Thread: Computer upgrade... I need advise.

I need to do an upgrade that's a long time coming. I'm thinking of building around an AMD Phenom-II X4 955. Cheaper than the i7's, but not as fast. I'm going to need CPU, MB, and RAM. I'm thinking of the nVidia GeForce 9600GT for gaming.



Does anyone want to try and talk me out of it? The video card is enough right?

well i have these on my computer;

AMD Phenom-II X4 955
ATI Radeon 4870 X2 2GB
ASUS M4A79T DELUXE AMD 790FX 5200 HT DDR3 1600(O.C) SOKET AM3
OCZ GOLD EDITION 1600MHz 6GB DDR3 1600 Mhz

These specs are more than satisfactory, its awesome. as an AMD fan, i have never bought an intel CPU, and AMD has never failed me. ;)

You didn't even mention your computer specs so I can't even begin to access if the card is enough, also that card is pretty weak card while you can get a 4850 from newegg for around 120+tax which performs way above the 9600 and on par or better than the 9800 GTX. Post your PC's specs though, that will help in ascertaining information.

or you could always wait and just get a dx11 card when it comes out. But remember the most important thing if you are going money conservative on a graphics card always buy an ATI card, it will give you the best value/money ratio heh.

Bunuvercem I meant how big is your PSU.

I am not an amd fan. But, desperate times call for desperate measures. Go with amd but, be sure to get atleast 4 GB of ram. As far as the video card goes, I would spend the extra money for a better gfx card. Pending on the current and upcoming games you are looking to play.

Hi, I`m running an 9600GT piece. I`m not so proud of it as an 8800GT or better, BUT it does its work. I mean I can play all the games on the market, on medium, NOT maxed out settings. So if you like fog, rain or other stuff in games, forget about them.. and you`ll need some power to sustain you, i mean some Ram..



PS: my piece is a low level one, don`t laugh.. thank you

Hi, I used to have both, amd and Intel. Now Im using Macbook pro :)

Have you considered to buy Intel core2 quad 9400 box (2,66 Ghz - can be overclocked to more than 3,8 Ghz, air cooled) which should be about the same price as Phenom X4 955. 4 GB of memory is for gaming and W7 enough. Just try to look for low latency modules - cl4. If youre a overclocking geek, don't buy 800 Mhz modules but try to get 1066 or 1333 Mhz. Everybody knows that Intel quad core processors can be heavily overclocked without any risk. (dont even need to raise the cpu voltage) Motherboards should be picked from Asus or Gigabyte P45 chipset. Probably the two best palyers on the market. As mentioned above... try to buy a better graphic card on which can be played the newest games without lowering details or other stuff. In general buy a card that is not outdated. Buy at least Ati 5750 or equivalent Nvidia card.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any specific advice.

My Current System Specs are.

AMD Phenom II x4 955
Zotac Nvidia GTX 275 Overclocked
Asus M3N-HT Deluxe/Mempipe Nforce 780a SLI Socket AM2+
I Had to Upgrade my Mobo before my Chip so I needed AM2+ but AM3 is better ofc, but saying that the M3N-HT is a very nice Mobo but only supports 1066 Mhz ram, Even saying that 1066 is fine.
1600 is not needed yet imo

and 4gb Team 800 Mhz Ram which is ample for games that are in the market right now.

But dont forget by upgrading these you need to upgrade your Case, PSU and getting a Nice Cooler for the CPU wont hurt. Try Arctic Pro 7.
Also I wouldnt go with Nvidia I would go with ATI as i will be going crossfire next, Not SLI.

Regards.

Some good info, thanks guys. I'm not sure if ATI has gotten better with their linux support, but I think I'm going to stick with nVidia since I use linux for everything except games.

Ethics, I'm needing a new mobo as well as the cpu. If you want to get creative with your suggestions, go nuts. I'm just trying to be somewhat cost efficient.

So whats your budget if any? Instead of going AMD you could get an I5 which are still a fast CPU