Recommend me some upgrades...

enthrone

enthrone

enthrone

Associate
Joined
22 Mar 2009
Posts
7
Hi All,

Just wondering if you could provide me with some ideas for upgrades, preferably mobo, cpu and ram.

Current spec;

gigabyte ga-m61pme-sp2
Amd II x2 245e 2.9Ghz
Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 XMS2 (4GB)
ati 4850 1GB DDR3
Corsair HX450w

Res - 1860 * 1050.

Only games played are Wow / Counter strike, so I don't believe the GPU is limiting me really more the cpu/ram.

Budget £400, rather spend around £300 as i hardly use the pc anymore.

Many thanks in advance.
 
ati 6850 £100 is easy upgrade choice

the rest .....

what are you looking for ?
i'd probably say teh cpu needs updating ... not sure if you can get away with not doing the mobo ...

and at that res ... can't see those 2 old games slowign you down tbh
 
TALON1973 said:
ati 6850 £100 is easy upgrade choice

the rest .....

what are you looking for ?
i'd probably say teh cpu needs updating ... not sure if you can get away with not doing the mobo ...

and at that res ... can't see those 2 old games slowign you down tbh
Click to expand...

Just looking for it to run games a little better, seems to lag a bit on populated areas on wow, cpu struggles to play something such as BF3.
 
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £151.99
(£126.66) £151.99
(£126.66)
Asus P8H61-M Intel H61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66
Samsung Green 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit (MV-3V4G3D/US) £47.99
(£39.99) £47.99
(£39.99)

Total = £261.37

ram depends on what you want

wil add i'm stuck in same computer area as you .. mine just has abit more cpu grunt atm ( check my sig )... but upgrading myself soon .. i'm prob going for a 6850
 
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With that budget I would look for a cheap sandy-bridge i5 (or a second-hand sandy bridge i5 - maybe even a i5 2500K for ~£130), a cheap yet decent Z77 board and a good value kit of 8GB DDR3. Then add a decent CPU cooler so you can do a bit of overclocking and keep the CPU cooler while being quiet.

This will give you a big boost in CPU power for your money and allow for further upgrades in the future.

Then if you have some money left - go for a HD 6850 as suggested above.

Your existing 450W corsair PSU will handle all this without a problem.
 
cmndr_andi said:
With that budget I would look for a cheap sandy-bridge i5 (or a second-hand sandy bridge i5 - maybe even a i5 2500K for ~£130), a cheap yet decent Z77 board and a good value kit of 8GB DDR3. Then add a decent CPU cooler so you can do a bit of overclocking and keep the CPU cooler while being quiet.

This will give you a big boost in CPU power for your money and allow for further upgrades in the future.

Then if you have some money left - go for a HD 6850 as suggested above.

Your existing 450W corsair PSU will handle all this without a problem.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much

£312.95 with an i5-2500k

Is their much difference between the ocuk value ram and say this ocz

6850 will definitely be an upgrade for a later date. 780 -> 2750 G3D Mark.. nice. :p
 
or the amd route

AMD Bulldozer FX-6 Six Core 6100 Black Edition 3.30Ghz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail with FREE Deus Ex PC Game £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
Asus M5A78L-M LX AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard £38.39
(£31.99) £38.39
(£31.99)
OcUK Value 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)

Total : £199.76
 
enthrone said:
Is their much difference between the ocuk value ram and say this ocz
Click to expand...

well the ocuk ram has twice the capacity, though the ocz has slightly better timings. in terms of actual performance, gooing from cl9 to cl7 on a sandy bridge it is negligible. also, this ram was made for 1.65V systems like the X58 and P55, not the 1.5V sandy bridge system. Most likely it would be OK to run at a lower voltage and 1333MHz, but with the OCUK kit it is specifically designed to run at 1.5V.

Therefore, if you can afford the extra few quid I would go for the OCUK kit as you get more RAM and don't have to worry about running out of RAM (which can happen with 4GB and some games). Also, both kits come with lifetime warranty - which is nice.

Also, for the CPU - if you would like an i5 2500K but don't want one second-hand then you can get the OEM version (1 year warranty, no stock heatsink) for £168 from ocuk.
 
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cmndr_andi said:
Well the OCUK RAM has twice the capacity, though the OCZ has slightly better timings. In terms of actual performance, gooing from CL9 to Cl7 on a sandy bridge it is negligible. Also, this RAM was made for 1.65V systems like the X58 and P55, not the 1.5V sandy bridge system. Most likely it would be OK to run at a lower voltage and 1333MHz, but with the OCUK kit it is specifically designed to run at 1.5V.

Therefore, if you can afford the extra few quid I would go for the OCUK kit as you get more RAM and don't have to worry about running out of RAM (which can happen with 4GB and some games). Also, both kits come with lifetime warranty - which is nice.

Also, for the CPU - if you would like an i5 2500K but don't want one second-hand then you can get the OEM version (1 year warranty, no stock heatsink) for £168 from ocuk.
Click to expand...

I didnt even notice the capacity of the ram :p my mistake.

isn't this exactly same but with an extra 2year warranty?

@Talon, thanks for the idea in not wanting AMD really, i've been set on a i5/i7 thanks though.
 
I think cmndr_andi was just trying to show you the cheapest you can get the i5 2500K :)
That is the same, with 2 more years warranty, a stock cooler/heatsink and a nice box!
Worth the extra £6 if you can.
 
beejjacobs said:
I think cmndr_andi was just trying to show you the cheapest you can get the i5 2500K :)
That is the same, with 2 more years warranty, a stock cooler/heatsink and a nice box!
Worth the extra £6 if you can.
Click to expand...

Aye, exactly. If you are happy to pay the extra £6 for these things then go for it, absolutely. I was just trying to show what the minimum you can get a new i5 2500K for, if you weren't too happy about buying a second-hand CPU.
 
enthrone said:
I didnt even notice the capacity of the ram :p my mistake.

isn't this exactly same but with an extra 2year warranty?

@Talon, thanks for the idea in not wanting AMD really, i've been set on a i5/i7 thanks though.
Click to expand...

yeah i understand .. been down both over the years .. atm its ati set-up ..

but will most prob going intel/nvidia for my next rig :) but 6850 is a def

also take into consideration teh sales of goods act .. your covered for 5 years anyway
 
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thanks to all who advised.

brought the i5-2500k
gigabye z77-d3h
and ocuk value 8gb.

Just need to reformat to 64bit win7 and order the 6850.

Only issue found so far is that it bluescreens everytime i open Everest, nothing else seems to cause an issue though.
 
enthrone said:
thanks to all who advised.

brought the i5-2500k
gigabye z77-d3h
and ocuk value 8gb.

Just need to reformat to 64bit win7 and order the 6850.

Only issue found so far is that it bluescreens everytime i open Everest, nothing else seems to cause an issue though.
Click to expand...

Have you reinstalled Windows? Sounds like you're going to for 64bit - that might solve the problems!
 
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