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blooddrunk

Geek Trainee
My current system is as follows:
-Motherboard ECS socket FM1
-AMD A8-3870K (stock CPU speed but GPU oc'ed to 700MHz)
-1x4GB Mushkin with XMP-1600 activated (8-8-8-24 @ 800MHz -motherboard doesn't let me change the tRC from 40 to 32 to fully use XMP though)
CPU-Z validator -> http://valid.canardpc.com/887v1n

I don't plan to pay much and I want a medium-range gaming PC, I've considered either buying an entire new PC (this one is pretty new though) or just more RAM and a discrete video card.

Let's start with the video card, I've seen these:
-AMD 7750 for USD154
-AMD 7770 for USD185
-AMD r7 250 for around USD160 (I don't know about AMD r series)
-nVidia GT 640 for around USD150
-nVidia GT 650 for USD190
-nVidia GT 450 for around same price as GT 640
-nVidia GT 460 for USD180
-nVidia GTX 550ti for USD200
-nVidia GTX 560 for USD200

Also, if I only buy RAM + video card, do I need to upgrade my power supply for any of these cards? (using a standard 500w)

And that's the maximum I'm willing to pay for a single video card. Now moving to PCs, I'm willing to pay for:
-Intel i5 4430 (entire PC) for USD575 (with a HD2500)
-Intel i5 3330 (entire PC) for USD485 (with a HD2500) (is it worth the much higher price for the 4430?)
-AMD A10-5800k (entire PC) for USD476
-AMD A10-6800k (entire PC) for USD509 (is it worth the upgrade from 5800k to 6800k?)

Must remember that by buying the Intel PCs I'm going to need to buy a discrete video card (would have to wait for that)

What should I buy and why? I don't do much intensive gaming (but I game a lot) and sometimes I've to use virtual machines with Windows Server 2012 (in case you think my CPU isn't good enough for this)
 
Your "standard 500W PSU" is exactly what?

Virtual machines could well be used with that processor.

I recommend just upgrading video card. Perhaps you can find cheap AMD cards that R9-series made obsolate (like Radeon HD 7850 or HD 7870, latter was replaced by Readeon R9 270X).
 
A cheap PSU without any 6-pin nor 8-pin vga connector.

Though I need at least 8GB of RAM to use Windows Server 2012 in virtual machines (else I can only give it 2GB and it's too little)

Graphic cards here are much more expensive than in the USA or anywhere else, that's why I put those prices there. As far as I understand HD 7770 beats GTX 560, but I'm not sure who wins between HD 7770 and R7 250. HD 7850 goes from USD300, so only if it's really worth it I'd buy it. For USD300 I can also buy a R9 260x, which one is better?
 
With PCI Express power adapters you might manage with that PSU.

In that case you probably need more RAM. CPU supports virtualization anyway.

USA is strange place on graphics cards. I'd take HD 7770 before R7 250.

R9 270 > HD 7850 > R9 260X. For 300 dollars, HD 7850 is hard to recommend however.

I suggest you take HD 7750 because PSU is quite weak and then wait for prices to drop.
 
I'm willing to change my PSU if it's needed (I can find a good one for about USD50 so it isn't a problem)
And if I changed the PSU, would it be more worth the HD 7770 or 7750? I've already discarded the nVidia GPUs.

More than 8GB? I can go up to 16GB in this motherboard (even though the DDR3-1866 2x4 GB already costs A LOT here... And I want 1866 because my CPU officially only supports that speed).
Also, is it worth to change my motherboard (from chip A55 to A75) to have SATA-3? Because my motherboard only supports SATA 2 and my hard drive is SATA 3, is there a big difference? (I can buy a FM1 A75 mobo without having to change CPU)
 
30 dollar difference does not justify 7770 in my opinion. I'd take 7750.

I meant 8 GB should be enough. Processor supports 1866 but mostly integrated graphics takes advantage of it.

A55 to A75 upgrade is worthless. SATA3 vs SATA 2 difference on hard drives is exactly 0%. SSD's are different.
 
Ok then, I'm gonna buy the HD 7750 and hope my PSU can support it, else I'm getting a new PSU too.

What about A55 to A85? (This includes FM1 to FM2 too btw. Not planning to do this update now anyway). I'm gonna get a 128GB SSD asap, is it worth it then? I'm only gonna use it to host W8.1, VMs and apps like Office mostly
 
I don't see A55 to A85 change good either. SSD helps most on small files and seek time. On those maximum transfer rate does not affect much. Difference between SATA 2 and SATA 3 is just maximum transfer rate. So SSD on SATA 2 port is just fine.
 
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