• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Upgrade path advice.

What should I do?


  • Total voters
    19

TheMailMan78

Big Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
22,599 (3.68/day)
Location
'Merica. The Great SOUTH!
System Name TheMailbox 5.0 / The Mailbox 4.5
Processor RYZEN 1700X / Intel i7 2600k @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 / Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Intel LGA 1155
Cooling MasterLiquid PRO 280 / Scythe Katana 4
Memory ADATA RGB 16GB DDR4 2666 16-16-16-39 / G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB DDR3 1866: 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s) MSI 1080 "Duke" with 8Gb of RAM. Boost Clock 1847 MHz / ASUS 780ti
Storage 256Gb M4 SSD / 128Gb Agelity 4 SSD , 500Gb WD (7200)
Display(s) LG 29" Class 21:9 UltraWide® IPS LED Monitor 2560 x 1080 / Dell 27"
Case Cooler Master MASTERBOX 5t / Cooler Master 922 HAF
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec / SupremeFX X-Fi with Bose Companion 2 speakers.
Power Supply Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-750PX 750W Platinum / SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Mouse SteelSeries Sensei (RAW) / Logitech G5
Keyboard Razer BlackWidow / Logitech (Unknown)
Software Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Benchmark Scores Benching is for bitches.
Well its that time of the year again for TheMailMan. Daddy needs a new toy. Only this year my choices are great and my wallet is small. So what should I do?

1. Get a Phenom II X6.
Pros:
-Its a six core!
-Six core would help me with Photoshop which I make a living with.
-It will OC to 3.6 by default using "turbo" for single threaded applications.
-I could sell my 955 for 120 and get the x6 for 170!

Cons:
-Its the FIRST AMD six core for desktop.
-Other than Photoshop I don't really have a use for more than 3 cores.
-I already have a 955.
-I'm running DDR2

2. Get another 5850.
Pros:
-Its a 5850 for f@#k sake.
-I already have one and a second would bring me crossfire bliss.
-I have an open PCI-E slot thats lonely.

Cons:
-Its 300 bones!
-A single 5850 is overkill for most games and crossfire isn't always supported.
-The cost of two 5850s put me in 5970 range without 5970 performance.

3. Get a PS3.
Pros:
-The PS3 has a ton of games I have been dieing to play.
-Plays Blu-Ray which I currently do not have.
-The system is way cheaper than it used to be.
-It would piss the wife off!

Cons:
-Game cost. 59 bucks for games that do not support dedicated servers.
-I can get a Blu-Ray player for my PC a lot cheaper.
-I play mostly FPS and this is a console. Nuff said.
-This would be another system I would have to "support" in the house.
-It would piss the wife off!
 

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
13,817 (2.21/day)
Location
Cheeseland (Wisconsin, USA)
Get the X6.

If you make a living using photoshop and you can do it faster, you will make more money over time and you can then buy both of the other two options.
 

TheMailMan78

Big Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
22,599 (3.68/day)
Location
'Merica. The Great SOUTH!
System Name TheMailbox 5.0 / The Mailbox 4.5
Processor RYZEN 1700X / Intel i7 2600k @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 / Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Intel LGA 1155
Cooling MasterLiquid PRO 280 / Scythe Katana 4
Memory ADATA RGB 16GB DDR4 2666 16-16-16-39 / G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB DDR3 1866: 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s) MSI 1080 "Duke" with 8Gb of RAM. Boost Clock 1847 MHz / ASUS 780ti
Storage 256Gb M4 SSD / 128Gb Agelity 4 SSD , 500Gb WD (7200)
Display(s) LG 29" Class 21:9 UltraWide® IPS LED Monitor 2560 x 1080 / Dell 27"
Case Cooler Master MASTERBOX 5t / Cooler Master 922 HAF
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec / SupremeFX X-Fi with Bose Companion 2 speakers.
Power Supply Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-750PX 750W Platinum / SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Mouse SteelSeries Sensei (RAW) / Logitech G5
Keyboard Razer BlackWidow / Logitech (Unknown)
Software Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Benchmark Scores Benching is for bitches.
Get the X6.

If you make a living using photoshop and you can do it faster, you will make more money over time and you can then buy both of the other two options.

I know but it wont make that much of a difference.
 
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
1,793 (0.34/day)
System Name Old Skool
Processor E6750 @ 3.6 ghz
Motherboard GA P35 DS3L
Cooling Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283v
Memory 4gb Kingston DDR2 @ 900mhz
Video Card(s) XFX 9800GT 512MB
Storage SAMSUNG 320gb
Display(s) VIEWSONIC vx2260wm
Case HAF 922
Audio Device(s) Realtek (on board) + Logitech x540
Power Supply CM 550w
Software W7 Ultimate 64
Thats a really tough choice! Well if I were you, the most obvious choice would be to get another 5850, that would be...overkill ftm, but there's no such word in the hardware world anyways! ;) If you like ps3 exclusives, that would be good too. Dunno if god of war et al interests you, but they seem interesting, so a ps3 too might be a good choice, since you've got a pretty good setup anyways.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
4,686 (0.80/day)
System Name Obelisc
Processor i7 3770k @ 4.8 GHz
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling H110
Memory 16GB(4x4) @ 2400 MHz 9-11-11-31
Video Card(s) GTX 780 Ti
Storage 850 EVO 1TB, 2x 5TB Toshiba
Case T81
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Titanium HD
Power Supply EVGA 850 T2 80+ TITANIUM
Software Win10 64bit
You've got plenty of processing power and ram. Doubt the cpu or crossfire would be worth it for the cost. There's only like 2 games that would need 2x 5850s to run well, and you're right about the cost of owning a ps3... Given all that, have you considered just saving your money?
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2006
Messages
4,665 (0.73/day)
Location
Washington, US
System Name Rainbow
Processor Intel Core i7 8700k
Motherboard MSI MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC
Cooling Corsair H115i, 2x Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM
Memory G. Skill TridentZ RGB 4x8GB (F4-3600C16Q-32GTZR)
Video Card(s) ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity
Storage 2x Samsung 950 Pro 256GB | 2xHGST Deskstar 4TB 7.2K
Display(s) Samsung C27HG70
Case Xigmatek Aquila
Power Supply Seasonic 760W SS-760XP
Mouse Razer Deathadder 2013
Keyboard Corsair Vengeance K95
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores 4 trillion points in GmailMark, over 144 FPS 2K Facebook Scrolling (Extreme Quality preset)
That's tough. Like, really tough.

I don't see much of a performance gain from the Phenom II X6. More cores would be nice for Photoshop, but like you say, it probably won't be too noticeable otherwise.

The extra 5850 probably won't help much either (unless you're gaming at a very large resolution). Unless you're actually struggling for FPS, I'd wait on this one. There are rumors that prices might drop slightly in the near future. Very scarce, completely unconfirmed, no-evidence rumors.

The PS3, for me personally, does two things. It plays Gran Turismo 5 and is awesome for Folding@home. Other than that, probably not amazing and/or worth the price.

I'd look at a new motherboard that supports AM3 and DDR3, but it looks like it might cost quite a bit to replace that 8GB you have now. Maybe a nice SSD?

Very tough choice.
 
Joined
May 21, 2008
Messages
4,113 (0.71/day)
Location
Iowa, USA
System Name THE CUBE 2.0
Processor Intel i5 13600k
Motherboard MSI MPG Z690 EDGE DDR4
Cooling Phanteks PH-TC14PE BK 2x T30-120 Fan mod mount
Memory G.Skill TridentZ 3200 MT/s C15 32GB 2x16GB
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Aorus 1080 Ti 11GB OC: Core 2GHz, Mem 5.7GHz
Storage WD SN770 250GB / 3x WD SN850X 2TB / Toshiba X300 4TB / 2x RAID1 Toshiba P300 3TB
Display(s) Samsung 49" Odyssey OLED G95SC 240Hz 5120 x 1440
Case "THE CUBE" Custom built, pure Red Alder wood
Audio Device(s) Beyerdynamic DT 880
Power Supply Corsair RM1000X
Mouse Logitech G700
Keyboard Logitech G910
Software Windows 11 Pro
get the x6 make more photo get lots of money then get more toys!!!
 
