Educate me on upgrades

[[TW]Fox]

Hi guys,

I used to be hugely into all this stuff. There wasn't anything I couldnt tell you about which CPU was best, etc etc. These days, the interest is still there - I love PC's - but my system has.. just worked, so I've not kept abreast of developments.

I currently run a Q6600 @ 3Ghz with 4gb of OCZ memory, powered by an HX520 PSU. I've got an Abit IP35 Pro and a Geforce GTX285.

It still runs everything I throw at it but I cant help thinking that at some point in the next 6 months it'll be time for an upgrade. It seems like I've had this system (With perhaps subtle differences) for ages - my motherboard invoice is dated 2007!

I've been into this sort of stuff for over 10 years so I've been right through the rise of AMD and the subsequent fall. I'm no fanboy and have absolutely no allegience to any manufacturer (Except possibly Nvidia, I'm keen to see what they have to offer before picking future graphics). When I last upgraded AMD was nothing but a joke compared to the Core2 offerings.

I gather things have changed.

I know they are words far too often used but.. spec me an upgrade? Where should I be going next? Is there something new due for imminent release or is just a case of waiting for the current offerings to mature?

I've never been one to buy absolute bleeding edge- I tend to buy 'low high end' if you know what I mean - better things to do than buy 300 quid CPU's (The most expensive one I've ever had was my first Athlon 1Ghz at 200 quid!).

I use my machine for the same things everyone else does - internet, gaming, etc. I like to make sure every game I play or will want to play runs utterly perfectly with everything maxed.

Budget? No idea. What sort of budget do I need? 400-500 quid I guess for whatever I need excluding a graphics card but if I can get twice the performance for an extra 100-200 quid great, even better if I can get 80% of the performance for 100-200 quid less

Thanks

 

[psychas]

your pc is still really good , the cheapest upgrade would be is to overclock your cpu more to 3.4 or 3.6 ghz , but it depends what cpu cooling you have and motherboard.

If you have small monitor you might want to upgrade that to, but if its 1680x1050 or higher i would not bother

 

[LeJosh]

Another 285!

Everything else in there is fine to be honest.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Really? I just cant get my head around it still being fine. Surely everything is out of date 20 seconds after you place the order button. I've had this spec for ages! Most of it was ordered in early 2007.

I guess I might as well just wait then and perhaps pick up a new graphics card at some point. In the past I'd have upgraded three times since i bought all this. Has the pace of change just slowed down or something?

 

[Apachegunface]

Im like you, I built my last system in 2007 and have only just got back into the tech side of things and have just ordered an upgrade! However, as far as gaming is concerned things haven't actually come that far in the last 3 years. The game that was the most demanding then, is still probably the most demanding now! Yes, crysis!

Your system will be fine for another year minimum! The only thing you might want to replace is the gpu, but that's only if you are bothered about dx11.

 

[tibbsey]

Has the pace of change just slowed down or something?

Wouldn't have said so, the i7 is a lot better than the Core2/Quad lines, but games just don't need that extra goodness yet.
If you're doing silly things like encoding/OMG.MY.BENCHMARKS.ARE.SOOO.GOOD/other really cpu intensive things then the top of the line, ultra new components are probably where you need to be, but for games it's just not needed* at the moment.

I only upgraded from Q6600 (like yours at 3GHz) to i7 because it came up reasonably priced on the MM and it was new and shiny.


I'd say if you're really after an upgrade (lord knows we all need to spend money every so often, I've just built myself a not completely necessary file server) then go for a shiny new HUGER monitor. Unless you've got a huger one at the moment of course.
Alternatively (or as well!) an SSD will make your boot time superdooperpooper, and that's always nice.


*Note I say needed. Games will run better on a new processor, obviously, but you don't need the new processor to run them. Unless you're hardcore into Crysis.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Im like you, I built my last system in 2007 and have only just got back into the tech side of things and have just ordered an upgrade! However, as far as gaming is concerned things haven't actually come that far in the last 3 years. The game that was the most demanding then, is still probably the most demanding now! Yes, crysis!

Your system will be fine for another year minimum! The only thing you might want to replace is the gpu, but that's only if you are bothered about dx11.

Agreed!!

The Q6600 is still a decent processor especially when overclocked. I have mine at around 3GHZ and don't intend to upgrade for the next year unless I have too!

 

[radderfire]

I would wait until your computer can't do something you want it to, and then upgrade. Meanwhile, treat yourself to something else. One thing I'd quite like is a digital projector.

