Been out of the game for a while, limited upgrade spec?

[Skullfish1]

Hi all.

My PC, built to a high spec about four years ago has started to act a little temperamental, and I've noticed that I really can't get away with new games anymore. I'm considering a little upgrade, but money being an option am trying to go the cheap/clever route this time.

Current build is:
E6600 at stock
2gb Geil something-or-other
X1900xt
Tagan 580w PSU
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3 Mobo (Bought recently in a fit of pique trying to stabilse the machine, should have thought about this)

My plan:

• Retain mobo and CPU
• Clock CPU to 3ghz (It's been there before)
• Buy 4 or 6 gb RAM
• Buy new graphics card
• Install Win7 RC and buy license on release

• Play games such as Anno 1404, crysis, SumCom2 and the games I've been missing out on for the past few years at something approaching a respectable level.

I'd ideally like to do this for under £300. Is this reasonable? Will the mobo or an E6600 at 3ghz hold the build back in this day and age?

 

[Kennysevenfold]

How about this, and add £50 to Pre-Order W7

Product Name Qty Price Line Total

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4890 Plus 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £144.99
(£126.08) £144.99
(£126.08)

Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775) £48.29
(£41.99) £48.29
(£41.99)

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (KHX8500D2K2/4G) £37.98
(£33.03) £37.98
(£33.03) Sub Total : £201.10 Shipping cost based on delivery to Credit/debit card billing address, G69 6AP with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE VAT is being charged at 15.00% VAT : £30.17 Total : £231.27

 

[cmndr_andi]

Sounds like a good plan, that E6600 should clock well past 3GHz if you get a decent cooler.

What is the resolution of your monitor? Knowing that would heavily affects what level of GPU you need to be running.

A RAM upgrade to 4GB would also help (unless you can run 6GB of RAM in dual channel mode its probably not worth the hassle).

A graphics card like the ATI HD 4890 should give you plenty of power and they are great value at the minute.

With these £45 windows 7 pre orders banging about - you may want to snag one of those ASAP, they seem to be running out. If you wait till release, you will likely pay closer to £80. Running the RC in the meantime is grand - brilliant OS.

The dual core shouldn't really hold you back too much. I know some games such as GTA 4 and Supreme Commander love Quad cores. But giving your CPU a nice overclock should give you a nice buffer before a quad core is required.

 

[Skullfish1]

Cheers, looks interesting. Would it matter that (afaik) my mobo has a PCIe 1.0 slot?

Also, to add, I'm looking to game at 1920x1200. I have Zalman aftermarket cooler that is pretty efficient as well.

From the MS website it looks like the pre-orders have ended, or am I missing something?

 

[sir-les-mp]

Cheers, looks interesting. Would it matter that (afaik) my mobo has a PCIe 1.0 slot?

Also, to add, I'm looking to game at 1920x1200. I have Zalman aftermarket cooler that is pretty efficient as well.

From the MS website it looks like the pre-orders have ended, or am I missing something?

No you are right the cheap pre-orders have ended at M$ i was looking at the ultimate e version but will wait now till release unless i can find a cheap pre order elsewhere.

As for your PCIe 1.0 slot you will still be able to run the graphics card mentioned and will only marginally lose a little performance compared to a PCIe 2.0 slot

 

[cmndr_andi]

Psssssst.......there are some Win 7 sub£50 pre-orders left, you just have to look at the right stores (you didn't hear it from me )

As for PCI-E 1.0- i'm certain that as long as its as x16 (which it is), you should have plenty of bandwidth for a 4890.

Good luck with the upgrade.

 

[Skullfish1]

Cheers guys.

I've ordered virtually the same kit as Kennysevenfold's recommendation, but exchanged the cpu cooler for an aftermarket gpu cooler.

Thanks for the help.