Upgrade advice

Brawler

Brawler

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Hey All.

Need some useful advice :D Been sitting the whole weekend try to make a decision but struggling :(

Current rig: Gigabyte G31, Q8400, 2x 2gb ddr2 800 - have a buyer waiting. Sold my HD 4850 today.
Budget is always an issue but will be willing to spend if it will keep me going for longer, really don't want to upgrade for 2 years or so. Computer used for everything and needs to be able to play new games like BFBC2 on max.

Questions:
1. CPU
I can get like new(2 week old) i7 920 & Asus p6t for R4200 or AMD 965 BE & ECS A790GXM for R2500.
-Not sure which on to go for, the i7 is obviously better but it way more expensive. Is i7 really that much better for gaming?
2. GFX
Either Asus 5850 or 2x sapphire/club3d 5770 in crossfire.
-Really keen on crossfire but concerned about the performance/heat etc with 2 cards. All the review sites rave about the the 5770s but common sense tells me one is better.
3. DDR3
-1333Mhz ok?

Getting a Corsair 650w Modular to sort out the power requirements. Monitor HP w2207.

Advise :)
 
Well firstly in gaming the 965 performs the same as 920. So get the 965.

I'd rather get the 5850.

That corsair power supply will be more than enough.

Get 4gigs ddr3 at 1333mhz.
 
To be precise, the Phenom performs the same on games as an i7. And I also say get a 5850, one GPU is always better then 2 in a completely new machine. The 5770's are better (around 10% max, sometime 5% less performance on poorly written games) but then you cant ever increase performance again, whereas with one 5850 you obviously can throw in another at a later stage. 4gb for gaming is plenty. Monitor looks good, just make sure it runs at 1920x1080. Anything less and the 5850 will be overkill. Enjoy your new machine :)

Edit: Brawler, what is the reason you want tot get this board, does it come with the 965? Few reasons I dont like the board - only supports DDR2 memory. Its also a AM2+ socket, whereas the new Phenoms prefer AM3 (though it will run perfectly fine on AM2+, only some minor features disabled). I also doubt you need the dual gigabit ethernet connection. And although I can t tell for sure, it looks like it only has 4 phases on the power supply to the CPU. For a powerful chip like the 965, you want at least 8 phase in my opinion, it provides much more stable power. So unless its part of the package, try find an MSI/Asus AM3 board. I dont have much time now, but will look tomorrow if you havent had any suggestions from others by then.
 
Last edited:
Brawler said:
Any thoughts on that AMD board?
Click to expand...

My brother just got one. It's quite awesome. Has 6sata ports, has esata and even has a clear cmos button on the motherboard back plate and supports 160watt processors which means it's great for overclocking.
 
Last edited:
Ok. Ordered Everything.

AMD Phenom II 965 BE 3.4Ghz
ECS A790GXM-AD3 (AM3)
Asus HD5850 1GB
Corsair 1333 DDR3 2x 2GB
Corsair HX650
 
Brawler said:
Archer the board is AM3 DDR3.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/938/1/
Click to expand...

Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with the brand, didnt realise that their codes are A790GXM-xxx where the last numbers show what type of socket it has. I just googled the number in your original post which took me to a "-a" board. Well anyway, the board you got looks good. Nothing wrong with it at all :)
 
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