Bang for buck
 

I finally talked the wife into letting me upgrade my system. :yeah:

But my budget is limited.... :cry:

So im looking for the best bang for buck....

I'll need to keep my current graphics card, as im happy with it performance, maybe will upgrade it in a year. So im looking at upgrading the Mobo, CPU, RAM, and Case as my 7 year old system is struggling with todays multicore games.

I was thinking of getting :-

AMD Phenom II x4 965 @ 3.4 ghz. Black Edition, cpu.
Asus M4A79T - Deluxe ATX, mobo.
4gb ram (not to worried about this as its not too expensive)
CoolerMaster CM690 II, case.
Windows 7 ultimate 64bit OEM

What i would like to know is would this give me the best bang for buck?
If not can you suggest what would, that is similarly priced.

I was also looking at the i5 and i7 cpu's but didnt think the extra performace was worth the extra cost.

Just looking at the mobo, it seems quite old, about 18 months if I'm getting it right - so I'm wondering if there is something a bit newer you could get your mits on. That said Asus are usually great and if a board is still selling now then it must be good.

On the whole it's good, Intel are ahead with their core i stuff at the minute but still quite expensive so bang for buck you're looking good. I'd go for more RAM but that's an easy addition later.

If you really want to fly, get a solid state drive - again not cheap, but getting cheaper and an instant gain in speeds :yeah:

Whatever you choose, good luck. And finally - (whispers) how did you convince the wife, and could you speak to mine? :03:

Yes mobo is quite old, reason i chose this mobo is because the price is low. Same as the cpu. The build is based on what was good last year, which means i can now pick up the parts cheaper.

But I'm open to suggestions, if you can find a newer/better mobo/cpu for the same/similar price. Please post.

More RAM & Solid state drive, would love to get one/more, as my current HD is prob around 10 years old. But im stretching my buget as it is. Maybe next year (have to wait for the wife to get over this years build first :03:).

And how did i convice the wife to let me!!!! well it took the best part of 6 years. :D

I run AMD Phenom X4 and I like them alot. These are priced well and provide a lot of bang for the buck.

Coolmaster makes very nice cases. I have one on my kids computer. Sturdy design.

I did not see a power supply on your list. What do you have planned for power? I think it is wise to always go as powerful as you can concerning the supply. :03:

Asus makes good mobo IMO. However I have a MSI SL2 that Is a very nice board.

4 gig of ram is plenty IMO. The 64 bit OS will utilize your 4 gig without issue.

I would get a 955 be instead of the 965, both have an open multiplier so paying more for the 965 is pointless.

I already have a Corsair tx650 watt power surply, This will see me through until i can upgrade my HD4870 gfx card.

So i finally decided on :-

CPU. AMD Phenom II x4 965 BE (the 955 is only $10 cheeper and a few FPS slower in Benchmark tests. I did consider it but thought $10 is worth a few FPS).
NZ$ 253.13

Mobo. Asus M4A79T- Deluxe. (Kept with this.... I like the idea of 4 pci-e slots for when i can afford to put 4 gfx cards into it. Hey i can dream. right? :haha:).
NZ$ 358.47

RAM. Kingston Hyper X. 4gb - 2 x 2gb @1600mhz DDR3.
NZ$ 316.49

Op system. Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit OEM
NZ$ 334.53

Case. Coolermaster CM690 II
NZ$ 200.00

And if i can hide it from the wife, Samsung 21.5" P2250 wide LED
NZ$ 362.25 (Ideas with how i can sneak it into the house without her noticing would be helpful. :hmmm:)
:D

Total = NZ$ 1824.87

Shhhh, my budget is surposed to be $1500.

And yes we Kiwi's pay way more for hardware and software than other counties. :nope:

Hi there.

with a 64 Bit system... i would have had 6 Gigs of RAM...
But four is okay.
Maybe add the extra sticks when the GFX Card upgrade is due?

The 955 and 965 both have an open multiplier, you cna just kick the multi on your 955 up by one and voila, you have a 965.

Revised the build slightly to get within budget. And played one retailer against the other to get cost even lower.

AMD Phenom II x4 965 3.4Ghz BE. (Got them to lower the price so its the same price as the 955BE).
NZ$ 245.00

Asus M4A79XTD EVO Crossfire X. (had to change Mobo to save money).
NZ$ 204.75

PQI 2 x 2GB DDR3 @ 1333. (Changed RAM to save money)
NZ$ 92.81

Samsung 21.5" P2250 wide LCD 2ms 1920x1080.
NZ$ 352.69

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit OEM.
NZ$ 318.04

CoolerMaster Centurion 590 case, Black.
NZ$ 147.12

Total NZ$ 1453.22

already have :-
Corsair tx650w power surply.
ATI Radion HD4870, 1GB gddr5.
Western Digital 500gb HD @7200rpm SATA2 HD.
+ an 80gb HD (I use this one for the operating system)
DVD/RW drive.

Ordered them today.:yeah:
Just gotta wait til monday to build it now as most item wernt in stock.:cry: