Honestly, grabbing that 2400MHz DDR3 RAM doesn't make much sense. That CPU and motherboard combo tops out at 1600MHz anyway, so you'd just be running it at 1600MHz—exactly the same speed as that cheaper option Smart put together. By the way, he could also go with an 1151 socket + DDR4 setup:
You’ll see them pop up on eBay too, usually at a decent price if you catch them fast—assuming it's not some shady scam, of course. You’ll run into them all over the place lately, on forums or sites like CNN. Honestly, you’re about to be flooded with them because so many people are upgrading to the latest gear and offloading their old stuff. Just hang tight; you'll stumble onto a good deal eventually.
Right now, you’ve got that NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 on Craigslist with a warranty for $433, though I bet you could talk someone down to $400 if you play your cards right. Then there's that older GTX 950 you've had for two and a half years, with a warranty running until 1.3.2018, listed for $383 (that should move easily for $333). But honestly, don't even bother looking at any of that until you swap out your power supply. Unless, of course, you're looking to get yourself crowned the next 🙂 .
What's the point of running a 700W power supply for a build like that? Honestly, a solid 500W unit is plenty. You could grab something like a Fortron Hyper 500, which comes with a 60-month warranty, and call it a day. If you’re really looking to overbuild because you've got plans for a major upgrade down the road, then sure, go for the Fortron Raider 650w. But otherwise, it feels like overkill.
I’m currently out of commission and my business is closed for the season 😁 what I meant earlier was that once you actually have the cash on hand, drop a line here on the forum. We can all jump in together and figure out how to squeeze every bit of value out of that budget 🙂
You could always stick with Intel and grab a graphics card that actually outperforms the GTX 950:
1x Intel Core i7-4770K 1x LC-CC-95 Cooler 1x ASUS M5A97 1x ASUS Radeon R9 380 WF2 OC, 2GB GDDR5 1x Kingston DDR3 1600MHz, C11, 8GB 1x EVGA 500 w XT Series 1x Mid-Tower Gaming ATX Case
Total: $1322
But honestly, since you aren't pulling the trigger on this until later, you're better off just checking back in once you actually have the cash in hand. We can see what the market looks like at that moment and what the going rates are then.😁 hello
Honestly, I wouldn't sink more money into that old rig if I were you. It’s better to save up a bit more and just build a fresh system from the ground up. For instance, if you can scrape together another $0.57, you could grab something like this:
1x Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P (SAM3, DDR3, SATA III, LAN, USB 2.0/3.0) ATX Box 1x AMD X6 FX-6300 (14M Cache, up to 4.10 GHz), sAM3+ 1x Corsair 8GB DDR3 1600 L Value 1x LC Power CPU Cooler LC-CC-95
You can drop these parts in now while keeping the rest of your current setup, then slowly upgrade everything else down the road as you need to.
Honestly, you're better off grabbing the Radeon RX. For a tiny difference in price, you end up with an extra two years of warranty—getting five years instead of just three. It's a no-brainer if you ask me.
Go with either the Seagate BarraCuda or the Seagate Barracuda 1 TB—just make sure you grab the 7200rpm version, because those slower 5200rpm drives can be a real drag. Pair that with a 256GB SanDisk SSD rather than a Radeon RX.
I wouldn't touch that Crucial MX500 if I were you; it's honestly one of the weaker 🙂 The SanDisk is a much better bet, plus it comes with a solid 5-year warranty
darkowl72 said:One thing to consider is that grabbing RAM faster than 1600 MHz might not actually be worth it for you. If you try to push it to 1866 or 2133 and actually manage to hit those speeds, you'll likely find yourself limited to just two slots. Check your motherboard specs first.
Yeah, I totally missed that part. Bottom line: check what you’re currently running, and if you can, try to grab another 2x4GB kit from the same manufacturer.
Nathan Cox16 said:I'm running an ASRock iPhone 15 Pro motherboard with 2 * 2GB DDR3 sticks, and honestly, I'm hitting a wall. It's just not enough anymore.
So, what's the smartest move here? Should I grab two 4GB sticks and swap out my current ones, or just go for a single 8GB stick on its own?
I'm also wondering if I can mix an 8GB stick with one of my existing 2GB ones. I've heard rumors that mixing different capacities doesn't work well, and I'm a bit confused. My board actually has four slots, so theoretically, could I just toss an 8GB stick in alongside my current 2 * 2GB setup?
Buying 2 * 4GB feels like a bad move because who knows when I'll need to upgrade those 8GB later. It might be better to grab 8GB now and maybe add another 8GB in a year or two.
The big question is: can I actually combine an 8GB stick with what I already have, or can a single 8GB stick even run properly without being in a dual-channel setup? And which brand should I look for—Kingston, or someone else?
DDR3 or DDR4?
First off, you can check the full list of supported Microsoft memory here: CLICK
That motherboard tops out at 16GB total, and looking at the specs, it doesn't seem to support 8GB individual sticks. If you want to hit that 16GB ceiling, your only real play is going with 4x4GB. You could always add another 2x4GB on top of your current 2x2GB to get to 12GB, which should be plenty for most things. Just double-check the brand of your current sticks first; occasionally, mixing brands can cause some headaches. You definitely can't use DDR4. Your board is strictly DDR3, supporting speeds like 2600+(OC), 2133(OC), 1866(OC), 1600, 1333, or 1066MHz.
Larry Ortiz5 said:That’s exactly it—just grab a decent GPU and an SSD. Get a fresh install of Windows on there, and then down the road when a game you actually want comes out, if you’ve got the cash for a better graphics card, you just pop it into the PCIe slot and call it a day.
Are you thinking PSU and an SSD? 😁
Adam Moore3 honestly, if you aren't obsessed with read/write speeds, just pick an SSD that at least comes with a solid 60-month warranty.
If you ask me, just grab the power supply now and stash the rest of your cash away. Start saving up specifically for a GPU while we wait for the game to actually drop. Honestly, any card you pick right now is going to be a gamble, and it’d be a total mistake 😁 to trust some off-brand, bottom-tier power supply 👍.