rowdydrifter15 said:It's a Phenom II 955 (maybe a 945), but I'm not sitting at that PC right now.
Man, every single time I start building a rig, I end up even more indecisive than when I started. 🙄
Right now, I'm looking at two paths: Intel or AMD. Intel: Which i5? + what motherboard? + 8GB RAM (if I go this route, I probably wouldn't grab a GPU).
AMD: FX 6300 + motherboard? + GTX 750 + 8GB RAM
Now I'm stuck wondering about motherboards and which i5 to pick. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
You're just throwing money away. That Phenom is actually solid and you can likely overclock it a bit. Just grab an SSD too—if I'm reading you right, you already have a GPU...
You nailed everything except for which Phenom you're actually running.....
If you switch over to an Intel Core i5-4440, you won't even need a dedicated graphics card... the integrated GPU should be more than enough for what you need... plus, I think the processor itself is strong enough that those extra cores won't be a dealbreaker... besides, different programs just use cores differently anyway...
Which Phenom are you running?......Honestly, it’s probably perfectly fine for browsing the web and doing some light video editing here and there... You might get more bang for your buck by picking up an SSD or maybe a new GPU instead.....
driftingpilot8 said:You just repeated the exact scenario I laid out in my last post. It really just confirms what I've been saying about this forum being a magnet for accidental trolls.🤣 But honestly, it's starting to get funny...😁
Since you're clearly such a genius (and the rest of us are just idiots whose real-world experience doesn't count for much), why don't you go toss an $83 at that graphics card you think you need? You don't even need it since your motherboard already has integrated graphics, but hey... just let us know if the picture looks better and if you're feeling happier about your "brilliant" purchase.
Your card lets you allocate system memory, mine doesn't. Yours has a processor that's nearly twice as fast. Your card supports DirectX 9, while the 4250 handles DX 10. Plus, yours is newer. http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-42...adeon-3000-IGP What am I even supposed to say? Is it better if I just share my experience instead of looking for advice? Is anyone else going to jump in here claiming they have a card three times better than mine without any issues? Why are you guys picking on me? 😛
Let me give you some perspective... a buddy of mine uses an HD 3000 integrated on his motherboard; he has a digital output and the picture looks perfect in HD on his monitor. He browses the web in HD with zero issues. I've worked quite a bit with N68 motherboards that have NVIDIA 7025 integrated graphics—which are worse than the HD 3000—and everything works fine. The only downside to that board is it lacks DVI and only has D-Sub, but the HD image quality is as good as D-Sub can get... I browse the web in HD, and everything is totally fine...
Bottom line... either your drivers are acting up, your card is overheating because of poor airflow in your case... or maybe your CPU is failing... because this should be working fine.
All this talk about DX9 vs DX11 for web browsing is completely irrelevant.
I honestly don't get how your CPU cooler could have just fallen off.... thermal paste doesn't hold it in place, you need the mounting clips.... or the brackets....
crimsonstag84 said:I mean, technically it’s possible... btw. The H61-DG3 board lacks a PCI slot. The catch is that the integrated graphics on a Haswell chip are way better than on an Ivy Bridge one, which would at least let him run some games.
An HD 5770 is sometimes about $133, while an R7 250X(HD 7770) is $233 or maybe just a couple of bucks less 😉
You've got a point regarding http://www.bestbuy.com/example-link. But they slapped a picture of a Gigabyte board with a PCI slot on there, and I was just looking at the photos... 🙂
Those boards have the old PCI slot, so you could plug that old hard drive card into them. There are other boards like that too, they're just a bit pricier... and you could use the G1820 for $95
The cool thing is these boards have those older PCI slots. You could pair them up with this card so you can keep using your old hard drive. The card is $32
Grab this processor
$93
Some memory
$100
Then dump the rest of your cash into a GPU. Even a used one would work, maybe a new power supply too...
For example, an HD 5770 is a solid used graphics card for about $167 (don't quote me on that, I'm not exactly an expert)
I see this board has three legacy PCI slots. That means for $33 you could just grab an extra PCI card with four USB 2.0 ports and maybe a cheap sound card... that would solve both your USB port shortage and that annoying background noise...
One other thing I'd try... (assuming you're running Windows 7) is rolling everything back to Windows XP... since the OS itself uses way fewer resources than the hardware, which helps gaming, especially when the game prefers a single core anyway...
Windows 7 can have issues with USB ports on certain motherboards... whether it's the chipset or some driver routine, who knows... it's pretty rare, but it happens...
Don't test the USB through the OS by plugging in a mouse and seeing if it moves; instead, plug in a flash drive and try moving files to and from the hard drive...
With the Intel Core i5, just do whatever you think is best...
Scott Howard13 said:Sure, but if you're looking at the long game, I honestly think an Intel Core i5 4440 or a 4670 is a way better move overall...
I agree, but you'll end up dropping over $450 instead of $100... money you probably don't have sitting around right now...
The whole point is just to play World of Tanks without any stuttering....
But tomorrow you could grab that processor... and slowly start saving up for an i5 and everything else...
And I don't think those $100 will really hold you back from your future plans... plus, you can always sell the new CPU, the motherboard, and hopefully the RAM later on... and get some cash back...
Anyone have experience with these brands? I'm wondering if they belong in the same league as ASRock or if they fall a step below... I'm looking specifically at the budget options.
My main goal is just stability—I need them to work without any headaches. Performance isn't really my priority right now... Am I asking for too much?
In that entry-level bracket, is it smarter to go with an H61 chipset, maybe a B75, or is the Z77 Deluxe actually reliable? ...Does the Z77 offer anything significant enough to justify it?
I'm not saying this motherboard is bad, because honestly, everything it does, it does well. It’s just bottom-of-the-barrel stuff... you're really limited by that 95W ceiling for the CPU. You should either hunt down an Intel Core i7 that can actually match its power profile, or just switch over to those triple-core chips that don't pull as much wattage...
Phenom 965 paired with an HD 5770... so far, it’s been handling Microsoft Flight Simulator X just fine, but if I'm planning on overclocking, I definitely need something more robust... Should I go with Chieftec? Specifically this one from $108 or maybe $120?.. Would that be a better move than Antec for $100?
I'm looking at power supplies from Best Buy in the $300-$117 range... maybe up to $400 if I really need to... It's for CPU overclocking, so I need high amperage on the 12V rail. Ideally something around 500W