Gonna spend some money.....

[gregj]

Not that I have any necessarily - but if this were a game of logic, then it is both necessary and sufficient that I drop some coin on new(ish) hardwarr in anticipation of MS Flight and several other titles and personal computing needs. So what does anyone think of the following set up?

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6611013&sku=C13-6165

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4420236&sku=C283-1197

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6078267&sku=G452-1027

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6052729&sku=A79-1090

I will keep my GTX 260, Case and PSU (750) for now.....

[Slotback]

If you want a system to run future software then you're best waiting until that software arrives before you upgrade.

If you must upgrade now then I would go with a Core i5 2500K/2600K, 4gb/8gb DDR3-1600, ASUS P8P67 Pro mobo. If you want to go with AMD then make sure you get a motherboard with the new 990FX / 990X chipset because they support both current AMD processors as well as the AMD FX series of processors as which will be released later this year. The AMD Phenom II x6 1090T is decent but I would rather go Intel else wait for AMD FX-series of processors.

[The Snake 87]

Here's my input also. You could also go the super money saver route like I did. In a sense... lol

I went with the AMD X2 555 Callisto @ 3.2GHz a core. But, the thing is I got the ASUS M4A77TD motherboard with Turbokey ($90 and has 6 core 125 watt cpu support also) and it unlocked the 2 hidden cores of my cpu. It was super easy, just press the number 4 on the motherboard's boot screen and viola. $90 for a quad core and another $90 for the motherboard, you simply can't beat that. And I'm running around 51c max on load using just air and Arctic Silver 5. Which is still kinda warm, but anything under 70c for the cpu is fine and anything under 55c for the gpu is fine. But I'm going to be moving to this stuff soon

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7038/ ... html?tl=g8

From what I've heard and the reviews on that site, it's simply amazing.

Anyway here's what I would recommend. I would actually sell your GTX 260 if I were you and use that money to put towards a newer GPU. You could get around $150 for those still I think depending on the memory it has, and upgrade to this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130568

I have the 1GB EVGA GTX 460 SE which has like 60 fewer cores and I can run 100% max settings on pretty much every game I have, and some I have are intense graphic wise. Dirt 3, NFS Hot Pursuit, Just Cause 2. Even Flight Sim X, I play in 100% max. So depending on how the new game will be (haven't seen anything about it yet, I probably a little behind unlike you guys) you will be set for a few years with that GFx card.

I'd stick with that CPU you have too, but maybe look into this motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131651

Same USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0 but has support for up to 16GB of ram instead of 8 like the Gigabyte one. And it's only $3 more. Or if you're willing to splurge another $40 for a motherboard (I'll show you a different heat sink in a minute which will save some $ anyway) then look into this motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131631

For RAM, I have 1 set of these and scored a 7.5 in Windows Experience (I have 7.5 in ram, 7.3 in graphics, 7.3 in processor, and 5.9 in hard drives but of course they will always score lower, but WE is only out of 7.9 too)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820211364

Super solid RAM. My motherboard preset them to 667mhz though, but they have been running so well I don't need to go to the BIOS to OC them. If you get 2 sets of those you're set. And you're only gonna spend $3 more.

Last but not least, the heat sink.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... ter%20n520

I decided to save money on my part and just run the stock heat sink (which surprisingly, has been great for me, because I've heard stock AMD ones a garbage) but anyway I was planning on this one. It's pretty close to the V8, it does its job and does it well and doesn't take up as much space. I'd recommend this over the V8, and if you get that diamond compound, you're golden.

Those are just my ideas. Not to put down NNNG's, I just thought my thoughts would help too. Your PSU should be good for a while too. I'm running a 550 watt with my set up, 3 hard drives, fan controller on 4 fans, and have been utterly flawless.

[Slotback]

It was super easy, just press the number 4 on the motherboard's boot screen and viola. $90 for a quad core and another $90 for the motherboard, you simply can't beat that.

Remember that not all processors can unlock into quad cores. As far as I know it's possible that you could of bought an externally identical AMD X2 555 Callisto that didn't unlock.

Anyway here's what I would recommend. I would actually sell your GTX 260 if I were you and use that money to put towards a newer GPU. You could get around $150 for those still I think depending on the memory it has, and upgrade to this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130568

Get a GTX 560 instead, very similar to GTX 460 but runs at 810mhz rather than 675mhz. Or get GTX 560-Ti for a little bit extra. I don't think he should bother with a vanilla GTX 460 especially the GTX 460 SE (Slow Edition) because it is barely faster than a GTX 260 core 216. Not worth the time and effort to upgrade to something slightly better that will soon start to struggle playing games maxed out at 1920*1200.


