A Couple Of Questions Regarding Upgrade

Big Kev

Big Kev

Big Kev

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Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
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Location
Ashburton Grove
I am thinking of upgrading my set up, but only if I can get a good performance increase for £300 or so, but I've been out of the market for a few years now.

I watch films, play a few games at 1680 x 1050, F1, Crysis 2, PES 2011 etc and I've just got a new GPU Sapphire HD5850 Extreme, which won't need replacing. Would a quad core be worth it?

My current spec is:

Asus P5Q
E6750 running at 3.4G stable
2 x 2G PC8500 Corsair Dominator, not overclocked.
Coolermaster CM201, which is very old now and will probably need replacing.
1TB Samsung F3, I think this should be fine.

I have a Corsair 620w psu, which I think will be good enough, with 3.3v - 3.36, 5v - 5.016 and 12v - 12.04 at the moment and I presume that's fine?

I'm looking for a cpu, cooler, mobo and ram, I've been looking at some of the overclocked bundles, would these be any good with a new case?
 
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Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.98
(£87.48) £104.98
(£87.48)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156) £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
Sub Total : £264.11
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £54.72
Total : £328.33

£319 with your free delivery.

Buy a case later.

Your PSU is still a champ:)
 
not so hot on old processors. is the E6750 a dual core?

if it is, you will see a nice performance increase from a quad core because most PC games these days are console ports, designed to run on tri core processors or better.

this should bring a nice performance increase. i havent included a processor cooler because i assume you have a good one already, and ive included new ram because im guessing you have DDR2 currently:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £138.00
1 x OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £36.98
Total : £348.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).


its quite a bit over budget, but you can take the shipping cost off of that because you qualify for free shipping.

also, you could save money on the mobo, but the one ive chosen gives the option for crossfire (im pretty sure its at x8/x8)
 
Thanks for the replies, it seems like the i5-2500K is the chip to go for, but with the mobo, I'm not a serious gamer, so crossfire won't be on the cards.

It also looks like the old case should still be good enough then, which is a plus.
 
After looking at my finances, I really have to knock the price down to £225 max:o, would a Phenom and cheaper mobo be a better option, or just throw a Q6600 in my current set up?

Maybe a Phenom 555, with mobo capable of unlocking the cores and producing 3.8g?

I could wait a couple of months, but my impatience is getting the better of me.
 
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Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £103.99
(£86.66) £103.99
(£86.66)
Gigabyte P61-USB3 Intel P61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Sub Total : £175.80
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £37.06
Total : £222.36
 
stulid said:
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £103.99
(£86.66) £103.99
(£86.66)
Gigabyte P61-USB3 Intel P61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Sub Total : £175.80
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £37.06
Total : £222.36
Click to expand...

Good build, but not what I would choose.

Not a fan of dual core for being anywhere near future proof - even if it has insane speed :p
 
Is the Phenom 555 not worth a punt then, as getting 4 cores at 3.6/3.8 for under £70 seems like a great deal to me, because staying with 2 cores doesn't seem to be much of an upgrade from my current set up, or am I being naive?

Thanks for the input though Stulid, you seem to be everywhere lately.:)
 
Big Kev said:
Is the Phenom 555 not worth a punt then, as getting 4 cores at 3.6/3.8 for under £70 seems like a great deal to me, because staying with 2 cores doesn't seem to be much of an upgrade from my current set up, or am I being naive?

Thanks for the input though Stulid, you seem to be everywhere lately.:)
Click to expand...

Even if you turned a phenom 555 into something like a 955BE cpu by unlocking, the 13 2100 is very similar in speed,

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=88

Some of the above tests are "lower is better"
 
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Why not just wait a little longer...
I think your performance will increase dramatically by just waiting a bit and buying that i5.Also, if you do not need them urgently, you can stay with your current RAM modules for now...
 
stulid said:
Even if you turned a phenom 555 into something like a 955BE cpu by unlocking, the 13 2100 is very similar in speed,

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=88

Some of the above tests are "lower is better"
Click to expand...

Even being the word.

Unlocking really isn't guaranteed in the slightest - there's generally a reason the cores are locked.

Reason I would go for Phenom II X4 955 (in your budget easily) is because of the upgrade routes. It's performance atm is similar to the i3 - but remember it has four cores. So as games and applications utilise more cores the PII will pull ahead.

Similarly, current MSI and ASUS boards will support AM3+ chips when they come out.
 
Cookeh said:
Even being the word.

Unlocking really isn't guaranteed in the slightest - there's generally a reason the cores are locked.

Reason I would go for Phenom II X4 955 (in your budget easily) is because of the upgrade routes. It's performance atm is similar to the i3 - but remember it has four cores. So as games and applications utilise more cores the PII will pull ahead.

Similarly, current MSI and ASUS boards will support AM3+ chips when they come out.
Click to expand...

I was just looking at that, any idea which cheap mobo's will support the unlocked chip? Cheers mate.
 
stulid said:
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.98
(£87.48) £104.98
(£87.48)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £36.98
(£30.82) £36.98
(£30.82)
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156) £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
Sub Total : £264.11
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £54.72
Total : £328.33

£319 with your free delivery.

Buy a case later.

Your PSU is still a champ:)
Click to expand...

I gave up and got this set up, but with an AC Freezer Pro 7 Rev 2 and Coolermaster Elite 430, will this be sufficient for me to get 4.5, or will that be pushing it a bit?

Cheers again everyone, especially Stulid.:)
 
Big Kev said:
I gave up and got this set up, but with an AC Freezer Pro 7 Rev 2 and Coolermaster Elite 430, will this be sufficient for me to get 4.5, or will that be pushing it a bit?
Click to expand...

Well Anandtech got to about 4.4GHZ using the stock supplied heatsink - http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/3 - so with a better one, as they mention

With a bit more effort and a better cooler, you can get anywhere in the 4.6-5.0GHz range:
Click to expand...

And these will help,

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/07/how-to-overclock-the-intel-core-i5-2500k/4

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18227651

Big Kev said:
Cheers again everyone, especially Stulid.:)
Click to expand...

your welcome.
 
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I've now got everything installed in the new case, but cannot install Windows 7 64 bit.

The drive keeps showing up as slave (it's the same Samsung 1TB F3, with various partitions that I was using before, with no trouble) and when I try to install Windows, it starts, then I get the BSOD, with varying messages, PAGE FAULT IN A NONPAGED AREA (roughly that, I didn't make a note). Sometimes when I try, it comes up with Installation error and I have to restart.

I tested the Samsung, with the ESTool before ordering the new gear, so I know it's working perfectly.

Any ideas, am I missing something obvious?
 
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I finally managed to get Windows installed, by using one stick of memory, so I'm not sure if it's dodgy memory, or the mobo. Having said that, I've got the chip running at 4.5g, with idle temps of 32, so that's a plus, although I've not stressed it yet.

I now have an ethernet connection problem and when I try to install the latest driver, it states Realtek Network Controller not found.

Upon start up, the icon states it's trying to locate a connection, which is there, hence my typing this message, so I don't know what's going on there.

This is my fourth or fifth build and I've had problems every time, I think it's worth buying a ready made machine in future, as I'm using my old 2g Athlon, with 1g PC3200 memory and Vista at the moment to get online.:mad:
 
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