January Upgrade

RWBRWB Icrontian
edited December 2010 in Hardware
My computer is aesthetically unpleasing, but it gets the job done though it does freeze up due to heat. It is however an AM2+ system with DDR2 as well.

Specs(what I can recall):
Phenom II 920 AM2+
Radeon 5770
4GB DDR2 OCZ Reaper series
Some old PSU and Case.

What I would like is to get a quieter and cooler running system come January early February. Price isn't a big deal, though I am not looking to spend more than $500-$800 on upgrades as I plan on buying a couple new monitors or perhaps a big screen TV I haven't decided on that.

As I said the current setup gets my gaming needs accomplished, and I might buy a second 5770 for added gaming horsepower later. What would you guys suggest?

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    enjoy
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Cases:
    I personally own both of these and like them very much, though there are cheaper cases that will do the job. The advantage with these are room and airflow are in great abundance. The increase in overall airflow will allow you to run the fans at lower levels, reducing overall noise.
    Thermaltek A90
    Antec 900

    GPUs:
    Dual 5770s had one of the highest performance to cost ratios when I was looking around about 9 months ago, but that may not be true now, especially with the new cards that are out now.

    If you wanted to get another 5770, this is what I would recommend. 125 after rebate + double lifetime warranty! Dual 5770s would push 3 monitors easily, though one might have to be on DisplayPort or HDMI to DVI converter.

    If your problems are heat related, a case upgrade with better airflow/fans will help, and you can look at upgrading (or getting a first) to an aftermarket CPU cooler. A couple of coolers that have been highly recommended:
    Zalman CNPS 9700 NT - has a "quiet mode" with reduced fan speed
    Zalman CNPS 9700 - non-quiet mode version
    Noctua - also makes great coolers

    The airflow will also help with cooling RAM, though you'd need to be running some temp monitoring software to determine what is overheating. You can use a program like OCCT to stress the hardware and figure out where the fault is. You might also let memtest run for an hour or so to see if a RAM stick is faulting under stress.

    PSU:
    Upgrading here will make sure your PSU is supplying enough and clean power to your system, promoting airflow and giving you room for future upgrades. Something like the following will provide plenty of headroom.
    Corsair 750 -$100 after rebate
    Corsair 650 - $60 after rebate <-- thats a good deal
    OCZ 550 - $55 after rebate

    So, if you just upgrade case, HSF, and PSU, you are looking at ~225+shipping. Tack on 125 for the XFX 5770 and it's only 350 total, leaving lots of head room in your budgeted amount for mobo/CPU/RAM, which you have lots of options to do over time because of having the Phenom II platform. you could keep the proc and upgrade RAM/mobo now, etc.
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    That looks like one hell of a deal! Thanks.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    The only criticism I have of Thrax's pic is the mobo only has one PCIEx16 slot (second slot would run at x4), so if you did ever want to use dual graphics cards, you wouldn't have room on that board to expand, though please correct me if I am wrong.

    For a little more scratch (in order of personal preference):
    Gigabyte - $135
    MSI - $130
    Asus - $145

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Please note that my picture is mATX. It's the only way to fit hardware of that caliber in the $800 envelope.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    I was just going with an upgrade path rather than full on new computer, certainly not downplaying your suggestions.

    Also, if you do upgrade the video card, go with the XFX 6870 instead of Sapphire. Double lifetime warranty is full of win and $10 less to boot!
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