• GPU / system upgrade extravaganza
    9 replies, posted
I'm looking to drop some dosh on some upgrades before a local area LAN next weekend. Here's my current specs: [img]http://s.duck.me.uk/Piriform_Speccy-2011-08-27_00.15.31.png[/img] Points of note: 1: the CPU is a Phenom II 555 x2 with a core unlock, hence the x4 deneb. It's running overclocked at 3.3GHz. 2: the RAM is Corsair Dominator, which is running overclocked again. 3: I hope that SSD isn't melting Now, I'd like to upgrade the GPU definitely. I'm looking at sort of high-end 570 market, and came up with [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280mb-evga-gtx-570-classified-40nm-3902mhz-gddr5-gpu-822mhz-shader-1645mhz-480-cores-dp-hdmi]this[/url] (I'm not quite sure if my processor's about to bottleneck it though). I'd like to get up to 8gb of RAM (I do a lot of multitasking, so this'd help out a lot), so I earmarked [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-(2x2gb)-corsair-dominator-ddr3-pc3-12800-(1600)-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-dhx-new-connector-165v]another 4gb of Dominator.[/url] HOWEVER, because my CPU is being cooled by an [url=http://www.frostytech.com/articleimages/200511/acfreezer64P_pspc.jpg]Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro Hyper HD Remix Edition[/url], it blocks the inner two RAM slots on my motherboard, so I'd probably have to go for a slightly less obtrusive cooler (open to suggestions on this). HOWEVER HOWEVER, because my motherboard is the Rev 1 model, the SATA chipset is only capable of SATA2 (while my SSD can only do SATA3 or fallback SATA1, so it sits running terribly at 1.5GB/S as seen in AHCI POST), so I'm probably looking at a new motherboard to fix that (and by that point I'm seriously close to just proclaiming a "fuck it" and just starting from scratch with an i5 / i7 build, which I really, really can't afford). It's a fucking snowball of dosh. Any suggestions for what do? I'll be buying this week, and I'd like to spend as little as possible in the ~£350 area (kind of flexible, but not too much, this is coming out of my savings). I'll be purchasing from [url=http://scan.co.uk]SCAN[/url].
ssd isn't melting. It's common for them to show 128 degrees.
[QUOTE=Goz3rr;31960951]ssd isn't melting. It's common for them to show 128 degrees.[/QUOTE] I kind of guessed from the fact that there isn't a large mound of melted data in my HDD rack
are you running crysis in the background while checking speccy? holy 77 degree graphics card batman
Update to AM3+ mobo RAM and GPU you picked should be fine if you're power supply is good enough. Cooler-wise, take a look at Zalman's 9900MAX. [editline]27th August 2011[/editline] Why is everything so hot?
[QUOTE=demonguard;31964346]are you running crysis in the background while checking speccy? holy 77 degree graphics card batman[/QUOTE] Welcome to the Radeon 4870. The card ships with its fans running at about 20% and can handle temps of around 80-85 degrees.
[QUOTE=SataniX;31966626]Update to AM3+ mobo RAM and GPU you picked should be fine if you're power supply is good enough. Cooler-wise, take a look at Zalman's 9900MAX.[/QUOTE] Motherboard I earmarked [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-990xa-ud3-amd-990x-s-am3plus-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-atx]this GA-990XA-UD3[/url] as it's one of the cheapest motherboards with 4 RAM slots and SATA3 and also because it has a cool name (but holy shit it's £90! we're into £400 territory now) - I'm assuming wait for Bulldozer and upgrade CPU then Cooler I can't afford another £45 for the 9900MAX, so need something cheaper or my wallet really will melt PSU is a 650w Corsair Also, after noticing the HDD's were a little toasty, I took a look inside and it turns out Fan No. 2 underneath the HDD cage was being blocked by a PSU cable. Moved it out of the way and temperatures are recovering again Edit: Wait, can you coreunlock in the 990XA? I'm not seeing any options for firmware hybrid selection or anything of the type.
[QUOTE=leach139;31977672]Motherboard I earmarked [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-990xa-ud3-amd-990x-s-am3plus-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-atx]this GA-990XA-UD3[/url] as it's one of the cheapest motherboards with 4 RAM slots and SATA3 and also because it has a cool name (but holy shit it's £90! we're into £400 territory now) - I'm assuming wait for Bulldozer and upgrade CPU then Cooler I can't afford another £45 for the 9900MAX, so need something cheaper or my wallet really will melt PSU is a 650w Corsair Also, after noticing the HDD's were a little toasty, I took a look inside and it turns out Fan No. 2 underneath the HDD cage was being blocked by a PSU cable. Moved it out of the way and temperatures are recovering again Edit: Wait, can you coreunlock in the 990XA? I'm not seeing any options for firmware hybrid selection or anything of the type.[/QUOTE] Re post New temps. (im curious now)
[QUOTE=leach139;31977672]Cooler I can't afford another £45 for the 9900MAX, so need something cheaper or my wallet really will melt[/QUOTE] Hyper 212+ the 9900max is overpriced ricer shite anyway
Fair chance I'll have to get just the GPU due to a change in financial standing, think it's a good upgrade without the RAM or motherboard? [QUOTE=icedt;31982112]Re post New temps. (im curious now)[/QUOTE] [img]http://s.duck.me.uk/Screenshot-2011-08-28_14.52.32.png[/img] (case is a silverstone RV-01)
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.