AMD or Intel for my next upgrade?

[Marvin]

I'm planning on upgrading my CPU/Motherboard combo, as well as a general overhaul, as I'll be off to university soonish, and want something fairly future proof, as I'll have no money as a student for upgrades. I am going to do a masters degree in Computer Systems Engineering (have got offers), and so will be using CAD programs, and will be doing programming, probably using an IDE.

Current spec:
CPU: E8400 @ 4.05GHz
Motherboard: ASRock P45XE
Graphics Card: Powercolor 4890 PCS+ (will be either getting a second 4890 for CF, or will look at CF 5770s (up to 3 in total) or a 5850/70)
Memory: 8GB Crucial DDR2 800mHz, 6-6-6-22, at 890mHz (will be fine to upgrade this too, and I don't need 8GB)
Power Supply: Antec 550W, though will be upgrading to an 850W+ Modular PSU, like a Coolermaster, OCZ or Corsair.
Case: NZXT M59, with as many fans as physically possible.
Cooler: Artic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev2
HDD: Western Digital 500GB Caviar Black


I'm open to pretty much any brand, as I haven't been doing this long enough to build any bad experience/prejudice barriers yet.

Thanks in advance

Simon

 

[Marvin]

And, of course, I need it for gaming (forgot that one!).

 

[Marvin]

Oh, yeah, a budget does help...

I'd be looking at around £600 including all my other upgrades.

I guess that £100 will go to the PSU, £150ish to the GPU and so that leaves £350 for the new motherboard, processor and memory (if required).

 

[Marvin]

Really? Is CAD really that demanding?

Hmm, I guess that processors are updated with big improvements less frequently than graphics cards, so it'd be worth doing most of the upgrading in this area.

What CPU, motherboard and memory would you suggest?

I won't be buying until the new year, (hopefully make use of some January sales), so I guess prices may be slightly less than at the moment.

But, at the same time, I have conflicting opinion from jms198, should I get an AM3 board and stick it out waiting for the 6-core processors? Though of course this should also work with the i7 LGA1366, since 6-cores are on the cards there as well...

 

[Marvin]

I'm sorry, are Bulldozer and Thubans like Wolfdale and Yorksfield for Intel - architecture? I'm not that clued up on AMD in comparison to Intel.

 

[Marvin]

Well, I prefer ATI to Nvidia at the moment (have done all the work with my brother's computer, which uses two 9800GTs, and I don't really like the Nvidia Control Panel).

Rooms are actually (surprisingly) quite spacious, so I don't think that a desktop will be an issue - probably...

I'm off for a visit/tour to all the unis I've applied to (got 2 offers and 3 interviews ), which will be more in-depth, and no doubt I'll get an idea of the programs used then.

The main reason I want to upgrade is to future-proof (as much as possible) my system so I have a PC that's also still fairly capable with games in 4 years - where Quad Core will be far more widespread and game-utilised than it is now.

I know my current system is nice, but as with everything it the PC world, it's only nice for a short time - until the next thing comes along.

What board would people suggest if I went with AMD (almost fancy a change from Intel anyway - try something a bit different!). I'd want AM3 (for future hex-cores), at least 2 PCIE2.0 x16 slots, a good overclocking board, and something else, but I can't remember. (A what was I saying moment! )

Conversely, what board would people suggest if I went with Intel? Both LGA1366 and LGA1156 boards, and same criteria as the AMD above.

I guess that doing computing at university must require some decent hardware, as at Southampton they use server motherboards, with up to 48GB of DDR3 RAM, some with dual processors in their workstations. Obviously, they are a tad overspecced, but you get the idea.

Oh, and an IDE is an Integrated Programming Environment - essentially a program that helps you program in a higher level programming language, they often include translators (translating each of your commands into machine code), and offer programming help.

 

[Marvin]

Aha, no, this isn't because a student loan has just been cleared (shame...). Been saving for this for a while.

I'm watching some auctions on that auction site right now actually to see how 'my stuff' should do on there. An E8400 is going for about £45, and it's got 2 days to go!

Overall budget I think should be about £600 - though that's for the complete overhaul - depending on whether I get another/new graphics card, and therefore the power supply to go with it - it's tempting.

Of course, if I get some decent sales on that auction site, then the budget could go up , although, conversely, it could also go down .

But yeah, the Desert-Island build is what I'm going with. I would love to tinker - but I don't think that'd be a great use of money over things like food and heating when at uni (though I could overclock the processor enough to heat my room...).

I understand that technology is moving fast, but, you have to buy at some point - can't just say, 'Oh I'll wait another 6 months, the xx from xxx will come out then'. Anyway, I'd really like something to stick my teeth into in the new year - I like system builds, particularly seeing whether I can get it neater than the last one - I've seen some very neat cases around, and I'm a little jealous...

 

[Marvin]

You can check the completed auctions on the auction site too. Keep an eye on the fees too as they are going to be at least 10-15% of the final value.

Tell me about it , just sold some stuff on there, sold for (not including postage) £50, I receive about £45 by the time Paypal and Ebay take their respective slices - and that doesn't include the £2 listing fee...

 

[Marvin]

Unfortunately Ebay tends to be a little bit of a neccessary evil for some things - I try and sell on forums if I can.