Upgrade now or wait?

Jasebta · 23 Jan 2011 at 16:12

Have ~ £500 to scratch that upgrade itch but unsure whether or not to just yet or whether to bother at all. In a few months I'll have more cash to go for a full-blown upgrade so shall I wait until then?
Current specs are:
AMD Phenom II X3 720 (not OC'd, running stable with unlocked 4th core)
Asus M4A79XTD Evo
Corsair XMS3 4GB (1333MHz)
HD4890
Samsung F3 1TB

Ideas are:

1. Stick with the 4890 for the while and go for a 2500K setup.
Questions on this are, as this would max out the current budget, would my current RAM be fast enough for this kind of setup? I hear SB prefers 1.5V RAM and my current is a little above but could try running at a lower voltage.

2. Upgrade from the 4890 to a 6950 and possibly add an SSD in the mix.
Would leave the SB upgrade until later or wait for Ivy/Bulldozer though that might be a long wait. Would the X3 720 be a bottleneck to an unlocked 6950 though, and is it better to wait until the next gen of SSDs this year?

3. The cheapest option - add another 4890 and possibly SSD, wait for a full upgrade later this year and sell both of them.
Thing here is would my PSU cope with two 4890's, and would my ears cope with the noise? Currently have an XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular Power Supply.

Advice or ideas please?

Thanks

Jasebta · 23 Jan 2011 at 19:15

Trying not to get this off the first page straight away, any ideas guys?

[WU-TANG]GZA · 23 Jan 2011 at 19:44

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £194.99
(£162.49) £194.99
(£162.49)
Asus P8P67 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £122.98
(£102.48) £122.98
(£102.48)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £33.98
(£28.32) £33.98
(£28.32)
Sub Total : £293.29
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £60.56
Total : £363.35

This tbh ^^^ might not need to change the RAM as you say. But I would stick with the 4890 for now and save another £80 or so and get the 560 or 6950 and you will have a very nice system.

GZA

cmndr_andi · 23 Jan 2011 at 19:47

Hi there, May I ask what the rest of the spec is (monitor, speakers, CPU cooler etc.) and is the system performing below the level you want it to?

AceTK · 23 Jan 2011 at 19:48

I would wait till at least summer time onwards so that prices have a chance to fall. Hopefully SSD's will offer larger capaciy for cheaper, ivy bridge will be out so 32nm sandy bridge will be cheaper. Use the time between now and then to save up. Also ram prices are due to slump to an all time low around july time so keep watching those prices.

hdpcgamer · 23 Jan 2011 at 19:52

Jasebta said:
Have ~ £500 to scratch that upgrade itch but unsure whether or not to just yet or whether to bother at all. In a few months I'll have more cash to go for a full-blown upgrade so shall I wait until then?
Current specs are:
AMD Phenom II X3 720 (not OC'd, running stable with unlocked 4th core)
Asus M4A79XTD Evo
Corsair XMS3 4GB (1333MHz)
HD4890
Samsung F3 1TB

Ideas are:

1. Stick with the 4890 for the while and go for a 2500K setup.
Questions on this are, as this would max out the current budget, would my current RAM be fast enough for this kind of setup? I hear SB prefers 1.5V RAM and my current is a little above but could try running at a lower voltage.

2. Upgrade from the 4890 to a 6950 and possibly add an SSD in the mix.
Would leave the SB upgrade until later or wait for Ivy/Bulldozer though that might be a long wait. Would the X3 720 be a bottleneck to an unlocked 6950 though, and is it better to wait until the next gen of SSDs this year?

3. The cheapest option - add another 4890 and possibly SSD, wait for a full upgrade later this year and sell both of them.
Thing here is would my PSU cope with two 4890's, and would my ears cope with the noise? Currently have an XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular Power Supply.

Advice or ideas please?

Thanks

I'd go with option two. You can unlock the 6950 to a 6970 and you'll have a fantastic DX11 capable GPU that'll offer around the same performance as GTX 570. You can then add another one down the line when you upgrade to Sandybridge and the scaling in Crossfire is really good.

Jasebta · 23 Jan 2011 at 22:37

cmndr_andi said:
Hi there, May I ask what the rest of the spec is (monitor, speakers, CPU cooler etc.) and is the system performing below the level you want it to?

Have one of the DGM 24" monitors at the moment and sometimes connect at 1080p to the TV too. Have an X-Fi Extreme Gamer soundcard to output to amp + speakers and using the stock CPU cooler as I havent OC'd since having an E6300 years ago.

One vote for the GPU, one for CPU and one for wait, any more to sway me one way or the other?

Current rig just doesn't feel snappy, in games and out. Recently acquired an i3 laptop and in general it's performance except for gaming is about the same but snappier, much faster boot times too but I suppose a fresh install would help a little on the PC.

Abrelosojos · 23 Jan 2011 at 23:11

I just upgraded my rig, Kept my 4890 crossfires as they perform just as well as a 6950 in terms of dx10 fps.
Obviously they lack DX11, but its hardly worth it!

Jasebta · 23 Jan 2011 at 23:15

Think the PSU will be up for another 4890 though?

cmndr_andi · 24 Jan 2011 at 00:13

Jasebta said:
Think the PSU will be up for another 4890 though?

It certainly is.

Hence I would have to vote for option 3. It will give you the extra gaming performance for a very nice price, and the SSD will make using the machine feel much snappier.