Upgrading my rig for $500-$600

Yeah, with a budget build especially, ram speed is pretty trivial. Except in extreme cases, and this is very general... Ram Amount > Ram Speed > Ram Latency

If you eschew mail in rebates you're probably going to miss out on most of the best deals. At the end of the day all I care about is how many total dollars it cost me, even if some of it isn't coming back for a month or 2. Either way... we've shown that one can get into something decent for a decent price.

 

Not sure what you guys are talking about amount? The 1333 is 8GB the same amount as the 1600 Balistix. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. 8=8. 2x4=8... I think I can count. $75 < $80 also pretty sure. So no idea why you guys still pushing slow ram they are trying to get rid of with a rebate they hope most ppl will never fill out that costs more...

 

Not sure what I said, Bud.

We just got off on a tangent concerning general theory regarding Ram and how people focus on statistics that don't bear a lot of real world benefit. Nobody's calling into question your math competence.

 

I'm just trying to figure out why the amount of ram kept coming into question when both are 8. Yeah if one was 4 it would matter. Amount also is not always more important. For gaming after 8, speed or timings are more important.

I know it was your plan Khorn, to make me think I went insane with a crazy math problem where 8>8. Hope your happy, I will forever have to use my fingers when counting from now on.

 

The ram clock depends on the chipset. Currently the most power to ram clock comparison gives a preference to AMD at 1333, while Intel runs best around 1866.

Whenever I shop GPUs, I run with this monthly report:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

When making an upgrade, this portion of the report gives the best idea as to what will actually make an impact on your gaming. They tend to recommend to move up 3 slots when upgrading to see a noticeable improvement to your performance:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

 

I'm still rocking an i5 2500k with 8 gig of 1333 memory and a 560 ti. I know my video card is the sad point of this machine, and was thinking about getting a 760 to get some more life out of this computer. Do you guys think this is a good idea or should I budget to build an entire new machine.

I normally would build a new computer every 3 years and I've come upon that self imposed time limit, but this is the first time that the computer is still pretty solid and can run most new games at least at medium.

 

Honestly, You're sitting pretty good where you are. You don't need to rebuild. Maybe just focus on a couple points:

-Make sure you have a good cooler and get all the OC performance you can out of that 2500K.

-MAYBE add another 8 ram if you find a good deal.

-Definitely upgrade your card. I'd go with the following:

http://slickdeals.net/f/7053214-msi...mes-200-or-less-after-30-rebate-free-shipping

Use google wallet with newegg's mobile app and you can get an R9 280 for $185

 

I agree with what Khorne suggests, Waldo.

Quick question for you guys, since we're on the topic of system building/upgrading... My gf's computer took a dump (power supply went bad) and rather than put another 75 bucks into that POS, I have convinced her to let me build her a new system. I have all of the internal components picked out (I'll post them here later for anyone who's curious), but we can't agree on a case. I like the simple, modular, and (best of all) silent cases. My PC's case is an Antec Sonata Elite (they don't make them anymore, but the Sonata Proto is almost the same thing). My tower sits to my immediate right under the desk and you literally can't hear it running when it's on.

However, my gf wants a fancy-schmancy case with all of the bells and whistles (She wants a see-through side and any LEDs on the case). This means she wants a gaming case. However all of the additional intake/exhaust ports and about 800 fans will make it sound like we have a jet engine running in our game room. I tell her that I don't want that noise and that these huge fans are wholly unnecessary. Plus, most of the cases don't even have all of the fans for the ports that are built in to the case. This means that out of the box, we'd have unused fan ports that are open to the room. I've considered just covering up the unused ports with plastic wrap or lamination or electrical tape. I'd rather have control of the airflow, than just sticking fans wherever there happens to be some room.

I'll also be using the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo or Plus, so I can't have a fan on the side of the case that sits over the CPU. I've picked out a handful of silent cases, but she wants the fancy looking cases. Any suggestions or input on this matter? I'm pretty brand-loyal (Antec), but I've found a handful of other cases from other brands that look promising.

 

You will always get a better performance increase by saving money on your memory and buy 1333 and spend the extra money on a better video card. The faster memory is more important when running and AMD APU.

 

Well I am partial to 3 brands myself....Corsair, CoolerMaster and CaseLabs(high end High Dollar enthusiasts case). Cooler master HAF series are sweet cases. For asthetics though I like the Corsair Obsidian series. As for the fans to avoid the noise problem you get silent fans which have the rubber mounts and with the more fans you run you can run them at lower speeds to eliminate sound and still have plenty of air flow and cooling. Same thing with water cooling if you do a custom setup...give yourself more radiator with more fans running at a slower speed...system is virtually silent and you hear nothing.

 

You can do silent on a gaming case but you have to pay for the fans and replace any that came with the case. You want PWM and a mb with enough 4 pin fan connectors and good software to control them, Asus and Asrock I know have good management software to setup a profile that will keep them quiet. I use Cougars in all of my machines.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519 50013802 40000573&IsNodeId=1&SubCategory=573&Manufactory=13802&SpeTabStoreType=1

I have 2x140's and 4x120's. Sits right next to me and its dead silent. Love my Corsair but if she wants looks, NZXT really impressed me. Built a friend's wife a new machine with a red phantom 410 and everyone who saw it loved it.

 

Those are some nice fans at a good price, Daleon. I'll look those up if I'm not happy with the case's stock fans. Looks like we finally agreed on a case:

ZALMAN ZM-Z9 U3 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

The only thing I didn't like about this one is the crappy mesh filter for the PSU. I may want to cover one of the top fan ports with clear plastic or electrical tape. Otherwise, everything else looks good. It has several noise-reduction features that I liked, plus a pair of decent filters for the front and bottom fans. What really jumped out at me was the variable fan speed control on the front, and a dimmer for the fan LEDs. There is also a temperature probe you can place anywhere in the case that will display its output on the front panel. Not bad!

 

I'm a CoolerMaster Haf-X fanboy all the way. I'll readily admit that my system sounds like a military hovercraft, but I like it that way. I wear headphones literally 99% of the time anyway so I couldn't care less about the noise.

Those cougars are great fans. I'd say go with those or Noctuas... oh yeah... and Haf-X FTW.

 

Alot of bad stuff in the reviews on that case. The rebate sounds like usual hassle, they auto deny and make it a hassle so that could be a pita. Other is the front usb panel is a pass through, it has to plug to the back of the mb instead of on an actual internal usb 3.0 header, UGH. That is cheap. Most reviews even positive ones all agree, its just a cheap case. The looks to me are pretty plain jane.

I gave up on external temperate probes years ago, weren't really worth the effort for what they gave over mb sensors. Doesn't look common but atleast one guy's case fans came with 2 pin connectors and the fan controller is 3pin, funny.

Cases are a personal preference though. Even the best case have issues.

 

i got the 932 HAF, which while a full tower case, is VERY quiet.

 

Here's a good video by JayzTwoCents explaining why he uses the fans he uses and how he has them configured.

 

Yeah, I noticed that yesterday. Trying to do it via the website has always been iffy since they are strictly good for in store purchases. I just go in and get them instead of messing with the website.