Hey guys With the holidays here i was thinking of getting a few Computer upgrades but i wanted to ask your opinion on them first.


I currently run an Athlon IIx3 clocked at 3.1Ghz (this is an am3 processor but lacks l3 cache)
My mobo is an asrock with crossfire capability and i run a single Radeon Hd 5750 1Gb for my video card

My psu is a 630 watt raidmax with 44 amps on the 12 v rails


Now for the upgrades questions

If i add a second 5750 will my Cpu bottleneck it? If so will a simple cpu upgrade be better suited for my needs? Keep in mind my monitor is 1440x900
Will i need to upgrade my psu aswell?


I already plan on adding ram and hard drive space!
Will crossfiring these cards be a waste if i have a pciE x16 and a Pciex4?

Should i just step up to a radeon Hd 6850 and forget the whole cfx thing or get a new cpu before upgrading the video card at all?

To say that your CPU will bottleneck is irrelevant to the questions you're asking. The problem with your setup is a couple different things.. so I'll make it short and sweet.

Your CPU blows, but adding another video card will take the stress off the CPU for calculations. I wouldn't say the CPU will bottleneck, but it will be at the brunt of the slower hardware. Setting up a crossfire build will not make this issue go away. Your CPU and motherboard need a definite upgrade before you crossfire. Most newer boards no longer split the multipliers of the GPU anymore, where the bus speed is 8x*2=16x or 4x*2=8x at half speed. With newer boards, you'll get doubled 16x bus speeds for a total of 32x.

What you have, my friend, is a budget build. Heed my words when I tell you it is not worth upgrading this machine. Instead, you'll need to get yourself a new motherboard, new CPU, new RAM, and a new PSU. if you choose to do so, make sure you understand that your computer is always as fast as its slowest piece of hardware. This is why it isn't worth upgrading your budget machine. If you put another video card in that machine, you're not going to see much of a performance increase because your motherboard isn't capable of running those two cards at full speed. When you see ten more frames in games for another hundred dollars it isn't worth it. Then you'll notice your CPU is holding you back, then your RAM, and then your PSU.

My words of advise that I tell everyone all the time building new machines is to "Go big or don't go at all." You'll notice the more money you slam into a really nice machine, the less often you'll need to buy new hardware, and when you do upgrade hardware, you'll notice it's just something like a sound card, or another video card, not a PSU, RAM, CPU all at once.

Acid has got it, I say! I want to build on a few things though. I'd like to say that if you feel like spending money on computer parts, hold off. There's a whole wave of upcoming GPU's and CPUs. Save your money now, don't go buying stupid stuff like weed etc and accumulate till you can make a worthy upgrade. With the new 7xxx line of Radeons coming out your best bet could be to just wait and grab a cheap 6xxxx series. No point in investing in 2 year old tech. Just because your antsy for an upgrade and a certain income of money is coming does not mean you should spend it, save till you get a proper gaming rig instead of a HTPC.

Ok ill probably just invest in some hard drive space and keep my build as is. Its not to terrible for games but i think ill be waiting till i save enough cash and do a complete system revamp later on in a year or so

Best decision you could make bud!

Also, intel is the way to go if you want multi-cores!

well i did some research and the phenom IIx6 cpu's look nice. I could always throw one of those in there and get some ram/harddrive space. Total is looking like 250 bucks then when i feel i need to i can revamp

Better CPU or a better video card and more memory (up to 8-12GB total is really all you should need at the moment) and more harddrive space sound like the best options.

His video card is running at 4x. He'll need a new mobo if he wants a better, newer CPU, and if he wants to take advantage of higher PCIE bus speeds. Currently, 4x is a little less equivalent to Counter-Strike: Source. I know this for a fact. The physics will rip you apart... IE: bomb planting, blowing up, moving barrels, etc.

My current video card runs at 16x but the secondary slot is 4x.
Im gonna get some more ram and hardrive space and just leave my current cpu and video card until i get the absolute need to upgrade to a beter cpu and mobo. I don't see graphics taking such an ample step upward in the following year that my computer will fail to run them

Ok my my final config atm

CPU: Amd athlon IIx3 (3.1Ghz)
Ram: 8GB GeIl BlackDragon (1600Mhz) <- 4 sticks 2 gigs a piece
Hard drive: Im gonna raid a 250Gb western digital 7,2000 rpm with a 250gb seagate with the exact same specs. It should work

Os: Win7x64 (ultimate)
and My Radeon Hd 5750 (1gb)

I should be fine for sometime now