[DIY] Advice on upgrade

[tootoo]

Hi guys I intend to upgrade my PC soon. Im thinking of building around a raid 0 (2 x 3tb hdd) and r9 280x or r9 285 for GPU and 16gb ram. I have optical drive already and 22" monitor.

Please advise:
what kind of motherboard+processor I should get?
should I upgrade my monitor to make use of the better gpu? if yes to what size will be optimal?
Between 280x and 285, which is more value for money? Any better cards around this range?
How much would the whole purchase cost together with the components you suggest?

Thanks!

 

[Alternative X]

1) What games are you playing with this rig?

2) State model of monitor that you are using.

3) 8GB RAM are good enough for gaming, you do not need 16GB RAM.

4) Why do you want to set up a RAID 0 array with 2 HDDs? A SSD would be very much faster and less prone to failure than a RAID 0 HDD array.

5) A R9 280X is faster than a R9 285. A R9 280 would be better value for your $$$ as they are very cheap right now.

6) State components of your current rig.

7) Budget?

 

[tootoo]

1) Currently playing only dota and some paradox games and football manager. But sometimes I play a bit of more demanding games but not so much now.

2) Samsung 2253LW

3) Just thought might as well get 2 x 8gb so I don't need to upgrade in future

4) SSD space too small, so I thought I'd get more space and hopefully increase abit of performance with raid 0. Non critical data.

5) Thanks. I will consider that as well.

6) This rig quite old maybe 3-4 years. I only know its 4gb ram and gpu is r5850. Only gonna reuse the optical drive from this

7) Havent really put a fixed range. But most probably between 1.3k to 2k maximum for the cpu

 

[Alternative X]

CPU+ Mobo: MSI B85-G41 PC MATE + i5 4460 (357)
RAM: G.SKILL RIPJAWS-X 1600MHZ ( 4GBx2pcs ) CL9 (115)
GPU: POWERCOLOR R9 280 3GB TURBODUO (285)
SSD: CRUCIAL MX100 256GB (160)
HDD: TOSHIBA 3TB 7200RPM (138)
DVD-RW: LG 24X DVD-RW SATA OEM (25)
PSU: SUPERFLOWER HX 600 (99)
Case: CORSAIR 200R (85)
OS: WINDOWS 7 HOME PREM (120)
Monitor: DELL S2340L (219)

Total cost: $1603

Buy at PC Themes, #04-15, and ask for discounts. DIY yourself. If you can't into DIY, get PC Themes to assemble for you for a fee.

Notes:

1) An i5 is good enough for general gaming porposes regardless of the type of games that you are playing. Just wondering, what mobo+ CPU combo are you using in your old system? CPUs are hard to get obsolete as games generally depend more on GPU processing power rather than CPU processing power and a GPU will become obsolete much faster than a CPU.

2) The R9 280 will be sufficiently powerful enough to run your more commonly played games at max settings in 1080p. More demanding AAA games can be ran at High settings in 1080p.

3) Only 8GB RAMs are provided as 8GB RAMs are good enough for gaming. As the B85-G41 has 4 RAM slots, if you want more RAM, can also reuse your old 4GB RAMs with the new RAMs and get a system with 12GB RAMs without any issues as long as your RAMs are DDR3 RAMs.

4) Would still rather that you get a 256GB SSD for your OS and games with lots of in-game loading and a 3TB HDD for everything else and get the best of both worlds. No harm using a SSD with a HDD, they are just storage devices in the end. Can also reuse the HDDs from your old system into the new system, the B85-G41 has 6 SATA ports avaliable for your drives.

5) What casing are you using? Can also consider reusing the casing as well.

6) The Dell S2340L is a 23'' monitor with a resolution of 1920X1080 and uses a IPS panel for good colour reproduction.

6) Got Mastercard? Consider buying the SSD from lazada.com on a Monday and get 10% discounts when you pay with a Mastercard.

 

[tootoo]

Hmm now that you mention it..

I just got home and checked, using GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H + amd phenom II x4 955

For the RAM must they be exact same model?

 

[ivanykx1]

Hmm now that you mention it..

I just got home and checked, using GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H + amd phenom II x4 955

For the RAM must they be exact same model?

nope dont have to be exact same model..
but if you want to achieve dual channel you must:
-matched DIMM configuration in each channel
-matched in both Channel A and Channel B memory channels
-have the same density..
note: your memory channel speed is determined by the slowest DIMM

 

[Alternative X]

Hmm now that you mention it..

I just got home and checked, using GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H + amd phenom II x4 955

For the RAM must they be exact same model?

A Phenom II X4 should still be good enough for modern games, don't think that you will need to change your CPU.

In my opinion, I think that you just need a RAM upgrade, a GPU upgrade, a new SSD and a new 3TB HDD. No need to get a new system, save lots of $$$.

No harm mixing RAMs/RAM kits of different models, at most they run in single channel only. Just remember to put each of your RAM kits into the same colour slots to allow your RAM kits to be ran at dual-channel.

What PSU and casing are you using, though? State brand and model of the PSU and casing.