Upgrade advice needed

CossackNoodle

CossackNoodle

CossackNoodle

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22 Jun 2005
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Location
England
My current setup which ive added to and changed apart from the cpu, mobo, case and powersupply

amd x2 4400
250gb hd
4gb ddr 400 (currently set at 333mhz otherwise mobo dies)
asus nforce 4 sli mobo
ati 4850 512
antec neopower 480watts (not sure if thats still sufficient these days?)
case lian li pc7 i think


i basically want to change the mobo cpu and ram for purely gaming purposes
if you can help me spec this it will be much appreciated. i would like to spend less then 400 but can go over if necessary.

I would like the motherboard to be crossfire and one which will hopefully last a few years and the socket isnt soon to be replaced :o

cpu and ram dont have to be top of the range if it puts up the price too much but would prefer 4gb at least ram wise.

and lastly looking at my system is it worth the upgrade? oh and thanks for the help ive been out the loop for a bit
 
could start with
- e8400 dual core (good for games enough for any game today and OC well if you start bottleneck in future) Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail
- p45 board like Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (will xfire but 2x8, for 2x16 you will need more expensive x48 board and DDR3)
- ram Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) could get pricer PC8500 which will give more OC headroom for cpu

may want to add aftermarket HSF if you plan OC Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)

PS about £340 inc Vat and delivery ;)
 
Last edited:
Huw_Dawson said:
Unless that motherboard's got an AM2 socket, then you're stuffed for upgrades. BUT that means the processor is worth something...

- Huw
Click to expand...
yeah its 939 and that died not long after so i never had a chance to upgrade so i really want a mobo that will atleast give me the chance to upgrade the cpu in the future :D


lunarwolf said:
could start with
- e8400 dual core (good for games enough for any game today and OC well if you start bottleneck in future) Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail
- p45 board like Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (will xfire but 2x8, for 2x16 you will need more expensive x48 board and DDR3)
- ram Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) could get pricer PC8500 which will give more OC headroom for cpu

may want to add aftermarket HSF if you plan OC Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)

PS about £340 inc Vat and delivery ;)
Click to expand...

very good price would the crossfire 2x8 be an issue at all?
 
not really, it will work fine maybe just not as efficient as 2x16 on a x48, but seeing as that costs a lot more you may as well skip directly to intel i7/x58/DDR3 and have the latest 1366 socket boards. But that will be more like £700 which is well over your £400 budget.

Anyway if you are using for gaming, a high clock dual is the still the best bang for buck since 99% games will make more use of higher clock dual than a lower clocked quad. You will spend a lot mpore for a quad setup and not see any real improvemenyts over a dual, maybe in a few games, but nothing major ;)

It may change in next couple of years, but I can't see it become widespread before 2010 at earliest. most game developpers develop for console and then port to PC so when we will see new consoles then they may change their ways.

PS for gaming it would be best to invest the cash needed for a quad into a top of line gfx card depending on your screen's resolution
 
Last edited:
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MB-302-AS_60.jpg
Asus P5E Deluxe Intel X48 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £149.99
(£172.49) £149.99
(£172.49)
CP-192-IN_60.jpg
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £129.99
(£149.49) £129.99
(£149.49)
MY-086-OC_60.jpg
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK) £28.99
(£33.34) £57.98
(£66.68) Sub Total : £337.96 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL @ Home Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.49 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £51.97 Total : £398.42
 
lunarwolf said:
could start with
- e8400 dual core (good for games enough for any game today and OC well if you start bottleneck in future) Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail
- p45 board like Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (will xfire but 2x8, for 2x16 you will need more expensive x48 board and DDR3)
- ram Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) could get pricer PC8500 which will give more OC headroom for cpu
Click to expand...

I recently built a system with these 3 exact components, along with a Radeon 4850 and it runs my games like a dream. Highly recommend!

Although I found the E8400 cheaper elsewhere, so make sure you shop around.
 
