Posts by Bryan Taylor6

Honestly, if you want to game, your best bet is pairing an FM2 860K with some overclocking and a GTX 950...

heh 🙂 $767

Just a basic, cheap i5 +

actually beats an i5 5675

pairing a Celeron with a card like that 🙂 ????

Here's a quad Core and an R7 GPU for just a bit more $267

Or the top-tier one for $433

but you'll get way more out of it with the better GPU
Graphics Card
PCI-E GAINWARD GeForce GTX 950, 2GB DDR5, DVI, HDMI, DP
$475

And a processor in the 600 range $233... should I go with the AMD x4 860 k box or the Intel Pentium G3258 box?

Alexander Moore67 said:That’s why he should just grab the R9 380 and a G3250 processor for now. Once things get more expensive later, he can upgrade to a better GPU and CPU. Games like Diablo 3 will run fine, but once he wants to play GTA V or Skyrim, your Athlon is going to be a massive bottleneck...

What kind of bottleneck are you even talking about?

Here is Skyrim running at roughly 30 FPS in HD, everything set to high... and CPU usage is only around 50%... the card is a GTX 960



And here is GTA V





So what exactly is the problem?

The version with the G3258, where you can actually push it past 4GHz

Processor: Intel Pentium G3258 box, LGA 1150, 3.2GHz, 3MB cache, integrated GPU, dual Core
$202
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-H81M-S2V, Intel H81, DDR3, audio, SATA, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, D-SUB, DVI, mATX, LGA 1150
$120
Case: ANTEC VSK-4000B, MIDI tower, black, no PSU included
$79
Power Supply
500W, ANTEC VP500PC ES, ATX v2.3, 120mm fan
$111
Cooler
LC POWER LC-CC-95, compatible with socket 775/1155/1156/1150/AM2/AM3
$31
Memory
PC-12800, 8 GB, KINGSTON, KVR16N11/8, DDR3 1600MHz
$123
Hard Drive
500.0 GB SEAGATE ST500DM002, SATA3, 16MB cache, 7200 RPM, 3.5", desktop drive
$126
Graphics Card: PCI-E GAINWARD GeForce GTX 950, 2GB DDR5, DVI, HDMI, DP
$475

$1269 ,adding it back again $67 based on web prices, roughly $1333

The version with the 860k

CPU
AMD x4 860 k box, Black edition, socket FM2+, 3.7GHz, 4MB cache, quad Core
$218
Motherboard
ASUS A58M-K, AMD A58 FCH, DDR3, audio, S-ATA, G-LAN, PCI-E 3.0, D-Sub, DVI, mATX, socket FM2+
$117
Case
ANTEC VSK-4000B, MIDI, black, no PSU included
$79
Power Supply
500W, ANTEC VP500PC ES, ATX v2.3, 120mm fan
$111
Cooler
LC POWER LC-CC-95, socket 775/1155/1156/1150/AM2/AM3
$31
If that LC95 doesn't fit on the fn2, just grab this cooler instead
http://www.amazon.com/arctic-cooler-fm2-050903269
Memory
PC-12800, 8 GB, KINGSTON, KVR16N11/8, DDR3 1600MHz
$123
Hard Drive
500.0 GB SEAGATE ST500DM002, SATA3, 16MB cache, 7200 rpm, 3.5", desktop
$126
Graphics Card
PCI-E GAINWARD GeForce GTX 950, 2GB DDR5, DVI, HDMI, DP
$475

$1282 So maybe add a little more $67 if it isn't the online price, roughly $1333

Alexander Moore67 said:You must have been looking into a crystal ball if you think an Athlon will be running everything on an R9 680 four years from now, whether it's under a new AMD name or Nvidia...

In four years, there won't be anything left to upgrade because that H81 board will be dead, just like the FM2 platform. Let's be real, the GPU will be too...

On an H81 motherboard, you could swap in an i5, but for that you need $500 ....With that kind of money, you could get both a processor and a motherboard from AMD... say, right now a CPU and board are $650 and $120 which means $333 that you could have $167 gone for an FX 8300 and a motherboard instead... For what Intel charges just for the processor, AMD gives you the CPU and the board... that's all there is to the upgrade talk... Or maybe in six months they'll swap the i3 for an i5... but from an economic standpoint, that's just throwing money away...

Alexander Moore67 said:Wait, he's actually looking for upgrade potential????

If he grabs my setup, there won't be anything left to upgrade... everything would run perfectly just like it should. You get a beefy GPU, a quad-core CPU that can handle some overclocking, plenty of RAM, and a power supply that’s a bit questionable—if I remember right, it puts out about 600W on the 12V rail, but whatever, he can always swap it out for $150. The price for this $1417 is a little steep, but for that amount, it honestly seems like the best deal out there.......the graphics card absolutely crushes it, an XFX AMD Radeon R9 380 with 2GB DDR5; with that, any game should just fly

