My video card finally crapped out so I needed to replace it, and one thing led to another and i decided i'd finally upgrade my old rig. This had happened before and I went from an old 8800gts to the 9800gt and it was a good upgrade. At that time I only also upgraded my cpu/mb/ram. Was running an old allendale 1.8 o/c to 3.2 on a zalman cooler. But i never put anything else into it, so it's long overdue. This is how it currently stands.
Current Setup:
AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana Triple-Core 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 95W -4th core unlocked
GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H AM3
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ
BFG Tech GeForce 9800 GT BFGE981024GTGE 1GB 256-Bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Thermaltake TR2 W0070 430W ATX12V v2.3 PSU
Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s HD
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner
Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port
Asus VE248H Black 24" 2ms Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor
PCI express to SATA III card
970gb storage-6 Sata HD's- various sizes-
(160gb, 250gb, 80gb, 160gb, 120gb, 200gb) 3.5", 2.5"
So far on the way I have:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ
ASUS GeForce GTX295
HGST/Hitachi (HUA723020ALA641) Ultrastar 7K3000 2TB 64MB 7200RPM 3.5" Enterprise
SEASONIC X-series Ss-650km ACTIVE PFC 650w X-650 PSU
the ram was cheap at $24 so i figured why not without thinking, i guess i hoped i could use it for the next build. And GPU, HD, PSU were each $50 each because my old TR2 only has an 18a rail which is not the required 50a the GPU needs, and I figured it was time to get rid of all the HD's and consolidate, less heat and power consumption. I heard HGST was reliable. The GPU i thought was a good deal and an upgrade, old tech, runs hot, but still a contender. I run with an open case anyway.
Still left to get
CPU, MB, CASE, SSD.
I'm for sure getting SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III, i have one in the laptop and it flies.
I wanted to go Mini itx with a cooler master elite 130 build to save space on my desk, but they don't make a board that can support 4 ram slots to use what i have now, wasn't thinking, and not feeling like ordering another set. So now it's just micro atx. Any thoughts on a case and mb in that form factor? I only need usb 3.0, built in hdmi or dvi, 4 ram slots, and o/c options. Don't think i'll ever run sli.
Here is where I am stuck though, do I go
I5-2500K ($200)
3570k ($290)
4690k ($240).
I could even go
fx-6300 BE ($90) or I3-4170 ($120)
Anything would be higher on the hierarchy chart at this point. I know benchmarks show the 2500k is only about 10% slower than the new stuff, but probably 1000% faster than what i got now. But now that I'm looking at those prices, I really don't think i can bring myself to pay $240 or $290, even $200 is a stretch. But if the 2500k is still viable and worth the money over 6300BE prices up to $150, then it's worth considering. I'd like to stay quad core if possible since i multitask on it and always run multiple clients. I've always overclocked, but for now i'll run stock temps till i buy a better cooler or go closed loop. That's a few months down the line, I'd like the option though if once i see my speeds I want to bump it up, that's why I'd go "K". I think any upgrade at this point would make me happy. I'm sure with the SSD, GPU and extra ram overall it will be faster. It's not like i play battlefied or crysis after all, my games are not that graphic intensive. Whatever choice I'd make i probably wouldn't upgrade again for another 5 years, since that's how long i've been rocking what i got and been reasonably happy, though better graphics and less lag would make me so happy.
I currently use the desktop for everything but mostly gaming, once i get it upgraded, i'll use my laptop for everything else business, productivity wise. So that will leave my desktop for just gaming only and the occasional web browsing up to 25 tabs on average. Temps are cool in the room usually 65-70. I would also be watching movies on it and eventually get another monitor, exact same size. I used to overclock the cpu but my psu was holding me back. I feel the lack of ram and aging cpu limit me, the 9800gt held up pretty well considering.
Games played are
Battle of the Immortals x3 clients
WOW
Heroes of the storm
Starcraft
Diablo 3
Minecraft with 30+mods
Torchlight 2
Rocket League
Borderlands 2
Hand of Fate
Current Setup:
AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana Triple-Core 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 95W -4th core unlocked
GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H AM3
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ
BFG Tech GeForce 9800 GT BFGE981024GTGE 1GB 256-Bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Thermaltake TR2 W0070 430W ATX12V v2.3 PSU
Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s HD
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner
Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port
Asus VE248H Black 24" 2ms Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor
PCI express to SATA III card
970gb storage-6 Sata HD's- various sizes-
(160gb, 250gb, 80gb, 160gb, 120gb, 200gb) 3.5", 2.5"
So far on the way I have:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ
ASUS GeForce GTX295
HGST/Hitachi (HUA723020ALA641) Ultrastar 7K3000 2TB 64MB 7200RPM 3.5" Enterprise
SEASONIC X-series Ss-650km ACTIVE PFC 650w X-650 PSU
the ram was cheap at $24 so i figured why not without thinking, i guess i hoped i could use it for the next build. And GPU, HD, PSU were each $50 each because my old TR2 only has an 18a rail which is not the required 50a the GPU needs, and I figured it was time to get rid of all the HD's and consolidate, less heat and power consumption. I heard HGST was reliable. The GPU i thought was a good deal and an upgrade, old tech, runs hot, but still a contender. I run with an open case anyway.
Still left to get
CPU, MB, CASE, SSD.
I'm for sure getting SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III, i have one in the laptop and it flies.
I wanted to go Mini itx with a cooler master elite 130 build to save space on my desk, but they don't make a board that can support 4 ram slots to use what i have now, wasn't thinking, and not feeling like ordering another set. So now it's just micro atx. Any thoughts on a case and mb in that form factor? I only need usb 3.0, built in hdmi or dvi, 4 ram slots, and o/c options. Don't think i'll ever run sli.
Here is where I am stuck though, do I go
I5-2500K ($200)
3570k ($290)
4690k ($240).
I could even go
fx-6300 BE ($90) or I3-4170 ($120)
Anything would be higher on the hierarchy chart at this point. I know benchmarks show the 2500k is only about 10% slower than the new stuff, but probably 1000% faster than what i got now. But now that I'm looking at those prices, I really don't think i can bring myself to pay $240 or $290, even $200 is a stretch. But if the 2500k is still viable and worth the money over 6300BE prices up to $150, then it's worth considering. I'd like to stay quad core if possible since i multitask on it and always run multiple clients. I've always overclocked, but for now i'll run stock temps till i buy a better cooler or go closed loop. That's a few months down the line, I'd like the option though if once i see my speeds I want to bump it up, that's why I'd go "K". I think any upgrade at this point would make me happy. I'm sure with the SSD, GPU and extra ram overall it will be faster. It's not like i play battlefied or crysis after all, my games are not that graphic intensive. Whatever choice I'd make i probably wouldn't upgrade again for another 5 years, since that's how long i've been rocking what i got and been reasonably happy, though better graphics and less lag would make me so happy.
I currently use the desktop for everything but mostly gaming, once i get it upgraded, i'll use my laptop for everything else business, productivity wise. So that will leave my desktop for just gaming only and the occasional web browsing up to 25 tabs on average. Temps are cool in the room usually 65-70. I would also be watching movies on it and eventually get another monitor, exact same size. I used to overclock the cpu but my psu was holding me back. I feel the lack of ram and aging cpu limit me, the 9800gt held up pretty well considering.
Games played are
Battle of the Immortals x3 clients
WOW
Heroes of the storm
Starcraft
Diablo 3
Minecraft with 30+mods
Torchlight 2
Rocket League
Borderlands 2
Hand of Fate
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