Gamma_Guardian
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Posts
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Joined
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LOL.
That's actually an excellent reason.
I think I have over half a dozen PSU power cords stashed away. -
Hi FatherXmas.
Nope didn't forget it exactly.
Check my edit to that post.
I left it out on purpose, and yes, it was to cut costs with the understanding/hope that the OP could transfer their current HDD.
Of course, I realized later that you could take out the optical drive for the same reason as well.
Since funds seem to be an issue for the OP (and ain't that the truth for all of us?
), my thinking was leaning heavily towards the lean-and-mean side.
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Quote:Time lag, sorry about that.Originally Posted by Human_Being
If you want people to see these, you need to make them public rather than private lists.
The newegg guys tell me they won't be public til sometime tomorrow.
Oh well.
If anyone cares, I can send the particulars.
Nothing terribly different from FatherXmas' base list.
OCZ DDR3 RAM, Gigabyte AM3 mobo, AMD Athlon2 X2 250 running at 3Ghz are the main changes. -
Quote:As Human Being and myself have both pointed out, your current CPU will seriously hamper performance in modern games, even with an upgraded video card.Originally Posted by SinOfEnvy
I know that it would easily outperform if I were to get his $600 build, but simply don't have the ability at this point in time to have that much money at once. That's why I figured that slowly upgrading this one, piece by piece over time would be the better option, even if it would cost a little more in the long run.
Why wouldn't you suggest doing it though? Just curious.
Also, with the card that I'm thinking about getting, can you tell me exactly what I can and can't run on it?
2 Suggested builds.
Firstly, credit where credit is due, these are simply modified versions of FatherXmas' excellent $600 budget builds.
First, an AMD based build with your original choice of nVidia card for under $500
Next, the same build, but with an AMD/ATI videocard for even less
EDIT: Just wanted to point out that both of these builds omit a hard drive.
This is intentional, as the assumption is that you can transfer your existing HDD (a reinstall of windows is still recommended however, but opinions on that vary
)
You could also conceivably transfer your current optical drive and save a little more as well. -
Well, basically for the reasons I stated.
Your upgraded video card will help, but your CPU is a single core, and not terribly capable on top of that (no offence)
You will find yourself CPU-limited in many cases, or in other words, the video card will often find itself waiting on your CPU, thereby throttling your performance gains.
FatherXmas' $600 build would:
- Double your RAM
- Significantly increase your CPU performance
- Give you an upgrade path to even better CPUs and GPUs should you need it (although that CPU socket is scheduled to be eclipsed in the not-to-distant future)
All for under $600.
It is very likely that you could put together an AMD based budget build for even less, that would still significantly outperform your current rig even with the video card upgrade, and give you a future upgrade path.
The reality is that the foundation of your current system is a dead-end (socket 939 CPUs are rare and very overpriced for their performance nowadays) upgrade-wise, so if you're going to do upgrading with an eye towards future sustainability, you'd be better served starting there, with the foundations of your rig IMO -
I'm going to be the voice of dissent and advise you not to do that.
The card plus the upgraded PSU place you at around $200, which is a good portion of the way to the funds you'd need for FatherXmas' $600 budget build (check his signature in his replies to this thread)
Your current CPU is lacking quite a bit, expecially in modern, multi-threaded games.
The $600 build the FatherXmas put together would significantly outperform your current build, even with the upgraded card.
If you have around $200 to work with now, and if it is even remotely possible for you to save up the rest in 2-3 months, that is the most efficient choice, as you would then not be needing to upgrade other components in another 3-4 months. -
The GTX is the more powerful card, but it runs hotter and draws more power than the 5770, and the 5770 also supports DX11, whenever DX11 titles actually hit the shelves.
The 5770 is a pretty close match in capabilities to the 4850, but runs cooler and uses less power. -
Thanks for testing and posting this.
It confirms something that many of the old-timers have been saying for awhile, but it's good to have visual proof for the newer players.
I agree with you in regards to GR and the possible performance impact, should the Ultra-Mode be heavily shader-dependant, and I have an extremely strong suspicion that this will in fact be the case.
All of the features that have been showcased thus far seem to point in that direction, which is a good thing IMO. -
Take care Wolf.
I'm taking a break myself by the end of the year, and I hope to see you back when I get around to returning. -
If you're sticking with nVidia, the next step up would be something in the GTX 200 series.
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First of all, I would "upgrade" your OS to a 64bit version so that you utilize all of your 4GB of RAM.