Rgds

 

[[TW]Fox]

I've got a 22" Iiyama E2201 at the moment and thought it was pretty decent. Could always move up in size I guess... but then I'd need more power to run games?

 

[Cupra]

I've got a 22" Iiyama E2201 at the moment and thought it was pretty decent. Could always move up in size I guess... but then I'd need more power to run games?

not really the new Iiyama screens are amazing too, not so much the 27" but the 26" and 24" are very good

a 285 will run pretty much everything on that res if you want to spend money on your pc get a new screen or an ssd anything else is a waste of money for you atm, however ssd's should drop in price a lot soon so maybe its worth playing the waiting game unless you need the extra speed for somthing more specific?

 

[shine]

Stick to the old engineering principle - "if its not broken then don't fix it". Unless you system is limiting you in anyway keep your credit card in your wallet until it does.

 

[LeJosh]

Really? I just cant get my head around it still being fine. Surely everything is out of date 20 seconds after you place the order button. I've had this spec for ages! Most of it was ordered in early 2007.

I guess I might as well just wait then and perhaps pick up a new graphics card at some point. In the past I'd have upgraded three times since i bought all this. Has the pace of change just slowed down or something?

If you're not encoding then i7/i5 is probably a little bit of a waste. It's not that things have slowed down, it's just the power components hold nowadays are far more exceptional than previous generations such as single core CPUs and have a little bit more of a lifespan in my opinion. 285 is a very good card too.

 

[Big.Wayne]

• Intel® Core™2 Quad Q6600 @ 3Ghz
• Abit IP35 Pro
• 4gb of OCZ memory
• Geforce Nvidia Geforce GTX285
• HX520 PSU
• 22" Iiyama E2201

Hello [TW]Fox,

firstly gratz on the old MOH . . nice one!

I'm checking your spec and from a Real-World Perspective it's still looking good! . . . the obvious bottleneck is your disk subsystem!

• Solid State Drives 30 GB-100GB here
• Solid State Drives 120GB-256GB here

When I last upgraded AMD was nothing but a joke compared to the Core2 offerings.

Heh that’s fighting talk where I come from lad!

I gather things have changed.

The truth is AMD® nearly got taken out by some shady business tactics from Intel®, we all got zapped by a multi-million dollar $$$$ brainwashing campaign that made us think AMD® was pants . . . . Intel® cleaned up big time! . . . . the news is only just leaking out now on the interweb following the *huge* anti-trust case that recently concluded ending up with a rather large $1.25 billion legal settlement being paid to AMD®

Before I knew any of this and for reasons I'm not sure of I got the urge last November to dump my Intel® E8400 @ 4GHz and pick up some fresh AMD® tech just too see how it was myself first hand (instead of relying on the web-review sites and their Benchmarks!) and it blew me away! . . . seriously I was quite surprised as like you I was led to believe they were pants. Been playing with it for a few months in true obsessive-compulsive style and I've been impressed enough to get on a one man mission to convert as many people on OcUK forums to the green team! . . . haha I've now become the unofficial OcUK Forums AMD® Evangelist

It's the price mate, you get so much kick for really not a lot of money spent and after using it for a few weeks I realised Intel® had been mugging me off for the last few years! . . . I was like "How can this be so good? I've spent less than £100 for both a CPU and a motherboard?". I ended up with £80 in my pocket after moving from LGA775 to Socket AM2+/AM3, it's not often you upgrade your computer and end up with more money than you start with!

This is my ting, it will reign down like a godly ******* firestorm upon your Kentsfield



Anyways hope your appreciating my lively post, it's pure fluke that I am here in this place at this time and have bumped into you, I'm camping General Hardware this week to help the guys get themselves a sweet gaming rig sorted for approx £600, that's like almost for the entire PC, when I came here a few days ago everyone was bumbling around happy to spend £1200 on a new system! . . . Your pretty good where you are atm but if you fancy jumping on the AMD® vibe I do believe we could probably swap out your CPU/Mobo for something newer if you fancy getting under the bonnet and getting your hands dirty!

Interestingly when Windows 7 got released everybody in the world decided they needed more RAM so the prices shot up and your DDR2 is quite valuable again right now compared to the rock bottom prices it hit last year. The new AMD stuff can work with either DDR2 or DDR3 and the prices of both have hit parity now although DDR3 prices will likely fall and DDR2 prices will likely rise so as an investment it would pay to keep hold of your DDR2! . . . that means you can either sit tight with your Kentsfield system or flog it and plug your OCZ DDR2 into a new AMD rig . . . If I have anything to do with it though your LGA775 kit will be worth less and less over the next few months so if you did want to cash up and move on don't leave it too long!

