ACHTUNG!: Severe computer-related geekiness ahead. If you don't want it rubbing off on you, flee now. This is your only warningcautionary.
So, it's tax season here in the USA, and this year's payback was rather... generous, for once. But instead of just packing away a portion of it and spending the rest willie-nillie, I had a plan this year. And it involved making the "family computer" (which is technically mine for the most part, having built and maintained it, but ze parents use it too) a bit more beastly. Been getting sick of playing more recent games such as Borderlands 1/2, the Batman Arkham games, and Just Cause 2 being only playable at ~15-20 FPS (on a 1360x766 monitor, too T_T), and the case was quite poorly designed TBH.
Starting with this:
AMD Phenom II x2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz dual-core; stock CPU fan
Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H AMD2/2+/3 mobo
8GB DDR2 RAM (4x2GB, 800MHz each)
One 500GB HDD (main) & two 2TB HDDs (my own personal hard drive & the backup)
EVGA nVidia GeForce GT 520 w/ 1GB DDR3 RAM
Silver Gigabyte GZ-M2
I bought a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler (~33 bucks x3), and after that I went about unlocking the CPU (apparently AMD likes to lock cores on their CPU's that they consider "unstable", then sell them as cheaper models
). I've tried to do this previously with the stock fan, but it overheated the moment it booted into windows and I tried to do anything. This time, though, it worked, and now I have both cores unlocked X3!! Sadly, I couldn't overclock the CPU without getting errors during stress testing, so I left it at 3.1GHz - though now I effectively have TWICE as much CPU power for 30 bucks more. Whoop!
Stupidly, I waited until AFTER installing the new CPU fan to put everything into the new case (an NZXT Tempest 410). Still managed it, but I really should've waited - although that would've meant waiting for the case to arrive
Also got a new graphics card (the most expensive upgrade, despite landing on the cheaper end of awesome: an nVidia GeForce GTX 750Ti), which was the most needed upgrade for gaming - that alone probably gave the most improvement game-wise.
Finally, got an actually adequate battery-backup UPS (600W, equal to the PSU in the system, even though I proably will never pull that much), because I'm paranoid, and a real gaming mouse (Anker 8000DPI Gaming Mouse - never heard of the company, but the reviews were most all good and it was nicely-priced), which I'll have to get used to since I've never owned one before.
By the end I had this:
AMD Phenom II x2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHzdual-core unlocked to quad-core; stock CPU fan Hyper 212 Evo CPU fan
Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H AMD2/2+/3 mobo [same, for now]
8GB DDR2 RAM (4x2GB, 800MHz each) [same, for now]
One 500GB HDD (main) & two 2TB HDDs (my own personal hard drive & the backup) [same]
EVGA overclocked nVidia GeForce GTX 520 w/ 2GB DDR3 RAM
EVGA overclocked nVidia GeForce GTX 750Ti w/ 2GB DDR5 RAM
NZXT Tempest 410 case ( a very nice case, btw. look at it!! x3 )
All that said, now my computer plays most games at 50~60FPS
Hopefully it'll stick for a few years before I need to do this all over again, though I'm looking to eventually upgrade the mobo to DDR3 (even though it's on the way out w/ DDR4 coming along ~.~), maybe get the AMD FX-8320 CPU, because its got 8 cores gawddayumet 8D Oh, and a new monitor, because 720p is so meh now.
So, it's tax season here in the USA, and this year's payback was rather... generous, for once. But instead of just packing away a portion of it and spending the rest willie-nillie, I had a plan this year. And it involved making the "family computer" (which is technically mine for the most part, having built and maintained it, but ze parents use it too) a bit more beastly. Been getting sick of playing more recent games such as Borderlands 1/2, the Batman Arkham games, and Just Cause 2 being only playable at ~15-20 FPS (on a 1360x766 monitor, too T_T), and the case was quite poorly designed TBH.
Starting with this:
AMD Phenom II x2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz dual-core; stock CPU fan
Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H AMD2/2+/3 mobo
8GB DDR2 RAM (4x2GB, 800MHz each)
One 500GB HDD (main) & two 2TB HDDs (my own personal hard drive & the backup)
EVGA nVidia GeForce GT 520 w/ 1GB DDR3 RAM
Silver Gigabyte GZ-M2
I bought a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler (~33 bucks x3), and after that I went about unlocking the CPU (apparently AMD likes to lock cores on their CPU's that they consider "unstable", then sell them as cheaper models
). I've tried to do this previously with the stock fan, but it overheated the moment it booted into windows and I tried to do anything. This time, though, it worked, and now I have both cores unlocked X3!! Sadly, I couldn't overclock the CPU without getting errors during stress testing, so I left it at 3.1GHz - though now I effectively have TWICE as much CPU power for 30 bucks more. Whoop!Stupidly, I waited until AFTER installing the new CPU fan to put everything into the new case (an NZXT Tempest 410). Still managed it, but I really should've waited - although that would've meant waiting for the case to arrive
Also got a new graphics card (the most expensive upgrade, despite landing on the cheaper end of awesome: an nVidia GeForce GTX 750Ti), which was the most needed upgrade for gaming - that alone probably gave the most improvement game-wise.Finally, got an actually adequate battery-backup UPS (600W, equal to the PSU in the system, even though I proably will never pull that much), because I'm paranoid, and a real gaming mouse (Anker 8000DPI Gaming Mouse - never heard of the company, but the reviews were most all good and it was nicely-priced), which I'll have to get used to since I've never owned one before.
By the end I had this:
AMD Phenom II x2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz
Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H AMD2/2+/3 mobo [same, for now]
8GB DDR2 RAM (4x2GB, 800MHz each) [same, for now]
One 500GB HDD (main) & two 2TB HDDs (my own personal hard drive & the backup) [same]
EVGA overclocked nVidia GeForce GTX 750Ti w/ 2GB DDR5 RAM
NZXT Tempest 410 case ( a very nice case, btw. look at it!! x3 )
All that said, now my computer plays most games at 50~60FPS
Hopefully it'll stick for a few years before I need to do this all over again, though I'm looking to eventually upgrade the mobo to DDR3 (even though it's on the way out w/ DDR4 coming along ~.~), maybe get the AMD FX-8320 CPU, because its got 8 cores gawddayumet 8D Oh, and a new monitor, because 720p is so meh now.
I am an envious person. This this not help me...
...I'll be in my corner quietly sobbing.
...I'll be in my corner quietly sobbing.
If it makes ya feel any better, I spent the last four-ish years w/ a computer that could barely play games from 2006 and before (mostly Fallout 3... at low settings), and even then was lucky to have it reach 30fps. And before that, the home comp was a Gateway slowpoke that really only worked well for a few lower-spec games. Nevermind the three friggin' vid cards that crashed - ALL of which were AMD's D< I've not bought an AMD card since, as the nVidia card I put in our old computer (old enough to run on the AGP socket! 
) lasted for years b4 giving out
This is the first time my compy has reached higher end specs, and I'm paying for it (may even need a new 2nd HDD soon, I found out this morning ~.~). Still makes it close to a $1k machine however, even though I use it all the time and not just for games, so the envy may be somewhat justified
) lasted for years b4 giving outThis is the first time my compy has reached higher end specs, and I'm paying for it (may even need a new 2nd HDD soon, I found out this morning ~.~). Still makes it close to a $1k machine however, even though I use it all the time and not just for games, so the envy may be somewhat justified
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