Get a AM3+ motherboard if you go AMD, cheapest decent one that I know of is ASUS M5A97 EVO for $110. Full support for AMD FX-series (Bulldozer) and existing processors. It should be available on the internet shortly. Review: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/M5A97_EVO/ Gives extra upgradability for the future and has some nice features like UEFI (etc..). I wouldn't bother with anything other than a motherboard with a 9xx series chipset.

Also get DDR3-1600 IMHO.

[gregj]

I would happily sell the 260 and ...a gts 8800 that I have as well. I guess I don't have enough posts at EVGA to put these on the buy/sell board. Neither card has been overclocked....mostly b/c I don't know how  :-?

the gts has 320 MB ram....
the GtX is 1 gig
(I did RMA it back to EVGA, but they sent it promptly back as it was not the card rather the power supply)

I think I would want to off load both of these at once...any takers? Name a price.....

[The Snake 87]

Try forums.nvidia.com

That's where I sold an old 9600GT I never used. Just in your post try your best to show you're legit and check your topic often. Bump it once a day too, that helps a lot. If I had the money... and higher wattage PSU... and a SLi mobo I would have bought your 8800 for a Physx card. But sadly I can't...

And with my 460, I didn't know that's what it stood for. I bought it because of price (gotta stick to the budget XD) and power usage because if I got the regular 460 or a superclocked one, I would have needed a new PSU (and I'm running 1440x900 on 2 monitors so that's probably why I'm at max so easy)

With the CPU, I've heard it's a 50/50 chance you get one that unlocks, but I've heard lately more people have been getting ones that do unlock, and since they run so well just as a dual core IMHO it would be a very low risk high reward type risk to take.

Idk, that was just my opinion, it's your money and I'm a little out of the loop of things because I don't really need to keep up on comp parts as much for the fact I finally finished my rig. Do what you want to do man.

[gregj]

So here it is (as of yet not set up)

Asus M4A79XT
EVGA GTX 460
AMD Phenom II 1100T (got it for same price as 1090T) Black Edition
2x4 Ghz Kingston ddr3 (had to go a little cheaper somewhere)
Win 7
TOTAL? too much and no where near enough $700

this better fly ms flight well......

btw if someone is interested in my old EVGA GTX 260 and EVGA 8800 GTS I'll sell em both for $125 - you pay shipping... never been oc'd

[Speed of flight]

So here it is (as of yet not set up)

Asus M4A79XT
EVGA GTX 460
AMD Phenom II 1100T (got it for same price as 1090T) Black Edition
2x4 Ghz Kingston ddr3 (had to go a little cheaper somewhere)
Win 7
TOTAL? too much and no where near enough $700

this better fly ms flight well......

btw if someone is interested in my old EVGA GTX 260 and EVGA 8800 GTS I'll sell em both for $125 - you pay shipping... never been oc'd

Consider these, if your budget allows...

http://www.frys.com/product/6484202?sit ... IN_RSLT_PG

[Slotback]

I think the OP has already bought the system. :) But here's what I would get anyway. If multiple choices are shown then they are in order of preference. Most prices from newegg.



______ PROCESSOR & MOTHERBOARD



Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge $219.99 (will overclock easily to around 4.6ghz usually (>5ghz if you really push it), much greater intructions per clock cycle than anything else except the more expensive i7-2600K)
GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3 (or similar P67 / Z68 board) $169.99

OR



AMD Phenom II X6 1100T $199.99 (or maybe AMD FX-8xxx 8 core processors when released at end of year)
ASUS M5A97 EVO AM3+ (or similar AM3+ board using 9xx series chipset) $110 (not released yet)
(I wouldn't bother with AMD quad cores anymore if and only if you're spending around $200. Sandy Bridge destroys them).



______ RAM

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3-1600 7-8-7-24 (or similar) $130
or
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB DDR3-1600 6-8-6-24 (or similar) $75

(I think the memory controller on some AMD processors cannot handle these speeds and timings, but I think the newer steppings are OK)



_______ GRAPHICS CARD

MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II OC $290 (also if you get a Radeon 6950 2gb with reference design, you may be able to flash it to Radeon 6970 spec).
or
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II $240
or
MSI R6870 Hawk Radeon $220


_______ CASE

Fractal Design Define R3 Black $110



_______ POWER SUPPLY

KINGWIN Lazer Gold Series LZG-700 700W $155
or
Corsair HX-650 $120
or
Superflower Golden Green 650 watt $?

(A PC built with the most power hungry parts here, even massively overclocked will not break 625 watt, so anything more than about 700 watt is a waste IMHO)

And throw in a OCZ Agility 3 120gb SSD of course.

[gregj]

I did indeed make my purchases...although I am considering an SSD at the present. So far almost everything works very well. My FSX flying is much better as a result no glitchies. I am impressed with the GTX 460 and how it allows me to run all settings maxed out.