It's a minefield choosing new hardware. Advice, please?

Baldbloke

Baldbloke

Baldbloke

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Hi folks,

I recently upgraded my gpu from 8800gt to gtx460. There was an improvement but nothing dramatic.

I suspect my Abit AB9 pro motherboard and intel E6400 cpu are holding it back a bit. (Correct me if I'm wrong, please). Anyway, I tend to do a fresh build every 3 years or so. I think that time has arrived.

Thing is, looking in to current hardware and specs is a minefield. I get bogged down with too many options and compatibility issues. It is very, very time consuming. So this time I thought I'd beg some advice.

I have around £300 to spend on motherboard, cpu and ram. I already have o/s - Win 7 64 bit.

Can anyone point me in the direction of best bang for buck hardware, please?

Much appreciated.
 
Hello and welcome to the forums, couple of options below, on the i5 build the motherboard can swopped for the MSI board, but you loose USB 3 and 6gb/s SATA.

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £139.99
(£119.14) £139.99
(£119.14)
Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard £99.99
(£85.10) £99.99
(£85.10)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £65.99
(£56.16) £65.99
(£56.16)
Sub Total : £260.40
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.00
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £47.15
Total : £316.55

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £129.24
(£109.99) £129.24
(£109.99)
Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £88.99
(£75.74) £88.99
(£75.74)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £65.99
(£56.16) £65.99
(£56.16)
Sub Total : £241.89
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.00
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £43.91
Total : £294.80
 
Wow. These replies were very quick.

Thank you.

Jony27,
Overclocking. Worth a try. I did manage to get this old rig up to 3 ghz stable a while ago. But then I found myself constantly checking temperatures instead of using the computer. :) Also, th AB9 pro has only Pcie 1. I'm not well up on hardware but I suspect this is part of the reason the gpu is being held back. Sandy Bridge? Eek. Another new hardware phrase for me to investigate. Lol. Thank you.


RJC,

Thank you for that. I like the Intel 760 and Gigabyte approach. I'm going to go for that. I could spend several months researching and end up at the same suggestion possibly. Many thanks.
 
Well I know it's a cliche and there never really is a good time to upgrade what with the speed of development in computer hardware... however...

Sandy Bridge is the next big thing from Intel. A lot of people have kept plugging away with Socket 775 Core2Duo/Quads skipping the i3/i5/i7 generation while intel decide what is sticking around in terms of sockets. I gather socket 1366 is to become obselete?

I'm just saying, might be worth waiting for January sales and Sandy Bridge around the corner since it's not long away.
 
On investigating the Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 Intel P55 motherboard it states ATI crossfire capability. I imagine a single Nvidia gtx460 would work (Yes/no?) but am I correct in thinking I if I were to add a second gpu sometime in the distant future then I'd have to use two ATI cards?
 
jaybee said:
A lot of people have kept plugging away with Socket 775 Core2Duo/Quads skipping the i3/i5/i7 generation

I gather socket 1366 is to become obselete?
Click to expand...

ok so, ppl wer able to "plug" away with core2duos and skip i3/i5/i7. then you say 1366 is to become "obselete" LOL

why cant ppl with an i5/i7 "plug" away and skip sandybridge and maybe even the next new thing after that.

you say 1 thing in 1 sentence then slap yourself in the face in the next.

wake up!

a lot of ppl think sandy bridge is the be all end all socket, im SICK of it. the day it hits the shelf its doomed to be replaced just like every single family before it. a lot of ppl will adapt it and get max use, a lot of ppl will skip it, it just depends on when they jumped in for a new rig that will decide their fate. so stop bull****ting about i5/i7 being dead its just not the case.
 
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jakesnake said:
ok so, ppl wer able to "plug" away with core2duos and skip i3/i5/i7. then you say 1366 is to become "obselete" LOL

why cant ppl with an i5/i7 "plug" away and skip sandybridge and maybe even the next new thing after that.

you say 1 thing in 1 sentence then slap yourself in the face in the next.

wake up!
Click to expand...

Trolling with "i7 hasn't broken sweat" yet again?
No where did he say people can't "plug" away with i5/i7?
However, I concede obsolete was the wrong word.

Baldbloke said:
On investigating the Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 Intel P55 motherboard it states ATI crossfire capability. I imagine a single Nvidia gtx460 would work (Yes/no?) but am I correct in thinking I if I were to add a second gpu sometime in the distant future then I'd have to use two ATI cards?
Click to expand...

Yes, a single graphics card will work fine.
Yes, you would have to use two ATI cards.
No big loss though, they scale brilliantly - two GTX460's in SLI can beat a HD5970 (currently the fastest graphics card in the world.)
 
Cookeh said:
No big loss though, they scale brilliantly - two GTX460's in SLI can beat a HD5970 (currently the fastest graphics card in the world.)
Click to expand...

Now I'm getting excited. So, if I understand correctly, it might be worthwile buying an sli capable instead of the gigabyte mb mentioned above. Any suggestions around the £90 - £100 mark?

All, your advice and opinions are much appreciated.
 
jakesnake said:
ok so, ppl wer able to "plug" away with core2duos and skip i3/i5/i7. then you say 1366 is to become "obselete" LOL

why cant ppl with an i5/i7 "plug" away and skip sandybridge and maybe even the next new thing after that.

you say 1 thing in 1 sentence then slap yourself in the face in the next.

wake up!

a lot of ppl think sandy bridge is the be all end all socket, im SICK of it. the day it hits the shelf its doomed to be replaced just like every single family before it. a lot of ppl will adapt it and get max use, a lot of ppl will skip it, it just depends on when they jumped in for a new rig that will decide their fate. so stop bull****ting about i5/i7 being dead its just not the case.
Click to expand...


