Upgrading my PC

mr.comfortably

Hi community,

I am currently in the process of upgrading my HP computer and needed some guidance from the experts (you guys)

Computer setup
Purpose: Computer upgrade to handle gaming processing & graphics
Current games: Heroes of Newerth, World of Warcraft

Current set up:
Contact HP Support and Customer Service | HP®*Support

Upgrades:
600 Watt Power Supply (Enough to cover it all)
AMD Phenom X4 9850 Agena Quad-Core 2.5GHz 125watt
GeForce GTX 960 GPU 120 Watt

Questions:
Could I get away with a 500W ps?
Is there any bottleneck?
Questions for me?

Thank you,

Mr.comfortably (Studying A+ certification)

wd40

The first thing to check is the size of the Graphics card, if it is too big to fit in the case then your whole plan needs to be changed.

markulous

What's your budget?

techfiend

How many ram sticks, ssd's and hdd's? You should be fine with 500w. even a true 400w PSU should work according to eXtreme Outer Vision - eXtreme tools for computer enthusiasts

mr.comfortably

1 HD 640G, 4 Ram sticks, 6GB system memory, 300W Ps, integrated graphics card, Micro-atx motherboard, 1 dvd drive
Do i need to upgrade the heat sink or case fan to keep up with the new card + ps + cpu?

mr.comfortably

budget is under $400, need a wireless card too in it. Also been having tons of DNS trouble, Event ID: 1024. I have tried everything to resolve it, but at this point im assuming the trouble is the NIC needs to just be replaced.

wd40

Did you read my reply above?

I have a full tower case and have about 2 mm space left to be able to get a big Graphics card in.

Your case looks small, pictures show that most GTX960's are big, as an added bonus some Graphics cards have the power connectors to the side which means you will need more space to be able to get the card in to the case.

mr.comfortably

Okay, Round #2
I think I got it right this time, for under $400, total is $335+ ship

PCI express wireless N adapter 300 Mbps PCIex1 802.11bgn

Geforce GT740 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 Low Profile Ready Video Card

12V 450W Micro ATX PS

AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz AM3+ Socket 125W Processor (MB has a AM2 socket, from my understanding it is backward compatable)

Will all that be compatible with the micro-ATX motherboard?

I would really really really appreciate it if someone can double check me. This is my first big computer purchase and I am very price sensitive, so I don't want to make a mistake.

Thank you!

mr.comfortably

wd40, yeah I read your post and thank you! I was going the wrong direction. If you read my recent post, i took your advice and went back and redid it.

N2IT

If you have a slot, GTX graphics card, 2 GB if you can. Followed up by a power supply.

Priston

mr.comfortably wrote: »

AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz AM3+ Socket 125W Processor (MB has a AM2 socket, from my understanding it is backward compatable)

From my understanding it is NOT backwards compatible, do you know the manufacturer and model of the motherboard? The manufacturers website usually has a list of supported CPUs.

Also I'd recommend selecting a name brand Power supply that's known for reliability. I've had a power supply catch on fire before, which pretty much ruined movie night...

My #1 choice for power supplies would be Corsair, but there are other good ones out there.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/292327-28-best-power-supply-brand#10894262

mr.comfortably

Link to Manufacturer Spec

Contact HP Support and Customer Service | HP® Support

Socket type: AM2

TDP:
Motherboard supports the following processor upgrades:

• AMD Athlon X2 (Bt)
  
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 up to 6000+ (W)
  
• AMD Phenom Triple-Core up to 8xxx (AM2+) (Toliman)
  
• AMD Phenom Quad-Core 9xxx series (AM2+) up to 9850 (Agena)
  
  So, I cannot use the AM3 socket? It will have to be AM2 or AM2+?
  
  Thank you for all the helps guys, I really appreciate it!
  

techfiend

That mobo won't work with FX8320, it needs certain mobos because it's 125W. Plus that mobo has DDR2. I'd suggest buying a mobo and ram as well. 8320 is a great choice if you are going to use a lot of multithreaded apps or vm's. If you are using mainly single thread, intel pentium or i3 is probably a better choice.

markulous

With a new mobo, CPU, RAM, wireless card, video card, PSU, and case, I'm not sure $400 is feasible if you want something for gaming. At this point you're buying a completely new rig aside from a hard drive. The video card and CPU alone will push you over $300 if you want anything good.

mr.comfortably

Is it worth the $ to put into this computer to try and make it capable of gaming, or should I look into just creating a new one all together? My price point is $400, but in time I can put some $ aside and build up a new system.

markulous

I'd honestly just rather make a complete new rig. You can probably make a pretty good one for ~ $600. I'd rather save up for another month or so and just do that.

mr.comfortably

Thank you so much for the support!

I will work on designing a new computer.
I have to say this is really helping me with understanding my hardware for the A+ when I need to take it :P

I will post up on this thread what I have come up with for the new computer setup.

mr.comfortably

Here is what I came up with for a new computer under $700

I hope you don't mind me using links, but here is what I came up with for a new computer set up.
Trying to keep the price low, but make sure it is a good computer for gaming.
All links are to Newegg.com
Please provide me with any input you have

Computer Case
Phanteks “ Enthoo Pro Series “ PH-ES614P_BK Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Newegg.com
Mobo
ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - Newegg.com
Video Card
MSI GAMING N750 TF 1GD5/OC G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 750 1GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Newegg.com
CPU
AMD FX-8320 Vishera 8-Core 3.5GHz (4.0GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Desktop Processor FD8320FRHKBOX - Newegg.com
PSU
APEVIA ATX-CW500WP4 500W ATX Power Supply - Newegg.com
HD
Western Digital WD Blue Hard Drive 1TB WD10EZEX 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" | Internal Hard Drive - Newegg.com
Memory
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9S-4GBRL - Newegg.com x2

Priston

This is cheaper, has more memory, and is smaller
MSI N750-2GD5/OC G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 750 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Newegg.com

mr.comfortably

Priston,

Thank you, good find!

markulous

I usually recommend Hardware Revolution

You can sort it by your budget and look at the different options for each piece of hardware.

mr.comfortably

Intel CPU > AMD CPU?

markulous

mr.comfortably wrote: »

Intel CPU > AMD CPU?