Last edited:
lunarwolf said:
not really, it will work fine maybe just not as efficient as 2x16 on a x48, but seeing as that costs a lot more you may as well skip directly to intel i7/x58/DDR3 and have the latest 1366 socket boards. But that will be more like £700 which is well over your £400 budget.

Anyway if you are using for gaming, a high clock dual is the still the best bang for buck since 99% games will make more use of higher clock dual than a lower clocked quad. You will spend a lot mpore for a quad setup and not see any real improvemenyts over a dual, maybe in a few games, but nothing major ;)

It may change in next couple of years, but I can't see it become widespread before 2010 at earliest. most game developpers develop for console and then port to PC so when we will see new consoles then they may change their ways.

PS for gaming it would be best to invest the cash needed for a quad into a top of line gfx card depending on your screen's resolution
Click to expand...

you got me looking at i7 now :eek:

Asus P6T Deluxe Intel X58 £252.99
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz £241.49
G.Skill 2GB DDR3 HK PC2-10666C8 1333MHz (2x1GB) £57.49
total £561.73

i know ram is poor but mobo is most important for my long term thinking



Kennysevenfold said:
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MB-302-AS_60.jpg
Asus P5E Deluxe Intel X48 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £149.99
(£172.49) £149.99
(£172.49)
CP-192-IN_60.jpg
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £129.99
(£149.49) £129.99
(£149.49)
MY-086-OC_60.jpg
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK) £28.99
(£33.34) £57.98
(£66.68) Sub Total : £337.96 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL @ Home Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.49 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £51.97 Total : £398.42
Click to expand...

thanks for the spec looks good i always do this and start looking way out my orginal budget damn i7 lol

sharingan_sasuk said:
I recently built a system with these 3 exact components, along with a Radeon 4850 and it runs my games like a dream. Highly recommend!

Although I found the E8400 cheaper elsewhere, so make sure you shop around.
Click to expand...

thanks for the recommendation how is crysis? i know its very demanding i have ran it fairly successfully on my current setup but wasnt very smooth to say the least
 
lol :o ok not too bad with 3gb i got it to 580 but still 180 over what i want to spend but im happy to go over if you peeps think its good long term as in 3 years down the line if thats possible!
 
well for sure a i7 will be more future proof without a shadow of a doubt, it just depends on how much you want to spend.

e8400 is great for any games out today and you wont get more with an i7, that said i7 is more future proof, until they are replaced later this year with new 32nm ;) for games the graphics card will give you the biggest boost

decisions, decisions :confused:
 
will this new 32nm setup require a new motherboard and then any cpu there after? my main concern is the motherboards future i want to think fews years down the line i can think i need a new cpu or ram and get one amd hasnt served me well in that respect

i can afford the extra cost if it avoids buying something which is as far as it will go without much room for upgrading in a year or 2

does the core duo still have that kind of room?
 
well there will be a new mobo socket ( i forget the ref number), but that will be for lower end quads. there will still be lga1366 socket for the higher end cpus, so the x58 should be ok for next couple of years minimum.

hard to say how long the dual core will last, but less than the i7 for sure.

so if you want to have the more future proof then you will be safer with x58 for next several years.

PS hard to see 2/3 years down the line with tech, i lost my crystal ball ;)
 
lunarwolf said:
well there will be a new mobo socket ( i forget the ref number), but that will be for lower end quads. there will still be lga1366 socket for the higher end cpus, so the x58 should be ok for next couple of years minimum.

hard to say how long the dual core will last, but less than the i7 for sure.

so if you want to have the more future proof then you will be safer with x58 for next several years.

PS hard to see 2/3 years down the line with tech, i lost my crystal ball ;)
Click to expand...

lol i know i know worst thing trying to futureproof is damn pc hardware but i think ill bite the bullet and spend the extra and enjoy tinkering about for a few years

benwoodcock said:
I'd go for an E5200, 4Gb of DDR2, and P45 mobo and a TRUE and clock the nuts of it ;)
Click to expand...

im not sure my 3+year old powersupply would cope lol
 
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