A mate of mine has shown interest in wanting to buy some of my present parts since I mentioned that I might be inclined to do an upgrade of my own PC. Now, depending on what I can get for my existing parts (which I have asked for a price check in the price check forum, link if anyone wants to give me some price suggestions) I am trying to decide if I should go down the AMD or i5 route. I am not really that bother if I am with intel or AMD to be honest, just want to try and get the best bang for the buck so to speak! One post that has me wondering a bit is the one I quoted below.
Now, if that is true then I think I will be going the AMD route, since at least I would have more option with a AM3 board if there is one major upgrade confirmed for that board, since with a i5 I would only be able to upgrade to a i7 on a later date (I think!). Also, having tried to play around (and hopefully getting it all right!) it also seems like the AMD would be a cheaper option then the i5. But... since you guys are much more experienced then me when it comes to builds I thought I ask what options you can come up with for me!?
Presently I have this:
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel E6750 2,66GHz
4GB OCZ PC2-6400 Memory
Corsair 520W Modular PSU
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB
2 x 160GB HDD
2 x 1TB HDD
1 Hot Swap Bay for 3 extra HDD's
LG Blu-Ray & HD DVD-ROM Drive
Plextor DVD RW Drive
What I am planning on upgrading would be the Mobo, CPU, Memory and the PSU. What I have come up on my own is the below 2 options, although not sure if it is the best ones, due to I am not familiar with Antec PSU's and not sure if the OCZ Memory is the best, even if they are the only ones I have used in the past and they worked well for me, but that was DDR2, not sure if they are as good when it comes to DDR3? Now, something I do need is a minimum of 8 SATA connections in the board, so I can still use my Blu-Ray/HD DVD Drive, 4 HDD's and my Hot Swap Bay, which do limit the amount of available mobo's for me I know, but I just have to bite the bullet on that one I guess!
I chose the AMD Dual Core 545 because it is slightly cheaper that way, but then again, depending on what I can get for my other parts I might go up to either the tri core or quad core. What I am most wondering is if the above AMD suggestion would be give me better performance then my present rig, or should I go Tri/Quad directly to see any improvments?
I was thinking of having the Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L board first, since that would give me a price tag around £400 for the above, but just read a post saying that board is rubbish, so picked the above instead.
I play mostly games such as AoE III, Anno 1404, Port Royale 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Civ4 Sim City 4, and so on.. I think you get the picture. Watching DVD's, HD DVD, streaming TV, browsing the internetz.. might start doing some folding, but need to look into that a bit more before I do. So, what would your ides and suggestions be for me if any?
Any and all advice/suggestions greatly appreciated as always!
Now, if that is true then I think I will be going the AMD route, since at least I would have more option with a AM3 board if there is one major upgrade confirmed for that board, since with a i5 I would only be able to upgrade to a i7 on a later date (I think!). Also, having tried to play around (and hopefully getting it all right!) it also seems like the AMD would be a cheaper option then the i5. But... since you guys are much more experienced then me when it comes to builds I thought I ask what options you can come up with for me!?
Presently I have this:
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel E6750 2,66GHz
4GB OCZ PC2-6400 Memory
Corsair 520W Modular PSU
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB
2 x 160GB HDD
2 x 1TB HDD
1 Hot Swap Bay for 3 extra HDD's
LG Blu-Ray & HD DVD-ROM Drive
Plextor DVD RW Drive
What I am planning on upgrading would be the Mobo, CPU, Memory and the PSU. What I have come up on my own is the below 2 options, although not sure if it is the best ones, due to I am not familiar with Antec PSU's and not sure if the OCZ Memory is the best, even if they are the only ones I have used in the past and they worked well for me, but that was DDR2, not sure if they are as good when it comes to DDR3? Now, something I do need is a minimum of 8 SATA connections in the board, so I can still use my Blu-Ray/HD DVD Drive, 4 HDD's and my Hot Swap Bay, which do limit the amount of available mobo's for me I know, but I just have to bite the bullet on that one I guess!
I chose the AMD Dual Core 545 because it is slightly cheaper that way, but then again, depending on what I can get for my other parts I might go up to either the tri core or quad core. What I am most wondering is if the above AMD suggestion would be give me better performance then my present rig, or should I go Tri/Quad directly to see any improvments?
I was thinking of having the Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L board first, since that would give me a price tag around £400 for the above, but just read a post saying that board is rubbish, so picked the above instead.
I play mostly games such as AoE III, Anno 1404, Port Royale 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Civ4 Sim City 4, and so on.. I think you get the picture.
Watching DVD's, HD DVD, streaming TV, browsing the internetz.. might start doing some folding, but need to look into that a bit more before I do. So, what would your ides and suggestions be for me if any?Any and all advice/suggestions greatly appreciated as always!
