# Upgrade time



## ste2425 (May 28, 2010)

As allot of you probably no ive been planning on upgrading for a while, asking for advice on psu's, gpu's and soundcards. Well now ive come into a bit of money, more hours at work so i can afford, hopefully, so upgrade all the above mentioned. So here's what ive decided on so far any thoughts and comments or better prices etc would be highly welcome.

Gpu:
Ive decided on  HD5770 (I may go for a 5830/50 if i have enough extra cash left over but thats doubtful)
Ive been able to find for for £99 quid thanks to Tatty_One 
http://www.videocardshop.co.uk/produ...id=HD-577X-ZNF
Looks quite good, i myself havent been able to find one cheaper.

Next is the PSU:
Ill be upgrading this as a high priority, so if i carn't afford the sound card or GPU this will come first and ill wait for the others. 
Ive found two.
One is a 400w corsair CX for £40. 
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150985
And the other is again a corsair but 450w VX series for £53.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131052
My question is would 400w be enough for that gpu and the rest of my rig? if not would 450 even be enough?

Sound card:
Is going to be the Asus Xonar DS for £39. Ive no questions for this im perfectly sound on getting this card.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166836

So basicly whats your opinions guys? Ill be getting paid this friday so that's when ill be ordering it all, im looking forward to taking a photo of the boxes all together just as much as using it all 

And thanks again to all the guys n gals who gave me advice when i was do my research for this upgrade


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## Cuzza (May 29, 2010)

I would say the 400w will do fine, but what is wrong with the one you have? aside from being a shitty brand.


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## GSquadron (May 29, 2010)

Go for the xfx 650 W PSU as that is better of what you are searching for and will welcome everything you throw at it. Don't buy the sound card for now and the money you have use them for the PSU. From all reviews the xfx one was the best


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## Fourstaff (May 29, 2010)

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...W+Silent+ATX2.2+Power+Supply+?productId=39205

Not as good as the Corsair, but will be able to take in a 5770 without any problems, and OCZ is not too bad for PSU. Its only a few £ cheaper, but if you are really tight with your cash that is a good option. 

The 450VX can only take 3 amps more in the 12V rail, so its not a good but IMHO compared to the 400CX

Your linky to the video card is broken.

Edit: This is another good one:Be Quiet 530W Pure Power PSU - 120mm Fan Dual 12V ... Be Quiet is a German PSU, and we all know Germans produce rather good hardware.


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## ste2425 (May 29, 2010)

i think ill be going for the OCZ psu, ive heard allot of good things about that brand and seen a large amount of people on here with them, plus its over £10 cheaper which is all great. I no people will try and recomend the bigger and better one even though it may not be needed, thats what TPU is all about, but if anyone has anything to say about that OCZ PSU feel free to voice it. Plus i will hopefully be able to afford the sound card then which i am in desperate need of to set up my surround sound properly.


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## JrRacinFan (May 29, 2010)

After seeing a few problems arise recently with OCZ power supplies, I think you should go with the Corsair. Although with that said even Corsair had problems in the past.

IMO, you should take a peak at this one, as it should provide you a little longevity with it's 2x PCI-e 6 pin connections:
FSP Bluestorm 500W PSU - 5x SATA 2x PCI-E - Ebuyer


Oh and if you can't go up to a 5850 next best thing is the 5770.

Just curious why the sound card?


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## Dent1 (May 29, 2010)

ste2425,

Your current 4850 is almost as fast as the 5770, the difference between the two cards isnt enough to justify changing video cards. Keep your 4850, sell your motherboard/CPU and buy a Phenom II X4/Athlon II X4 and motherboard AM2+/AM3 instead, if you can pick up a AM2+/AM3 motherboard with crossfire support for about £60-70 later down the tine you could even find a secondary 4850 for $60 on ebay, two 4850s in crossfire is almost as fast as a single 5850!


