£200 to 250 for upgrade

Alex53 · 11 Jan 2010 at 13:40

This is my current PC:

Mobo: Asus P5N-E SLI
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 (2.13Ghz)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS (320mb)
Memory: 4GB DDR2 RAM (2x1GB Crucial and 1x2GB PNY Electronics)

I am looking at spending no more than £250 to upgrade my PC. What would you change from the above for that amount that would give me better performance and if possible be a little future proof (i.e. is Direct X11 worth going for now?)

This is what I would be inclined to get, but please stop me if theres a better option

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.98
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 4MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail £116.98

atmax1 · 11 Jan 2010 at 13:53

ssd is an option, but i think you got the bases covered with what you said, though i don't know how the 5770 handles dx11.

Teq · 11 Jan 2010 at 13:55

Have you looked on the members mart for a second hand quad so you could perhaps give a little extra to the graphics card?

Fatboyuk2 · 14 Jan 2010 at 21:06

Asus M4A79XTD Evo (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard Asus M4A79XTD Evo (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £85.99

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 2.60GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 2.60GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £81.99

Kingston HyperX 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3-10666CL7 1333MHz (KHX1333C7D3/2G) Kingston HyperX 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3-10666CL7 1333MHz (KHX1333C7D3/2G) £43.99

Sub Total : £217.84
Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £39.78
Total : £267.1

Fatboyuk2 · 14 Jan 2010 at 21:07

that is what i wood go for

Essexraptor · 14 Jan 2010 at 21:24

Fatboyuk2 said:
Asus M4A79XTD Evo (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard Asus M4A79XTD Evo (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £85.99

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 2.60GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 2.60GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £81.99

Kingston HyperX 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3-10666CL7 1333MHz (KHX1333C7D3/2G) Kingston HyperX 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3-10666CL7 1333MHz (KHX1333C7D3/2G) £43.99

Sub Total : £217.84
Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £39.78
Total : £267.1

+1
Upgrade your base system first with your limited budget. Then go for the "super dooper GPU" at a later date. Very few games actually support DX11 at the mo!!

jamesgoss · 14 Jan 2010 at 22:30

I feel for you with that motherboard, nforce controller made me want to cry! And first question: what do you use the pc for?

Apart from the CPU, you have almost exactly the same spec I had not long ago. I'd def upgrade to one of the cheap AMD quads like Fatboyuk2 has suggested, there'd be a noticeable difference in performance for little cash.

And for around £70 or £80 extra (after some more saving!) you can replace that 8800gts. I went for an ATI 4870 last April and it destroyed it in every way, and they're almost half the price they were. Food for thought...

EDIT: I suspect you could get more oomph out of your cpu with a bit of overclocking, perhaps enough to tide you over while you get a better graphics card....

Fatboyuk2 · 14 Jan 2010 at 22:34

than save up and get a gpu

Alex53 · 19 Jan 2010 at 08:28

Thanks for the replies. The 3 main things I use my PC for;

1. Photo editing. I use an SLR and have about 400gb worth of weddings/landscapes/family/rock concert/etc photos.
2. Lord of the Rings Online. The only game I play these days (and for the last 2 years). A DX11 update has been announced for Q1 2010, hence why the 5770 seems a good idea.
3. Web browsing and a bit of Word processing. Not really a determining factor.