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
Messages
3,016 (0.55/day)
Location
vermont
System Name The wifes worst enemy
Processor i5-9600k
Motherboard Asrock z390 phantom gaming 4
Cooling water
Memory 16gb G.skill ripjaw DDR4 2400 4X4GB 15-15-15-35-2T
Video Card(s) Asrock 5600xt phantom gaming 6gb 14gb/s
Storage crucial M500 120GB SSD, Pny 256GB SSD, seagate 750GB, seagate 2TB HDD, WD blue 1TB 2.5" HDD
Display(s) 27 inch samsung @ 1080p but capable of much more ;)
Case Corsair AIR 540 Cube Mid tower
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply EVGA GQ1000W MODULAR
Mouse generic for now
Keyboard generic for now
Software gotta love steam, origin etc etc
Benchmark Scores http://hwbot.org/user/philbrown_23/
Well I say get the 5850. we all remember amd's first phenom right?? what if seeing how its a new architecture the X6 turns out like that?? initial results seem ti point that it needs around 1.4v or more to run stock. ocing that thing would be nightmarish. you will see more performance from another gpu than you will that cpu. the option isnt in the poll but if you get the X6 itch go for the unlockable X4 to X6 it will more than likely be half price and same performance and you could still get the 5850
 
Joined
Aug 11, 2007
Messages
2,313 (0.38/day)
Location
If I told u.. I'd have to kill u
System Name Hogan's Crap
Processor Intel i3-2120 Crap!
Motherboard Dell POS Crap!
Cooling Stock Crap!
Memory 4 GB Kingston DDR3 10600 Crap!
Video Card(s) Stock Crap!
Storage 500 GB 5400 rpm Crap!
Software Windows 10 64bit
Get the X6 for sure. Why you ask?
Pros
-Help rid the world of cancer
-Feed the hungry
-Help find new cures for desease

Cons
-you will not help "see above"
-I will hunt you, until I get my 955 :)

Seriously though, that's a hell of a hard choice to make. I dont envy you. :laugh: I say the 58xx and call it a day. But thats just me. GL. :toast:
 
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Messages
2,047 (0.39/day)
Location
Republic of Texas
Processor R9 5950x
Motherboard Asus x570 Crosshair VIII Formula
Cooling EK 360mm AIO D-RGB
Memory G.Skill Trident Z Neo 2x16gb (CL16@3800MHz)
Video Card(s) PNY GeForce RTX 3090 24GB
Storage Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe | Intel 660p 2TB NVMe
Display(s) Acer Predator XB323QK 4K 144Hz
Case Corsair 5000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) Objective2 Amp/DAC | GoXLR | AKG K612PRO | Beyerdynamic DT880| Rode Pod Mic
Power Supply Corsair AX 850w
Mouse Razer DeathAdder Elite V2
Keyboard Corsair K95 Platinum RGB "Cherry MX Brown"
VR HMD Oculus Rift
Software Window 11 Pro
get rid of the wife is that an option? ;) j/k
 
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Messages
1,018 (0.18/day)
Location
New York
System Name Filtration tower
Processor i9 7900@4.4ghz
Motherboard ASRock X299 Taichi
Cooling Air
Memory 64g 3200 quad channel
Video Card(s) ASUS GTX 1080Ti
Storage 500gb Nvme, 200gb SSD, 1700gb HDD
Display(s) 34" Acer Predator 3440x1440
Case Thermaltake v71
Power Supply EVGA supernova 850 T2
i would go with 5850, x6 looks good too but not much gaming wise. u got 1920 x 1080 resolution which is nice, and demanding for some titles. second 5850 :0)
_____________________________

