i3 Will i notice the difference??

[helium]

Hey guys, been waiting around for a decent point (hardware and price wise) to jump in and upgrade my pc. Haven't upgraded since jan 2007 and i need something a little nippier. Not massive on games but would be nice, imagine its my graphics card thats holding me back but ill upgrade that eventually when i want.

Ok basicly i was wandering if i'm going to notice the difference if i upgrade to:

intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz Socket 1156 4MB L3
Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H H55 Socket 1156
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Memory Kit Unbuffered CL9

I know its not a proper upgrade but something to keep me happy for a year and a bit till i do it properly (may turn this setup into a media center or something when i do)

Ok currently i have:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4ghz) Socket 775 FSB1066 4MB Cache
ASRock 775DUAL-VSTA SKT 775 VIA - I know crazy mobo choice was a rush buy, needed agp at the time but was getting pci-e ...
Radeon x1950
2gb of ram (cant remember speed or make :S)

Is it worth me doing anything??? was just going to get a ram upgrade, but now prices have gone nuts i refuse to buy any more ddr2.

Cheers for your help guys,

£300ish for budget if people have other suggestions.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would probably go for an mATX motherboard as it would be an easier fit into a media centre case:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-382-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1124

If you want a bigger upgrade I would get the following:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 ~ £122

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM

Asus M4A79XTD Evo ~£86

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-366-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=

This motherboard can do symmetrical Crossfire at PCI-E 2.0 8X.

4GB 1600MHZ DDR3 ~ £85

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-087-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Run the RAM at 1333MHZ using lower latencies for best performance.

Here are some reviews of the motherboards:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/825

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/asus_m4a79xtd_evo_motherboard/1

 

[helium]

Cheers Cat, i have been looking at intel so long i've kinda neglected amd. the mATX is the obvious choice if i go with the i3 lol.

i'm guessing i'm probably going to notice the upgrade with the Phenom II, but anyone know if its still worth it? i dont NEED a (pointless) upgrade. I'll only do it if i'm going to notice it. I mean, atm everything works, just getting sluggish the adobe apps are my main concern.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Going from a dual core E4500 at around to 3GHZ to a quad core Q6600 at around the speeds was a decent improvement in speed for my image editing and video applications from a CPU point of view.

However at many times an upgrade to a newer generation hard disk is also noticeable and I would say that getting a Samsung F3 500GB for around £40 made my system noticeably snappier than the older Samsung T166 I had before.

I would say do this first and see if your system is quicker.

You motherboard can only take 2GB from I read:

http://www.asrock.com/MB/overview.asp?Model=775Dual-VSTA

I would say change the motherboard over to the following:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-223-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1485

You should be able to overclock with the motherboard:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/250927-11-gigabyte-es3g-good-budget-overclocking-motherboard

I would then overclock your E6600 to around 3GHZ as this would improve performance in applications.

If need be get a relatively cheap aftermarket cooler too:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

Put the rest of the budget in the bank for your upgrade next year.

I assume that you have a PCI-E X1950??

Also what PSU are you using as sometimes if this is having issues it can lead to sluggishness in a system when you are doing CPU intensive tasks.

 

[helium]

I have been getting the feeling my hd's have been going for ages, both 5+ years old Hitachis 250gb.

My PSU is nothing special but only 6 months old or so, only a £30-40 550w??? Cant remember brand, ocz or corsair i think :S meh, not modular.

I have a decent cooler already, think i may get the mobo above get a quick os drive and a case probably the antec 300, HAF or the Scout (DAM lol i hate choices lol) and then wait???

Had a look around and people seem to be getting pretty good results on that board cheers for the tip ^_^

p.s. yeah is PCI-E.

 

[PhoenixUK]

Your current setup has still plenty of juice, what you need to do is get a decent cooler, another 2gb of ram and GPU upgrade and you'll be able to play any games up to date for the next year or so if you OC your CPU to 3ghz+ which shouldn't be a problem at all as most of those chips hit 3.2-3.4ghz easily.

Get a new GPU first, then extra 2gb of ram and new HDD/SSD.
i3/i5 setup will be a waste of cash unless you get a good gpu/hdd along with it but that's gonna be costy and I'm not sure if worth all the cash invested.
Looking at some benches the i3 is only around 5-15% faster than the e6600 in gaming and 10-30% in other tasks so I wouldn't justify the ~150gbp upgrade for this little difference tbh.

Either just do gpu/hdd/ram upgrade or get 600-700quid and buy whole new phenom II / i5 setup.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I have been getting the feeling my hd's have been going for ages, both 5+ years old Hitachis 250gb.

My PSU is nothing special but only 6 months old or so, only a £30-40 550w??? Cant remember brand, ocz or corsair i think :S meh, not modular.

I have a decent cooler already, think i may get the mobo above get a quick os drive and a case probably the antec 300, HAF or the Scout (DAM lol i hate choices lol) and then wait???

Had a look around and people seem to be getting pretty good results on that board cheers for the tip ^_^

p.s. yeah is PCI-E.

AMD and Intel are shifting their quad cores to 32NM next year and are introducing some new architectures - AMD with Bulldozer and Intel with Sandy Bridge.

 

[UltimateBadger]

Overclock your current CPU to 3Ghz+, then get yourself a new gfx card and some more RAM. Bingo - your system will be more than ample for your needs.

 

[helium]

Damn, i really wanted to avoid buying new ram, will get the mobo CAT suggested and see how the OC goes. Then if i'm still not happy will buy the ram, will have to start researching gfx cards now lol. Problem is i feel like their on the cusp of the next "generation" as well.. dammit!

lol