Upgrade my system

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Joined
21 Sep 2003
Posts
407
Hi folks

I currently run a rig I built back in 2007, which is an E2200 Core2Duo (with Tuniq Tower cooling), an OcUK GeForce 8800GTX (the 768mb card), 4GB of Corsair ram, a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio card (but it doesn't do optical out, annoyingly) and all on Vista. The motherboard is an Abit IP35-E motherboard. This all sits in an Antec 900 case.

As my hard drive is dying and needs to be replaced I'm thinking this is an opportunity to upgrade some bits.

I have 2 main reasons for upgrading; 1 - I want to run Football Manager 2012 on it, which is a processor-heavy game (so clearly an upgrade is needed there). 2 - If it runs quietly, then I'd look to get a Blu-ray drive in there and use it as a Blu-ray player (needs optical out for the sound though).

I run my PC through my TV (a 40" Samsung at 1080p) and don't need an OS (unless Windows 7 is really an improvement) or screen.

Budget is as cheap as I can get away with for a good upgrade, but no more than £400? I've been away from PC building since my last rig, so no idea what's decent anymore so recommend away!
 
Well keeping your Antec 900, PSU and your GTX8800 you could go with this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £151.99
1 x Asus P8H67-M Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £76.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £63.98
1 x LG CH10LS20 10x BluRay-ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £47.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £21.98
Total : £399.92 (includes shipping : £10.00).



Its a bad time for your HDD to give up, as prices have just gone nuts.
However, you have a 1TB drive and the motherboard does optical out for your sound.
You can also buy a socket 1155/6 backplate for your tuniq tower if you don't want a brand new cooler.
 
I know nothing about processors anymore (other than Intel are still the best bang for buck?), so what is the overclocking ability like these days? Also, how relevant is my GPU for current games (lets say in terms of Witcher 2)?
 
For overclocking on the sandy bridge chips you need to be looking @ either the i5-2500k or the i7-2600k. the "k" denotes an unlocked multiplier which is the only real way to overclock them now. you don't touch the bclk anymore.

you also need either a P67 or Z68 motherboard to overclock.

the above spec can't be overclocked.

for current games your graphics card is lagging behind a bit. in reality you really need another one. something along the lines of a 560Ti or a 6950 for playing the witcher 2 nicely. so somthing like:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £173.99
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 560Ti 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £159.98
1 x MSI Z68A-G45-B3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £63.98
1 x LG CH10LS20 10x BluRay-ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £47.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £21.98
Total : £609.90 (includes shipping : £10.00).

 
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