Antec1200 filter project
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Messages
841 (0.16/day)
Location
Edmonton, AB, Canada
System Name Project Neverending
Processor i9 9900K @ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus Maximus Formula XI
Cooling Corsair HX 150i Pro, Corsair ML 120/QL 120 fans
Memory 32 GB Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB 3200
Video Card(s) Asus RTX 2080Ti
Storage Samsung 970 Evo NVMe, 2 Samsung 860 Evo 1TB
Display(s) Acer Predator X34 (3440X1440), Samsung U28D590 (3840X2160)
Case Lian Li 011 Dynamic XL
Audio Device(s) Supreme FX X-Fi, Logitech 5.1 speaker system
Power Supply Corsair HX 1000i
Mouse Logitech G703
Keyboard Logitech G105
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores Updates coming soon ®
Spend the money on hookers and blow. Wife's gonna be pissed anyway.
 

Wile E

Power User
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
24,318 (3.81/day)
System Name The ClusterF**k
Processor 980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
Cooling MCR-320, DDC-1 pump w/Bitspower res top (1/2" fittings), Koolance CPU-360
Memory 3x2GB Mushkin Redlines 1600Mhz 6-8-6-24 1T
Video Card(s) Evga GTX 580
Storage Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s) HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
Case Technofront Bench Station
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
Software Win7 Ultimate N x64, OSX 10.8.4
I'm gonna be the odd man out here. Get the PS3. Makes a fan-freaking-tastic media box when used with PS3 Media Server. It's really versatile, and GT5 will be coming out for it.
 

TheMailMan78

Big Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
22,599 (3.68/day)
Location
'Merica. The Great SOUTH!
System Name TheMailbox 5.0 / The Mailbox 4.5
Processor RYZEN 1700X / Intel i7 2600k @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 / Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Intel LGA 1155
Cooling MasterLiquid PRO 280 / Scythe Katana 4
Memory ADATA RGB 16GB DDR4 2666 16-16-16-39 / G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB DDR3 1866: 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s) MSI 1080 "Duke" with 8Gb of RAM. Boost Clock 1847 MHz / ASUS 780ti
Storage 256Gb M4 SSD / 128Gb Agelity 4 SSD , 500Gb WD (7200)
Display(s) LG 29" Class 21:9 UltraWide® IPS LED Monitor 2560 x 1080 / Dell 27"
Case Cooler Master MASTERBOX 5t / Cooler Master 922 HAF
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec / SupremeFX X-Fi with Bose Companion 2 speakers.
Power Supply Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-750PX 750W Platinum / SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Mouse SteelSeries Sensei (RAW) / Logitech G5
Keyboard Razer BlackWidow / Logitech (Unknown)
Software Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Benchmark Scores Benching is for bitches.
Damn it! I thought for sure I would get a clear answer from TPU! I'm more confused than ever!
 

Fourstaff

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
10,020 (1.91/day)
Location
Home
System Name Orange! // ItchyHands
Processor 3570K // 10400F
Motherboard ASRock z77 Extreme4 // TUF Gaming B460M-Plus
Cooling Stock // Stock
Memory 2x4Gb 1600Mhz CL9 Corsair XMS3 // 2x8Gb 3200 Mhz XPG D41
Video Card(s) Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 // Asus TUF RTX 2070
Storage Samsung 840 250Gb // SX8200 480GB
Display(s) LG 22EA53VQ // Philips 275M QHD
Case NZXT Phantom 410 Black/Orange // Tecware Forge M
Power Supply Corsair CXM500w // CM MWE 600w
I thought for sure I would get a clear answer from TPU!

:confused: I recommend you save that money and sit and wait for the next best deal to come. Every so often, I have to let a good deal pass because my I don't have any pictures of the queen my wallet.
 
Last edited:

IXtreme

New Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2010
Messages
34 (0.01/day)
heehhe, i'd say just save the money, i voted for the x6 amd but i'm not a amd person, if you will use the extra cores and it will make u're work faster(in a noticeable way) go for that, in any case i wouldn't go for the second HD5850 and i wouldn't piss off the wife.
Hope i helped a bit.
 
