€350 Upgrade/New PC

[Gaw]

[IMG]http://imgkk.com/i/wwgq.png[/IMG]

Already bought an XFX 650w core edition PSU a few weeks ago, so that is no issue.

here are some irrelevant pictures of my pc a few months ago (that do not feature my new psu)

[URL="http://imgkk.com/i/wg9w.jpg"][IMG]http://imgkk.com/t/wg9w.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[URL="http://imgkk.com/i/-ucj.jpg"][IMG]http://imgkk.com/t/-ucj.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Gaw]

I seem to have two options here:

[B]Option 1:[/B]
A new GTX 570, to add into my existing rig.

[B]Pros[/B]
•Likely a huge performance boost in GPU based games
•Can use GPU in new build, not limited by what the new build will be, sandy bridge/bulldozer, it's all good.

[B]Cons[/B]
•Likely a large bottleneck/CPU based games like GTA IV will still run shite
•Will not have money for a brand new rig for a long time
[B]

Option 2:[/B]
Coolermaster 690 II Advanced case
Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 (Socket AM2+/AM3) mobo
GTX 460 768mb [B]/[/B] ATI 5770 [B]/[/B] ATI 6850
[I]Reuse old CPU + RAM[/I]

[B]Pros[/B]
•Likely a big performance boost in GPU based games
•Will probably be able to overclock CPU a little bit (though I do mean little)
•BIOS update will enable me to upgrade CPU to Phenom II X4 970 [B]/[/B] Phenom II X6 1090T (And due to the falling prices, I would probably be able to buy one in the next few months)

[B]Cons[/B]
•Still a bottleneck/CPU based games will still run crap until upgrade
•Limited to AM2+/AM3 CPU's, no bulldozer.

[Gaw]

Updated post #2 with specific information, help me decide which option is best please :buddy:

[Pocket Rocket]

For 1680x1050 a GTX 570 is an overkill. I say it'd be better in the long run to get an AM3 motherboard and a HD 6850, and get one of the X6 Thubans when the prices drop so you shouldn't have a CPU bottleneck in a good while. Do keep in mind that some older DDR2 compatible AM2+/AM3 motherboards might not have a BIOS support for X6 CPUs, check the manufacturers website for that.

Then again, this comes from a guy who always buys higher mid-range GPUs so I might not be thinking outside of the box

[Gaw]

[QUOTE=Pocket Rocket;27146681]It'd be really easy to just get a GTX 570 but your CPU might start to feel a bit old in an year or two.. [/quote]

It already feels old now D:

[QUOTE=Pocket Rocket;27146681]I'd rather upgrade to AM3 and HD6850 (especially if your resolution isn't huge the GTX570 is a total overkill),[/quote]

Yeah, my resolution [i]is[/i] only 1680x1050 :P

[QUOTE=Pocket Rocket;27146681]Do keep in mind that some older DDR2 compatible AM2+/AM3 motherboards might not have a BIOS support for X6 CPUs, check the manufacturers website for that.[/QUOTE]

I checked on that, full support for them (125w versions only though).

[Pocket Rocket]

There aren't many 140W CPU's anyway, the older 955 might've been one, but even the 1090T is just 125W so that won't be a problem.

And I'm fairly sure your GPU is bottlenecking you way more than your CPU, so once you've dealt with that you should think about a better CPU. If you can get a 1GB or 2GB stick of DDR2 for cheap I might do that now just so you won't run out of RAM when the 64-bit gaming era kicks in, the DDR2 isn't getting any cheaper.

[Gaw]

[QUOTE=Pocket Rocket;27146893]There aren't many 140W CPU's anyway, the older 955 might've been one, but even the 1090T is just 125W so that won't be a problem.

And I'm fairly sure your GPU is bottlenecking you way more than your CPU, so once you've dealt with that you should think about a better CPU. If you can get a 1GB or 2GB stick of DDR2 for cheap I might do that now just so you won't run out of RAM when the 64-bit gaming era kicks in, the DDR2 isn't getting any cheaper.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'd likely pick up some RAM along with the CPU in a few months if I went with option 2.. I think that's what I should do, definitely seems like the right choice

[Darkimmortal]

Also something the OP neglected to mention - he is getting random reboots (not necessarily under load) with his current system, which I believe could be either caps starting to go bad (they aren't solid by the looks of it) or bad memory. (Temperatures are fine, PSU is fine.)

So either way blowing all his budget on the graphics card will result in an unstable system.

[Gaw]

[QUOTE=Darkimmortal;27147439]Also something the OP neglected to mention - he is getting random reboots (not necessarily under load) with his current system, which I believe could be either caps starting to go bad (they aren't solid by the looks of it) or bad memory. (Temperatures are fine, PSU is fine.)

So either way blowing all his budget on the graphics card will result in an unstable system.[/QUOTE]

if it's bad memory I'll still be fucked with option 2

and it's only happened once since I got the new PSU, and it could have been a coincidence, could have been software issue etc

[Ir1shFox]

I heard bulldozer works on AM3s? Or is it that it's going to be AMD3+?

[Gaw]

[QUOTE=Ir1shfox;27150516]I heard bulldozer works on AM3s? Or is it that it's going to be AMD3+?[/QUOTE]

It will only work with AM3+

but I'm content with 3.5GHz x4 / 3.2GHz x6 stock

[Gaw]

the mobo and case were out of stock with no plans to become stocked again, so I have now gone with this:

[img]http://imgkk.com/i/xsb6.png[/img]

[img]http://imgkk.com/i/h63m.png[/img]

will be ordering these tomorrow, assuming everything goes smoothly :)