System upgrade on a budget

gibb

gibb

gibb

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29 Sep 2009
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My current system is as follows:

Intel E5300 @3.2ghz
Gigabyte P31-DS3L
4gb OCZ DDR2 1066
EVGA Stock 8800gt 512mb
CoolerMaster Hyper TX-2 Cooler
Antec 300
500gb Seagate
1680*1050
500w Antec Neo HE


My E5300 turns out to of been a bit of a dud and will not overclock to the 3.6ghz+ levels I expected with any stability. Therefore I am only running at 3.2ghz. I have about £140 to spend and I can sell some components I replace, however I am unsure of how much they are worth.

What would you suggest I spend my £140 to get the biggest performance increase?

I use my system for working, browsing and gaming. I currently play a lot of source games and some modern games (MW2, GTAIV and soon BFBC2)

My initial idea was to go for a CPU/MOBO upgrade as I think the parts I have atm are really showing their age. What do you think?
 
Last edited:
reiyushin said:
To jump to 1156/1366 would cost more than your budget allows.

I'd get new GFX + CPU
Sell what you've got atm will make your budget ~£200

GFX
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-204-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939 - £99

and a new CPU - try get a second hand Q6600 (SLACR)
Click to expand...


Sounds like a good idea, I am unsure of where to obtain a used Q6600?


I would very much like to upgrade my GPU with all my money but my E5300 is either a dud or my board inst up to the job. I cannot get it past 3.2ish without stability issues. My stock VID is also 1.28v which seems to be really bad for my chip.
 
Well you should be able to find a used HD4890 for around 80-100 quid.And a Q6600 for 70-80 quid if you're lucky most people sell them for around 90-120 quid depending on the stepping and batch.Also I think its you mobo that holds the CPU back.E5300/200 are capable of 3.4-3.5Ghz with less than 1.25v.Have you flashed the mobo to the latest BIOS version?
 
You should also look for some used E8400s you should be able to find them for 90-100 quid.Great overclockers most people reach 3.8 on stock voltage and a used HD4870 for around 60 quid.
 
I've found a used 1gb 4870 for £80 or a 216 GTX 260 for £95. Are these prices any good? From what my friend tells me the members market here is the place to be, but I would have to spam day and night to get there in a hurry.
 
Your CPU should be still fine with most games and TBH it you were upgrading the CPU a quad core would be the best choice IMHO.

Also the HD5830 is coming out in the first week of February so it maybe worth a wait until then to see how much it costs and how well it will perform in games.
 
tgomas said:
Hehe, 500watt Antec Neo HE. I knew I forgot something.
Click to expand...

OK! Just checking you didn't have something guff in there!

Maybe lapping your CPU HSF and heatsink might help the OC?? (I do know the Core 2 dual-core CPU's HSF are fairly flat to start with don't know about the CoolerMaster heatsink - although I did use one in build once for a neighbour...) What TIM did you use? I generally prefer MX-2 for my builds...

It's a shame to be forced to upgrade when that CPU should be able to kick some gaming butt if it was up by another 400-500Mhz...

BTW if OcUK are selling a Vapor-X 4870 for 100.00GBP then I am not sure that a 2nd hand card at 80.00GBP is such a good deal... The newer ATI 56xx/57xx budget cards don't appear to be bringing much to the table IMHO - so far...

Bob
 
Did someone post that the Gigabyte P31-DS3L is an excellent overclocker, but can't sustain those speeds due to lack of cooling on the vrm's?
I can't find source - but that statement sticks in my mind.

Also agreed with the above - £140 of graphics card is the biggest increase over your 8800, your cpu at 3.2G will not bottleneck anything in that price range.
 
Temps seem to be fine, its just I have tried 3.66ghz with 1.4v and I get strange behaviour like multiplier reducing itself, despite temps hovering around 50c.

I am very tempted by that 4870 you posted, I seemt o remember Custom PC reviewed a Vapor-X card a few months back and it was excellent.
 
tgomas said:
Temps seem to be fine, its just I have tried 3.66ghz with 1.4v and I get strange behaviour like multiplier reducing itself, despite temps hovering around 50c.
Click to expand...

That is a load temperature right??

I like to point to poke around with my finger on the motherboard :D Worth checking the VRM's and chipset aren't getting too hot as well...

Funny behaviour with the multiplier. It does sound like thermal throttling... I presume (again) that this is occurring under a stress test of some kind?? (CPU burn, F@H, etc. running on each core)

Sorry I can't be too helpful with Intel CPU's because I mainly build rigs with AMD stuff... However I gather the Hi-K process introduces some difficulties when you raise the CPU core voltage too much (especially over prolonged periods of time)...

Bob
 
That is the ORTHOS temp. My NB used to get very hot running 400mhz FSB with a E6320, however it never throttled down or anything. I presumed with the far within spec FSBs I am using with the E5300 it would be fine.

I shall have a look at the VRMs later to see if they are burning.
 
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