Me and my E2180 :)

[Beechstar]

Hey Guys,

So I'm still rocking my E2180, overclocked day one to 3.2 (400x8) with stock HSF, 4GB DDR2 6400 and a GTS250 I bought in an emergency to replaced the broken BFG 8800GTS, mobo is DFI LP DK T2RS.

I spun off a new system just for my bro with the replacement BFG 9800GTX+ with a E5300, same RAM spec but OCZ and a £35 ASUS motherboard.

My poor E2180 is showing signs now of giving up now, had to lower it to 2.4 some time ago.. I was amazed at how well my bro's new rig played GTA4, something mine was not surprisingly abysmal at!

I think my decision to spend £50 on an E2180 and not £140 on a Q6600 when I upgraded from an AthlonXP, 2GB, 7800GTS was perhaps not so wise It was a budget build; 65 MB, ~60 RAM, 140 GFX.. Still have my old HDs, case and stuff, got one of those Hanns.G 28" 1920x1200 when they were cheaper.

So.. My poor ole E2180 has performed wonderfully through-out it's lifetime, I use my PC all day, it's always on, I've been able to run VMs and play L4D1&2, WoW, Warhammer, watch TV, not all at once ofcourse.

I'm not sure if my CPU has been a bottleneck for the graphics, you'd have to tell me and I know I've pretty much pushed my 2180 past the limits now. But I'm just not sure what exactly I should do..

I've looked at second hand Q6600, Q8200-Q9300 and decided I would rather just by it new.. As I see it £100 may aswell be £130 which may aswell be £170.. So I could spend a modest amount on S775 and get the Q9550 but for £300 you can just about manage an i5 750, Gigabyte UD3 & 4GB DDR3.. If I could get a Q6600, Q8200-Q9300 anything for <£75 I'd take that and wait but Fleabay hates me.. I'm gonna sell the GTS250 for £75 and by a 5850, I figure I can CF now or later depending if I go i5..

I built my friend a i7 920 when it was £160 and wish I had listened to the advise I read here, months and months, if not longer, ago..

So what do you think? My only hesitation is that if I go i5 for £300 budget end I'll be in exactly the same position I am now cause I bought the budget end again... Mainly the mobo I guess..

BS

 

[Ritsugamesh]

I bought budget and too regret it, whilst my dual core performs admirably in the majority of cases, it does have some areas in which it falls down, certain games, multi tasking, such and such.

I would go for the best quality of what you can, if that means avoiding the i series for now and buying top notch quad core system, then perhaps it's for the best. Most say that in gaming, it's completely unnoticeable, it's encoding and such where the i series shine, particularly the i7.

 

[mame]

Go for an i5 750 like I have just done. (new sig. coming soon) I agree with you about buying cheap. I too had an e2180 @3.2ghz and whilst it was a great chip, i could have had a Q6600 for £130 at the time. I ended up buying an E8500 for £155 about a year later and have just upgraded to i5. The way i see it, you should buy a CPU + motherboard + RAM and keep the whole setup untill you buy all 3 again. Buying a cheap CPU, so you have future upgrade potential, means you miss out on a lot of the fun. By the time you buy the higher CPU, you have saved a tiny amount PLUS you have paid for two CPUs and the socket is almost EOL.

Just go and buy an i5 750. Intel have just released it, it's £140. How much cheaper will it ever be ???