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Krisnatharok
PC Builder, Gamer
Premium Member
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit

Krisnatharok to McBrain

Premium Member

to McBrain

Re: In need of an upgrade, requesting advice and suggestions.

The i3-2130 will get the job done, and is probably equivalent to the 965 Phenom II, but for $40 extra, you can get an i5/Ivy Bridge quad core 3.1 GHz (3.5 GHz boost): »www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 19116506

That $40 will double your cores and make a world of difference. This still comes in under your original $800 and is worth only a dinner out or a new game. I'd jump for the extra CPU power.

You're scraping the bottom of the barrel with that mobo. 1x SATA 6 port, one PCIe 2.0 slot (at x4 means not x16? - edit: although it has a PCIe 3.0 slot at 16x so you should be set for your GPU), two ram slots (have to go with 8 GB dims if you want 16 GB ever).

B75 is a budget chipset and probably not going to be produced in large numbers--I would avoid it and go stay with Z77 or the older Z68. I've had a bad experience with a sub-$100 board and like putting nice mobos in my preference.

Assuming you are aware of the limitations I mentioned in the first paragraph, go with it. While rated at only 450w, the PSU should handle the 6870 just fine, and has a nice 5 year warranty.

The 6870 is a great GPU at that price point. I don't know if I'd go with HIS, but the model is good.

The only thing you ought to consider via Microcenter is the CPU and possibly a CPU/motherboard combo (they routinely offer an extra $50-100 off if you buy them together).

McBrain
BRB Face Melting
join:2010-05-06
Marietta, GA

McBrain

Member

Yeah, I was just looking around on their site and found the i5 3750k for less than $200: »www.microcenter.com/sing ··· =0388577

If I went with it I would definitely go with the Z77 mobo...thing is I am having to learn all this stuff as I go...

The HIS card was basically the first one I saw, I would probably go with Sapphire, which is like 10 bucks more.

And I'll definitely search Microcenter more, buying a CPU/Mobo combo at a $100 discount would be pretty nice. Even if I couldn't get up there myself to pick it up, it would be more than enough to pay a buddy to drive it down or meet me half way.

Krisnatharok
PC Builder, Gamer
Premium Member
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit

Krisnatharok

Premium Member

Check out page 3 (top left-hand side) and page 27: »viewer.zmags.com/publica ··· 9b0e8/27