Upgrade or New Build

Mr.Nick · 26 Apr 2011 at 16:26

Just wondering if any of you fellow OcUker's could give me an insight on whether to upgrade my rig or start afresh when I get round to it. (Could be quite a while yet)

I Currently have:

Intel E7400 @ 2.80GHz
Radeon 4870 1Gb
2Gb 800MHz Ram
Corsair VX450W
Gigabyte EP31-DS3L rev. 1.0

My motherboard, due to chipset limitations will not boot with four slots of double sided Ram inserted, so I'm unsure on what is ok, and what is not. If I was upgrading I would be looking at CPU, Ram and Gpu. Not necessarily in that order. Also, just curious as to whether my PSU would handle a Radeon 6870?

Thanks a lot.

Disco Boy · 26 Apr 2011 at 16:29

What is your current spec struggling with? How much do you have to spend on changing hardware?

Mr.Nick · 26 Apr 2011 at 17:07

Well, to be honest, the latest game I've bought is Battlefield Bad Company 2, I play that on Medium settings at 1920x1080, framerates I'm unsure of but it doesn't struggle at that. I have a feeling it would struggle with games such as Metro 2033 on high settings, which is what I would like.

Budget is roughly £400 but would stretch if I had too, especially for a full build, but I would be inclined to keep my PSU if possible, and I would be taking my current hard drives with me.

chrisarm · 26 Apr 2011 at 21:00

If you are not having probs (you seem happy with what you're using it for) at the mo with what you got I'd say hold off to see what the bulldozer is like before you decide. Even if you don't want an AMD rig intel are bound to drop prices to steal their thunder

Moodle · 26 Apr 2011 at 21:08

chrisarm said:
If you are not having probs (you seem happy with what you're using it for) at the mo with what you got I'd say hold off to see what the bulldozer is like before you decide. Even if you don't want an AMD rig intel are bound to drop prices to steal their thunder

+1

Mr.Nick · 26 Apr 2011 at 22:54

Yeah, suppose I should wait it out and see what happens instead of anticipating things, will think about that when the time comes.

But do you think my Corsair VX450w will manage a 5870/6870?

stulid · 26 Apr 2011 at 22:55

Mr.Nick said:
But do you think my Corsair VX450w will manage a 5870/6870?

Yes, but only one

Mr.Nick · 27 Apr 2011 at 14:29

Thats Ok then, never really considered crossfire.

Thanks guys

Tallywhacker · 27 Apr 2011 at 14:47

prob with holding back on upgrading is theres always something new around the corner...always has been ,always will be.

depending on your budget you might be wiser to buy a bundle(at least you know all bits complement each other)

Speaking from my experience...apart from GFX card I have done a complete rebuild around every 4 yrs, recently just upgrading to a I5 2500k from a first gen Q6600, did have same card as yourself for just short of 2yrs but also recently purchased 6950(flashed to 6970 specs).

If itching for something new to build and budget is tight I would consider just upgrading mobo(one that will take more ram if desired) and get a higher wattage psu(future proof) and then then you have the option to wait for a newer gfx card as prices come down or if desired maybe pick up a 2nd 4870 and crossfire it. If using windows 7 it should boot up with mobo change no probs and all it will need is just to be reactivated