Upgrade or new build?

cuffylad

cuffylad

cuffylad

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Hi guys

Im looking for some advice on my current pc (which is only really used for gaming, eve-online is the main game I play but I have to have it on the lowest setting possible to get decent fps). I have tried to play other pc games like Battlefield etc but It seems my pc cant handle the graphics and really lags out.

I dual screen so the graphics card needs to be able to handle 2 monitors.

So my questions are....Is it worth upgrading this pc and if so will it last a while before i need to upgrade again?

If I go down the new build route will I be able to get a good gaming pc that will be future proof (kinda :rolleyes:)?

My budget is around £450 quid ( I have monitors, keyboard, OS etc already)

Current pc http://www.ciao.co.uk/Productinformation/HP_Pavilion_Media_Center_TV_m7635_uk_Core_2_Duo_E6400_2_13_GHz__6678791
 
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i would say an upgrade would be your best bet with just £450 to work with.

could you tell me exactly what your motherboard is so i can recommend you a new processor. (a program called CPU-z will be able to do this)

this is what i'd recommend so far:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £114.98
1 x GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency Dual Channel (GX24GB6400C4UDC) £64.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £39.98
Total : £231.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).

*edit*
hmm, if your willing to spend a little more, i would say go for a semi new PC. ie, keep the case, DVD drive, hard drive, and extras you had from that rig, and use a new mobo, processor, ram, graphics card and PSU. it would set you back £470 + delivery (which is free for the next couple of hours, or once you get 250 posts, and are a member for 90 days)

something like this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £169.99
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £114.98
1 x MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £39.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
Total : £470.94 (includes shipping : FREE).
for this one i would also need to know your current motherboard, because i need to know if this new motherboard will fit
 
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omg, that is a ton of stuff. didnt realise CPUz recorded all that

all i wanted was the manufacturer and model from the mainboard bit (any chance of posting that, because im having trouble finding it in amongst all that text)
 
id get something like this, not really worth upgrading the system you have, you could pull the hdd and dvd drive from it and re use them, or reduce down to a tri core etc and fit in a 480 possibly...


YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £114.98
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 "95W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £89.99
1 x Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £57.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £30.98
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £27.98
1 x Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £437.89 (includes shipping : FREE).
 
cuffylad said:
ASUSTek Computer INC.
Basswood

Hope thats what your looking for :D
Click to expand...
thats the one. i had a feeling it would be mATX size.

unfortunatly i cant find any p67 series mATX motherboards that will allow you to use your additional network and tv cards, so sandybridge is even more out of the question than it was before. the processor ive recommended will still bea great upgrade if it works

can someone make sure that his motherboard will support this processor. i can see its the right socket, but does his board support 45nm processors

before you buy it, can you make sure that the graphics card will actually fit in your case, because at 275mm it may be too long. if it cant, then i'll just stick in a good, but cheap case

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 4MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail £124.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £39.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
Total : £410.95 (includes shipping : FREE).
 
Thanks very much for your input guys. Still a little undecided wether I should upgrade or just start from scratch. I may be able to squeeze another £100 which would take my budget upto £550 so a new build would look a lot better?

I dont want to spend this money then be looking at having to upgrade again in 12months :rolleyes: decisions, decisions lol
 
yikes, a HP.

at £550 it's gonna be tough. I suppose you are still on Vista.

Here's a fun build, without OS

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
OcUK Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core i5 2500K & Asus P8P67 Intel P67 Mainboard **B3 Revision** £279.98
(£233.32) £279.98
(£233.32)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Stalker Call of Pripyat PC Game Voucher £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £50.99
(£42.49) £50.99
(£42.49)
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Sub Total : £464.11
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £95.32
Total : £571.93

Can go HD5850 if too expensive. If you are looking for longevity, I'd still take a 2500K build over a gimped AMD with better GFX.
 
