CPU upgrade time for Gaming

[RumbleBee]

Hiya,

About a year ago I upgraded my graphics card to GTX280, but I stuck with my original Core Duo 6400/Gigabyte DS3 from many years ago.

Now I'm considering upgraging my CPU/MB/RAM and setting up my daughters PC with what I currently use.

So then back in 2006 (I think) when I got the Core Duo Intel was the way to go. I see AMD are back with the Phenom, so rather than just going for the latest Intel CPU I'd appreciate some recomendations based on my usage which is mainly gaming with the latest 1st person shooters and Blizzards up and coming releases.

My GPU won't be upgraded. I'm hoping my 1 year old GTX280 will last me a few years yet. I don't plan to SLI anytime soon.

The combo I'm after will be for 2 years at least.
My budget will be £500 for the 3 items.

 

[Microwave]

Have you looked at any of OCUK's bundles?

 

[RumbleBee]

bah silly me. Never knew the existed. I'll take a look now. Was just browsing each section getting confused

 

[jak731]

Your basket
i7
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + World In Conflict PC Game £215.99
(£187.82) £215.99
(£187.82)
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £141.99
(£123.47) £141.99
(£123.47)
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 2000MHz PC3-16000C10 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G2000LV6GK) £97.99
(£85.21) £97.99
(£85.21)
Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366) £33.34
(£28.99) £33.34
(£28.99)
Sub Total : £425.49
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 15% VAT : £65.25
Total : £500.24

AM2+
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 940 Black Edition 3.0GHz (Socket AM2+) - Retail £159.99
(£139.12) £159.99
(£139.12)
Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 (Socket AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £57.49
(£49.99) £57.49
(£49.99)
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (KHX8500D2K2/4G) £39.99
(£34.77) £79.98
(£69.54)
Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366) £33.34
(£28.99) £33.34
(£28.99)
Sub Total : £287.64
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £44.65
Total : £342.29

remove cooler from specs if you either have a good compatible 3rd party cooler or wont be overclocking

 

[TheRedZealot]

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + World In Conflict PC Game £215.99

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
£166.99

Patriot Viper 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600MHz) Low Latency Tri-Channel (PVT36G1600LLK)
£68.99

Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366)
£33.34

Sub Total : £422.01
Shipping : £9.50
VAT : £64.73
Total : £496.24

 

[RumbleBee]

Thanks for the replies. I'll start looking into those suggestions.

 

[jawor121]

If you don't wanna do SLi then don't buy i7, it's good when you wanna more than 1 graphic card.I would go for Amd and ddr2, example:
Phenom II X4 Quad Core 940,
Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3,
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 PK PC2-8500C5 x2.

 

[linktoinsanity]

^^ Intel CPUs run non-sli just fine. For a low cost option go with AMD Phenom IIs or Intel Core 2 Quads. For Higher performance and higher cost, go i7.

 

[jawor121]

That's not what i mean, i mean that you pay for motherboard which supports sli and you won't use it.

 

[linktoinsanity]

That's not what i mean, i mean that you pay for motherboard which supports sli and you won't use it.

That's a fair point, but don't the higher end AMD motherboards come with sli/crossfire aswell, meaning they have the same problem?

 

[jawor121]

Yea they do,but you don't have to go for higher.You can get Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 and spend the rest on better cpu or ram. I don't mean this is a problem,just unneeded feature.