Limited upgrade - CPU/Mobo or GPU????

G@rethf · 2 Aug 2007 at 18:16

Hi Guys,

I am in a position where I can do a small upgrade to my rig but I could do with some advice on what would be the best bang for buck option. I can afford to upgrade either the CPU and motherboard or the graphics card. My current spec is in my sig, the new parts would be as follows:

Intel C2D E6550 CPU & Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R

OR

Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB

Am looking to spend around £200.

What would you do?????

jammir · 2 Aug 2007 at 18:48

i would say mobo+cpu

as i remember you can unlock the 7900GS to GT and over clock it the with no probs maybe put a zalman on it and that should last you a fair bit

edit: oh sorry my bad that was the agp 6800's should still be able to overclock the card

thefishdude · 2 Aug 2007 at 18:48

cpu and motherboard in my opinion will give you an all round better performance instae of just gam performance with the gfx.

lee87 · 2 Aug 2007 at 18:57

I would go for the graphics upgrade. Get the ocuk 8800GTS and an extra 1gb ram for about £200. This would give the best speed improvement in games.

I would only go for the cpu upgrade if you will be using it for video encoding and things like that. You won't really see any speed difference in windows by getting a new cpu.

Overclock the X2 3800+ and it will be able to handle almost anything.

G@rethf · 3 Aug 2007 at 11:49

Thanks for the replies guys, an interesting spread of opinions!

What sort of a performance increase in games do you think I would get if I went down the CPU/mobo route and keep my 7900GS??

Nullvoid · 3 Aug 2007 at 12:15

Hmm that's a tough one...

Check out the different games benched in this review.

I know the 7900gs isn't included but, if you factor in that your card sits somewhere between the 8600gts and 8600gt in performance, you can still get a good idea of the increase you'd get by going to a 320mb 8800gts.

Now ordinarily I would say definitely get the new graphics card, but with nvidia's next generation not that far off, it might be smarter to grab the cpu+mobo and then update your graphics later on. I guess the key question is: How limited do you currently feel with your 7900gs (and what resolution do you typically game at/would you like to game at)?