Budget? No idea. What sort of budget do I need? 400-500 quid I guess for whatever I need

I take it your doing ok for money atm? . . . do you want to play? . . . Am I picking up the right vibe about you here!

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

Do you work for OcUK or are just a fanatic with lots of spare time?

 

[e36Adz]

Hi guys,

I used to be hugely into all this stuff....

I had a very similar spec to yourself...

Q9450 @ 3.4Ghz, 4GB OCZ DDR2, GTX260, 480W Tagan, 24" Dell

...and like yourself, I was out of the loop. Didn't really know what was available, didn't know how far things had progressed etc.

I read around on the forums and got clued up abit and kept my eyes open in MM until I stumbled upon my current cpu/mobo/ram/cooler from someone local to me, so I snapped them up. The buyer had bought all the parts new 2 weeks earlier from ocuk for ~£450 and I managed to get them all for £320. I also expected to get only 3.6Ghz out of the cpu, it's currently sat stable at 4.0Ghz.

I managed to sell my old parts off as a bundle so that upgrade in total cost me in the region of £130 which I would say was worth it, I got a lot more out of the cpu then I initially expected.

While I had the upgrade bug, I followed it up with 2x Kingston 40GB SSDs which cost me £150 and an Antec 1200 which cost me £130.

I love the styling of the Antec, plus it keeps things cool and quiet, and the SSDs in RAID-0 have drastically increased performance. I don't just mean in benchmarks I mean in real terms where it counts eg windows boot up time.

If you have about £300-£400 available, keep your eyes open in MM for an i7/i5 bundle. Sell you current cpu/mobo/ram, with a decent i5/i7 chip you should be running at 4.0Ghz. Also, get yourself a good SSD drive or possibly 2 for RAID-0. You will be sorted for another year or two...

 

[LEUVEN]

Been playing with it for a few months in true obsessive-compulsive style

Hey please keep that sort of thing to yourself please, as this is a family forum

and I've been impressed enough to get on a one man mission to convert as many people on OcUK forums to the green team!

Just a slight understatement there.

we all got zapped by a multi-million dollar $$$$ brainwashing campaign

Allthough I haven't been zapped by a brainwashing campaign, all this talking about AMD has made me want to build a rig just to see what all the fuss is about.................
Oh no!, I can feel Big.Wayne's green slime propaganda rubbing off on me...............................

Run away..................

 

[Essexraptor]

If you wait for the next "imminent release" you'll hang on for the next and the next etc etc. It really sounds like your current system does the job. So why change it?

If you feel the need to spread some dosh about invest in a good quality tower case. Then in the future you'll have at least the room to fit some "better" parts and be able to justify to girlfreind/wife/mother the need to fill the empty looking case. Job done !!

 

[Big.Wayne]

Hey please keep that sort of thing to yourself please, as this is a family forum

Haha very good!

That won't happen again!

 

[alex24]

Your system is fine. I don't plan on upgrading mine any time soon and we have a pretty similar spec really. Mine plays everything I throw at it on full too, no real issues at all. The last big spend I did was £250 on the gfx card christmas 08/early jan 09 iirc. Was a great price at the time.

I think the fact you've had your machine a while and it's still good just highlights the great component choices you must have made, or been advised on.

Some serious AMD love going on there big.wayne...

You have a point on SSDs. The HDD will be a bottleneck in your system, but I think the time to jump on the SSD bandwagon is not quite yet. They're still expensive for their capacity, many have teething problems still (though mostly sorted) and memory prices in general at the moment are sky-high. I'd wait it out tbh.

The other thing mentioned that may be a nice upgrade is a monitor. 24" monitor would be powered no problem at all by your rig, no need to upgrade.

Personally, I'd save the money for a rainy day. Take the missus out or do something really useful with it. Carry on enjoying your PC knowing that you've got more than your money's worth from it.

 

[Duke]

As Big.Wayne said, look at SSD HD maybe? Which drive do you have atm?

If you want a cpu boost, I would suggest Core i5 750, 4GB DDR3 and mobo. You would be looking at £330-£350 for that but would obviously get some back for selling your old kit. The i7 is a bit quicker but is a fair bit more cost.