way to go ($42 saves some cash)

You've got 6 SATA3 ports on the motherboard, and since all those SSDs are SATA3 too, I guess that means... yeah 😛

I mean, an SSD uses the exact same interface as an HDD. 😉

That specific revision of the board is known for having some bugs, nothing too crazy... I think they're mostly selling rev.4.1 around here now.

You could basically look at the AMD A8-3870 as an improved version of the Athlon II 6xx series (AM3), maybe something along the lines of a Core 2 Quad Q9450. If you overclock it to around 3.5GHz, it might still pull its weight for a bit. But if you can scrape together $250–$300 by next fall, I guess it would be worth just switching over to an AMD Zen or Skylake platform entirely.

It’s doable, but I guess you won't be hitting 1080p on medium settings if we're talking about any pretty demanding games 🙂

Not really, that sounds like a massive headache and way too expensive... I'd probably just grab a desktop for $4k-$5k instead. 😁

Three should be plenty—two in the front and one in the rear to help out the CPU cooler. Four fans is probably the sweet spot; five just seems overkill and might actually mess up your Corsair.

The Noctua setup comes with one rear fan, two on top, and one in the front, leaving you with an extra slot up front. I guess you could just move one of those top ones to the front and call it a day.

Um... what are you planning to do with five fans? 😬 And from what I can see, you picked up the 2000RPM 3-pin ones? 🤔

There’s an adapter inside if you end up needing one.

He already bumped it from 4GB to 8GB if you actually read the post 😬

Christian Ruiz84 said:I should have the power supply and the RAM/CPU in a few days

You don't need 12GB; just the GPU and a cooler should do it... though I guess you should keep in mind that even an overclocked AMD A8-3870 won't really be able to keep up with a GTX 960.

Kingston DDR3 1600MHz, C11, 8GB, KVR16N11/8
Intel Core I5 4460
Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 Gigabyte GV-N960IX0C-2GD, PCI-E 3.0, 2GB GDDR 5, 128 bit, Dual-link dvi-i*1
Super Flower FX 450W - 80 Plus Bronze power supply
Zalman mini tower case black, ZAL-A1
ZAL-A1 GIGABYTE Main board desktop iB85

Total price: $1527 Best Buy

A power supply might not be much to look at, but it gets the job done.

LC Power CPU Cooler LC-CC-95 - 90mm
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB DDR5, XFX-R9-270A-CDFC
SanDisk SSD 120GB, Samsung EVO SSD 2.5"

Total: $1,853.84

Since there's only an AMD A8-3870, I guess you could try a light overclock.

That doesn't look great to me. The GPU is way too weak, and honestly, those prices seem astronomical unless you're paying in installments.

Corsair DDR3 1600, C11, 8GB, KVR16N11/8
Patriot SSD Blast R560/W530, 240GB, 7mm, 2.5"
Cooler Master Case, Cooler Master Case
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, XFX-R9-280A-TDFD
Optical drive LG GH24NSC0 SATA Bulk Black 24x
Dell OptiPlex Desktop
Intel Core i7-3770K
LC Power CPU Cooler LC-CC-120 - 120mm Intel/AMD
EVGA 500W Gold

Total: $1804 Centro

Everything here is just better—for instance, the graphics card is more than twice as powerful.

Corsair fans for $1
Noctua NF-P12 for $3
Noctua NF-P12+ for $4