The next question is how much of a budget are you talking about?
The Phenom2 X4 965 is an AM3 CPU, while your Phenom 9950 is an AM2+.
Will you be needing to upgrade your mobo if you went this route?
Depending on your budget needs, upgrading your GPU may be the easiest and most cost effective way to increase your performance at this time.
If you were considering a GTX 275, I'm going to assume you have a budget of at least $250-$300, given the current prices of said card, which is unfortunately not enough to cover one of the newer Radeon 5800 class cards, assuming you could actually find one in stock. -
Quote:/shrugOriginally Posted by RadDidIt
*coughs*
And that's before I cut a hole in the box that will let the 280 sit on the outermost PCI-E slot and let the heatsink sit on the exterior of the box.
Edit: Cant find it now, but a guy fit a 295 into the Shuttle just by doing what I said. Find the pic, its gorgeous. Only a moron would put a high-end card in there and not leave one of the panels open, or otherwise modded.
Your original post made no mention of modding, and as much of the market for Shuttle SFFs are people who want easy builds, it's not too much of a stretch to see why I didn't automatically assume you intended to take a hacksaw to your components
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Quote:This.Originally Posted by Necrotron
The power supply is the least of your worries. I doubt a 280 will even fit!
It won't fit, I guarantee you. -
Quote:Same.Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
What I found interesting is that it never asked me for the old OS key. I had it handy, but never needed it. Never needed to have anything to do with XP during the install at all.
The "upgrade" from XP went completely smoothly, and nary a reference was made to the previous OS.
The Custom Install resulted in a complete wipe and installation of the new OS. -
Quote:Not true.
So pretty much, the word of the day in terms of graphics update is "Reflection". WHICH in order to enjoy at a reasonable level in any modern game requires a massive combo of GPU,CPU and RAM. Basically you need a high-end computer.
I saw absolutely nothing in that demo that would neccesitate the kind of hardware requirement that you speak of.
If your machine can already handle CoX at max settings, it will almost certainly be able to handle Ultra Mode, and if it can't, then nothing has changed for you, which is to be expected.
The graphical FX showcased in the video were all shader-based, unless I'm very much mistaken, so a GPU with decent shader capability should be able to handle it just fine. -
Not so fast
This write-up shows the I5 doing very well against the 920. -
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Both of the cards that were recommended to you are PCI, not PCI-E.
If you're willing to spend $100 on a PCI video upgrade of all things, then I seriously advise you to not spend that money and instead save it towards a rebuild.
Take a look at the $600 rig linked in FatherXmas' sig.
You'd have a decent chunk of that saved away by not wasting money on a PCI upgrade, and even a machine a fair amount cheaper than the $600 build would most definitely be leaps and bounds better than your current set up. -
I know you said that gaming wasn't really a concern, however with that kind of budget, there's no reason at all to get a laptop that can't perform quite well in most games
Both of these are within your budget, and both would perform admirably
My wife and I both have Asus laptops, and have been very satisfied with them. -
Your best bet is the 7600GT IMO, followed closely by the HD 2600XT (not the Pro).
The nVidia card will have fewer isues with CoX, but the 2600XT is a fine choice as well, so long as you keep in mind the ATI-specific issues with this game.
Have you checked either cards's Linux performance and compatibility? -
Quote:And yet here you still are, after repeatedly washing your hands of this thread.Originally Posted by Ultimo_
Finally, something we all agree on.
Hypocrite much? -
With your budget, especially if you intend to use any of the parts suggested so far, I would recommend that you go ahead and upgrade your display.
It makes no sense to build a rig that can run apps at high resolutions with all of the bells and whistles turned up, and then display it all on a 17" monitor.
I would also counsel against the neccesity of waiting for a DX11 card.
How many games require DX10 right now?
How long has it been since DX10 was introduced?
There will be a significant gap from the introduction of DX11 to availability of DX11 titles, and at that point, those same titles will still have a DX10 rendering path, in fact, they may even still have DX9 rendering paths. -
Agreed with Miuramir.
That's perilously close on the amps that you need.
That Corsair PSU which was recommended is aces as well.
I've used it on builds, and was vey pleased.
If you're stuck ordering from Directron, firstly, you have my sincere sympathies.
Secondly, you may want to try this one
http://www.directron.com/ees400awt.html -
No way, folks love to help with that kind of thing there.
Just bring a semi-decent idea of what your budget is and you'll get plenty of good advice.