Motherboard/CPU upgrade or not...pls Advise

dpalmer56

dpalmer56

dpalmer56

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17 Feb 2013
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Hello, I need some help as my mother-board is fried. Could you guys help?
(I don't know about building/upgrading computers at all, apart from RAMs etc lol)

I really only play World of Warcraft, but I usually have 10 tabs/pages open at a time.

The repair man said that I need a new motherboard and ram to match the DDR3, as I can't get DDR2 anymore(?)

He gave me a quote of £130/£135 for a Motherboard including 8gig ram @DDR3 including windows reinstall, backup and labour. He said the motherboard was around £49.

Now, I don't know enough to think he is ripping me off and have no idea what to say to him/if he is giving me a good deal, or if he knows what would be the best for my set-up. I thought you guys might be able to see/confirm. :)
I don't know whether to upgrade the CPU to a better CPU compatible with the S775 mobo (like the q9550, etc) or get a new gen i3/i5 with a S1155 Motherboard + RAM, which would cost about £220 from what I've seen online.

Do any of you know if this is a good idea?My Budget is up to £200, but I obviously, I'd prefer it free, or about £150 :P
Should I change the Q6600 CPU to a top end 775 compatible CPU OR to the S1155 motherboard and a CPU to work with it or just leave it lol, or can you guys give me some advice on what you would do, and what I should do?

The reason behind my thoughts is I'm thinking to upgrade the PC while at it since im changing the motherboard anyway but not sure if the upgrades are worth it.

Thanks. I really appreciate it.

PC SPECS:
Acer Aspire M3641
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 ghz (not OC)
ATI RAD sapphire HD5770
4gb RAM @ DDR2
2 SATA HDD @ 500gb each
PSU: 550w ATX or so.
I think the mobo is ASUS G41 s775 ddr2, well since thats what ive seen on the net lol.
All on a 19inch LG monitor.
 
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This is what id do:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £31.99
Total : £193.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Z77 motherboard so you can upgrade to a quad-core i5 in future.

The 3220 is better performance-wise than your Q6600..

DDR3 RAM to round it off..

That price he is quoting isn't bad really. It seems a lot but RAM will be about £40-£50 + £50 for the motherboard and he will only get about £30-£40 for his time... The job (done right) should take about an hour maybe (and half hour testing).. Thats about right.

Though you can can a simular motherboard yourself from other websites (the forest shop) which accept DDR2. Around £40..
 
@ snipe86x...Thanks for that mate, but im still confused as to what option is a better choice
i.e; still not sure if to upgrade CPU only or just replace motherboard
upgrade both CPU and motherboard....

I mean what might you do if you where im my situation? or what advise do you think is best in my situation?

Thanks
 
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dpalmer56 said:
@ snipe86x...Thanks for that mate, but im still confused as to what option is a better choice
i.e; still not sure if to upgrade CPU only or just replace motherboard
upgrade both CPU and motherboard....

I mean what might you do if you where im my situation? or what advise do you think is beat in my situation?

Thanks
Click to expand...

That's a hard one!

Depends on when you want to spend the money. Now or later. If you replaced the motherboard, your only real option would be to overclock it like a b***h and save for Haswell in July. Since you are only playing WOW, it doesn't seem like an upgrade would benefit you to the extent you are/would expect.

Personally, I would wait for Haswell. I would love to get the i5k but there is no point with 5 months left till it's release. The Q6600 is still capable for what you are doing. I loved mine until it died.
 
snips86x said:
There is only 1 board on OcUK:

YOUR BASKET
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £34.99


Or i3:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £31.99
Total : £193.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).
Click to expand...


And just wondering, the RAM for the 1st option says 1333MHz, from what ive seen online doesnt it only go up to 1066MHz with my set-up?

The i3 option, would all those fit in with what ive already got in the PC? and is the CPU based on price or what you thought was considerably better than the Q6600?, meaning could i get something cheaper that would still outperform the Q6600 (lol)

snips86x said:
That's a hard one!

Depends on when you want to spend the money. Now or later. If you replaced the motherboard, your only real option would be to overclock it like a b***h and save for Haswell in July. Since you are only playing WOW, it doesn't seem like an upgrade would benefit you to the extent you are/would expect.

