Hard drives pull maybe 5W, and it's the same story with SSDs, optical drives, fans, and so on. You might want to look into swapping out that AMD FX 6300 for an AMD FX 8320, or perhaps replacing the GTX 760 with something like an R9 270X that's roughly 200-$100 cheaper—assuming you don't specifically need those extra features. Just keep in mind that the FX chip will likely require an additional fan, which adds another 100-$67 to the cost. At that point, you might just be better off looking at an Intel Core i5 3335P or an i5 4440. As for power supplies, there isn't much of a price gap between 550W and 650W, maybe around 70-$33. The jump from 650W to 750W is where things start to climb, but overall, you won't be breaking the bank too much.
I think it’ll perform decently enough, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Especially when you consider an eighth-gen setup. It’s not like you have your i5, so don't expect to be hitting 300 fps at 1024x768. With a processor like this, the performance gains are pretty marginal once you start dropping the resolution and settings. That said, it’s still a solid, reliable CPU recommendation. I was actually just looking at a comparison between an AMD FX-8320 and an Intel Core i5-3570, where both maintained a decent average fps, but the FX had much more frequent, massive frame drops. Now, we can only imagine how that compares to some ancient 775 socket chip. It’ll probably pin your GPU at 100% load one second and then tank it down below 50% the next. Well, you get what you pay for, I suppose.
Just pick whichever one catches your eye and actually fits in your case. Honestly, benchmarks for coolers aren't much of a gold standard anyway—everyone ends up getting different results depending on their setup...
Without peripherals AMD Trinity A8-Series x4 5600 ASRock FM2A75M-HD Transcend DDR3 8 Seagate HDD desktop SSHD 3.5 http://www.amazon.com Chicony Active 350 w ATX Zalman mid tower case black, ZAL-ZM-Z1 LG DVDRW 24 x GH24NS95 $926
With peripherals
Genius speakers SP-HF500A, 14W, wood Genius DX-7000 LED, BueEye, USB MS FUSION illuminated wired keyboard LG 21.5" LED, VGA, FHD, 5ms $1330
I suggested the 2TB SSHD because I know how quickly storage fills up once you start downloading series, movies, and music. As for the peripherals and the case, I picked them as if I were buying for myself; I didn't just go for the cheapest options, but rather chose based on my own taste. However, you'll likely find the best fit for your needs by choosing them yourself if you prefer.
If you already have a monitor, there’s no need for another one—unless you're planning to use an LCD TV instead.
So, how much are you planning to shell out for that second NVIDIA GeForce GT 730? I haven't seen them listed for less than $167. Look, I'm being straight with you—just sell yours for 400 . As for the power supply, you don't necessarily have to swap it out. If it handled the NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 just fine, it should be able to manage the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti too. XFX AMD Radeon R7 260X 1GB DDR5 $293 CORSAIR Power Supply, Builder Series CX 80+ Bronze, 430 Watt $113 $405 Once you sell your current card for 400, the net cost will actually be lower. Plus, in about eighteen months, you'll find it much easier to offload an R7 260X than trying to move two separate NVIDIA GeForce GT 730s... but hey, it's your call. You seem pretty set on CrossFire, which, aside from being used hardware, ends up costing more than a modern single card that pulls half the power. For every 100 hours of gaming, you're looking at a higher electricity bill$3.25 based on standard US utility rates; averaged out over a year, you're looking at roughly $49 extra, especially since your idle power draw will jump too. You won't see any real savings after two years. Honestly, your best bet is just praying one of those NVIDIA GeForce GT 730s doesn't give up the ghost; running them in CrossFire means higher temps due to poor dissipation and having a second heat source right there. Even then, the R7 260X runs about 20-30% cooler than an NVIDIA GeForce GT 730, and in a CrossFire setup, you can expect temperatures to be about 10% higher.
