Buy new or improve?

[ctorres1211]

I currently own a system of

1045t Phenom x6
8gigs of memory
MSI 520 GT
350w PSU

Do you think I am better off starting new or replacing my PSU and GPU for gaming in the next couple of years?

 

[jasont78]

With the GTX 570 will I need to get a larger PSU then 600w?

no, aslong as you get a decent branded one

 

[ctorres1211]

So a
1045T Phenom II X6/ Asus Sabertooth 990FX/ SAPPHIRE 7850/ Corsair v2 600w/ 8gig of ram

Will run pretty well for gaming?

 

[jasont78]

So a
1045T Phenom II X6/ Asus Sabertooth 990FX/ SAPPHIRE 7850/ Corsair v2 600w/ 8gig of ram

Will run pretty well for gaming?

real good so long as you clock it up a bit dont forget a cm 212 so u can do so without frying your cpu

 

[nekulturny]

LOL, well like you said, to each their own. But I'm sorry, but until someone tells me those screeshots are photoshopped or otherwise falsified, I'm more inclined to blame a company who has an established history of abusing capitalism's inherent weaknesses to gain an leg up on its competition than an individual who invests their own money into components to test them.

As far as getting a 2500K past 4.4GHZ, ever CPU overclocks differently. This is true for both AMD and Intel, I don't know the issue he was having, but there is no evidence to suggest hes lying. Yes, I know some people can go to great lengths to prove a point, but come on now, thats silly.

Yes the Bulldozers suck at stock speeds, yes their single core performance is dismal, these are things I won't dispute. But I have yet to see a review site that has actually really done in depth overclocking tests such as the ones this guy performed.

 

[nekulturny]

get the 7850 use less power for the same speed ( see im not anti amd, ps i have an amd gpu too, lol!

I never said you were lol. All I ask if you not accuse me of being anti-Intel. I've recommended probably over 100 builds on this forum by now. I don't hide the fact that I am no fan of Intel's business practices, but I'd wager to say that I've recommended as many Intel CPUs as I have AMDs. My personal bias against Intel's methodology notwithstanding. My desire is to help people find a system that lives up to their expectations, without spending more than necessary.

 

[nekulturny]

So a
1045T Phenom II X6/ Asus Sabertooth 990FX/ SAPPHIRE 7850/ Corsair v2 600w/ 8gig of ram

Will run pretty well for gaming?

Should do you pretty well yes.

 

[nekulturny]

As it turns out, even a major tech site seems to have consistent results as the random fanboy lol

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/amd_fx-8150/6.html

 

[ctorres1211]

Well thank you for all you guys help, I think I found a happy medium between brandnew and just throw a gpu in. Plus now I can hold off on a top end rig in hopes of AMD rallying on a very good CPU. Thanks Again

 

[quilciri]

As long as you're overclocking anyway, you might pick up ASUS GPU Tool, even if you're not using an ASUS card. It'll work on any 7850, and it's one of the few tools that let's you tweak the GPU's voltage, and has higher bounds for core/memory clocks.

...the 7850 can take pretty massive overclocks, 40% is common, and some can top 50.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18389760

 

[nekulturny]

You're welcome, sorry I got a little off topic there. But hey, we still found something that works for you. That makes it a good day!

 

[nekulturny]

As long as you're overclocking anyway, you might pick up ASUS GPU Tool, even if you're not using an ASUS card. It'll work on any 7850, and it's one of the few tools that let's you tweak the GPU's voltage, and has higher bounds for core/memory clocks.

...the 7850 can take pretty massive overclocks, 40% is common, and some can top 50.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18389760

Thats what I had heard, the 7850s were overclocking monsters.

 

[ctorres1211]

Nah its fine I like good Intel vs AMD arguments, most people I know just try to say AMD will set your house on fire -.- I need to be around smarter people.

 

[nekulturny]

LOL, well I bounced back and forth on the Bulldozer issue myself, but I'm also a tech student who just completed my first year. I made Dean's List if that helps!

Also, when I talk about "big greedy corporations", for the record I'm a registered Republican, not a Socialist anti-private business liberal. That doesn't mean I won't call foul when I see it.

Such as it is, I think the biggest argument the anti-Bulldozer crowd had against it was that they were too expensive. They're right, considering the 2500K is $220 bucks and FX 8 cores were closer to $300 along with the fact that stock vs stock the results aren't exactly impressive, this is no longer true.

You can pick up an FX-8120 these days for $170 bucks pair it with a $35 CoolerMaster 212 Evo, at that price point its a better buy than the 2500K or the more expensive Ivy Bridge 3570K ( Intel promised would have a 20% improvement over Sandy, which turns out to barely be 6%)

 

[ctorres1211]

I heard the fx4170 is the best AMD gaming CPU, How accurate is that?

 

[nekulturny]

I'm not sure honestly. I've seen review sites say the FX 4s have no difference in games from the 6 and 8 cores in their gaming benchmarks, but then again, considering most games still only use 2 cores, thats not particularly surprising.

I'd say I guess that since like I said, the 8120 is twice the CPU in terms of cores and threads and currently its only priced about 30 bucks more than the FX-4170, the 8120 would be worth the extra money.

 

[quilciri]

Unless you know you're going to be using heavily multithreaded apps, and fx-6 or 8 won't benefit you much.

There wouldn't be a difference between the 4170 and it's 6 or 8 core equivalent, but there is no 6 or 8 core equivalent of that chip.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

The 4170 is equivalent to a 975/980 black as far as gaming. It's also a different chip than the 4100 (125w part vs. a 95w part). overclocking the 4100 tops out at around 4.6-4.7 ghz, they 4170 can hit 5.1-5.2.

Have fun!

 

[ctorres1211]

Now to hope the sabertooth 990fx open box i ordered isn't a dud and has a I/O shield

 

[nekulturny]

If it is, newegg should take care of it. But I can say fully functional a Sabertooth is an awesome board.

 

[ctorres1211]

Yea the reviews I read said it was awesome so i took the chance with the openbox.

 

[holeHeartless]

Okay.. well for the price you're willing to pay for that board, you could do better.

Open Box Asus Sabertooth 990FX (HELL OF A DEAL- I have one of these as you can tell by my sig, Asus will honor the warranty on open box items as I understand it, and it comes with 5 year standard)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131736R

Or if you want the piece of mind of a new in box, you could go with this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131757

Just wanted to throw this out there but after calling ASUS about buying an open-box MB on newegg.com, I was told that the manufacturer's warranty is only valid on "New" products. An "open-box" product would be considered "Used" and would therefore only be subject to a 90-day warranty. /shrug
But I could also hardly understand the guy with his accent so who knows for sure. (I'd certainly love to know)

 

[nekulturny]

I would ask for a supervisor, I asked them before about it and they said they honor it. I can tell you because I worked in a call center briefly, most of these people, American or offshore probably don't even work for Asus, they work for some 3rd party company and they basically read off a script. They may not actually know what the policy is. Maybe the guy named "Michael" with a suspiciously non-Anglo Saxon accent I spoke to had it wrong, maybe your guy Joseph has it wrong. Or maybe Asus decided to penny pinch and changed the policy.

Although, the entire problem could be avoided by not telling them you bought it as an open box in the first place. They ask for the serial number, give them the serial number. I don't think they'll refuse the warranty regardless, just because its "used" doesn't mean its past their 5 year warranty period, someone could have bought it, opened it, decided they didn't want it for whatever reason and returned it. Thats usually the case with Newegg open box deals.