Looking to upgrade my motherboard. Please advise.

[Celice]

eesh, any decent video card is going to require probably 500W with a CPU upgrade, you're going to be bottlenecked by this

Are you sure? I've seen testbeds for overclocked 7970s that, at highest overclock for CPU and GPU, used about 432W at peak.

However, a reliable powersupply is good for any build. If a power supply decides to fritz, it could take more components with it, Snowy_One.

You should give us your budget, and HARD LINES OF WHAT YOU DO AND DO NOT WANT. It's very easy for people to tell you this and that and with $30 more and if you just and so on and so forth. In the end, this is YOUR computer. Let us know your side of things. You've said Skyrim on average settings. If you don't want mods, you can get away with that on what you have now probably, with a GPU upgrade.

[Skynstein]

You only need a new mobo if you want a Haswell (Intel 4th gen) CPU.

In this case, you should look into upgrading the CPU instead and then think about a mobo. You'll need a Z97 or H97 chipset if you upgrade to a Haswell CPU like the i5 4690, which is a recommendable upgrade if you want the extra kick.

The GPU will need upgrading as well. GT 520 is too weak for anything. If you only want to run Skyrim, then generation-old cards like GTX 660 Ti should be more than enough, and cheaper than when they were new.

But i5 4690 would be overkill for Skyrim anyway.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Cerberus87

[Integrity]

Are you sure? I've seen testbeds for overclocked 7970s that, at highest overclock for CPU and GPU, used about 432W at peak.

always err on the side of caution.

[Snowy_One]

My current budget is about 4-500 bucks.

What I want is to be able to play at least Skyrim on medium/high settings and to be able to last at least another few years. 5 years would be preferable.

Edit: And yes, I do want mods.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Snowy_One

[Celice]

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

This is always a good generic framework to look at costs and performance. When you've got a gist of an idea, you can actually check out the pieces and their prices, reviews, whatever, and narrow it down further.

Exceptional and over are stupidly powerful and strictly for enthusiasts. If you just want to play games, you don't need to look anywhere near that part.

[Skynstein]

My current budget is about 4-500 bucks.

What I want is to be able to play at least Skyrim on high settings and to be able to last at least another few years. 5 years would be preferable.

Edit: And yes, I do want mods.

Problem is that a machine that's just enough to run Skyrim on high isn't going to last as long as you want...

[Celice]

It depends. Running recent games at 1920x1080, as opposed to something like 1366x720, is a big jump in frame size and for many games performance cost.

[Magical CC]

Basically I'm looking to be able to play Skyrim, maybe not at 'max' settings, but at something better than low/minimum that's also gonna last me a few more years. ATM I basically have to run Civ BE at minimum settings to keep problems from arising.

Increase your standard, man. Skyrim is pretty easy on the hardware, it has surprisingly low requirement for a beautiful open-world game. If your goal is to play Skyrim then you will never able to play any current games even with medium setting since my PC which can rock the hell out of Skyrim has already show its limit with the newer games. Try aiming for something tougher like Rome 2, with 500$, you can do it (I hope).

Or at least something that can use max setting from Skyrim's highrex pack. That highrex pack is what will bully your pc, not the original game.

[Celice]

Adding on an ENB will help push your card too. High VRAM and memory speed helps with postfx shaders :)

[Snowy_One]

Considering I have no idea what each game takes in graphical power, I'll just take your word for it.

Anyways, Black Friday is coming up, so with a little bit of luck and begging, I may be able to get some better parts.

ATM it sounds like I need to...

1) Upgrade my computers power source to at least 500 (should I be going higher? Do I need to get a new case in addition to the power source?)

2) Improve my Mobo to the limits of what an LGA 1155 can do/buy a new mobo.

3) Upgrade my graphics card.

Is that right?

Is there a simple way to know what I should get and should avoid when I go down to the store?

[Celice]

Are you buying your parts locally or online? If locally, see what ones will be willing to pricematch online stores.

[eclipse]

Considering I have no idea what each game takes in graphical power, I'll just take your word for it.

Anyways, Black Friday is coming up, so with a little bit of luck and begging, I may be able to get some better parts.

ATM it sounds like I need to...

1) Upgrade my computers power source to at least 500 (should I be going higher? Do I need to get a new case in addition to the power source?)

2) Improve my Mobo to the limits of what an LGA 1155 can do/buy a new mobo.

3) Upgrade my graphics card.

Is that right?

Is there a simple way to know what I should get and should avoid when I go down to the store?

If you're going to do that much, why not just completely replace your computer?

[Snowy_One]

Too be honest, that's probably what's going to end up happening. I've got parts from my current computer, harddrives, memory, and the like, that I can re-use so building a new one sounds like it wouldn't cost too much more anyways.

And here's the way I see it.

If I want to reach my goal I need either a new motherboard or a new card. In order for either of quality, especially down the road, it sounds like I will need a better engine, so at least a 500 watt one is good.

Then I need either a new mobo or a new card. Regardless if which one I get now, if I want to keep my current computer running, I'll need to upgrade the other one down the road.

Edited November 16, 2014 by Snowy_One

[Integrity]

in all honesty as far as price goes, here's the lowdown:

your mobo and cpu will probably need replaced together, there's just not enough life left in the 1155 socket and hell, you'll probably get more performance for the same price upgrading mobo+cpu as compared to just upgrading the cpu here.

your video card will want to be replaced.

a 500w psu is a steady one that's a little bit overkill, but 300w just isn't good enough.

GOOD NEWS

your RAM is already DDR3, which will fit in pretty much any newer motherboard, and you've got enough of it.

your various drives are (?) working.

