Time for an upgrade-Spec please:)

NoNameNoNumber · 19 Apr 2013 at 19:25

Hi there, my current AM2 pc is due an overhaul... what can you spec me for general gaming/video editing.
Current spec as follows:

Gigabyte MA770t UD3P MoBo
AMD Phenom x4 955 @3.95GHZ
2x 4Gb Team group elite DDR3
Corsair VX550
GTX 560
2x 1Tb Samsung spinpoint f3's
Antec 300
BenQ 24" monitor

I'm not too bother about being at the forefront of technology but this was the first rig I built myself 3-4 years ago and it's been faultless.

Should I go Intel :eek:

Thoughts much appreciated

snips86x · 19 Apr 2013 at 19:38

Yes, you should go Intel and suggest you wait till Haswell in June. Haswell is Intel's next gen microprocessor. If you wanted to upgrade something at this point, I would suggest this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795F3G2M) £233.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £189.95
Total : £435.34 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Obviously, depending on your budget, the 256gb SSD change for a 128gb and the g/card could drop to a 7850/7870, but the 7950 would definitely be a worth while investment. That should keep you going for another 2 months.

honosuseri · 19 Apr 2013 at 19:55

A budget would definitely help bud.

Haswell lands in a couple of months. It's a new socket, will have lower power consumption a better IGP and offer a little more ooompf. Anyone on Sandybridge or Ivybridge won't really feel short changed I don't think.

I would look to do the mobo bundle upgrade. What you have is on par with the sandy i3. The i7K would be nice and maybe some more RAM for the video editing but even the i5K will be MUCH better than what you have. If I was you I'd hold fire on the GPU upgrade, OC the 560. BF4 will be bundled free with AMD GPUs come october, that's when I will upgrade my 1GB 460

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £279.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
Total : £381.34 (includes shipping : £9.50).

snips86x · 19 Apr 2013 at 20:19

honosuseri said:
If I was you I'd hold fire on the GPU upgrade, OC the 560. BF4 will be bundled free with AMD GPUs come october, that's when I will upgrade my 1GB 460

AHHHHH!!!! I keep forgetting that!!! :rolleyes:

gpuerrilla · 19 Apr 2013 at 21:24

You think you need an upgrade!

E8500, P45 Platinum, 4Gb RAM, EAH6850, Sandisk 128Gb SSD

I am scanning these forums trying to resist temptation but the Haswell advice is where I should take heed.

honosuseri · 19 Apr 2013 at 21:33

Th0nt said:
You think you need an upgrade!

E8500, P45 Platinum, 4Gb RAM, EAH6850, Sandisk 128Gb SSD

I am scanning these forums trying to resist temptation but the Haswell advice is where I should take heed.

Depends on your budget fella. If you are clever with your cash you can still do well.

For example at the rough price of the 3770K.....

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £224.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z68A-D3H-GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 (MB-380-GI) £52.00
Total : £288.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).

The mobo is B grade but is a genuine Xfire/SLi capable mobo (The Z77-D3H I spec'd earlier isn't). It can be updated to UEFI to modernise it and still has the usual Z series goodness of USB3 and sata3 with overclocking options. It was designed for Sandybridge and the 2700K shouldn't be sniffed at. Ivybridge runs hotter than Sandy so you can usually OC Sandy further which should average out Ivys slight clock for clock advantage. Ivy has a better IGP which helps quicksync (if your software supports it), if you have a dedicated GPU it's no real concern. Ivy uses less juice to run but it is what it is, I'd spec Ivy budget allowing but I don't dismiss Sandy at all in some situations

Marine-RX179 · 19 Apr 2013 at 21:46

snips86x said:
AHHHHH!!!! I keep forgetting that!!!

And don't forget with your CPU, upgrading from your GTX560 to 7950 is not "really" upgrading to a 7950 (with the bottleneck considered). There are plenty of CPU intensive moments in varies games (the dreaded sharp frame rate dips) which the 7950 would be no faster than your GTX560 due to the dips are caused by CPU not keeping up rather than graphic card.

Save up, upgrade graphic card together with platform around BF4 release would seem to be the sensible move...or you could upgrade to Haswell first when it is out (next month if rumor is correct), and upgrade graphic card around BF4 release.

anthony566 · 19 Apr 2013 at 22:08

Asus Crosshair V Formula Z AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+)

AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8350 Black Edition 4.00GHz (Socket AM3+)

HIS HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795F3G2M)

Patriot Venom Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit

Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply

And then OC the nuts off it

gpuerrilla · 20 Apr 2013 at 18:35

honosuseri said:
Depends on your budget fella. If you are clever with your cash you can still do well.

Thanks honosuseri, it's tempting but I figured going from a E8500 to a Haswell will be more noticeable than to a sandybridge rig.

I was hoping to keep my PSU, SSD and graphics card with the upgrade, buy a Case+PSU combo then demote the core2duo rig for storing files and crunching.

Might have to wait beyond June for the Haswell prices to get a grip but reckon that will be a huge leap?