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## JrRacinFan (May 29, 2010)

Dent1 said:


> ste2425,
> 
> Your current 4850 is almost as fast as the 5770, the difference between the two cards isnt enough to justify changing video cards. Keep your 4850, sell your motherboard/CPU and buy a Phenom II X4/Athlon II X4 and motherboard AM2+/AM3 instead, if you can pick up a AM2+/AM3 motherboard with crossfire support for about £60-70 later down the tine you could even find a secondary 4850 for $60 on ebay, two 4850s in crossfire is almost as fast as a single 5850!



See my post above. Going that route he can then sell the 2nd 4850 and go with 2x 5770's and then be faster than a 5850. I don't see you're point.


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## Fourstaff (May 29, 2010)

If you are going crossfire, then 400w is no longer enough. the 5770 puts less strain on the power supply, so I would go for that.


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## Dent1 (May 29, 2010)

JrRacinFan said:


> See my post above. Going that route he can then sell the 2nd 4850 and go with 2x 5770's and then be faster than a 5850. I don't see you're point.



The 5770 is about £130 in the uk, where as the 4850 is only £75 new or £60 used.

If the OP sells his current 4850 he will only get about £60 back! 2x5770s cost about £260 which means he will have to make up about £200 from his own pocket, whereas he has a 1x4850 already so he just needs £60 more for a second one - hence the 2x4850 for £60 opposed to 2x5770 for £200! That is a saving of about £140 for a solution that is only slightly slower.


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## JrRacinFan (May 29, 2010)

Dent1 said:


> The 5770 is about £130 in the uk, where as the 4850 is only £75 new or £60 used.
> 
> If the OP sells his current 4850 he will only get about £60 back! 2x5770s cost about £260 which means he will have to make up about £200 from his own pocket, whereas he has a 1x4850 already so he just needs £60 more for a second one - hence the 2x4850 for £60 opposed to 2x5770 for £200! That is a saving of about £140 for a solution that is only slightly slower.



OK well even taking that route he would need to purchase a new motherboard anyways.


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## ste2425 (May 29, 2010)

that makes no sense what so ever, if i want crosfire i need a new mobo which equals more cash out of my pocket aswell as a more expensive power supply, never mind having to buy another 4850 then the larger electric bill. Thanks for the option and input is appreciated but it doesn't seem financially viable or worth it for me. Plus going through the hassle of having to sell my other 4850 if i bought one and crossfired it i carn't be doing with that. The 5770 is more of a side-grade rather then an upgrade, I aint upgrading for higher performance as such, whilst i will notice a bit, im upgrading for power consumption, dx11 and all the other qualities the 5 series has over the 4 series.

And the sound card is because my mobo has no on-board surround digital output. Which i need to use my surround sound set-up and that card was what you guys recommended.


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## Dent1 (May 29, 2010)

ste2425, 

I was only negative about a single 5770 only because it is a sideways upgrade, I personally wouldn’t shoot below a 5850 for a single card upgrade. 

I was only suggesting the 2x4850 opposed to the 2x5770 because I was under the presumption that you were buying a new motherboard with crossfire in the distant future. My actual advice was to hang on to your current hardware, but if you were itching to upgrade trade your current CPU/memory/motherboard for a Athlon/Phenom X4 + AM2+/AM3 motherboard (with crossfire support) which could be bought for the same value. The secondary 4850 would be further down the line and by which point you would be crossfire ready from the upgrade before.


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## JrRacinFan (May 29, 2010)

Was just wondering bout the sound card. It's a nice one.

ALso I was looking up some user input on your current power supply. If you want you can wait a little longer to pickup a power supply and save up a little more to get like maybe a Corsair tx650. I'm figuring on how long you had that power supply and if you go the 5770 route it would pull less from the psu itself.


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## ste2425 (May 29, 2010)

dent1 i didnt mean to sound rude there i appritiate your input and options but ive never wanted to go crossfire and i doubt i will, i gues i should have said that at the begining. I am a bit sceptical now about the 5770 ill have to do a bit more research into it but now im at a toss between the 5770 and 5850 itl all depend on cash, ive waited long enough for this upgrade. 

And JrRacinFan what have you heard on my PSU? i thought it was just a cheapo no brand that i shouldnt trust very shiny new hardware with? bit like Michael Jackson with 'people'.