Personally, I would wait for Haswell. I would love to get the i5k but there is no point with 5 months left till it's release. The Q6600 is still capable for what you are doing. I loved mine until it died.
Click to expand...

Well i get paid on the 28th, so i can ask the guy to repair it and just pick it up then or buy it myself and fix immediately after i get the parts.
Thats anothing, how safe is overclocking or should i say what are the downsides?. And not that i know anything about this "Haswell", but im assuming it would be quite expensive when released (budget) or are you implying the Ivybridge (that i know hehe) would be cheaper then?

Indeed, i only play WOW (at the moment anyway), but i do class myself as quite an Heavy-user, i tend to multi-task a lot with loads of webpages (inc vids aswell).
And this was what i noticed a few months b4 the PC died, not sure it was signs of the Mobo dying though :

-PC was always running 120+ processes and at about 70%+ ram (usually higher) esp when WOW is running, and at times CPU would get to 90% usage (when running WOW)
-it was noticably slow at times (start-up aswell), although this could just be due to what ive got on my PC and how i maintain it lol.
-flash and shockwave crashed a lot aswell esp when the stats where high like the 1st point i gave.

So im not sure if that means I need an upgrade or it was just due to the Motherboard.

Thanks Again
 
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dpalmer56 said:
I mean what might you do if you where im my situation? or what advise do you think is best in my situation?

Thanks
Click to expand...

If I were you, and repairman had confirmed it was the board, firstly I would sell the Q6600 as they go for ~£50 on a popular auction site due to still being a decent upgrade for anybody with LGA775 dual cores and their overclock-ability. Secondly I would sell the DDR2 because like you said, its hard to get these days (it costs more than DDR3 new lol), you have 4GB which I'm assuming is either 4x1GB or even better 2x2GB either way that should net you some money. Thirdly I would buy a new motherboard/CPU/memory bundle (if your running Windows 7 you may not even need to re-install as its quite resilient when its boot drive gets swapped between machines).

If you are using a 32bit copy of windows then now would be the best time to move to a 64bit one.

After selling the Q6600 and the ram you should be able to get this i3 bundle for ~£100: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-090-OP&groupid=43&catid=2384&subcat=2417

Or this i5 bundle would come in under your £200 max budget: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-208-OK&groupid=43&catid=2384&subcat=2274
 
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Just to clarify what ubersonic suggests, in case you follow his links and think the pricing has changed....like I did initially :p
.....when you sell your existing parts and add the new funds to your original budget, then those bundles are a lovely choice to upgrade too and still fall around your initial budget.
 
Thanks for all the replies and suggestion guys, appreciate it :D

ubersonic said:
LGA775 dual cores and their overclock-ability.
(if your running Windows 7 you may not even need to re-install as its quite resilient when its boot drive gets swapped between machines).

After selling the Q6600 and the ram you should be able to get this i3 bundle for ~£100: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-090-OP&groupid=43&catid=2384&subcat=2417

Or this i5 bundle would come in under your £200 max budget: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-208-OK&groupid=43&catid=2384&subcat=2274
Click to expand...

Regarding overclocking the Q6600, someone i know also suggested just replacing the Mobo/RAM and OC the Q6600, but im not sure if thats safe or know what the downsides are, also IF it will indeed show that much of an improvement with 8GB RAM DDR3. ??

Nice, i have Win 7 Ultimate :p

Regarding those bundles, i noticed the processors are not as new/less power(?) than the ones suggested before...so are they like future proof (incase i feel like upgrades again lol) esp the motherboard and can i swap the 4gb rams for 6/8gb rams?...Thanks a lot :D
 
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Compare 2 bundles...

Also can anyone shed some light on what the diff btw this two i3 bundles are pls:

Xenon Intel Core i3 2120 3.30GHz DDR3 Bundle - Dual Core


AND

Intel "Premium Constructor" Bundle - Dual Core


From what i gather the "Xenon" is overclocked(?), but then i cant understand why the "3.30GHz" are the same for both bundles and why the the "Xenon" seems like it has a lower power motherboard (Asus P8H61-MX vs Asus P8B75-M LX Intel B75) and RAM (4GB 1333MHz C9 vs 4GB 1600MHz DDR3). (?)

