Thoughts for an upgrade

johngaz1 · 22 Aug 2012 at 19:02

Hey guys, just wondering what you guys think I should be looking to upgrade in the near future. I also still don't fully understand what a SSD does/ if it is worth purchasing. Thanks in advance.

PSU: OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply

GFX: XFX HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Mother Board: Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard with FREE 16GB USB 2.0 PEN

Case: Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9)

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail

Storage: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005)

Sparx · 22 Aug 2012 at 19:35

Your rig is quite upgradeable. I would get (in this order) an SSD, i5 IB and then a new GPU (GTX 670 or ATI 7850?)..

SSDs basically improve the overall performance and general usage of Windows. It makes the OS much more snappier and quick, opening programs, etc. You really do notice the difference once you have one and experience it. Also if you put any games on an SSD your map loading times would dramatically improve.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £89.99
Total : £274.98 (includes shipping : FREE).

johngaz1 · 22 Aug 2012 at 21:37

Ah I see, so it basically just speeds everything up. I'll definatly be looking into that! Thanks a lot pal.

Jhaemes · 22 Aug 2012 at 21:43

I'd go for a 7850 and an ssd, assuming you're gaming at 1080p.

The increase in fps will be a lot greater than upgrading to a quad core cpu. Eventually you'll want a quad core cpu, but your current gpu will be a problem long before the i3 is.

e: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-154-MS

DeanV255 · 22 Aug 2012 at 22:09

Yeah SSD's are great for speeding up boot times as most SSD's have 500 read and write speeds thats amazing. Personally im waiting for the right time to get myself an SSD. I have a lot of games on Steam id like to install to a SSD so i'd need about 500GB but they are around £300. But you can get a nice 240GB for £140 from a shop right up my street Agility OCZ i believe. Considering getting that. SSD's will as you said just make everything load, move and copy faster. Make sure your motherboard is SATA III to take full advantage of a SSD as well (I believe your motherboard as 2 x 6Gb/s so your fine)

For gaming though i'll add it will only increase the loading times and maybe decrease some texture pop in's. To me that's worth it, but personally i'll wait till the SDD's hit £250 for 512GB

then i can really get rocking.

Sparx · 22 Aug 2012 at 22:33

You can grab 480/512GB SSDs for £300-320 at the moment.. Getting there..