I was under the impression that socket 1366 and i7 was going to get phased out, where as i3/i5 and socekt 1156 would continue? This is all that I was trying to point out, that if he were to invest in i7 now maybe that would not be a wise move. At the end of the day I was trying to help the OP make an informed decision. Nowhere was I attempting to slate any platform. I think you need to calm down about your precious platform you are currently using. You sound like a child that just bought a new toy. "Mines the best and it always will be so there". etc. I was trying to inform the OP that Sandy Bridge is so close now, it might be worth waiting. Of course people can keep "plugging away" on any platform they want to. Keep it friendly.
 
i apologize, carry on.

im just sick of sb hype. its gonna be like upgrading from a 480 to a 580. no earth shattering gain. i really dont see how special its going to be. i can understand ppl coming from core2quads and less being excited but thats only because they havent built a new rig in a good while and are itching to be back on top. they deserve it for holding out that long tbh.
 
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Yeah, maybe we got spoilt when we came from platforms prior to core2duo (including AMD), as that seemed to be one of the biggest steps up in terms of performance. Might be rose tinted specs looking back though.
 
jakesnake said:
i apologize, carry on.

im just sick of sb hype. its gonna be like upgrading from a 480 to a 580. no earth shattering gain. i really dont see how special its going to be. i can understand ppl coming from core2quads and less being excited but thats only because they havent built a new rig in a good while and are itching to be back on top. they deserve it for holding out that long tbh.
Click to expand...

So am I.
But you don't need to express yourself so vividly :p

I am also under the impression that 1156 will be "renewed"?

But at OP, yes, worth getting a board with xfire
 
RJC said:
You can go for the board below, which allows crossfire & SLI, but you loose usb 3 and gb/s SATA.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-124-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1495
Click to expand...

Thanks again. I realise my finances are not going to get me any high flying hardware but I don't fancy losing out on anything like that.
Seeing as how I already have a gtx460 any other sli boards which are currently getting a good hype?

And after googling Sandy Bridge, now I'm wondering whether I should wait. But ain't that always the way? I want my new toy now. Patience is not my strong point.

Sorry to be a pain folks.
 
you wont get sb for £300 budget. if you make use of weekly offers and order when another part is on daily offer aswell (p55 board/cpu) you will get yourself the best bargins your gonna get. i dont think when sb comes out that things will drop in price a lot and they certainly wont drop them and put them onto daily and weekly special offers aswell. they are not stupid.

to clarify because of my silly irish accent typing. grab these when they are on the weekly offer. if 2 out of these comes onto offer this wed, then keep checking the daily offer for the other 1 to come up then pull the trigger.

 
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Just a couple of points fellow speccers...

The Gigabyte USB3 only has USB3 - no SATA3 6Gb/s. Go for the UD3 for £5 more which has both.

Neither of these support 'proper' x-fire. Though they say they support x-fire, it's 16x/4x rather than 8x/8x which means one GPU wont pull it's weight. For 'proper' x-fire you need a board that supports 8x/8x. Almost always, these 8x/8x boards also support SLI. So in short, whether you want x-fire or SLI, look for a board that supports SLI as that will have 'proper' x-fire too. Dont just rely on the 'supports x-fire' tag, as that can often mean 16x/4x, which isn't really worth bothering with.

The MSI GD65 is the cheapest board in the shop that offers 8x/8x SLI/x-fire and gets great reviews in overclocking/stability etc. Currently you dont lose USB3 as OCUK are throwing in a free USB3 controller, but you do lose SATA3 6Gb/s, although you can add a card later when needed.

For all the features on-board you need to go for the UD4, but no point getting that currently as the UD6 is only £2 more.

Have to disagree with jake slightly - whilst current stuff is great and will stay great, and buying now wont disappoint, if you can wait, it would be worth seeing how SB overclocks and benches against current stuff. It is supposed to be coming in at the same price point, so if it's better for the same price point, you'll be glad you waited. Even if it turns out not to be worth going for due to price/performance, it may push down prices of current stuff a little.
 
Ok. So to get what I want I've got to cough up more cash.

Does this set up sound ok?

Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD6

Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

Theres seems to be a plethora of memory choices. Enough to make a baldbloke dizzy.

Any compatability issues?

Thanks for your help folks.
 
Baldbloke said:
  • Intel® Core™2 Duo E6400 (2128MHz)
  • AB9 Pro (Intel® 965)
  • Memory (Speed/Size?)
  • nVidia GTX 460
I did manage to get this old rig up to 3 ghz stable a while ago. But then I found myself constantly checking temperatures instead of using the computer.
Click to expand...
Hi Baldbloke,

if your running that E6400 at stock MHz then you really should consider getting it clocked back up again . . . should do 3200MHz without too much efffort which is 50% extra processing frequency increase and would make quite a bit of difference to game performance! :)

Intel® Core™2 Duo E6400
  • 8 x 266 = 2128MHz
  • 8 x 400 = 3200MHz
Baldbloke said:
Also, th AB9 pro has only Pcie 1. I'm not well up on hardware but I suspect this is part of the reason the gpu is being held back.
Click to expand...
Nah I doubt you would notice the difference between PCI-E 1.0 x16 and PCI-E 2.0 x16 TBH . . . you just need to get that Conroe clocked to 3.0GHz+ and save your £300 sheets a while longer until the next gen hardware hits! :cool:
 
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