Hardware Need help purchasing a few parts for my computer.

[kjb1686]

Hi everyone i am wishing to upgrade my gaming build right now i have a gtx 460 card which i wish to upgrade to a better one. I was thinking of a 660 or maybe a 670 or a equivalent one for a lower price i wouldn't mind sli'ing two cards that are cheaper to give me a bang for my buck. Also it doesn't matter the brand of the card the ones i gave are the only ones i know of. I have little to no knowledge involving amd cards so if i can get one cheaper i will. I want a cheap card roughly in the 250 - 350 price range that can run most modern games on the highest at 1080. Games such as metro, crysis, mafia 2 and the such.

Also i need a new motherboard and a maybe a new processor you guys can tell me i definitely need a motherboard though so i need help finding one. As for the processor i have is a i3 2120 i won't update this unless it will bottleneck my new graphics card. My motherboard died on me a while back so i haven't had any money to buy anything until now. So i was thinking of purchasing a motherboard and upgrading my processor if need be if i don't need to then i won't. The price range for a motherboard would be approximately 150-200 for one and i have no clue about purchasing one so i need some advice. Also what is the difference between ivy and sandy bridge cpus.

Also i don't know if i will need to upgrade my psu to a higher wattage one. I have one now and it is 500 watts i don't know if i would need to upgrade to power all these parts. If i do would you kindly recommend me a new one i have a corsair builder series right now. Also the price for this would be approximately 70-100 for one if i do.

 

[Fishaman P]

Processor: Core i5 2500K (will work on your current motherboard in all likelihood)
GPU: NVidia GTX 660 Ti. Since you're only playing at 1080p, anything higher would be overkill.
PSU: Even with your current setup, 500 watts is pushing it. You'll probably want AT LEAST 550W, probably 600W or 650W.

P.S. Sandy Bridge vs. Ivy Bridge:
Sandy Bridge is a tad cheaper and overclocks much better. Also has better motherboard support.
Ivy Bridge has lower power consumption and a better IGP, though that shouldn't matter since you have a graphics card.

 

[Originality]

The GTX 460 rates a bit higher than a HD 6790 or 5830. I see no reason to upgrade that for a while. The performance you gain for the amount of money you'd need to spend... bad bang-for-buck. As for SLI, don't do it if your only intent is gaming. Microstuttering ruins gaming (for those who can perceive it, and I'm definitely one of those people).
Same for the CPU - only upgrade that if you desperately need quad core (you don't). Ivy Bridge is basically the same as Sandy Bridge, only with a die shrink and minor tweaks. As an example, there's no compelling reason for me to upgrade from my 2500K to any Ivy Bridge on offer.
Get a Z77 motherboard, such as this one or better. It doesn't matter if you put a Sandy Bridge CPU in an Ivy Bridge motherboard - they work the same, only more updated features. Best motherboards to get right now are Sabertooth Z77 (ATX) or Maximus V Gene (mATX), if you want to afford them, but cheaper motherboards are still good.
PSU: 500W is actually enough for you. No need to upgrade unless you go SLI. And SLI would be silly.

If you really want an upgrade, buy a 120GB (or 250GB) SSD. That will give you a performance boost for a relatively fair price for the times. Either Crucial M4, Samsung 830, or OCZ Vertex 4, since they've all had price crashes.
Otherwise, save up. You don't really need an upgrade for another year at least.

EDIT: I should qualify one thing. I don't see the need to upgrade the GPU yet because new graphics cards from AMD and nVidia are announced for the next month. Until we (meaning I) see how they perform back to back in benchmark and gaming tests, I would hold out for upgrading unless it's REALLY needed.

And for Fisha, what motherboard? His previous threads were about his Asrock MoBo dying, hence looking for an upgrade. Although the 2500K is a definite upgrade for him... does he really need it? Games are not heavily CPU reliant and a Core i3 will be enough.

 

[kjb1686]

I already have a 64gb ssd which is more than enough but seeing as how newegg keeps having sales for the 120 for like 60 i am tempted to buy one of those. Yeah the only thing i really need is a mobo if my gpu, cpu and psu, are fine then i might just get a mobo for now and then save up for something else. If a card comes out in the next month and outperforms my 460 then i might upgrade. So for now and future games do you think the 460 will last for a little while longer or should i update it sooner or later.

 

[Originality]

Definitely will last you a while. But don't take my word for it. Get a new motherboard, put it all together, and play your games. If it's lagging, find out of it's CPU lag, GPU lag, or HDD lag. Once you find out, then you can used the money you saved by not upgrading straight away to get whatever it is you need.

 

[kjb1686]

Alright then i think i will do that i was considering getting a small tablet also so i can use the money i saved to buy one. I will look up some mobos and see if they will work for me the one you linked to was nice but i will look around for the best deal thanks for your help.

 

[Originality]

And as usual, stay away from Asrock, Biostar, Foxconn, and any other motherboards that are made by similarly low standard companies. Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, even stock Intel motherboards will all serve you much better.

 

[muckers]

There are new GeForce GTX cards out, too - non-Ti versions of the GTX 650 and 660. The 650 isn't worth looking at but the GTX 660 would be a definite upgrade for you, but at a reasonable cost.

http://www.hwcompare.com/13331/geforce-gtx-460-vs-geforce-gtx-660/

I have the 650 (I was building on a budget) and I'm pretty impressed, particularly for the price.

 

[kjb1686]

Okay i found this mobo for 129 and is 10 cheaper but i don't know if this would be a good one the features seem nice but i don't know. Anyways here is the link to it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130645

If it isn't any good then i might get the asus that was linked and recomended.

 

[Originality]

It's one of the lower range from MSI, but nothing wrong with it.