Neelix is a tech noob (need some help)

[Neelix]

So the time has come to upgrade my system, and i need help with two things.
(all links are to a swedish site since it's where i bought the first setup and also where i'm getting the upgrades from)

My current setup is:

- CrucialDDR3 1333MHz 4GB KIT, CL9
- MSI 770-C45, Socket-AM3
- Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB
- AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
- Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 1GB GDDR3
- Chieftec Smart Series 550W PSU

Upgrades:

- AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition
- CrucialDDR3 1333MHz 4GB KIT, CL9*
- Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB*

*in addition to those i allready have.

Q1:
I'm also going to buy a new graphics card but i can't decide what one. I've been looking at these:

- XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 "Dual Fan"
- ASUS GeForce GTX 570 1280MB PhysX CUDA

Looking for the best one for less then 3000 SEK, here's all of the graphic cards they have for sale

Q2:
Want to make my PSU can handle it all( and if any part can't handle the upgrades)

Thankfull for any help, if you have any questions just reply in this thread or msg me on steam

[GTFO. kk20]

do you really need to upgrade your CPU and memory? I doubt it would make any difference unless you are a madcap renderer or video editting in > HD and require realtime encoding. Populating motherboards to their fullest RAM slots isnt always the best thing to do - look in your M/B manual, some run at lower speeds when fully populated so if you want 8gb RAM then A) make sure you have a 64bit OS and B) get 2x 4gb modules.

One thing to consider if you go for the nvidia over the ATI is power consumption. ATI are a bit more efficient on the power than nvidia, plus the x6 is about 30W more than the X3. although your 550 should be ok if it is reasonably new I dont know how "real" that 550 is.

Personally I wouldnt bother with an extra 4gb unless your mobo likes 4 populated slots. I wouldnt bother with an x6 and I would go for either of the GPUs. Think about an SSD which will make a MUCH better VISIBLE performance increase.

also, have you tried unlocking the 4th core on your 720? I unlocked 2 cores on my x2 which rules - I have never looked back. Use the AMD overclock utility to overclock core 0 to a higher clock speed over the other 2 if necessary, most apps use core 0 first thus will benefit from this oddity.

[r3loaded]

First of all, I assume your most demanding purpose for this computer is gaming.

Forget the CPU upgrade - there's no real point in getting the X6 since games don't use more than 4 cores. 3 cores is fine as well, and you can always try to unlock the fourth one.

Forget the RAM upgrade - you won't see much of a difference on an old platform like AM3, unless you need to run a lot of programs at the same time. I got 8GB in my system because it was brand new, and wanted it to last for quite a while. Is it overkill for my current needs as of today? Yes.

Also forget the 2nd hard drive unless you really need to space. In which case, 1TB drives give the best price/capacity ratio. If it's more speed you want, you're much better off buying a small SSD as a boot drive. This will give you the biggest boost in *all* applications (not just games).

As for the graphics cards, they're good but they might be slightly held back by the Phenom II CPU. If you're gaming at 1920x1080 or higher, they'll be fine. If not, they'll just be wasting their power at lower resolutions. In that case, I'd recommend something cheaper like a GTX 560 or 560 Ti, and use the money saved to buy an SSD

[Shadowi]

do you really need to upgrade your CPU and memory? I doubt it would make any difference unless you are a madcap renderer or video editting in > HD and require realtime encoding. Populating motherboards to their fullest RAM slots isnt always the best thing to do - look in your M/B manual, some run at lower speeds when fully populated so if you want 8gb RAM then A) make sure you have a 64bit OS and B) get 2x 4gb modules.

One thing to consider if you go for the nvidia over the ATI is power consumption. ATI are a bit more efficient on the power than nvidia, plus the x6 is about 30W more than the X3. although your 550 should be ok if it is reasonably new I dont know how "real" that 550 is.

Personally I wouldnt bother with an extra 4gb unless your mobo likes 4 populated slots. I wouldnt bother with an x6 and I would go for either of the GPUs. Think about an SSD which will make a MUCH better VISIBLE performance increase.

also, have you tried unlocking the 4th core on your 720? I unlocked 2 cores on my x2 which rules - I have never looked back. Use the AMD overclock utility to overclock core 0 to a higher clock speed over the other 2 if necessary, most apps use core 0 first thus will benefit from this oddity.

Yeah agreed ! SSD rulez!

[Neelix]

First of all, thanks kk and r3loaded for replying!
The reason that i'm looking at parts that might be abit over the top for my current needs is that every year i get a set amount of money to spend on my computer from my dad and they can't be spent on anything else so if i don't use them they go to waste. Also as i'm in the last year of Upper Secondary School we're going to have a project that lasts the whole year wich might involve me rendering movies and such.

Regarding the 8gb of memory, i do run alot of programs at the same time, sometimes enough to make my game crash and also i can't find anything in he manual about my m/b liking or disliking full memoryslots.

One reason for wanting another 500gb hdd is that i have 1,75 gb of free space on the current one, and since i'm probably whiping it and installing w7 i'm probably switching it to a SSD. So any tips on what size, i'd prob use it for the os and games.

thanks again for the help so far

[GTFO. kk20]

personally then, i'd say get an SSD, a 2tb HDD for storage and a 2.5tb external drive to back both of them up to.

SSD - as big as you can afford. I have a 120gb and its sat at 25gb atm. It was free to me as an engineering sample so im not complaining, id have loved to have a 256gb one. If you have cash left over then a GFX card/big monitor (balance the two out) then dual screen.