(hypothetically) your case is still fine, you can get a socket AM3+ motherboard in micro ATX no problem.

cost-wise, before any sales, taking my build (perfectly fine for skyrim, runs everything up to shadow of mordor beautifully, six-core ~3ghz w/ GTX 650) as an example

mobo $60

cpu $100

gfx $100

psu $80 (give or take)

grand total only $340, and that replaces everything we're talking about. if you can work in your case and you like the case, i'd say keep it - otherwise you can use that extra play money to scope out a new one if you're itching.

this also presumes that the new psu/gfx will fit in your case, which i've uh, had not happen on one occasion building a computer for a mate. i had to get creative~

[Snowy_One]

The case size shouldn't be an issue as my dad works in computer repair and likely can find one. Only reason I didn't ask him first is because he deals with macs, but even if that doesn't work I have some... connections.

So, a quick laundry-list summery of the parts you guys would suggest then?

[Excellen Browning]

I really need to caution you guys on the entire power supply thing. As far as I can remember, system builders like Dell use other formats than what is generally available aftermarket, aka a new one might not fit. Also considering his system 400 or 450 watt power supplies will probably be plenty, but it is true it's better to err on the side of caution.

[Snowy_One]

My dad did some research and found four power supplies from Dallas Pro Sales.

Logisys with the following power supplies. 480, 550, 575, 750 for 20/25/30/80 respectively. Any suggestions?

Edit: Things just got REALLY bad! I was contacted by a person claiming to represent teamviewer claiming I had a bunch of malware on my computer. I was foolish and let them lead me a bit of the way (I should have just said that I'd have it checked tomorrow) to the point of giving them remote access. I didn't even know such a thing was possible. I've already disconnected my computer, removed the wireless, deleted the item, and withdrawn my money from my bank account (thankfully I don't use a credit card) and will be bringing up the potential fraud issues tomorrow, but I don't know how at risk my computer is, though I suspect it's still very at-risk. What should I do?

Edited November 18, 2014 by Snowy_One

[Celice]

How long was it between you giving them remote access and you pulling the plug on everything?

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/2mm6yb/combo_amd_fx8310_34ghz_eightcore_cpuasus_m5a78lm/

Dunno if this would interest you. Sometimes the bundles aren't too shabby.

[Snowy_One]

About 10 seconds to 1 minute. I wasn't exactly keeping track.

Also, remember that, to me, this is gibberish.

[Integrity]

480 is almost definitely sufficient

[Snowy_One]

Alright. I talked to a guy at my dads job and he suggested a Nivida 770(0?) video card. That sound good/right?

Edit: And how good is that computer linked above by Celice?

Edited November 18, 2014 by Snowy_One

[Celice]

I'd personally say that computer is average, but I mean, it'll still get the job done well enough for basic gaming. In my experience intel processors are more efficient for emulating Gamecube/Wii, but I can't say if that's because the architecture or because the developers have that themselves or something like that. AMD processors overclock pretty well, but eat up a lot of power and so their temps ought to be watched for if you're gonna overclock.

Bundles are nice because generally, everything is going to work together without a problem, which can be reassuring to people who haven't built a computer before. It's just a matter of putting it all together. However, you may not need half that stuff if you've already a hard drive, case, and RAM. I dunno if it's cost effective for you or just extra junk you wouldn't want. Check out the comments in the reddit thread to see what others have said about it.

A GTX 770 is good. I'd say on the spectrum from weakest to greatest, it's probably a notch or three above the middle (middle being better than what the last consoles can manage). You would want to make sure you had enough in your power supply for it, including the correct PCI-E cords (I dunno what the GTX 770 uses, and this can vary by manufacturer, but it may be a combo of 6-pin and 8-pin).

[Snowy_One]

Alright. Crunch-time as tomorrow we're going shopping. Think this is solid?

For power-supply I'm gonna go for the 480 watt with a 5$ wriggle-room for a 500 watt power-supply. If it's only a few bucks more I don't see why I shouldn't give myself a bit of extra wriggle-room.

For the graphics card I'm gonna hunt for a Nivida 770 or, if I'm lucky, an 880. I saw one for sale on Ebay for 30 bucks, but that kinda seems suspicious.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/331180723908?lpid=82

If you wanna weigh-in, awesomesauce.

For the motherboard I'm either going to go with this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157323 or seek out a new motherboard all together.

If push comes to shove I'll just outright go with what Int suggested, though I'm hoping to find a bit of a better deal with the upcoming sales.

[Celice]

More wattage is generally better. There's more to look for regarding the rails and their voltage amounts or some other gibberish that is important. The highest thing is to buy a good brand. If you skimp on a PSU, if it shits on you, it can take other components with it if you are unlucky.

880 does not exist last I knew, other than as a laptop brand 880m. And you never, ever want to buy a mobile quality GPU. That's what you linked to--stay the fuck away from it. I'm not even sure how you'd get it with a desktop mobo without some weird adapters.

A GTX 770 is mind-fucks better than the mobile thing you're looking at.

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales

That motherboard is only for AMD processors, so ensure that is what you're going to buy, and also that it supports whatever socket if that's a thing for your processor.

Check out http://pcpartpicker.com/ and you can see what the aggregate price is for many pieces of hardware, as well as check out competing prices.

The biggest thing is to not rush your purchase. You may end up stunting or making a bad purchasing decision. And if you were waiting for blackfriday/cybermonday/greenthursday/whatever, you're better off watching that bapcsales subreddit for the good deals. Like when HD 7970s were going for $130-150 USD.

[Snowy_One]

Edit: Wrong topic.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Snowy_One