Daniel Scott5 said:Hey everyone. I was hoping to get some advice regarding power supplies if anyone has a moment. I'm new to the forum, so please excuse me if this has been asked before. Right now, I'm running an older, lower-tier 500W unit. It’s holding up fine with my i5 processor, a 1TB drive, and two hard drives, along with a Radeon HD 5770 Vapor-X. I'm considering picking up a second identical card to run in Crossfire since modern games are getting a bit too demanding for my current setup. I need a PSU that won't fail under the load... $200 and something reasonably priced... 😁 Help!
All the power supplies being suggested here are going to run you about $150 or more. If you factor in the cost of finding a second HD5770—and honestly, you probably won't find one for free—it doesn't seem worth it to me. My suggestion? Sell that HD5770. I see they're going for around $167, so you could easily grab $133 for it. That leaves you with $283 to work with. With that amount, you could pick up an R7 260X or a GTX 750. In terms of raw performance, a dual HD5770 Crossfire setup is roughly on par with a GeForce GTX 470, which sits right in the same ballpark as those two newer cards.
Plus, you'd end up with a single, modern card that pulls significantly less power.
In general, I wouldn't recommend cutting the knife blades—that’s just not how you approach this. Instead, grab some desoldering braid and some flux, and you'll need a decent soldering iron handy. I am just a bit concerned about where you're going to track down those specific capacitors; I haven't seen them in any of the local shops around here.
And you didn't mention what kind of budget we're working with here? If you've already got something like a Phenom X4 965, there's really no need to swap it out just yet. You could potentially pair that with an MSI Radeon R9 270 x gaming, a standard R9 270, or even an R7 260x—provided you have a decent power supply to back it up... or maybe just hunt down a good deal on the used market.
GTX 760 Honestly, if I hadn't just treated myself to a new card, I would've snatched that one up in a heartbeat. Life happens, I guess...
If you set the price $100 at a reasonable level, it’ll sell. Those "economists" on Craigslist asking for absurd amounts for their old GPUs aren't actually going to move any hardware. No matter which graphics card you pick, if you pair it with something like an i5 3570k, none of them will be utilized to their full potential compared to that i5. As crimsonstag84 mentioned, you might get away with a GTX 660 or an HD 7850 at most—though you could probably find something even better than those—but realistically, if an HD 7850 hits a bottleneck, an HD 7870 is going to hit it too...
Even if he manages to snag a decent overclock, it won't be anything groundbreaking. He’d only see any real benefit from that GPU if he cranked everything to the absolute max—and even then, only by disabling AA or dropping the resolution. He’ll just see marginal improvements. A newer i3 would actually offer more bang for his buck here, or maybe an AMD FX-4 or FX-6 series, but nothing transformative. Honestly, the whole setup needs an overhaul, but if I were in his shoes, I’d prioritize a new graphics card first—something I wouldn't feel the need to swap out anytime soon. Once he saves up a little more from some sales, then he can look into a new platform, maybe an i5 or an AMD FX-8.
This is exactly why I always suggest looking for cards with at least a three-year warranty. My rule of thumb? Sell yours about a year before the coverage expires—say, somewhere between the 18-month and 6-month mark—toss in a little extra cash, and upgrade to a newer, more powerful model. It’s a nice little safety net; if your graphics card happens to die while it's still under warranty, especially once that specific series is out of production, you can often just pay the difference for a superior replacement. Granted, that's an extreme edge case, but it's worth keeping in mind. The real headache comes when you try to "stress test" a card to death by running intense benchmarks or even applying extra heat sources to it. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the thing refuses to die. Then, in a stroke of pure irony, it decides to give up the ghost right in the middle of a game of Solitaire.
You could find some old HD 4850s for that kind of money, but honestly, they just pull more power without offering any meaningful performance boost. If you want something sensible, maybe look for a GeForce GT 730 that actually comes with a warranty.
Just because something is on sale doesn't mean it's actually worth anything. Honestly, you can find a better deal on something brand new for $1000 these days.
Chloe Morris12 said: . My only issue is that the cooler is incredibly loud and the PC is running hot, so I need to pick up a new one. Any recommendations? I know I have an AMD Phenom, but I can't recall the exact model off the top of my head.
First, you should probably check which specific Phenom you're running and what the rest of your system looks like. Run AIDA64 or something similar and let us know what you find.
