What to upgrade first?

[wOOtbEEr]

I'm finally spending some money on my poor neglected computer that hasn't received an upgrade since i had my first kid In 2007.

I have an Athlon 6000+ 3.0 Ghz dual core and a Radeon 3870.

I can spend around $300 this summer and probably the same amount again around Christmas.

So should i upgrade the GPU or the CPU/mobo first. Cause whatever doesn't get upgraded has to hold the computer together for 6 months.

Thanks
w00tb33r

[Goku]

Smed said they are having issues with Core 2 Duos right now for playing the game. An Athlon (even yours) is inferior to that CPU, so that likely needs to be replaced. Your 3870 is slower than a 8800 GT, which was another piece he mentioned was a weak link in trying to play this game. Honestly your whole computer needs a upgrade. This is tricky to say the least. I am unsure of how much you would benefit from a GPU upgrade due to your CPU. If this game ends up being highly CPU dependent plus needing a good GPU it may not even do you any good.

Can you figure out what motherboard you have? I need the actual make, model, and so on of it. Its possible you maybe able to put a Phenom II in there depending on which one you have. That CPU was a $150ish GPU would let you play this game decently.

[wOOtbEEr]

I know I have an AM2+ slot on the motherboard. I'll have to wait till i get home to get you the make.

Thanks

[Goku]

Thats good! Probably can do a CPU+GPU combo.

To get it out of the way what resolution do you play and also what PSU (make and model) do you have?

[Ganymede]

I am with Goku on this, it's a hard to swallow the reality of where you're currently at. $300 dollars doesnt cover the upgrades you need to run PS2 smooth. You really probably need a Mobo CPU combo/gpu. with that said, you would end up needed a new power supply and ram. I don't think you can save what you have, you would be throwing money down the drain to probably not end up being happy with the performance that you get... If you could somehow get that 300$ figure to 500-600$ I think you could get something you would be happy with. Having said that I have two kids and a medium income household, I realize how hard money can be to come by. Wish I had something better to say. But with JSmed smaking the 8800 workhorse in the face, this game might leave the gaming community scrambling.

[NumbaOneStunna]

I am with Goku on this, it's a hard to swallow the reality of where you're currently at. $300 dollars doesnt cover the upgrades you need to run PS2 smooth. You really probably need a Mobo CPU combo/gpu. with that said, you would end up needed a new power supply and ram. I don't think you can save what you have, you would be throwing money down the drain to probably not end up being happy with the performance that you get... If you could somehow get that 300$ figure to 500-600$ I think you could get something you would be happy with. Having said that I have two kids and a medium income household, I realize how hard money can be to come by. Wish I had something better to say. But with JSmed smaking the 8800 workhorse in the face, this game might leave the gaming community scrambling.

I agree.

I would make sure you have the money to do a proper upgrade than trying to get the bare minimum needed because then next year when another game comes out you might need to upgrade again.

Most AM2+ boards can run a Phenom II Quad Core, which should be a good upgrade and last you for at least another couple years. scope out ebay for some Phenom II Quad Cores.

So it may be possible to still keep your current motherboard. EVGA.com had B-stock GTX 480s for $169 yesterday, thats a SMOKING deal. The GTX 480 is a beast in both terms of performance and also heat/noise though, so beware. Its like the muscle car of GPU's. You can also find Radeon 6970's for $200 on ebay.

Also, you possibly might need to upgrade your power supply to feed a high performance graphics card like the 480's, 570's and 69xx's.

I think $300 might be doable if you can wait to find good deals. Otherwise $400 sounds more reasonable and would further "future proof" your system.

[wOOtbEEr]

Ok Here's my motherboard and power supply.

Bio Star TA790GX 128M

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W (fairly new)

The motherboard doesn't list anything past the Phenom ii x4 945 in it's compatible CPUs. 945 is $99 at tiger direct right now. The speedier 965 isn't much more. Is it too much of a risk to bet it will work?

[NumbaOneStunna]

Ok Here's my motherboard and power supply.

Bio Star TA790GX 128M

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W (fairly new)

The motherboard doesn't list anything past the Phenom ii x4 945 in it's compatible CPUs. 945 is $90 at tiger direct right now. The speedier 965 isn't much more. Is it too much of a risk to bet it will work?

Nothing changed between the 945, 955 and 965 besides the clock speed, so it should work.

Infact Tigerdirect used to sell a combo with that motherboard and the 965: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5039139&CatId=3586

Anyways, yes, definatley get the 965, its only $5 more, Actually you should get the 955 Black edition for 8$ more. (The 955BE comes with a Heatsink, the 965 Does not)

The black edition has unlocked multipliers. With a simple Bios change of the multiplier you can easily get 200-300mhz extra out of it without touching the voltage. (I know, because I have 2 955's)

If you dont want to play with bios settings, just download AMD Overdrive and you can safely overclock within windows, it even has an auto tune feature that will do it all for you.

Actually you are going to come out with a sweet system with the $300 since your PSU is fine.