Yeah HP...dont ask lol I have seen the error of my ways :D

I am on Windows 7 atm.

Seems like a new build if deffo the way to go, how much extra would I be looking at to make it a good gaming build? If we are not talking great shakes then I might hold off a month and save some extra pennies :D
 
on the basis of my build above, that's a competent gaming rig. the HD 5870 is very powerful and a bargain at the price point, the 2500K + P67 is the best bang for bucks as well, albeit expensive. This is well above my current setup, which plays anything perfectly.

I suppose you could upgrade on the case and PSU, an after market cooler (Corsair A50 or there about) and also you need to make sure your curent HD and optical drive are actually compatible (meaning both SATA).

All in all, £600-£650 will get you a complete and powerful gaming rig with good components. At £550, you will have to make a couple of concessions.
 
 
olivier renault said:
yikes, a HP.

at £550 it's gonna be tough. I suppose you are still on Vista.

Here's a fun build, without OS

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
OcUK Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core i5 2500K & Asus P8P67 Intel P67 Mainboard **B3 Revision** £279.98
(£233.32) £279.98
(£233.32)
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Stalker Call of Pripyat PC Game Voucher £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £50.99
(£42.49) £50.99
(£42.49)
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Sub Total : £464.11
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £95.32
Total : £571.93

Can go HD5850 if too expensive. If you are looking for longevity, I'd still take a 2500K build over a gimped AMD with better GFX.
Click to expand...

+1 this.
 
olivier renault said:
I'd take the MSI mobo as well. Not sure about the L7 530W and a 5870.



I'm at work and no Chrome allowed :/ IE will have to do.

And yes... I'm posting on OCUK from work. Our intranet bombed as well as PSN, kind of a slow day. ;)
Click to expand...

PSU will be just fine. stulid was happy with powering a 6950 with it in a recommendation thread a while ago, so a 5850 should be no problem
 
Reaper 392 said:
saved £10 on the PSU, and got a better motherboard for the same price (x8/x8 crossfire available)


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £169.99
1 x XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Stalker Call of Pripyat PC Game Voucher £149.99
1 x MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £109.99
1 x Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £39.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £39.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
Total : £560.93 (includes shipping : £12.50).
Click to expand...

This looks really good mate, thanks very much guys, all your help has been most helpful :D

Is there some concern about the PSU and the 5870?

Would I need to check my hard drive and DVD will fit onto the above build?

Also would it be worth formatting the HD to ensure a good clean start?
 
cuffylad said:
Would I need to check my hard drive and DVD will fit onto the above build?
Click to expand...

just check if they are SATA or IDE at the back. The GD53 does not provide IDE support (not many SB boards do).

Is there some concern about the PSU and the 5870?
Click to expand...

imo yes.

I have found the L7 530W specs.

It's got two 6+2 PCIE connectors and can take a max load of 420W. This being relatively low compared to other power supplies, but its enough for a single GPU video card. Note that the 12V rail(s) supplies the CPU and the GPU.

The total maximum system load with a 5870 is around 350W - 400W, which is getting close to the L7 limit (most of the load is GPU + CPU), and that's without overclock. The load with a 5850 is lower by around 50W-70W, which is more manageable.

I'd be more confident with the OCZ SteathXStream II 600 to being able to supply enough power to the CPU and GPU without stressing too much. It also have 4 virtual rails, which would make it better with coping with cross loads (variations in loads between the CPU and GPU and the rest of the components). The BeQuiet will still work fine and it's a well designed unit, but I'd be wary doing any overclock especially on the GPU.

PSUs run into all sorts of problems when stressed, they heat up, loose efficiency and it reduces the life of the components. So there, I'd always over-spec a PSU a little for the sake of reliability and longevity.

another link to GPU comparisons.

Also would it be worth formatting the HD to ensure a good clean start?
Click to expand...

Always :) Re-install everything from scratch, always the best way to get a clean system when you have that many new components.
 
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