CPU/GPU Upgrade Opinions

ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
edited February 2010 in Hardware
Greetings gentlemen. As many of you know, my GeForce 8600 GTS appears to be on it's last legs (again, after being baked once already). As such, I'm looking at upgrading both my GPU and my CPU. Right now, I have my eye on this combo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.324026

Currently I have the aforementioned 8600GTS and an Athlon X2 5200+ on a Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3. Any thoughts? I'm looking to spend less than 250 at this point, if someone has a better upgrade suggestion for that price I'd be interested in hearing it.

Comments

  • miragemirage
    edited February 2010
    Looks like a very good deal to me :thumbup
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    What's this? No one telling me I'm an idiot and should buy <insert link(s)="" here="">{insert link(s) here} instead?</insert>
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131328

    HD 5770 - 145

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103652

    Phenom II X3 730 Black Edition - $105

    Be a champ. Unlock the third core or just run it as is. Enjoy the cache it brings and its unlocked multiplier. And a better card to boot.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Hmm... that's an interesting option. Question is, once I drop that in an AM2+ socket am I really going to see much of a performance difference?

    I suppose I should have mentioned, I need to get a heatsink as well. Doesn't need to be a good one, it's going to be migrated into my "new" box with the old 45 watt X2 5200+ and the other spare parts I have laying around. My current heatsink (Zalman 9500, all-copper) will be the one cooling the new proc. Considering it keeps the 5200 under 50C at full load I figure it should be sufficient for my upgrade.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    If I'm going to go a bit over budget, I could go with this combo.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.325778

    I trust XFX more than Powercolor when it comes to graphics cards. Perhaps that's a misconception on my part? I tend to be pretty brand loyal because I have bad luck with parts dying on me. If I find one thats reliable for me or that has really good customer service I tend to stick with them.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    YOU'RE AN IDIOT.

    Just thought I'd make you feel at home :)
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Reminds me of my childhood years. People wonder why I never amounted to anything.
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Well bugger. The Black Edition I linked to doesn't come with a heatsink.
    But this one does!

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680

    And your board seems like one that supports core unlocking.

    It just depends on what you want to do. For multithreaded work, go with your first choice. For fun and games, take the 550BE.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    In that case, I guess my question becomes which will yield more ppd in f@h? an Athlon II X4 2.6GHz or a Phenom II X2 3.1GHz
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    The x4 of course. A Phenom 9600(2.3) gets around 4k ppd, 5050e x2(2.6) does 1k ppd, and a q8300(2.5) does 4.7k ppd<-with SMP2(passkey required). My q9450 at 3.6 does 8k ppd. GPU2 clients are affecting ppd pretty heavily but those numbers are for low effect but repeatable numbers.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Well... that moves me back towards my original link or the "slightly over budget" option.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    I ended up going with my slightly over budget option. Thanks for the input people. Can't wait to pop this Phenom II X4 and XFX 5750 into my box and start cranking out those work units.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    haHA... UPS showed up with my shiny new PhII X4 925 and the XFX 5770 today. Got it all installed and running. The card was a bit bigger than I expected and barely fits in my case. Darn near broke one of the SATA connections to my hard drives too! Finally got everything moved around and situated properly and my desktop is humming away. I finally got to play L4D2 with everything cranked! IT WAS AWESOME!

    Now then, for the serious business, fired up F@H SMP client, it's been running for about a half hour so far and my temps peaked at 48 degrees C. VERY NICE. I love my Zalman 9700LED! HFM.NET is reporting that my CPU is outputting 2700 ppd, quite a step up from the 700ish of my old Athlon X2. The F@H GPU client is sadly being a bit more of a pain. I've got the correct flags set to force it to run, but it keeps throwing core download errors. Oh well, once that's up and folding I should have quite the powerhouse on my hands.
  • miragemirage
    edited February 2010
    That is what I call an UPgrade. Enjoy!
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