Upgrade Spec Check please

[johnny]

Hi all,

I'm looking at upgrading my 5 year old system to something with a bit more bite to handle the copy of Windows 7 Ultimate I managed to pick up at a Microsoft launch event.

Here's what I currently have:
CPU: AMD Athlon 3500+
Motherboard: MSI Neo2 Platinum (Socket 939)
GPU: ATI Radeon 9800 PRO AGP
RAM: 1 GB Corsair Value DDR
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 532
PSU: 350w or 500w, can't exactly remember it's been so long since I built it

As well as being able to handle Windows 7 comfortably, I'd like to be able to play the most recent games at a decent resolution, especially the Call of Duty series and Dawn of War II. Apart from that I wouldn't be putting too much stress on the system, maybe some java development with an app and db server and video transcoding. Overclocking wouldn't be too much of a consideration either (unless it was really straight forward and offered some real performance gains).

So here the fun begins. Earlier on in the year I was looking at AMD Phenom II route but then hung on to see what Intel were offering for Core i5.

From the looks of it, it seems that AMD are still offering really good bang for buck. Is that the case? Should I be looking at AMD Phenom II (as below) or maybe looking at Intel? I don't think what I'll be needing the pc for would warrant the i5 path and the 775 is at the end of the line. I think the next gen 6 core AMDs will be sitting on AM3 too

Here's what I have in mind:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...he-125W-Retail

MSI 790GX-G65, AMD 790GX
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-AM3-MOBO-790GX-G65

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 Dominator DDR3
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-%...ered-CAS-9-DHX

1GB XFX HD 4890
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...DTV-HDCP-Ready

A few questions:
Is the 4890 a good GPU choice? With the Radeon 5xxx series with DirectX 11 coming out now, would it be better to get one of those for use with Win 7? I would also be looking to upgrade my current 19" Samsung SyncMaster TFT with a 24" HD (1920 x 1200 at least) so again, would GPU be ok? I've been reading up that the Nvidia GTX275 is a pretty decent GPU but again I'd be hoping that it'd be decent for 24" HD displays and handling recent games. If GTX275 is the way to go, would that throw a spanner in the "Dragon" setup or is that even relevant?

Apologies for all the questions, it's been a while since I had a good hard look at what's out there. If I could find something that could handle the above, is pretty good value for money and would be decent enough for the next 2 or 3 years then happy days!

[da_ging]

not sure what the phenom is like tbh so I'll leave that for others to comment on, saying that, at that price i suspect that the i5 would be better

You will also want a power supply as your old one will not be good enough, any decent branded 600w or above should be fine ie the corsair tx650w

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would look at getting the DFI Lanparty DK 790FXB-M3H5 which is a 790FX based motherboard which enable you to have Crossfire at PCI-E 2.0 16x instead of the 8x available for 790X and P55 based motherboards.

It is on the Scan Today Only web page for around £89:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

If you do not need Crossfire then get a 770 or 785G based motherboard as this will do the job.

I would look at the GA-MA770T-UD3P which is on offer for around £68 currently:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

It has got excellent reviews:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/985/1/

http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigaby...rboard-review/

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...=347&Itemid=69

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha.../ga_770t-ud3p/

The motherboard also has all solid capacitors and 8+1 phase power for the CPU:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...ProductID=3096


The processor and some other bits are on the Today Only web page too!!

If you can fit in an HD5850 it would be a good idea especially if you can get one for around £200.

A decent 500w PSU should be able to power a single card setup fine or a decent 600w to 700w should be OK for a dual card setup.

It maybe worth looking at Ebuyer and Novatech for RAM as they tend to be cheaper than Scan for RAM ATM. However the advantage of buying the CPU,motherboard and RAM from the same supplier is that you return the whole she-bang for testing purposes if there is an issue.

[johnny]

Thanks for the replies guys, they've been really helpful.

I would look at getting the DFI Lanparty DK 790FXB-M3H5 which is a 790FX based motherboard which enable you to have Crossfire at PCI-E 2.0 16x instead of the 8x available for 790X and P55 based motherboards.

Considering it's a 790FX the price is really good. I don't think I would ever go Crossfire tbh though, if the time came to upgrade a GPU I think I'd just stick with single card solutions but it's definitely one to keep in mind.

If you do not need Crossfire then get a 770 or 785G based motherboard as this will do the job.

I hadn't even considered either of these chipsets, so much for doing research The GA-MA770T-UD3P again looks the part and the reviews for a budget board are right up there, keeping up with GX and FX variations in some instances. Definitely gonna plug this one into my price list and try and give some more to the HD5850 GPU if possible.
I presume that using a 770 or 785G board would not fit into AMD's Dragon platform? That seems to be specific to GX or FX. I do like the idea of the Hybrid Crossfire on the 790GX and 785G boards for just an extra little bit of kick and it's what had me thinking of an AMD upgrade route to begin with. In a nutshell, what's the difference between the 785G and 790GX (apart from 785G 4200 onboard GPU instead of 790GX 3300)? I see that the 790GX has a Performance Cache and the SB750 has an Advanced Clock Calibration, both seem to be missing from the 785G. I would also be concerned about the 710SB instead of the 750 .... mostly because the 750 has received great praise in the past.

A decent 500w PSU should be able to power a single card setup fine or a decent 600w to 700w should be OK for a dual card setup.

Thanks for mentioning the power requirements too, I was able to dig up my order for my current build a few years back and I have a Tagan i-Xeye 420W. Would this be able to handle a modern setup?

As for looking at the i5, suppose I should really take a look at it to be fair but with the prices that CAT has mentioned for and AMD upgrade I'd be looking at a decent enough upgrade for sub 500 quid including GPU which is difficult to look past.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I presume that using a 770 or 785G board would not fit into AMD's Dragon platform? That seems to be specific to GX or FX. I do like the idea of the Hybrid Crossfire on the 790GX and 785G boards for just an extra little bit of kick and it's what had me thinking of an AMD upgrade route to begin with. In a nutshell, what's the difference between the 785G and 790GX (apart from 785G 4200 onboard GPU instead of 790GX 3300)? I see that the 790GX has a Performance Cache and the SB750 has an Advanced Clock Calibration, both seem to be missing from the 785G. I would also be concerned about the 710SB instead of the 750 .... mostly because the 750 has received great praise in the past.

The SB710 has ACC also and can unlock cores. The only real difference when compared to the SB750 is the latter has more RAID features.

The 785G has a DX10.1 graphics core whereas the 790GX has a DX10 one! Hybrid Crossfire only works with the HD3450 and similar low end graphics cards and none of the higher graphics cards. Basically since the 760G,780V,780G,785G and 790GX integrated graphics cards have 40 shaders you will need to use a graphics card with 40 shaders too to enable the hybrid Crossfire mode.

Thanks for mentioning the power requirements too, I was able to dig up my order for my current build a few years back and I have a Tagan i-Xeye 420W. Would this be able to handle a modern setup?

As for looking at the i5, suppose I should really take a look at it to be fair but with the prices that CAT has mentioned for and AMD upgrade I'd be looking at a decent enough upgrade for sub 500 quid including GPU which is difficult to look past.

I would look at the Corsair HX450W TBH as it will power the HD4890 and the HD5850 has lower power consumption than the former!!