How can I stage my upgrades?

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2005
Posts
14,406
I've had this pc for a few years now and I'd like to upgrade it. Trouble is I don't have a lot of money at any one time so I'd have to upgrade in stages.

I'm after advice on what order I should upgrade in and what I should upgrade to.

My current specs

CPU: E6750 2.66Ghz (Should I consider overclocking this for the time being? I'm not sure if the mobo I have would be up to it though.)
RAM: 4GB DDR2
HDD: 500GB HDD (Wont need to upgrade)
PSU: 580W Hiper
Mobo: Gigabyte G31M-ES2L
GFX: 4850 512MB

Cheers
 
i would say- but depends on budget
psu - a decent 650w if u dont want to sli, x-fire either XFX, Antec, Corsair
mobo, cpu, ram - get ivy when it is released and z77 board 8gb RAM (16 if u photoshop etc)
gpu - 680 or 7950
then a SSD - a M4
:) hope this helps. but as said depends on how much u want to spend
 
The PSU can be a good upgrade for current and new system.

You'd need to buy the Motherboard, CPU, RAM and Cooler (possibly) at the same time.

A new GPU will be bottlenecked by your current system so get this after the previous stage.

Then a SSD (or at the same time as mobo, cpu ect.)

Got a budget in mind?
 
The way I have done mine over the past year is upgrade every bit besides the motherboard CPU and ram.
I buy everything when it is on offer.
Then once you have saved up then buy the motherboard CPU and ram
 
  1. PSU. For a basic system with a single GPU you'll only need something along the lines of a decent branded 550W power supply. Current trend with GPUs is more performance and lower power consumption so even dual 6870s/7850s could easily be ran on a decent 650W PSU.
  2. Mobo/CPU/RAM/(+HSF). Really can't get away from needing all three together. If budget is tight, consider second hand items maybe, probably see a few Sandy Bridge bundles cropping up on the members market as people look to upgrade to Ivy Bridge. Could get this RAM now. Very good price.
  3. GPU finally.
 
I'm looking at doing something similar in the near future.
What I would do is

Change PSU and/or case if case needs changing (I need to change my case before I do any GPU etc).
Mobo, CPU and RAM together.
GPU

It depends partly on what you need upgrading the most, but you can't really go wrong with getting the new PSU early.
 
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