Upgrading 2009 spec PC - Ideas/Suggestions pls

Makaveli

Makaveli

Makaveli

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Hi Guys,

Looking for some upgrade advice. This is what I currently have (dont laugh!)


Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) -
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 XT 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366)
Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black (No PSU)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply
Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366)
+ Intel 120GB SSD
2x27" monitors

I suppose I can re-use the case and PSU? So what do you guys recommend? Need it as a general workhorse. Play FPS, Video/picture editing, hosting several VM's & work

budget - low as possible :) but around £8-950
 
The first thing I would do is upgrade the graphics card and overclock the CPU, leave the rest as it is and see how you go! Maybe add some more RAM if you have less than 8GB too.

If you still feel like you need more power after that, you can look to upgrade the core system, but the i7 920 should have life left in it yet with an overclock and paired with a new GPU. :)
 
As above really:

Upgrade the graphics card (need a bit of info on what res monitors you have and what sort of games you play, whether preference is another AMD card or could you go for NVIDIA etc).

You don't say how much RAM you have - I would guess at 6GB, but if you have more than that it would still be fine.

As for the CPU, either overclock the one you have, or try and get a cheap 6 Core Xeon 5650/5660/5670 (see this thread for details: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18618052&page=79 ) , and overclock that.
 
I laughed when I saw your title as '2009 rig' and pictured my still un-upgraded 2009 rig....and we both have the same case, cpu, gpu, (edit: and MOBO) !! While I don't have particular advice, I'm actually going for the full refresh this year and replacing the whole thing.
 
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rogueblade said:
I laughed when I saw your title as '2009 rig' and pictured my still un-upgraded 2009 rig....and we both have the same case, cpu, gpu! While I don't have particular advice, I'm actually going for the full refresh this year and replacing the whole thing.
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Save yourself some money and consider the two posts above yours first! :p

If its still not good enough, you won't have wasted any money, you can include the bits you already changed in the complete re-build. :)
 
thanks for responses guys. I have 32gb of ram already. Also i actually have the Asus P6T MB not the Gigabyte.. Will this support the newer cards that are coming out like the 1070? Not comfortable with overclocking, the PC fans/heat-sinks are always covered in/full of dust. Regularly need to clean it out.. that will affect the heat dissipation.

The monitors - one is 1080p, the other is 1440p. At the moment only playing QuakeLive :-) but looking to get Doom and some other FPS once I've done the upgrade.
 
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Your build reminds me of my old build. Was still going strong with a GTX 295 until the coolit domino all in one decided to split and took pretty much every component with it!

That was a very sad day
 
Makaveli said:
thanks for responses guys. I have 32gb of ram already. Also i actually have the Asus P6T MB not the Gigabyte.. Will this support the newer cards that are coming out like the 1070? Not comfortable with overclocking, the PC fans/heat-sinks are always covered in/full of dust. Regularly need to clean it out.. that will affect the heat dissipation.

The monitors - one is 1080p, the other is 1440p. At the moment only playing QuakeLive :-) but looking to get Doom and some other FPS once I've done the upgrade.
Click to expand...

Can I just ask how your 32GB is configured? Those era CPUs use Triple channel memory so would usually be 6GB, 12GB, 18GB or 36GB for example, multiples of three basically. Potentially your system may not be running as fast as it could if it is not configured for Triple-channel.

ASUS P6T eh? I used to have a similar setup to you with 12GB RAM, which I would probably still be on today if the board had not developed a fault, forcing me to upgrade.

In answer to your question, the card will still work with your current CPU, but it may be bottle-necked without an overclock. It will still give a reasonable improvement over your current card however.
 
I'm on almost exactly the same setup, except only 12GB ram and an HD7870.
Still going strong and for the same purposes as yourself :)
Just a bit better GPU should do it.

Dont be scared to overclock a little. I had a go myself; quite a small push on an air-cooler that's constantly filled with dust and not had any issues (as long as I blast a compressed air through it every few weeks or so)
 
linktoinsanity said:
Can I just ask how your 32GB is configured? Those era CPUs use Triple channel memory so would usually be 6GB, 12GB, 18GB or 36GB for example, multiples of three basically. Potentially your system may not be running as fast as it could if it is not configured for Triple-channel.

ASUS P6T eh? I used to have a similar setup to you with 12GB RAM, which I would probably still be on today if the board had not developed a fault, forcing me to upgrade.

In answer to your question, the card will still work with your current CPU, but it may be bottle-necked without an overclock. It will still give a reasonable improvement over your current card however.
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I'm not sure how it is configured, I think I did configure it using all three channels. Will check. Yeah this combo was quite popular if I remember correctly.
 
I have pretty much the same setup as the OP, except I have an AMD 5870 video card and a single Samsung T240 monitor. No SSD fitted.

Would a NVidia 1070 be a good upgrade when available? Can I run a decent modern SSD like a m2 on the motherboard or not? Would going to 12GB RAM be any use, if I could find triple-channel memory? I know how to overclock the processor so that I would do.

Thanks
 
eiglos said:
I have pretty much the same setup as the OP, except I have an AMD 5870 video card and a single Samsung T240 monitor. No SSD fitted.

Would a NVidia 1070 be a good upgrade when available? Can I run a decent modern SSD like a m2 on the motherboard or not? Would going to 12GB RAM be any use, if I could find triple-channel memory? I know how to overclock the processor so that I would do.

Thanks
Click to expand...

That motherboard doesnt appear to have an M.2 Slot.
 
eiglos said:
I have pretty much the same setup as the OP, except I have an AMD 5870 video card and a single Samsung T240 monitor. No SSD fitted.

Would a NVidia 1070 be a good upgrade when available? Can I run a decent modern SSD like a m2 on the motherboard or not? Would going to 12GB RAM be any use, if I could find triple-channel memory? I know how to overclock the processor so that I would do.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Probably, depends on the resolution of the monitor.

Yes you could run an M.2 SSD but you would need a PCI-E adaptor. SATA drives might offer better options.

12GB would probably help depending on what you do. That said you could probably get 3x8GB low voltage DIMMS for not much more money. You don't need to buy the memory in 3 DIMM kit. Just buy 3 identical spec sticks.
 
The resolution of the T240 is 1920x1200. Thanks for the advice re the SSD and the memory. Generally I just use the PC for game playing, word processing and internet access.
 
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The best upgrade would be to get something like a 6 core 12 thread Xeon. I think the GTX1070 might be a little OTT for 1920x1080.

My X58 upgrade went,

Xeon 5650 4.3Ghz Workstation pull.
3x8GB of 1866Mhz 1.5 volt RAM
Sandisk ultra 2 SSD
MSI R9 290X.


This makes light work of anything, and has no problem at 2560x1440.
 
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