Power supply and upgrade questions

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Bkgphoto

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Aug 18, 2015
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I'm upgrading my now 5 year old first build which so far has worked very well. I am looking to add the following:

Nvidia 960 graphics card (advice on specific model appreciated)
4gb x 2 DDR3
ARCTIC Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2 CPU Cooler - Intel & AMD, Twin-Tower Heatsink, 120mm PWM Fan

Will these upgrades be ok with my current power supply? Any other recommendations for upgrades?

This is the system before any upgrades:

ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AM3 AMD 890FX 6 x SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 6-Core 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W
EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
FirePower ModXStream Pro 700MXSP 700W 80Plus Semi-Modular High Performance ATX PC Power Supply - Formerly PC Power & Cooling
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
WD 1TB 7200rpm drive for storage

I use the system mainly for photo editing using Photoshop CC and Lightroom.

I also have a question about over clocking. Does using the asus software to automatically over clock and change all the settings work or am I better off doing it myself in the bios?
 
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These upgrades will definitely be fine with your power supply.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($97.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB FTW ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($239.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $372.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-21 09:59 EDT-0400

That GTX 960 has one of the highest ratings I found and the highest clock speed.

The memory is 2x8 since you already had 2x4.

The CPU cooler is very nicely rated for its low price, and will cool your phenom.
 
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Solution
Thank you. I thought the max speed for ram in my motherboard was only 1333. I think the max ram is 16gb 4x4gb as well. Was I reading MB specs wrong thanks for the heads up on the 950.
 
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Thank you. I ordered G.skill Ripjaws 2x4gb I figured matching the ram I already have would be best. I'll have a total of 4 sticks of 4gb. It's a dual channel mb. With it only being dual channel what does that mean when I'm using 4 sticks of ram? Can I set ram to 1600mhz in bios? For some reason default bios setting is 1333. If I set to 1600 do I have to adjust voltage or just leave it on auto? I have a black version AMD 1090t if that matters. I also want to OC the CPU. Should I change ratio to get to 4ghz? Same question about changing voltage. Will have to or leave it at auto? Will ASUS software and auto OC function that I see in windows work better to OC?
 
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Yea, matching what you have is the easiest option. It will still be in dual channel, even with 4 sticks of ram. You should be able to set the ram to 1600 in the bios. Ratio is the easiest way to overclock, but some voltage tweaks may be necessary as well. I have never had luck with auto OC functions, on any board. OC is best done in the bios.
 
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I can't help you with the overclocking, because I have no experience in that field. But for the RAM, set the RAM profile to XMP.
Also, I believe you now have 2 2x4gb sticks of dual channel, so two sets of dual channel I think.
 
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Been a long time since I messed with a Phenom II. I had a Ph II 940 @ 3.7ghz, but for the life of me cannot remember my settings. My CPU-Z validation is gone too, as all of my old ones got eaten when they did an upgrade. I would leave ram voltage on auto. You might want to start a thread, asking for overclocking that chip, or maybe even look at a youtube video, like SS mentioned.
 
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