Old system upgrade

M1k3H

M1k3H

M1k3H

Associate
Joined
6 Jul 2010
Posts
2,091
Hi folks,

After 5 and a half years, I've got the upgrade itch!!

I've got the system in sig (apart from the M225 being replaced by a C300 when the M225 fried when in-warranty) and was thinking of perhaps upgrading to 12gb RAM (now have 3x 2gb sticks) and going for a new single gpu as I struggle playing new games on high settings. Playing at 1080p.

Also perhaps a new SSD? Although my machine is only SATA II so that might not be a very good idea.

What would the maximum gpu that I could have without being bottlenecked by the CPU?

Any other ideas?
 
RAM and SSD would make a nice upgrade. I expect you could run a 290 or even a 290x without much bottleneck? My i7-950 doesn't slow my 280x
 
In terms of GPU that's what I thought, as the i7 is at 3.9GHz..

SSD not so much for speed but capacity.

Budget.. as low as possible, I'm thinking of waiting till the new AMD 3xx series is out when the 2xx series will hopefully come down and then buy something.

RAM I can't seem to find any triple channel staff.
 
Well if you can hold out until the 3xx series comes out then that's great, but if the itch needs to be scratched now here are some decent options at a few different price points:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290X LE Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Vapor-X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card (11221-12-20G) £199.99
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280 Gaming 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
Total : £599.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).




As for the RAM; yeah that's gonna be a little tricky and I would honestly suggest just waiting it out and then upgrading CPU, Mobo and RAM in one go.
 
Hi Andreas,

Thanks for the recommendations.

Saving for a house so need to keep the spend to a minimum :p

Was hoping the GPU and RAM upgrade would keep me for another 3-4 years.
 
Any recommendations in terms of RAM?

my current setup is:

3x2GB Corsair XMS3 @ 740MHz

Timings: 6-7-7-20

I'm worried that I might get something that will mess with the overclock settings.
 
Hmm the RAM is a little tricky, unless you find another similar kit I think the next best option (unfortunately because it is quite expensive) would be to buy the whole CPU, RAM and mobo combo I think think
 
I originally had 3x2gb sticks in my setup, but haven't been able to find another 3 to match.
I decided to go 2x4gb instead. Only dual channel, but didn't notice any slow downs in speed.
 
If you add RAM modules, you'll risk your overclock. Non-matched modules are unfortunately an common issue... You could get a Quad set of 16 and use 12... but it is a relatively expensive/wasteful way as you loose the existing 6... leaving you with 24GB of DDR3 which has no further upgrade path for you.

I'd try if you manage staying at 6GB and initially just go with an updated GPU.
 
Ronald said:
If you add RAM modules, you'll risk your overclock. Non-matched modules are unfortunately an common issue... You could get a Quad set of 16 and use 12... but it is a relatively expensive/wasteful way as you loose the existing 6... leaving you with 24GB of DDR3 which has no further upgrade path for you.

I'd try if you manage staying at 6GB and initially just go with an updated GPU.
Click to expand...

I guess you are right, RAM is so expensive nowadays :eek:

I'll get a GPU and keep an eye, perhaps something cheap will come along in terms of RAM.
 
So, just found out a friend is travelling to the US and accepted to bring me a GPU if I ordered one.

I started thinking about warranty.

Would this be an issue, or are warranties normally worldwide?
 
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