Time for an upgrade.

[waso_dude]

Spec as in my sig currently.

Will be underwater again, using current pumps and rads.

Anyone recommend what will be the best bang for buck upgrades?

PC is generally used for CSS, WOW, APB ect. So lots of games, never over 1680x1050. But I'd like to be able to push 1920*1080 at some stage when funds allow.

I will be upgrading Mobo and CPU min, as my current motherboard is starting to die. I'll be keeping my raid setup and my current 520w Corsair PSU.

It will be running Windows 7 x64.

What is better now? AMD or Intel bang for buck with gaming?

I'm looking to spend about £500. I have priced up a i5 with a 5850 for about £620. How would this compare to a X4? Keep in mind I will need to add a new plate for the EK block. And also a block for the GPU.

And OFC it will be over clocked.

How does the 5770 compare to the 5850? big differance for the money?

 

[Redmint]

Tbh I'd think about replacing the motherboard and graphics card and doing the full upgrade a bit later when the Intel price drops and new stuff from AMD have come in... Without spending silly money you wont get a CPU/RAM/mobo/ combo that's massively faster than what you've got atm in most applications.

 

[waso_dude]

Well I was thinking:

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £224.99
(£191.48)
Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail
£159.99
(£136.16)
**B Grade** Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
£104.99
(£89.35)
OCZ Reaper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 12800C6 (1600MHz) Dual-Channel (OCZ3RPR1600C6LV4GK) £99.99
(£85.10)

For £590 doesn't seem to bad.

But I could drop the GFX to a 5770. That would put the price under £500 but is it really worth it?

Or would I be better with a AMD setup like:

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£224.99
(£191.48)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
£128.99
(£109.78)
MSI 890GXM-G65 AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard
£110.99
(£94.46)
OCZ Reaper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 12800C6 (1600MHz) Dual-Channel (OCZ3RPR1600C6LV4GK)£99.99
(£85.10)

For £576?

 

[Redmint]

Stick with the 5850 if you want to be able to play at 1080p later on. The i5 option will be a bit faster in most games, however the AM3 option *might* mean you can upgrade to a Bulldozer cpu later on.

If your current motherboard can last another month or so then we might get some new details on Bulldozer after the 'Hot Chips' conference towards the end of august. Hopefully then we should know for sure if current AM3 motherboards will be compatible or not.

 

[waso_dude]

Okay, I'm thinking for now, upgrade the GPU, See how well that does me currently. And then go from there.

What is best for £200ish currently?

 

[Redmint]

Your first choice of the 5850 is pretty much the only sensible option for around £200 atm. Considering the cheapest Nvidia DX11 card atm is the GTX 465 for £233 which has quite shockingly poor performance compared to the 5850.