[MEGATHREAD] Personal Computer - Updated builds thanks to Logical Increments

[SiliconCactus]

i've been using a rig from 2010 for a vast variety of purposes but as of recently (due to me beginning to art on a more regular basis, running many programs simultaneously) it's not been able to keep up with the stress of my system

AMD phenom II x4 945 3GHz quad core processor
Sapphire 100293L Radeon 5520 graphics card
Gigabyte GA-785 GMTUSB3 AM3 AMD 785g motherboard
4 gigs of ram (as that is what the motherboard will support)

i'm looking to upgrade soon, got a budget of something like 400$ to 500$. got any suggestions? the purposes i've got in mind are gaming and development, maybe video editing and recording (via fraps?) on the side

i only have a vague idea of what all those parts mean, but i know i don't need to upgrade my hard drive as i got a 2 terabyte one recently. i also plan to borrow someone's copy of windows 7 and upgrade some point soon

$100: Upgrade the CPU to a AMD FX 6300.
$130: Upgrade motherboard to a ASUS M5A99FX.
$150-$170: Upgrade the GPU to a Radeon 7870/7850
$100: 120GB Samsung SSD, install Windows on it (I'd s.ay 30GB?) and some essential programs (photoshop and so on) and mass store games, videos, and non-essential programs on the 2TB.
$80: Upgrade RAM to a single stick of G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1600 Ram in 8GB. This allows for future upgrades to 16GB easily.

I went a bit off the budget, so the SSD is optional, though highly recommended. 840 EVO is your best bet, and you can get it later.

[Ad Bot]

[AfterShock]

can someone reccomend a keyboard that is less than 20 or 30 dollars?

At that price range, it's really all about "how it looks", and "will it break in the next 3 months?"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823159007

This thing you have to smash the buttons with a hammer for it to register keys, but it's loving glow in the dark, so it's worth it.

[Treynolds416]

$100: Upgrade the CPU to a AMD FX 6300.
$130: Upgrade motherboard to a ASUS M5A99FX.
$150-$170: Upgrade the GPU to a Radeon 7870/7850
$100: 120GB Samsung SSD, install Windows on it (I'd s.ay 30GB?) and some essential programs (photoshop and so on) and mass store games, videos, and non-essential programs on the 2TB.
$80: Upgrade RAM to a single stick of G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1600 Ram in 8GB. This allows for future upgrades to 16GB easily.

I went a bit off the budget, so the SSD is optional, though highly recommended. 840 EVO is your best bet, and you can get it later.

He's on a limited budget, there's really no reason to spend $130 on a motherboard
Don't buy single stick ram, you lose half of your memory bandwidth. Also, if you spent $130 on a motherboard you should have picked one that has more than two memory channels if you're saying that using only one stick makes it easier to upgrade. Also, as per graphics cards, don't get last-gen AMD cards, they're suffering from lack of availability because they're being phased out.

My suggestion:
Get this for your motherboard. It's $80 sans shipping cost
Get this for your RAM. It's a 2x4 kit for $85
I recommend this for the grahics card. Assuming you kept the rest of silicon's suggestions, your total upgrade cost should be just under $500. Any extra money you want to spend should go into the graphics department, and any less money you want to spend should come out of the SSD

[Jerome]

this would be a better than a gtx 650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150689
^comes with two games

alternatively you could get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130838
which has slightly less performance and memory but it's still better than a regular 650

650s are like $100, any more than that you're paying too much for it
would've recommended the gtx 650 ti boost but they're all out of stock/discontinued now

[Treynolds416]

this would be a better than a gtx 650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150689
^comes with two games

alternatively you could get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130838
which has slightly less performance and memory but it's still better than a regular 650

650s are like $100, any more than that you're paying too much for it
would've recommended the gtx 650 ti boost but they're all out of stock/discontinued now

The one I picked has 2 gb vram, it's a pretty good deal for the price. And all of the graphics cards on newegg are overpriced now. You're probably right about the 270X but I haven't looked at any benchmarks so I'm unsure of it's performance

[SiliconCactus]

Also, as per graphics cards, don't get last-gen AMD cards, they're suffering from lack of availability because they're being phased out.

