Help me blow $300! (XIV related...)

[DrRuler]

Here is my situation, my summer internship just ended, excluding my tutition, rent, FFXIV, and monthly budget, I have just shy of $300 in cash to spend on upgrading my rig. My issue is it's been so damn long since I made it I don't know what is most worth upgrading within the $300 hard price cap. For the sake of this question we will say I have enough for $275 comfortably but the closer to 300 mark I go the more I have to squirm to get the last few bucks.

Enough of that however, this is what you care to know, my current rig:

Mobo: ASUS P5N32-E SLI NVIDIA nForce 680i chipset
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB
RAM: 4 gigs DDR2
HDD(s): a 1TB drive and 500GB drive, both 7200
Power: 650w

This setup scored 2889 both times I ran it on the low setting for the FFXIV Benchmark. High was 1781 the one time I tried. I'd like to have an FFXIV playable rig, however I have no idea how the benchmarks actually compare to the game.

All of this being said, what part(s?) you guys think I should spend the cash on?

BONUS QUESTION!: I have a 2004 gaming laptop gathering dust in the closet, is there anyway short of eBay to get some cash from getting rid of it, or will it be doomed to becoming my personal craptastic server?

Edit: Forgot to mention, I dual-screen two 1680x1050 screens that only have DVI cables, no HDMI ports, assuming somebody suggests a graphics card upgrade I suppose that information would be relevent.

[Mabubeezareel]

Overclock your CPU and get either an ATI Radeon 5850 or nvidia GTX 470.

[Senji]

Buy this http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0328258

Sell old stuff.

Buy a 460 1 gb GPU

[Kylewhataru]

With only $275 all you can do is upgrade 1 thing really, and the 1 thing that will give most performance is a new GPU, just buy any gpu in that price range, probably a GTX460 1GB or a HD 5850. Get a c2q like above suggested when you get more money.

I got $75 for that same e8400 on ebay like 3 weeks ago, so do sell your old shit if you upgrade.

[Evanos]

Personally, I'd buy this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133323
since it is unlockable to become a GTX 470, flash it with 470 BIOS, and then later when 470s get cheaper SLI a second one on (though you may see a little bottleneck with your CPU).

Not everyone is comfortable with unlocking/BIOS flashing, but it is easy enough if you can follow simple guides.


Edit: this one in unlockable too with a pretty sweet non-reference cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127504

Just for reference it should be noted that not all unlock, but a very high % of those cards do. I would go for it personally because I'm a gambler, $30 more for a card that performs about the same as a 460, and if unlocked can go a decent amount higher).

[DrRuler]

Thanks for the advice so far guys, and keep it coming, I'm reading though everything now and crunching numbers, I'll check again for any other advice tomorrow, but for now I'm hitting the hay.

Edit: I just showed this to one of my friends online, he recommended getting a 5770, selling my 8800GTS and getting a Q9300 to replace my E8400. Is this a good plan or should I be shooting for a higher graphics card?

Also, while I've usually used NVIDIA in the past, SE seems to fail miserably at working with them, as I've seen umpteen threads about ATI cards blowing Nvidia cards out of the water for XIV preformance. I'm leaning toward ATI cards at the moment just out of fear of Nvidia not working with FFXIV or FFXI(although hopefully I'll quit FFXI once XIV comes out...) Is there any reason to use an Nvidia card over an equivalent ATI card right now?

[Kylewhataru]

GTX460 1GB is the best bang for the buck. 5770 is ok but you're on a budget and it's not just about keeping price low it's about getting the most out of every dollar, dollar for dollar GTX460 1GB is the best option for you.

They're $230 on newegg. That leaves you with $70, sell your e8400 on ebay, you will get atleast $65-70 for it, now you have $140 and can get the quad core. And if you sell the 8800GT they usually go for $50 so that helps.

[Manako]

Definetly get the GTX 460, awesome card for the price, and does well on the benchmark. One friend got ~2600 with an i5, and another got ~3500 with an i7

the benchmark seems gpu bound, no idea how that will impact the real game

[Artemicon]

You have a pretty powerful dual core and imo as long as you're not running shit in the background just overclock that beast to 3.5ish and get a nice graphics card 460-470 or HD5850-5870. I overclocked my system to 3.2q6600 and got a reference HD 5870 and pull a 4500-4600 on high settings.

[DrRuler]

After reading though all the feedback you guys have given me I have decided to go with a GTX460 1GB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

Once this is working and I find a good way to sell my 8800GTS I'll see if I have enough to snag a Q9300.

One last line of questions, so bare with me here:

Does anybody know a cheaper GTX460 1GB that I could buy online or have a very strong argument to spend my money on a different card?
Will my 650w power supply be sufficient for a 460?
Is my motherboard compatible with the 460?(99% sure it is...)
Is the Q9300 the best processor compatible with my motherboard and where can I find a site that lists information like that?
BONUS: Does anybody know a way to get some money out of that old laptop I mentioned before, or should I just turn it into a personal server?

Thanks again for all the advise guys.

[Shojin]

Go with the GTX 460, it's an amazing card, it runs pretty cool and doesn't use much power (You need at least a 450w, so you are fine.). Your motherboard needs a PCI-E x16 2.0 slot for the 460, so make sure have one of those (I'm not sure if x16 2.0 cards are compatible with regular x16 slots, but I know 2.0 has a much higher transfer rate.)

As for processor, see what cpu socket your mobo uses and buy based on that and your preference. If your mobo supports higher speed DDR3 ram, you could upgrade that also if you have spare cash.

[Senji]

After reading though all the feedback you guys have given me I have decided to go with a GTX460 1GB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

Once this is working and I find a good way to sell my 8800GTS I'll see if I have enough to snag a Q9300.

One last line of questions, so bare with me here:

Does anybody know a cheaper GTX460 1GB that I could buy online or have a very strong argument to spend my money on a different card?
Will my 650w power supply be sufficient for a 460?
Is my motherboard compatible with the 460?(99% sure it is...)
Is the Q9300 the best processor compatible with my motherboard and where can I find a site that lists information like that?
BONUS: Does anybody know a way to get some money out of that old laptop I mentioned before, or should I just turn it into a personal server?

Thanks again for all the advise guys.

No. and there is a combo for $20 off starcraft 2!
Yes.
Yes.
THIS is actually the best Core 2 775 socket Quadcore for price/performance. It wasn't listed on the site yesterday for some reason.
Post all the specs of the laptop and ask what peoples opinions are for price. People also buy your old cpu all the time. One person in another thread posted yesterday/today could actually use it.

[DrRuler]

Might as well just post it in here rather than clutter the forum with another pointless thread. Remember it's from 2004... It was at one point the epitome of awesome.


Intel Pentium 4 Hyper Threading CPU 3.40 GHz
2.0GB Dual Channel DDR RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128MB
60GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
15.4" Widescreen Display 1920x1200 Resolution
2 Batteries, one with extra life, one with a small subwoofer in it.
Working power cord.
Custom back plate (pictured below)
found a picture of it's carrying backpack online as well:

Spoiler: show

http://images.pcworld.com/reviews/gr...206P060_2B.jpghttp://img.dell.com/images/global/le...xps_skullz.jpghttp://images.buzzillions.com/images...836991_175.jpg

Edit: I saw the post of guy who could use my CPU (and my GPU would be an upgrade for him for that matter...) Once I get my new parts I'll be sure to try selling my current stuff to him or someone else who can use them. Thanks for the free advertisement in that guy's thread too Krystl.