Still pondering an upgrade CPU or CPU/MOBO/RAM

[Flibb]

Hi all, my current rig is

Radeon 4870
8GB DDR2
Win7 64
120GB SSD
ASUS M3a76-CM (AM2+)
AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition

Options are either fit a faster CPU in this rig, the AMD Phenom II X4 965 was suggested when I asked last year. Or with a max budget of £175 I could look at CPU/MOBO/RAM. Any pointers for a a £175 setup? I do not need onboard graphics or sound, and my case has plenty of room for a full sized mobo. main use is planetside 2 and general office rubbish.

Cheers

[Bonebreaker777]

If I were you, I would try to do the following thing :

- Sell my MoBo + CPU + memory
- Buy the following configuration
- MoBo : MSI B75MA-E33 for £42.90 (£40.79 in Today only).
- CPU : Intel Core i5 3350P for £139.38.
- RAM : 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz for around £40-42.
- Cooler : Buy any third party cooler, particularly good buy is the Xigmatek Thor's Hammer on ebay.co.uk for £15.99.
- Enjoy!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hi all, my current rig is

Radeon 4870
8GB DDR2
Win7 64
120GB SSD
ASUS M3a76-CM (AM2+)
AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition

Options are either fit a faster CPU in this rig, the AMD Phenom II X4 965 was suggested when I asked last year. Or with a max budget of £175 I could look at CPU/MOBO/RAM. Any pointers for a a £175 setup? I do not need onboard graphics or sound, and my case has plenty of room for a full sized mobo. main use is planetside 2 and general office rubbish.

Cheers

What PSU and case do you have?? What OS do you have??

Get an AM3+ motherboard,plonk your Phenom II X3 into, and overclock the Phenom II X3 720.

Then get a new CPU and GPU at a later date.

I would get this motherboard:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...-%28x16%29-atx

Get 8GB of DDR3.

[scaryjim]

I'm torn. The X3 720 is a damn fine chip, and I think CAT's idea of a new mobo + ram and keeping the 720 isn't a bad one at all. you'll be able to get a decent mobo and ram for ~ £100, and as CAT says you can then overclock the 720, which tbh is not going to hold back a 4870, even at stock. Also your 8GB of DDR2 will sell really well, recouping a fair bit of the outlay.

The issue is that you're kind of then tied in to whatever AM3+ CPUs AMD choose to release for your next upgrade. The FX6300 is another damn fine chip, but while you could get a new mobo, 6300 and RAM, you'd be buying into a cheaper mobo to fit it all into £175 - unless that £175 doesn't include money made by selling off your currently bundle, in which case - if you've got 8GB DDR2 and an X3 720 to sell, you can probably add another £100 to the budget...

Out of interest, what are you hoping to gain from the upgrade? What are you currently doing that is making you feel you need to upgrade?

[dacads]

For a few more quid you can get a 990XA chipset motherboard

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-9...e-20-(x16)-atx

DDR3 RAM :
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-c...as-9-9-9-24-xm

Or if you upgraded the CPU to 965BE this is the improvement you can expect:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/83?vs=102

[big_hairy_rob]

What do you use the system for? if it's for gaming, then you may want to hold off till you can afford to also upgrade the gpu and or the psu.

[mikeo01]

A cheap decent but capable AM3+ motherboard could go a long way. Phenoms don't exactly need massive power phases so it isn't like you'll need to spend £100+ on a motherboard.

You may find your current x3 can overclock well, or even unlock the fourth core? It's still a capable chip and still works very well. I would say stick with an AMD setup for the budget side of things, you'll find you could throw in an FX-6300, <£60 AM3+ motherboard (mATX / ATX?) and 8GB DDR3 RAM (As cheap as £25 for some Corsair models).

I'd personally try out 8GB DDR3 + AM3+ motherboard, and if you realise your x3 isn't up to scratch you could even just get a Phenom II x6 (£84) if you don't want to spend an extra £20 on a FX-6300.

[Pob255]

For planetside 2 the 4870 is probably the biggest issue, although PS2 is still not great with the phonom II's it should be ok

[Flibb]

PSU is a 500w silverstone ST50F-230
Case is a Antec 300
MOBO Asus M3A76-CM

main reason for the upgrade is that planetside 2 appears to be bottle-necked by my current CPU, runs at 80+% and spikes during heavy battles. GPU is sitting at around 60-70% at the same time. My other and option would be to get a better cooler and overclock the CPU in the current MOBO, my GPU is clocked up a bit.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

PS2 is a bit of an optimised mess ATM. You can get lower framerates inside the installations, than outside in the wide open areas during battles.