Logical Progression?

EternalNeko · 8 Oct 2011 at 02:53

So, I built my pc in about December 09, and even though it's not yet 2 years later I'm itching for an upgrade.

Current PC:
CPU: Intel i7 920 D0
MOB: Asus Rampage II Extreme
RAM: Corsair Dominator, 12GB, 6-Dimm's (Triple-Channel)
GPU1: ATI 5850 (Not-Crossfire)
GPU2: ATI 5850 (Not-Crossfire)
SPU: Xonar DS
HDD1: WD 1TB Black
HDD2: WD 1TB Black
HDD3: WD 1TB Black
PSU: Cooler Master 850 Watt.

So here's the story, my flat-mate is in the market for a new pc, I'm not completely certain of his specs but it's roughly:

CPU: Intel E6600
MOB: Asus Micro-ATX (unknown)
RAM: 4GB, 2 sticks (unknown brand)
GPU1: Geforce GTS 250
HDD1: 500GB, seagate
PSU: 450Watt (unknown)

The deal here is, I could buy a new pc, and sell him my old PC at a generously reduced price. The issue here is, I've been browsing hardware and it's not evolved as much as I had expected from the hype, or at least that's how I'm perceiving it.

My PC is used almost exclusively for graphics work (3D, Video), and a little gaming when I have time.

But what I'm asking is essentially, Can I reasonably upgrade from my current position without looking at too much extremes in bank?, And, if so in your opinions would it be a worthwhile upgrade?

wakayoda · 8 Oct 2011 at 03:04

You have a high spec machine, there is no need to upgrade.

Buchanan0204 · 8 Oct 2011 at 03:51

The 2500K shows a significant increase in performance on 3D work.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/47?vs=288

You can also overclock the hell out of it to get even more juice... easily done on a good board.

You could also keep your current RAM and use it in your new system, It's more than fine and no advancements have been made since 2009. Just leave the last module out.

Orcvader · 8 Oct 2011 at 11:20

You can also keep one 5850 and give the other one to him seeing as you're not using them in crossfire, and reuse his current HDD. Would help save some of the cash.

EternalNeko · 8 Oct 2011 at 16:59

wakayoda said:
You have a high spec machine, there is no need to upgrade.

Thanks, what I had implied from the tone of my post I felt. But I was looking for a deeper picture.

Buchanan0204 said:
The 2500K shows a significant increase in performance on 3D work.

You can also overclock the hell out of it to get even more juice... easily done on a good board.

I have read the 2600K isn't really worth the upgrade over a 2500K at an extra £100?

Which is a good board for example?, there's 3 different series of chip set for sandy bridge it seems, I'll need to troll some reviews later.

Orcvader said:
You can also keep one 5850 and give the other one to him seeing as you're not using them in crossfire, and reuse his current HDD. Would help save some of the cash.

Also true, I could bit-upgrade mine and donate the parts to him; However the reason I have 2 is it drives a 4 monitor setup. I have been however considering dropping back to 2 monitors, as it's simply not that advantageous to production and consumes a huge amount of desk space.

On that note, I've actually been considering dropping ATI and moving back to NVIDIA for the CUDA platform, as overall it's better for graphics.

Orcvader · 8 Oct 2011 at 17:54

The 5850 can run 3 monitors natively using the Displayport. A 6000 series card with two Displayports can run 4 monitors with no problem.

I suppose the best way in doing this cheapwise is to sell one 5850, give one to your flatmate, buy something like the 560 Ti or 570 to drive two monitors and use his old 250 to drive the other two. With Windows 7 you can have different graphic cards working together. A 560 Ti/570 will help with your 3D work thanks to CUDA.

What does your friend use the PC for? Maybe it would be cheaper to get him an i3/i5 system instead?

Reaper 392 · 8 Oct 2011 at 18:21

how come your not using crossfire? do you have more than three monitors?

Orcvader · 8 Oct 2011 at 21:30

Reaper 392 said:
how come your not using crossfire? do you have more than three monitors?

EternalNeko said:
However the reason I have 2 is it drives a 4 monitor setup.

EternalNeko · 9 Oct 2011 at 00:17

Orcvader said:
What does your friend use the PC for? Maybe it would be cheaper to get him an i3/i5 system instead?

Gaming mostly, He's doing graphics at university though, thus why he's in the market for an upgrade.

So, I was looking into the 2500K and the 2600K, seems there is a tidy increase from the 2500K to the 2600K, from a productivity side of things, but perhaps not enough to justify almost doubling the price.

What I am more concerned about is the absurd range of motherboards currently for the subject, and a lot of talk about 'Gen3', which from what I understand has something to do with the upcoming PCI-E3.0, and ivy bridge processors;

What's the story about that?, isn't PCI-E3.0 mostly just more bandwidth?, are current generation cards at the cap of current gen PCI-E? or is this more of a down the road sort of change?

Is it worth getting a Gen3 for the price or going for a quality 'old' Gen board?