Fun trying to update my pc on the cheap

So I recently decided to update my system. First I thought I'd just jump up to a faster CPU, from my Athlon II x3 2.6 Ghz to Athlon II x4 3.3 ghz. Along with that, I decided to jump up to a more higher end video card. Pacing up and down and tapping away at my smart phone (googling and researching on the spot!) next to the video car isle at Fry's, after 30 minutes I decided I'd get the 6950, it seemed to be at the breaking point of being stupid expensive and good for a while compared to my current budget minded ATI HD 5770.

The 6950 video card is apparently a 6970; just underclocked and with a few of the shaders locked so it performs a little slower. This is supposedly fixed with a 6970 bios swap into the 6950. I'll see.

So I slapped the 3.3Ghz cpu and 6950 into my PC. Yay. I ran a couple of games, with full maxxed graphics to see how it really made a difference. Well it did seem to by able to run the games I tested fine (Battlefield: BC2 and Starcraft 2_

Then I decided, well why spend $88 on a cpu only slightly faster, when I could spend a little more and get a true quad core with more cache and all the nice things. So I yet again, removed the CPU and took it back, and bought a Phenom II x4 970 3.5Ghz. Well I plug it in, boot up and quickly in my excitement check the "My Computer" property screen. Well, it shows my processor name, but only at 800 Mhz. What? So upon some googling I learned that certain Phenom processors including the 970 I got would only run at 800 Mhz if the bios on the motherboard was not updated. So I went to check that out for my system.

I guess it's just my luck, that the Biostar AT790GX A2+ motherboard I have, does not have any more updated bios files since May 2009. Yay. Furthermore the processor I happened to get, is not listed as supported on their site. Great!

So today I went ahead, and spent some more cash, and bought one of only 3 available DDR2 slot AMD AM3 compatible motherboards, trying to keep the RAM I already have, and spending the least amount I can.

Now hopefully when I get home I can hook everything up, so I have my new system up and running smoothly.
Probably the first and last Biostar mobo for me, seeing as how they don't update their stuff.


$329 - ATI RADEON 6950 ($319 after $10 mail in rebate)
$159 - AMD Phenom II Deneb 970 x4 core 3.5Ghz CPU
$69 - MSI 785GTM-E45 motherboard

$557 - Total for upgrades

This should last me well into next year before I start itching for new stuff.

Biostar is fail... didn't I mention this in the other thread?

lol, bio fail is fail. So how much were you charged for restocking fees?

lol, bio fail is fail.

So how much were you charged for restocking fees?

My Biostar motherboard has worked flawlessly for the time I've had it, over a year. The only thing it "failed" was running the Phenom II 970, because the company itself hasn't bothered updating it with a newer BIOS to accept more late model AM3 socket CPU's, such as my 970 or even a 955 etc., basically nothing beyond Phenom II 945 is on their supported list. Yet they have new drivers for other random chipset/peripherals.

As for restocking fees for all the crazy exchanges/returns - nothing. This isn't Best Buy where they charge you 15% for walking out the door and coming back in the other with an exchange. I have never been charged restocking fees by Fry's - and I often wonder how much money they lose over this given their volume - even when returning items 10 days later or close to their 15 day limit on CPU's or related bits and pieces. I had bought the Athlon II and (redundant)1066Mhz RAM and exchanged them for the Phenom II for roughly the same total cost ~$10 under.

Now, with the MSI board I got, I paid more, and while I got the 970 working like a dream, the RAM is not running at the maximum 1066 Mhz as advertised, but 800 Mhz. Googling has yeilded that it is a somewhat common issue that often requires a BIOS update to have the mobo recognize the RAM chip correctly and set its speed accordingly. Unfortunately for me, this MSI board is already up to date with ver. 8.8 BIOS, so now I'm going to have to live with the RAM @ 800 Mhz despite the processor, the motherboard, and RAM claiming they can all operate at 1066 MHZ for the memory.

I can run Bad Company 2 with full max settings, including 4x or 8x MSAA and 8X AF (or possible 4x MSAA and 16x AF), with minor slow down when looking into thick smoke via sniper rifle zoom.

This is my last update on this AMD line of CPU's, and video cards for some time. Next update will be DDR3 and whatever budget CPU AMD comes out with, next year.

BTW, I found a spare Athlon 64 dual core 4000-5000 something combo (cpu, 2gb 667 mah ram and MSI(?) mobo), and of course, now I also have a spare AMD Phenom x3 720(?) CPU and Biostar mobo w/ ATI 5770 video card that needs a new home.

I have old PC Chips and ECS mobo's that still run fine. Doesn't make them any less crap. It's like building a house on a shaky foundation. Even if it doesn't fail, there's still going to be issues.

I have old PC Chips and ECS mobo's that still run fine. Doesn't make them any less crap.

It's like building a house on a shaky foundation. Even if it doesn't fail, there's still going to be issues.

Well I finally have my PC running fine. Got the Phenom II x4 970 and MSI motherboard to work without any problems. The RAM is still running at 800mhz instead of 1066Mhz but I don't care to mess with it any more after spending all 2 nights going at it.

New moboz time.

New moboz time.

The MSI is a new one hah. Think I may have a bum RAM stick so it won't go faster and stay stable. Oh well.

Wow, my ATI 6950 is older than I thought; looks like I've had it for 3 years now! That's the longest I've probably ever had a videocard stay and not be replaced. I guess that was $300 well spent. (Tomorrow I will probably be posting on how it fizzled when I booted my PC up). 

 

Just to update on my original thread, where I ramble too damn much, I've updated the setup two times now, thanks to the bad MSI motherboard (or another one after it, can't recall). Now after barely a year of the recent upgrade, the Asus mobo or the power supply is going out and will cause the computer to randomly freeze on the spot (no BSOD). Thank goodness I have my spare "LAN box" that can play all the games I have for now.

The AMD Radeon 6950 2GB card is going to stay, but I'm most likely going to get a new 600-700w PSU and if that doesn't fix this random freeze issue, a new Mobo. Oh and my latest purchase with this Asus mobo a year ago was an AMD FX quad core processor, and 8GB of DDR3 RAM. Life's good (when it gets running again).

Why no 32gigs ram?

That would be more KevinFACE!'s forte.

No, that's more like 128 gig.

Well the random freezing issue seems to have gone for now. I replaced the PSU with a new 700w unit and so far so good!

700w? Overkill?

Hah, for me, probably is. The old one I replaced was 650w or so, and I couldn't find anything that seemed decent for the price, so why not 700w?

U crazy

Well, others go bonkers with their cars and drop cash on turboz and manual-trans swaps, while some of us with less access to cash go bonkers with a PC power supply. Hah

Hush now... I just paid $81 for a Kingston HyperX 120 gig SSD and felt bad.