Full Upgrade Time?

[Youstolemyname]

Well my current PC is now coming up to 5 years old and I am thinking it is time for a new one....perhaps? I gave it a ram and cpu transplant about 2 years ago so here are the specs:

Opteron 165 @ 2.9Ghz
4Gb DDR 2 running @ 490 Mhz
DFI LanParty SLI-DR
Geforce Ultra 6800
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS
NEC DVD re-writer
Couple of WD/Samsung SATA 2 drives...
Air cooling, can't remember the fan I stuck in but its a BEAST
Ennermax noisetaker PSU I think its around 450-475 watts, would have to check.
Hyundai L90D+ @ 1280x1024

I quite fancy playing some games again and clearly the gfx card is not up to it one bit.

Would the rest of the bits in there still be up to the job if I bunged in a new GFX card or is it time to retire the whole kit as a HTPC?

Which then brings me on to the next question. I have totally lost touch with hardware developments! I keep reading about i7s, i5s, different sockets etc etc and am baffled by it. The kit I bought in 2005 was bought as it was meant to be reasonably future proof, and it served that purpose. Which is the correct motherboard/cpu/ram combo to future proof again?

I would happily throw up to a grand at a gaming rig if I know it's going to last the best part of 5 years with a few bits of hardware transplanted in it. But, if I can get away with a new GFX card on this rig then that might be an option. I am not a heavy gamer but at the moment, even left for dead 2 looks a bit poor on it.

So I guess what I am looking for is twofold: Would it be worth just buying a new GFX card and using existing kit or is it time for a full rebuild, if so- what is the mobo/ram/cpu combo that will have the longest lifespan?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[95thrifles]

a new gfx card would certainly help massively, but you may find the old cpu bottlenecks you bit on brand new games which fully utilise more cores, these tend to be large scale rts etc, you could invest in a new monittor too, Id look at £800 on tower and £200 on monitor, allowing for windows that'd give £700 for hardware of tower, have a look at the guide in my sig/at top of page for a couple of £700 build options

 

[LEUVEN]

You could just try the new GPU card route as you have pic-e slots for the new cards and you really have nothing to lose by trying.

 

[Youstolemyname]

Thanks guys, what sort of GFX card should I consider and will my PSU cope?

Also, a pal keeps saying to me to go the i7 route whereas all the guides/reading I see says go i5. Does the i7 route offer more futureproofing?

 

[SirCanealot]

Thanks guys, what sort of GFX card should I consider and will my PSU cope?

Also, a pal keeps saying to me to go the i7 route whereas all the guides/reading I see says go i5. Does the i7 route offer more futureproofing?

Yes, slightly. But it uses up a lot more power and it a lot more expensive. But you need to weigh up the pros and cons of both sockets.

The hyperthreading on the i7 can actually hold some games back... And the i5 has better turbo for when games don't use all 4 cores, etc.

Time to do some reading!