Upgrade bits....

[Scania]

Looking for a cheap replacement for my old e2180 / IP35Pro / 8800GTS that I have recently sold.

I already have hard drives, case, psu, RAM (PC2 6400) sound card etc so just want a board, CPU & GFX card.

I am thinking of this...

Club 3D ATI Radeon HD 5770 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £112.99
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.60GHz (800FSB) £54.99
Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L Intel G31 (Socket 775) DDR2 Motherboard £35.99

I won't be running at any higher than 1600x1200, I mainly play Battlefield 2, Flight Simulator 2004 & FSX.

I am wondering if I should spend a bit less on the card,perhaps get a GTS250 instead, and spend a little more on the motherboard?

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Scania]

I did not really want to spend any more than £200 tbh.
Perhaps, I could opt for a B-Grade 4870?

**B Grade** Asus ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB "Dark Knight" GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (EAH4870 DK/HTDI/512MD5)
AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 555 3.20GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD
Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H AMD 785G (Socket AM3/AM2+) DDR2 Motherboard

The above puts me £40 over budget, I may well go for a 550 instead of the 555 (Still has an unlocked miltiplyer), £30 over budget is not too bad.

I was drawn to the 5770 due to its low power drain, I only have a 500w cheapo PSU....

 

[Scania]

Update (I hate it when threads like this die with no follow up info! )

Ended up with the e5300, Gigabyte GA-G31 Board and a B grade GTX260 896MB

The difference from my old IP35 Pro, e2180 & 8800GTS 320MB is ,thus far,like night & day!

And I must say how surprised I am how the board performs (given its a £36 cheapo) compared to my previous Abit IP35 Pro which I'd regarded as a "high end" board....

Sold the above for £250 and got the replacement bits for £193.15 inc.

Happy for the upgrade results given the budget.

I'm a bit puzzled though, "My Computer" says my CPU is running @ 3.4ghz as opposed to 2.6 - I guess I have my FSB set up incorrectly!

Its stable so far, I'm going to goto bed soon and leave prime running to see if everything is ok.


I can finally ditch my copy of FS2004 and run FSX properly.

 

[Scania]

I got a B Grade Leadtek GTX260 (192 Shader) 896MB, I was not expecting quite such a jump from my old 8800GTS!

Run it solidly for about 12 hours now, still reporting 3.4ghz!

Really surprised how its performing.

 

[Scania]

I would be looking to change that as quickly as possible TBH especially with a GTX260 unless it is a decent PSU.

I intend to. - I need to upgrade the PSU quickly, I have 2 hard drives that I currently have not enough power connectors for.

wouldn't that e5300 have worked in your ip35 pro ?
i would have just gotten a q6600 and a new gfx card myself.
to late now though i guess

Sold the old IP35 as a complete system, these bits I've just cobbled together in some of my other spare parts lying about to make a new system.

Early days yet, but this build seems a lot better than the old IP35!

Ands its still running happily @3.4ghz!

 

[Scania]

the e5300 @3.4 and the gtx 260 will make a huge difference but you shouldn't notice much difference with the motherboard untill you start pushing them to their limit's where i would imagine the ip35 pro would have started to shine against your £36 cheapie.

sounds like you have your fsb set to 1066 instead of 800 to have it running at 3.4

I bought my previous IP35 Pro as a B-Grade from Oc/UK - paid about £35 12months or so back -, I fully intended to get another but decided that Oc's current pricing policy with regard to B-Grade IP35's is a joke!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-125-AB&groupid=595&catid=689&subcat=

Better as I'm sure the '35 is, its not £140 better!!

**B Grade** Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 (MB-128-AB)

was £0.00 inc VAT
£176.24 inc VAT