D

Deleted member 67555

Guest
Ok I voted for x6 simply because it's neat..
Personally I'd go with option 4
Which is a 890gx and DDR3 1600..(8-8-8-24 or better)
I know everyone says you wont notice any extra performance and to that end I call BS on everyone that does
You already have a good CPU that's not seeing it's full potential
Plus it's the cheapest route
you could probably get $140 for that memory you have and at least $50 for that board
and you could get a 890gx and 8gb's for about $370-$190 and have only spent $160 and then you would have a much better path to upgrade once Sata3 HDD's become cheaper and faster
That is unless you want to wait for Bulldozer then I say just wait period..
 

Necrofire

New Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
585 (0.10/day)
System Name Chuck
Processor Core i5-2500k @ 4.5Ghz
Motherboard msi P67A-C43
Cooling hyper 212, 2 120mm fans
Memory 8GB DDR3 1600MHz
Video Card(s) XFX 6870
Storage 60GB sata3 sandforce ssd, 1TB samsung hdd
Display(s) Yamakazi Catleap
Case Possibly Antec, not sure
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Rosewill 600W
Option 5:
Get a decent SSD, install windows on it.

Pros:
Everything loads fast
More of a speed improvement than faster gpu or cpu
Images on disk will load faster into photoshop

Cons:
Small, will have to install programs to different HDD to prevent it filling up too fast

You could still buy that plus a 1TB drive, and spend less than a 5850, depending on which SSD you get.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Messages
5,398 (0.92/day)
Location
Australia
System Name Night Rider | Mini LAN PC | Workhorse
Processor AMD R7 5800X3D | Ryzen 1600X | i7 970
Motherboard MSi AM4 Pro Carbon | GA- | Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Cooling Noctua U9S Twin Fan| Stock Cooler, Copper Core)| Big shairkan B
Memory 2x8GB DDR4 G.Skill Ripjaws 3600MHz| 2x8GB Corsair 3000 | 6x2GB DDR3 1300 Corsair
Video Card(s) MSI AMD 6750XT | 6500XT | MSI RX 580 8GB
Storage 1TB WD Black NVME / 250GB SSD /2TB WD Black | 500GB SSD WD, 2x1TB, 1x750 | WD 500 SSD/Seagate 320
Display(s) LG 27" 1440P| Samsung 20" S20C300L/DELL 15" | 22" DELL/19"DELL
Case LIAN LI PC-18 | Mini ATX Case (custom) | Atrix C4 9001
Audio Device(s) Onboard | Onbaord | Onboard
Power Supply Silverstone 850 | Silverstone Mini 450W | Corsair CX-750
Mouse Coolermaster Pro | Rapoo V900 | Gigabyte 6850X
Keyboard MAX Keyboard Nighthawk X8 | Creative Fatal1ty eluminx | Some POS Logitech
Software Windows 10 Pro 64 | Windows 10 Pro 64 | Windows 7 Pro 64/Windows 10 Home
4. Give the money to me :D as i need a upgrade before you :p

Save ya money, you don't need an upgrade, a 6 core would be nice tho
 
Joined
Apr 20, 2008
Messages
243 (0.04/day)
System Name Silverstorm
Processor Intel Core i5 2500k
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P67A-D3-B3 (Rev. 2.0)
Memory 2x4GB Kingston HyperX PC3-12800 1600MHz CL9-9-9-27
Video Card(s) Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB
Storage 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, 1TB WD Caviar Green, 2x500GB Seagate Barracuda, 2TB WD Elements (ext)
Display(s) Samsung S24B300 + HP w2207h
Case Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl
Audio Device(s) 7.1 CH HD Audio (Onboard)
Power Supply OCZ StealthXStream 800W
Software Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64bit
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Messages
991 (0.19/day)
Processor Intel Core i5 8400
Motherboard Gigabyte Z370N-Wifi
Cooling Silverstone AR05
Memory Micron Crucial 16GB DDR4-2400
Video Card(s) Gigabyte GTX1080 G1 Gaming 8G
Storage Micron Crucial MX300 275GB
Display(s) Dell U2415
Case Silverstone RVZ02B
Power Supply Silverstone SSR-SX550
Keyboard Ducky One Red Switch
Software Windows 10 Pro 1909
doesn't look like any of these options will be worth the money tbh
 
Top