Advice on Graphics Cards

[Abriael]

You do know her CPU is only a Athlon(tm) II X2 240. Pairing a GTX 660 with that is a complete waste of money.

Wooo hyperbole. Completely untrue, there'll be a bit of bottlenecking, but not much at all considering that most games nowadays are GPU intensive and not CPU intensive. the $50 on a 6670 are just wasted money since she wants to upgrade her PC anyway afterwards, and having a good card already is a good base for it.

Buy 660 -> Buy rest = less money than Buy obsolete 6670 - > buy rest + new video card & throw obsolete 6670 into the recycle bin.

And she'll have much better performance from the get go instead of just a paltry upgrade until she updates the full system.

[Shura]

ya i'm not crazy about overclocking and 660 is ok for 200$ then if i get the 7950 or the 660ti i wont have enough to upgrade my CPU. Once i have more money to waste i'm just going to upgrade everything for now i just want something to last me a few years too then.

Zenaku what kind of motherboard do you have? i noticed in a earlier post you said you were thinking up upgrading to a 1055t from a 925. while the 1055t is a better cpu, its not much of an upgrade. The extra 2 cores will help you with multitasking but not much difference in gaming compared to what you have now; I would recommend the 1075t or 1090t, those 2 would be more of an upgrade with more noticeable difference in gaming compared to 1055t.

[Abriael]

snarky comments need not apply..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102999
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005

u happy now??

Cheaper than my first suggestion (not much)

If you're willing to spend 300 on a gpu, this will prolly be a better upgrade in the long run since it will be less of a bottleneck cpu wise.

The 7850 GPU is overally way weaker than the GTX 660 and doesn't have Physix. This is better value considering the rebate, and gigabyte is a way better and more reliable brand than sapphire. It also has it beat by a long shot in its cooling solution, which is crucial for a GPU, especially considering that her case isn't exactly a wind tunnel.

The 650 power source is way overkill for that kind of system. A 500 is enough.

[Zenaku]

Zenaku what kind of motherboard do you have? i noticed in a earlier post you said you were thinking up upgrading to a 1055t from a 925. while the 1055t is a better cpu, its not much of an upgrade. The extra 2 cores will help you with multitasking but not much difference in gaming compared to what you have now; I would recommend the 1075t or 1090t, those 2 would be more of an upgrade with more noticeable difference in gaming compared to 1055t.

I build my computer around the time FFXIV is about to release so i don't have support for AMD3+ so i can get any CPU as long as it's AMD3 . Once i have enough money i will upgrade my mobo and my cpu but for now i just want something to last me longer.

From the benchmark i seen the 1055 and the 1075 are only 326 in score but i guess that don't matter to much. I guess i get myself a 660 video card and save enough to get myself a 1090T or just use that money to upgrade my mobo with a AMD3+ cpu i guess i also have to get myself DDR3 ram to go with it

[Shura]

I build my computer around the time FFXIV is about to release so i don't have support for AMD3+ so i can get any CPU as long as it's AMD3 . Once i have enough money i will upgrade my mobo and my cpu but for now i just want something to last me longer.

From the benchmark i seen the 1055 and the 1075 are only 326 in score but i guess that don't matter to much. I guess i get myself a 660 video card and save enough to get myself a 1090T or just use that money to upgrade my mobo with a AMD3+ cpu.

If your really looking to upgrade, then go with the 660, and save up for an AM3+ mobo. Then save up for a FX-6300 or any of the FX-8000 series chips. The ASRock 970 EXTREME3 or EXTREME4 are some nice boards for value.

[Soukyuu]

On the 965 BE, the CPU performance is good, the TDP isn't. It has a max specified temperature of 60°C and is running at 70+ with the boxed cooler once you put enough load on it (e.g. running 1.0). I had to buy a (large) aftermarket cooler to get it to barely under 60°C under load. High temps decrease component lifetime, and overclocking would push the temps even further. I don't think it's a good upgrade choice, better go for the X6 series because I heard the later models got the temps under control.

[Abriael]

If your really looking to upgrade, then go with the 660, and save up for an AM3+ mobo. Then save up for a FX-6300 or any of the FX-8000 series chips.

Agreed on this. Didn't notice he had a 925. Not worth upgrading from that to another AM3.

[Abriael]

On the 965 BE, the CPU performance is good, the TDP isn't. It has a max specified temperature of 60°C and is running at 70+ with the boxed cooler once you put enough load on it (e.g. running 1.0). I had to buy a (large) aftermarket cooler to get it to barely under 60°C under load. High temps decrease component lifetime, and overclocking would push the temps even further. I don't think it's a good upgrade choice, better go for the X6 series because I heard the later models got the temps under control.

My 965 BE runs at 45C under full load with a quite cheap Schythe cooler while overclocked at 3.8 ghz with the vcore upped at 1.5375V. On idle it sits cutely at 29.5C.

There's a reason why the 965BE is still one of the most loved processors between overclockers. It runs pretty cool and it's one of the most durable chips ever made by AMD.

If not overclocked it will run without a hitch for years even with the stock cooler, that, by the way, is *very* good.

I'm sorry, but your temperatures are way over spec, and you probably should have returned it as soon as you noticed they were that high.

[Zenaku]

If your really looking to upgrade, then go with the 660, and save up for an AM3+ mobo. Then save up for a FX-6300 or any of the FX-8000 series chips. The ASRock 970 EXTREME3 or EXTREME4 are some nice boards for value.

Thanks for the help i'll do just that going to take me a while to get everything tho which sucks but w/e good upgrade.

[Shura]

Thanks for the help i'll do just that going to take me a while to get everything tho which sucks but w/e good upgrade.

NP hit me up anytime if you need more advice.