Yeah, I don't think it's close. Also, try to get a 'K' series CPU so you can overclock it. That's pretty important for gaming, more so than more cores.

techfiend

Depends on the price point and what you are going to do with it. My $150 FX8320 is more suitable for vm's and multi threaded apps then $250 i5's. It seems a little faster in general tasks then my i5 at work but that could be outlook running all the time. The FX 8320 is also easily overclockable with mobos that provide enough power. Granted I'd rather have an i7 K series but that's $400+ for the cpu+mobo alone. At your budget level I'd take the FX8320 over the celeron, pentium and i3 unless you're going to use igp, then the i3 might be more attractive.

markulous

You can get an i5 for <$200 but the FX8320 is pretty comparable with benchmarks.

WafflesAndRootbeer

mr.comfortably wrote: »

Hi community,

I am currently in the process of upgrading my HP computer and needed some guidance from the experts (you guys)

Computer setup
Purpose: Computer upgrade to handle gaming processing & graphics
Current games: Heroes of Newerth, World of Warcraft

Current set up:
Contact HP Support and Customer Service | HP®*Support

Upgrades:
600 Watt Power Supply (Enough to cover it all)
AMD Phenom X4 9850 Agena Quad-Core 2.5GHz 125watt
GeForce GTX 960 GPU 120 Watt

Questions:
Could I get away with a 500W ps?
Is there any bottleneck?
Questions for me?

Thank you,

Mr.comfortably (Studying A+ certification)

That machine is really not going to get you anywhere for gaming, no matter what you do. It's a media PC and that's what it was designed for. More to the point, it's Windows 7-era hardware, which doesn't cut it with games as they get more advanced. Save up some money and build a new machine. As for your current hardware, you would need to add more memory, switch to an SSD, add a $100-$150 dollar video card from the last few years, and upgrade the OS to Windows 10 to really make further use of it as a Windows desktop since Windows 7 is no longer an option for you. Otherwise, you can wipe it and use it as a Linux box, as it will run the latest Linux distros perfectly.

markulous

WafflesAndRootbeer wrote: »

That machine is really not going to get you anywhere for gaming, no matter what you do. It's a media PC and that's what it was designed for. More to the point, it's Windows 7-era hardware, which doesn't cut it with games as they get more advanced. Save up some money and build a new machine. As for your current hardware, you would need to add more memory, switch to an SSD, add a $100-$150 dollar video card from the last few years, and upgrade the OS to Windows 10 to really make further use of it as a Windows desktop since Windows 7 is no longer an option for you. Otherwise, you can wipe it and use it as a Linux box, as it will run the latest Linux distros perfectly.

Why go to Windows 10? 7 is perfectly fine for gaming. Only reason would be for DirecX 12, which his video card probably won't support and he's not likely to be playing any games that use that any time soon. Let them work out the bugs out of 10 first then revisit that later. Stick with 7 IMO.

MTciscoguy

I would also stick to Windows 7, 10 looks like it could be a good OS, but it is still in beta and will be for a while after it is actually released, just because they claim new and improved, as we all know all new Windows OS releases are not really stable for quite a while after release to the public.

H3||scr3am

My input:
- As others have stated, build new, don't try to breathe new life into your old PC, prebuilt PCs are nasty, in that they use custom built bits and pieces to force users to stick to OEM parts, and service, instead of being able to fix/upgrade the PC themselves... I'm willing to bet your PSU doesn't use a standard ATX screw placement, just so you can't buy one off of a store shelf and place it in there...

- As great as this forum is for Technical Certifications and the pursuit of knowledge, I'm going to suggest poking around Overclock.net and perhaps joining them and posting a thread there asking about building a budget PC. They're a great source of knowledge for all things Performance PCs, Gaming PC, Home Theatre PCs, and getting the most bang for your buck doing it all (Full disclosure, I'm a Mod there)

- Don't feel you need to buy a new HDD for your new PC, I'd say you can reuse your old HDD to save some coin, perhaps spending that extra cash on a better PSU, or an SSD to really take advantage of your new PC

- Don't get that PSU, in all honesty, the PSU should be where you spend a lot of the money, I know that there are plenty of cheap options out there, but if you go with a cheap PSU and it shorts or fails in any number of manners, then it is directly connected to every device in the PC, and can take them all with it. Invest in a solid PSU with good brand reputation, and go above your current power requirements to leave yourself room to upgrade in the future.

My suggestions for you:

Ultra Rogue M925 Full Tower Case $35 after MIR
Corsair TX750 750W PSU (refurbed) $60

cheaper case, better PSU

markulous

^^
Good advice on the PSU. I usually get Corsair, but Rosewill is a good brand that's not too overpriced. You also don't need a ton of watts on it unless you have a ton of hardware inside.

MTciscoguy

I have bought cheap PSU and expensive ones, and never in the last few years have I ran into one that didn't have the standard screw holes in it, I have ran into ones that have additional screw holes for mounting in some morphadite cases, but all of them have the standard pattern. I have purchased some Cooler Master cases that have turned out to be pretty good.

One thing to remember, when you post a thread about upgrading anything in the computer market, at best you will be more confused when you are done than when you start, because there is so many things you can buy and so many opinions out there!