Someone else will probably put this together better... here’s a suggestion for $1345 without the case or the drive—you'll have to figure out the rest 🙂, everything is brand new $67 so you're good to go... all the web prices are in the links

http://www.bestbuy.com/graphics-card...dmi-0518061031

http://www.bestbuy.com/memory-pc-1...3mhz-051210405

http://www.bestbuy.com/processor-amd-...core-050603292

http://www.bestbuy.com/power-supply-700...-pfc-052712091

http://www.bestbuy.com/motherboard...-fm2-050303737

http://www.bestbuy.com/hard-drive-50...desktop-051510183

http://www.bestbuy.com/cooler-lc-pow...-am3-050903231

Or try this one if the first isn't right for the FM2 socket

http://www.bestbuy.com/cooler-arctic...-fm2-050903269

Based on this, the processor doesn't look too bad

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-FX-8300-...Athlon-X4-860K

What smartic suggested for $83 is solid

Out of everything you've listed, those processors are definitely your weakest link. Upgrading them will cost you about $17 on eBay... For that kind of money, you can snag top-tier chips from that era that actually fit those motherboards. As for testing performance, just hop online and see how they handle Flash animations or similar stuff... Watch for any stuttering while things are loading or moving... If you're using Chrome, try adding an ad blocker... It might run smoother if it isn't fighting through ads, though there's a chance the extra plugin might bog it down too much

A few years back, I had a rig with an Intel Pentium III that was throttled down to 1100MHz because that's how the board read it—I didn't feel like messing around with the BIOS settings at the time—plus 512MB of RAM... Had an N/A card, and it was enough to get me online (back when Flash was a bit simpler)... Naturally, I was running it on a CRT monitor at a resolution slightly higher than 800x600....

It's totally possible that an AMD chip would outperform a Celeron, so definitely test both options

That's ancient history. Adding more RAM might help slightly, but honestly, you won't even notice the difference... A GF6200 is a massive step up from a 440... If you want a real bump, try dropping in a Pentium 4, though even that doesn't guarantee anything crazy... I actually spent a day messing around with a P4 2.6 on a decent board just because I could. Didn't really make any sense, though...

http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-MSI/64...(MS-6547).html

It’d probably be smarter to run a benchmark like Super PI on both machines to see which one actually wins, assuming there's even a noticeable gap... or use something similar... Those 1.7 GHz Celerons are pretty common enough

If you decide to swap out the motherboard entirely, go with AMD. Back then, their higher-end Athlons were a bit faster and definitely cheaper

http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Soltek/SL-75DRV4.html

You can fix that broken USB port by just grabbing a PCI card with four ports... It's the cheapest way to get it working again... Assuming you're running Windows XP, obviously

Why not just grab a media player instead?

http://www.bestbuy.com/?option=catList&...v=media-centers

The high-end models look pretty solid to me, especially since they handle 4K... plus they only pull about 4W of power, which actually makes them cheaper to run than an HTPC...

Timothy Kim60 said:The 860K uses the FM2+ socket. Even if it fits on the motherboard, it wouldn't be worth it... the boost just isn't there.

Fair enough. I somehow had it stuck in my head that the 860K could only handle something like an A9 280 and that was basically its limit...

If they just grab another 4GB of RAM, they might actually see some improvement. It should help... having dual channel running helps when games are hungry for memory...

Beyond that, it's the Intel Core i7-3770 and everything else that goes with it.

I think jumping up to the Athlon-X4-860K would be the right move here, especially if you pick up another 4GB of RAM. The 860K isn't that pricey, it's a bit stronger, and you can overclock it too...

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-Athlon-X...-Athlon-X4-740

Of course, only if your motherboard supports it.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A75M-HD+/?cat=CPU

So we're looking at about $267, which ends up being a little more once you add the RAM.

Moving to an Intel Core i5-3570 instead of the 860K doesn't feel like a temporary fix. Long term, it keeps the door open for those Intel Core i7-3770 chips.

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-FX-6300-...Athlon-X4-860K

This setup is actually really solid. crimsonstag84 put this together, but you’ll need to grab an extra 4GB of RAM as well.

"Intel Core i7 with ASUS Motherboard
GIGABYTE Main Board Desktop AMD 970A (970A-DS3P)
LC Power CPU Cooler LC-CC-95 - 90mm

Total: $1,657.87

If that's not too much for you$50... then your next upgrade is just adding another 4GB of RAM."

If Octane isn't actually using the CPU for rendering, just the GPU, then you could probably get away with a much cheaper processor... especially if you're planning on running a dual-computer setup

With that kind of budget, I’d honestly look into getting a few different machines and splitting up the workload...

You really need to figure out how much GPU power those specific rendering programs actually demand... For the lighter tasks, I'd definitely just go with one or two builds without dedicated graphics cards... maybe just for Photoshop... You could easily run a setup like that with a decent 400W power supply, which wouldn't even cost a quarter of what those 1500W units do.

No, they aren't ordering from Newegg, they're using this link instead

http://www.ebay.de/itm/PC-DELL-OPTIP...item1ea35dde0f

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA0AJ25E5017

That's a solid choice. You could even run some old-school Call of Duty on it...

Who cares about which socket is which? The laptop is still under warranty, so they should just deal with it...

Athlon ii X3 440 3000 512KBx3 N/A Rena 45nm C3 95W 4000............ F5J- BIOS version

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...?pID=2644#bios

Also, make sure you grab the latest drivers too...

When you boot up the PC, it should display the BIOS info... or just jump straight into the BIOS and check the version...

If you look at the CPU support list, the end of the table usually specifies which BIOS version you need... like E4 or J1.5...

If the BIOS version doesn't match, you'll either need to flash a new one onto the motherboard or find a processor that works with your current BIOS...

You might also try a tool like CPU-Z from the web; it can read your BIOS info, and there are plenty of similar programs out there...

As for the RAM, it really comes down to your budget... if you grab an extra 2GB to pair with what you already have, that’s plenty for older games... but if you've got the cash, just go for 4GB...