New system spec

[86JR]

Can I do any better than this ? Prefer to save money but keep the performance. I need to change motherboard or I would keep the rig I have and add to it, but my motherboard doesnt support sli.

Current rig
Q9450
Gigabyte P45 DS3
4GB Kingston PC8500
Asus 216 260 GTX
Noctua NH14
Antec 900 modified
Corsair 850w non modular psu
Saitek Eclipse keyboard (needs replacing)
MS Optical Intellimouse Explorer 3
LG 24" monitor (with built in tv, you know the one, 5 years old)
Benq 19" TN monitor

Proposed:

I would sell all of my current rig and then buy that one, or if its not worth much now keep it as a server / folding rig / print server in another room.

Thoughts ? I dont really see the point of going to i7, it wont benefit me much over the i5 750 ?

 

[Alex74]

Would sell off your current 260 and invest in a 5850 for the new rig instead. If you run crossfire on that p55 it'll be in x8 x8 configuration rather than dual x16.

Also if you want to save money this isnt the best build to do it with. What's it going to be used for?

 

[Lemin]

Id just OC your cpu & buy,,,

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11161-05-40R) [11161-05-40R]
£349.99 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-230-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1502

or

HIS ATI Radeon HD 5970 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card *Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Edition* [H597F2GDC]
This Week Only Offer
was £556.99 inc VAT
£520.98 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-000-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1577

If its mainly for gaming.

 

[cmndr_andi]

I would suggest keeping your current rig TBH - if it is mainly for gaming then the upgrade to P55/i5 will yield little/no performance boost and cost a lot. I assume the C2Q is overclocked.

I suggest selling the GTX 260 (the 2nd hand price is pretty good at the minute) and buying a 5850 (or two) like alex said and add to your current rig (which supports crossfire x8x8).

The other changes (like new monitor and SSD) are good upgrades and will work well to augment the awesomeness of your current system.

 

[iv-tecman]

Sorry but this has always bugged me in this section of the forum….

Recently I upgraded a E6600 with a new PSU and a new GPU – 5870 Vapor-x, I was totally blasted saying I’d wasted my money and I should have upgraded the socket..

So I did, and I got the spec you see in my sig…. To be honest, it was a pre O/C i5 750 deal from this very site… Its actually a really good system, and runs everything I throw at it at max 60fps with v sync on, with exception to Crysis.. that I can get averages of around 57 fps with high and some AA or v high and hardly any AA..

Point is, I handed the E6600 over to my brother, yet at the same time I got an additional 2GB of memory to take the E6600 to 4GB and swapped the E6600 for a Q6600… to make it a semi decent gaming machine…

Out of interest, I placed the 5870 vapor-x into the Q6600 with 4GB of memory in lieu of the 8800GTX my brother uses.. Just as a test…

My conclusion is that a Quad Q6600 runs everything just as good minus a few fps in the testing I did then what my i5 rig does… Quite shocking, and he’s now also saving up for a 5850 himself…

Now I read folks saying don’t bother with the i5, just upgrade the GPU if you’ve got a Quad… Basically I now wish I’d saved the cash from the i5, and kept the E6600 system, upgraded the E6600 to a Q6600 and 4GB of memory and stuffed the 5870 vapor-x into this and I’d have pretty much the same as the i5 rig, for around £400 less.. Only one to really benefit was my brother, he got a good system for next to nothing..!!

So, buy the monitor, buy the heatsink and fan, O/C the existing CPU, and buy a 5870 vapor-x and save a shed load of cash..!! use the saved cash for upgrading a year or so from now…

The Quads seem to deal with ATI 5870’s perfectly fine.. I’m so glad I stopped myself spending more and getting the i7 rig I considered… Thankfully, my rig was a gift, still doesn’t make me feel good, as I now know a Q6600 upgrade for £80 runs every bit as good as my £400 odd i5 upgrade with a 5870 vapor-x if you overclock the CPU.. I mean its just a fps more in most games.. Its just not worth it.. the GPU if gaming does all the work for you.. A good GPU is an excellent investment if you game a lot… Even more so if you’ve got a quad..

IMO, I could be completely wrong.. Its been known...

 

[PanchoVilla]

Sorry but this has always bugged me in this section of the forum…....

I agree with you in that people seem to upgrade and expound the need to upgrade sometimes purely for the sake of it.

For me, a computer is a means to an end. At the moment I watch movies and browse the internet. If I upgrade my pc to the latest, then I'd mostly be saving boot up time. Surely, other things will run smoother, but not 500 pounds smoother.

I'm reminded of an innuit saying:
"The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn from the crow."
.... well actually it was a William Blake saying, but I heard it from Nobody in Dead Man.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

I agree with you in that people seem to upgrade and expound the need to upgrade sometimes purely for the sake of it.

+one on that. I've had my 8800GTX for over 3 years.. There's nothing i've played in that time that has struggled at 1920x1200 and going by what's around today, it looks like nothing will kill it. For me, it's been worth it's weight in gold.. or is becuase the developers just aren't taking cards to the next limit.

 

[PanchoVilla]

+one on that. I've had my 8800GTX for over 3 years.. There's nothing i've played in that time that has struggled at 1920x1200 and going by what's around today, it looks like nothing will kill it. For me, it's been worth it's weight in gold.. or is becuase the developers just aren't taking cards to the next limit.

That's interesting.... can you play crysis and MW2 at acceptable levels with this card?

If so, I'll look if there are silent versions of it. One of the main reasons I haven't upgraded in a long while is because I can't stand whiny computers. Spent ages quieting down my older sytems.