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## Cuzza (May 29, 2010)

I had a colorsit PSU like yours for a while a couple of years ago, never had any problems with it. 

I think it is adequate for powering your setup, and remember a 5770 needs significantly less power than a 4850. Even a 5850 uses slightly less power than the 4850 so you ain't going to need more unless you upgrade to a quad core processor or go crossfire which is a PITA idea from your position.

If it's not giving you issues I wouldn't bother changing it unless it is noisy or doesn't have the connectors you need or some other reason. I suppose snob value counts, maybe you don't want to show up to a LAN with one. But that's up to you!


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## JrRacinFan (May 29, 2010)

Cuzza said:


> I had a colorsit PSU like yours for a while a couple of years ago, never had any problems with it.
> 
> I think it is adequate for powering your setup, and remember a 5770 needs significantly less power than a 4850. Even a 5850 uses slightly less power than the 4850 so you ain't going to need more unless you upgrade to a quad core processor or go crossfire which is a PITA idea from your position.
> 
> If it's not giving you issues I wouldn't bother changing it unless it is noisy or doesn't have the connectors you need or some other reason. I suppose snob value counts, maybe you don't want to show up to a LAN with one. But that's up to you!



This about sums up my point exactly in my previous post. Thanks Cuzza!


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## Cuzza (May 30, 2010)

No prob Jr


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## ste2425 (May 30, 2010)

hmmm ok then well i gues i could save money on the psu for the gpu. Its nothing to do with snob value ive turned upto lans with an old pentium 4 and a hd 2900 xt before its just i thought it was a cheap no brand one that wasn't very reliable and wouldnt be able to handle a 5 series card. The rest of my rig is staying the same so i think i could save money from the psu for the gpu thanks guys


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## ste2425 (May 30, 2010)

ok ive worked it out looks like ill have a max budget of 140-160 quid. Looks like itl just be the 5770  oh well.


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## Cuzza (May 31, 2010)

OK so which brand are you going for?


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## ste2425 (May 31, 2010)

i honestly dont no, the cheapest, done the same with my 4850 and had no problems


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## JrRacinFan (May 31, 2010)

XFX and Sapphire have been good as of late. See if you can nab a reference card with software voltage control.


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## mdsx1950 (May 31, 2010)

I have a Sapphire 5750. It runs really well with no probs. So i recommend the Sapphire! And i own two XFX 5970s which run really great so I recommend XFX as well.!    lol

The Vapor-X models are also superb. Other than that, XFX, Asus ( the CuCore looks good!  ) and Powercolor is good choice too.


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## ste2425 (Jun 1, 2010)

ive been thinking about it a bit more and im leaning to the thought do i really need a ned gpu? I mean i do get good performance and even metro is highly played, not maxed out but with still a very nice level of detail. So with that idea in mind im thinking about a nice new case, a nice looking good quality mobo to allow for decent overclock's and use my current mobo and the rest of the cash, if i have any left, to build a nice little HTPC. I have the cpu and mobo if i buy a new one so all id need is a case psu and ram. All of which wont cost an arm and a leg. I think the reason i feel the need to upgrade, now i think about it more, is not that my rig doesn't still perform as i would like but because its a major eyesore. Side pannels are bent, scratches huge cable mess. Ill think about it and either way ill be posting pictures which ever route i choose to go. i no how much TPU like pictures  thanks for the advice and help guys youve given me some serious contemplation to do.


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## JrRacinFan (Jun 1, 2010)

IMO, if you're going to switch the board do it properly and make it a full upgrade.


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## ste2425 (Jun 1, 2010)

thats true and go for a 'Ix' whatever setup. But then isn't the i3/5/7 wat ever still rather over the top for most gaming needs? I mean most dont use quad cores at the mo so if i stick with socket 775 i can get a quad in the future and by time games start to use more then four cores ill be ready for an upgrade anyway?

edit: well ive gone a thrown a right spanner in the works, got pulled by the police today for speeding so thats £60 and 3 points yay, hmm maybe so now ill be waiting even longer


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