Also on the "Xenon" Product desc. it states:

Note - Please note that adding in additional memory to the spare slots will require new BIOS settings and the maximum clock speed attainable may be significantly reduced. OcUK recommend a quality brand PSU for use with all our bundles such as the Corsair TX & HX range. Updating the BIOS on the overclocked bundle range will void the warranty on the overclock. If you update the BIOS we will no longer be able to provide support for configuring and maintaining the CPU overclock.
Click to expand...

Does this mean i cant upgrade the RAM at all? as id rather have 6 or 8GB RAM.

Thanks a lot :)
 
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I think what is meant by that xenon statement is (deep breath)...

The memory installed is single Channel so when another stick of ram is install it will need to be configured to run in daul channel mode. This won't be setup to start with...
 
dpalmer56 said:
Regarding overclocking the Q6600, someone i know also suggested just replacing the Mobo/RAM and OC the Q6600, but im not sure if thats safe or know what the downsides are, also IF it will indeed show that much of an improvement with 8GB RAM DDR3. ??
Click to expand...

You could theoretically over clock the the Q6600 by as much as 1GHz (good luck actually doing that though) and it will still lose to the i3 2120 on per core performance (i3 would be ~25% faster) however if the application was specifically designed to utilize all four cores of the Q6600 then it would be able to pull ahead of the i3, the i5 would destroy it no matter the scenario.


dpalmer56 said:
Regarding those bundles, i noticed the processors are not as new/less power(?) than the ones suggested before...so are they like future proof (incase i feel like upgrades again lol) esp the motherboard and can i swap the 4gb rams for 6/8gb rams?...Thanks a lot :D
Click to expand...

Both boards will accept the 3770K, the fastest socket 1155 chip (next gen will use a new socket). The B75 is newer than the H61 and has a couple of new features, Im to tired to list them im afraid. Yes you can fit more ram, they should take at least 16GB.


dpalmer56 said:
Also can anyone shed some light on what the diff btw this two i3 bundles are pls:
Click to expand...

The cheaper one has a H61 board and DDR3 1333, the more expensive one has a B75 (newer chipset) board and DDR3 1600.
 
Thanks a lot for the clarification "ubersonic" and all your input guys :)

Now i did some shopping of my own aswell to see what i can find i came up the a set-up and i wanted some thoughts to it and how it compares to the previous suggestions in power/price, future proof-wise and if they actually match up as i noticed the board is S1155 and the CPU is S1156 especially with this bundle Intel "Premium Constructor" Bundle - Dual Core *edit*(the only thing i dont like about this bundle is the 4gb ram)

**B Grade** Intel Core i3 560 3.33GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail -- £79.99
**B Grade** EVGA Intel Z68 SLI (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard (120-SB-E682-KR) -- £50.00
Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) -- £35.99
Total : £177.38 (inc Shipping : £9.50)

And if possible how they both (or should i say the better of the 2) compare to:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £31.99 (which i dont think is even instock anymore lol)
Total : £193.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Thanks a lot again guys, i really appreciate it. im very close to a decision now hehe :p
 
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dpalmer56 said:
Thanks a lot for the clarification "ubersonic" and all your input guys :)

Now i did some shopping of my own aswell to see what i can find i came up the a set-up and i wanted some thoughts to it and how it compares to the previous suggestions in power/price, future proof-wise and if they actually match up as i noticed the board is S1155 and the CPU is S1156 especially with this bundle Intel "Premium Constructor" Bundle - Dual Core *edit*(the only thing i dont like about this bundle is the 4gb ram)

**B Grade** Intel Core i3 560 3.33GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail -- £79.99
**B Grade** EVGA Intel Z68 SLI (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard (120-SB-E682-KR) -- £50.00
Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) -- £35.99
Total : £177.38 (inc Shipping : £9.50)
Click to expand...

That will not work at all.

The CPU and board are not compatible with each other.


dpalmer56 said:
And if possible how they both (or should i say the better of the 2) compare to:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £31.99 (which i dont think is even instock anymore lol)
Total : £193.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Thanks a lot again guys, i really appreciate it. im very close to a decision now hehe :p
Click to expand...

That will work.
 
stulid said:
That will not work at all.

The CPU and board are not compatible with each other.




That will work.
Click to expand...



Thanks for the clarification mate :)

Just noticed the **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard is not mATX, so i cant use that anyway need to search new board :(
 
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