I'm seeing 170 7850s on Ebay alone, and they're in stock on Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125451
Ten dollars more, almost double the performance of a 650.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=681

The one I picked has 2 gb vram

Negligible performance increase @ 1080p.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/319910-33-vram-enough

[Treynolds416]

I'm seeing 170 7850s on Ebay alone, and they're in stock on Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125451
Ten dollars more, almost double the performance of a 650.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=681

Negligible performance increase @ 1080p.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/319910-33-vram-enough

A 650 is not the same thing as a 650 ti. A 650 ti and a 7850 have approximately the same performance, but the 650 ti is cheaper. (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-3.html, second item)

As for the vram, I know it doesn't make much of a difference at FHD but more vram is for futureproofing of monitors. If you get a second 650 ti 2gb in the future, you could easily run a 2560x1440p screen.

I was more referring to the 7870 than the 7850 about availability, but my statement is still valid.

At least the mid-range isn't as affected. The Radeon R9 270 and 270X appear to be stable and available at $180 and $200, respectively. It's getting tougher to track down a Radeon HD 7850 or 7870, though that's to be expected since the R9 270s replaced them. You can also expect to pay a little more for Radeon HD 7790 and 6570 cards, which is a bummer. They were two of the best values available previously. We don't know how much longer Radeon HD 7790 stock will last either; the more expensive R7 260X takes its place.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

[SiliconCactus]

A 650 is not the same thing as a 650 ti.

What you linked originally:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121714

That's a 650. That's what I was comparing it to.

A 650 ti and a 7850 have approximately the same performance, but the 650 ti is cheaper.

That is one hell of an approximation.

Here's a 650 Ti made by Gigabyte:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125447
It's $130.

Here's a 7850 made by Gigabyte:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125451
It's $150.

Here's benchmarks of a 7850 vs a 650 Ti:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/549?vs=680
20 FPS extra for the 7850.

http://www.hwcompare.com/13632/geforce-gtx-650-ti-vs-radeon-hd-7850/
Almost double the tech specs in memory bandwidth and pixel rate for the 7850, and around equal performance in texel rate.

I'd pay $20 extra for 20 extra FPS any day of the week.

[Treynolds416]

I didn't see that I selected a 650 instead of a 650 ti, whoops, that's not what I wanted to pick. And I was wrong, the 650 ti boost 2 gb is comparable to the 7850, not a regular 650 ti. And as jerome said, they're a great option but currently out of stock. The only one on newegg (refurb): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130992&Tpk=650%20ti%20boost

I still maintain my choice of motherboard and ram, but you're right about the graphics card. I use a 7850 2gb (asus) myself, and can attest to its performance.

[ABlockOfCheese]

Been tweaking my build. Already have a hard drive and optical drive, can anyone recommend any changes with it?

here it is

[SiliconCactus]

Been tweaking my build. Already have a hard drive and optical drive, can anyone recommend any changes with it?

here it is

RAM is overpriced and not needed for that build. If you're buying $80 ram, get less than CAS 10.
Power supply is crap and probably a fire hazard.
The case looks horrible and is low quality.

Here's the $500 build that I recommend to people, sans hard drive, plus a 660.

[ABlockOfCheese]

Thanks but I would rather have a midtower, not a microatx.  Also 430W probably isn't enough because I want to install some LEDs and plenty of fans.  I'd say have a minimum of 500w but I could be wrong.

[Blockzillahead]

Thanks but I would rather have a midtower, not a microatx.  Also 430W probably isn't enough because I want to install some LEDs and plenty of fans.  I'd say have a minimum of 500w but I could be wrong.

It's enough, and it's also built by a reliable company.

[ABlockOfCheese]

Ok thanks but that still doesn't help me with a case because I would really prefer a midtower ofer a microatx.

[Blockzillahead]

Ok thanks but that still doesn't help me with a case because I would really prefer a midtower ofer a microatx.

Uh the case is a mid tower.