Get the 955BE for $107, use AMD overdrive to set it to 3.5ghz or higher.
Get the EVGA GTX 480 for $180 from EVGA http://www.evga.com/products/prodlist.asp?switch=20

If you already have at least 4GB of ram, I would upgrade the video card to a Radeon 6970

[Goku]

I do not understand that. I searched google and found nothing above a 945 to support that motherboard. I would do more research before buying.

I do not recommend getting the b-stock if you plan on keeping this for awhile either. I would get a new 480 off newegg for $210 as it comes with a 3 year warranty vs the 1 year on the b-stock. Worthwhile IMO.

[NumbaOneStunna]

I do not understand that. I searched google and found nothing above a 945 to support that motherboard. I would do more research before buying.

I do not recommend getting the b-stock if you plan on keeping this for awhile either. I would get a new 480 off newegg for $210 as it comes with a 3 year warranty vs the 1 year on the b-stock. Worthwhile IMO.

Who actually uses warranty? Ive never had to RMA anything ive had past 90 days, let alone a year.

Besides, at $210 the 480 is no longer a good deal because you can get a 6970.

Also, the 945/955/965 are all the same processor, just different multiplier. If the motherboard supports one it supports them all. I even posted proof the 965 works with that motherboard, tigetdirect sold it as a combo.

EDIT: Another link http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?222156-First-look-Biostar-TA790GX-A3-amp-Phenom-II-X4-955-gt-4246Mhz-air

[Goku]

How much you do some research before doing recommendations? I was finding threads of people having issues with 955 and higher cpus for whatever reason. They called biostar and were told they were not supported. Maybe that has changed, but that is all I found. If you can prove otherwise be my guest.

Yes warranty is important to me. Especially on refurb units. I just do not trust them. Not worth losing a card over $30. Not sure where you see a 6970 for $200 unless its used. Which again I would advise against.

That link to XS is a different mobo also.

[NumbaOneStunna]

How much you do some research before doing recommendations? I was finding threads of people having issues with 955 and higher cpus for whatever reason. They called biostar and were told they were not supported. Maybe that has changed, but that is all I found. If you can prove otherwise be my guest.

Yes warranty is important to me. Especially on refurb units. I just do not trust them. Not worth losing a card over $30. Not sure where you see a 6970 for $200 unless its used. Which again I would advise against.

I did do research and found many people using 955's and 965's with that motherboard. Some people had problems, like in any situation, user error. If you notice in all the replies from Biostar they try to upsell to a different motherboard. The only reason is probably not officially supported by Biostar is because they probably came out with a newer AM3 board and did not test the 955 and 965 on the older board.

Why would Tigerdirect sell his motherboard in a combo with the 965 if it didnt work? That doesnt make sense.

1 year warranty is PLENTY.

There are no new 6970's on ebay currently for a good price, you gotta check it often though. I was about to buy 2 last week brand new for $209 each before I got a 7970.

[Goku]

Show me? I didn't find anything on that. I found a modded bios, but that was about it.

According to the reviews on newegg it was even offered as a combo there despite it not working. This is just a mess.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-138-130&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=955#scrollFullInfo

The one review on TD with that combo states it didn't even work.

[NumbaOneStunna]

Show me? I didn't find anything on that. I found a modded bios, but that was about it.

According to the reviews on newegg it was even offered as a combo there despite it not working. This is just a mess.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-138-130&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=955#scrollFullInfo

I dunno dude, here is another post of it working.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2217366

Notice in the post he says 855, its a typo because a Phenom II 855 never existed but also in his sig it correctly states 955.

Yeah if Newegg sold it as a combo too then I would say it should work. Although there are quite a few people getting it stuck at 800mhz despite disabling cool-n-quiet.

It certainly is a mess, maybe is it safer just to go with the 945 then having to deal with the possible headaches.

Also, I noticed that motherboard doesnt support DDR3, only DDR2.

It might be wise just to pick up a cheap AM3 board.

[Goku]

Yeah it sucks. I have no idea why the 945 works, but the others don't. As you said there is no difference between them.

If he can get a 6970 of ebay for that price i do agree it would be worthwhile. 480 can bit of a power hog after all. Warranties in the end come down to what the user feel comfortable with. I've been burned with refurb stuff in the past, so I tend to avoid it unless its a jaw dropping deal.

[NumbaOneStunna]

lol, this Toms Hardware article testing the 955 uses the same motherboard for one of its test systems.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/processor-power-management,2453-14.html

Anyways, it probably is worthwile for the OP to pick up a cheap AM3 motherboard for DDR3 support and peace of mind.

Also, EVGA B-Stock is not necessarily refurb. It just meens it does not come with accessories. (dongles, driver CD, etc), BUT, sometimes they do send out refurbs.

[Goku]

That test was done on the am3 version of the board actually (noted on page 2). He should probably just get a 945 and a 480 at this point. Investing in a new mobo/ram is a bit much at this point.