Upgrade or new rig?

figueiredo

figueiredo

figueiredo

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Joined
10 Dec 2012
Posts
20
Upgrade with a loft of £600

Hey Overclockers

I've got a 4-5 year old gaming PC with the following specs:
Case: Antec 1200
PASU: Corsair CMPSU-750TXEU, 750Watt
Motherboard: Asus P5Q, Intel P45, DDR2 1200, LGA 775
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500, BOX
GPU: Inno3d GTX260P-M5LTCDSF, 896MB, PCIe
RAM: Kingston HyperX KHX6400D2K2/4G - Kit
HDD: WD Caviar GP 5000AACS, 500GB, SATAII

2nd EDIT:
Would it make sense to swap out with/add in the following:
YOUR BASKET
1 x "Spectre Z77 Aqua" Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz @ 4.40GHz DDR3 Overclocked Bundle - Quad Core £234.00
- 1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
- 1 x Standard Build Systems - Approximately 5-7 working days £0.00
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 WindForce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
Total : £605.98 (includes shipping : £10.00).



And would it be enough to change only that?

It has served me well, but lately it started dropping below 10 FPS in BF3, which results in unbearable gameplay.
I obviously know that my CPU, Motherboard and GPU are outdated, but is there anything worth keeping - making an upgrade viable or should I just replace the whole thing? The PSU and Case are good I guess, but can they justify upgrading, considering they aren't the most expensive parts when buying/building a rig.

Thanks in advance.

1st EDIT: Looked up overclocking on an E8500. And after reading page after page on different sites and in different guides, I honestly don't feel that comfortable with overclocking, I must admit. My dad just gave me £600 for christmas. And I think I'll go ahead and spend them on an upgrade. In a sense, pay my way out of learning :P

Any bundles you could advise me to get with the listed setup? Or just name some specific parts.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Sorry for changing the original topic a bit.
 
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Overclock the cpu into oblivion (with fresh themal paste) and buy a current gen GPU.

Should be fine for BF3 on reduced settings.
 
As said I would upgrade the GPU first then overclock the CPU; With the right cooler that E8500 can quite happily run at upto 4Ghz. Then upgrade the platform if you still feel it's too slow :)
 
lrlcr said:
Overclock the cpu into oblivion (with fresh themal paste) and buy a current gen GPU.

Should be fine for BF3 on reduced settings.
Click to expand...

steve258 said:
As said I would upgrade the GPU first then overclock the CPU; With the right cooler that E8500 can quite happily run at upto 4Ghz. Then upgrade the platform if you still feel it's too slow :)
Click to expand...

Thanks guys.
 
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Idleman said:
For £600 I would be looking at something on these lines and play your games on max settings.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £251.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 140 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £39.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £23.99
Total : £587.90 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Click to expand...

Looks nice. Wouldn't it be smarter to go with an OC'd i5, considering that I don't dare to attempt OC'ing myself, so wouldn't I future proof my i5 by having OcUK do it? :/ It is roughly 1k more, going with the bundle instead of parts (I'm refering to the bundle in my basket in post 1, 2nd edit headline)

Thanks for your advice.
 
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I'd recommend a 7950 and overclocking your processor with a decent cooler. As above, with a little bit of time and effort you should be able to hit 3.8GHz and maybe a little more if your lucky. See how that performs, if its not upto scratch for you then upgrade mobo/cpu/ram. Lots of guides on how to overclock the E8400.
 
shadow_boxer said:
I'd recommend a 7950 and overclocking your processor with a decent cooler. As above, with a little bit of time and effort you should be able to hit 3.8GHz and maybe a little more if your lucky. See how that performs, if its not upto scratch for you then upgrade mobo/cpu/ram. Lots of guides on how to overclock the E8400.
Click to expand...

I see your point. And I like it. 'Cause it's much less pricey. So a 7950 would run fine with my current setup? (You see how insufficient my knowledge of hardware is). And what cooler would you suggest?
 
figueiredo said:
I see your point. And I like it. 'Cause it's much less pricey. So a 7950 would run fine with my current setup? (You see how insufficient my knowledge of hardware is). And what cooler would you suggest?
Click to expand...

Any of these will suffice.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler - Silver (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £66.98
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £58.79
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 140 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £39.95
Total : £237.71 (includes shipping : £10.00).



Overclocking on the newer chips like IB is a lot simpler these days. Have a read through the manual http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4327#manual
and google a few Overclocking guides for the 3570k and the E8400
 
The choice of HD7950 cards to choose between at;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56&subid=1673
.. Scare me. How do I determine which is better? The core MHz seem to vary with price, so far so good. But is a 950 MHz core card needed for my setup? And worth the extra £20 for future proofing one's card? Or is there no difference between that and, say a 800 MHz core card..?

pastymuncher said:
I had a E8500 on a P5Q Pro Turbo and it easily hit 4.5Ghz. It's criminal to run a Wolfdale at stock!!
Click to expand...

Sounds promising :P

Is this guide any good?
http://www.overclock.net/t/1191732/advice-for-overclocking-e8500
Is there anything worth adding to that guide, points or errors?

Thanks in advance.
 
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It's a good starting point. To put simply:

CPU clockspeed = FSB x CPU multiplier

Default E8500 settings:
FSB 333mhz x CPU Multi 9.5 = 3166Mhz

Since you can't increase CPU multi (locked by Intel, although you can reduce multi), you basically just increase the fsb then watch the cpu clock speed goes up. When it gets unstable increase vcore a little bit at a time to maintain stability.

If possible, always aim for high fsb overclock for better performance, for example:

FSB 470 x multi 8.5 = 4Ghz

will yeild better performance than:

FSB 421 x multi 9.5 = 4Ghz

Even though both settings have the same final CPU clockspeed. In my experience when it comes to wolfdale (E7xxx/E8xxx) overclocking, fsb 450 is quite easily achievable on mainstream performance P45 chipset motherboard such as the P5Q you have (I still have my P5Q Pro).

Before you get started you need the following software:
Core Temp (for monitoring temperature, one of the most accurate ones you can get)
CPU-Z (for monitoring CPU/RAM clockspeed and voltage, gives you an idea of what voltage to start the overclock with)
Prime95 (good torture test for stability testing, for both CPU and RAM)
Linx or Intel Burn Test (another good torture test, puts heavy load on CPU, fsb, and RAM. Usually any sign of instability will have revealed itself within 5-10 runs)

Another thing is that when you increase the FSB, you are overclocking the RAM as well, so make sure you set the RAM speed to the lowest settings to rule out any instability that might be caused by your RAM.

Good luck, post here if you have any question and I'm sure people will be happy to help :)
 
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steve258 said:
It's a good starting point. To put simply:

CPU clockspeed = FSB x CPU multiplier

Default E8500 settings:
FSB 333mhz x CPU Multi 9.5 = 3166Mhz

Since you can't increase CPU multi (locked by Intel, although you can reduce multi), you basically just increase the fsb then watch the cpu clock speed goes up. When it gets unstable increase vcore a little bit at a time to maintain stability.

If possible, always aim for high fsb overclock for better performance, for example:

FSB 470 x multi 8.5 = 4Ghz

will yeild better performance than:

FSB 421 x multi 9.5 = 4Ghz

Even though both settings have the same final CPU clockspeed. In my experience when it comes to wolfdale (E7xxx/E8xxx) overclocking, fsb 450 is quite easily achievable on mainstream performance P45 chipset motherboard such as the P5Q you have (I still have my P5Q Pro).

Before you get started you need the following software:
Core Temp (for monitoring temperature, one of the most accurate ones you can get)
CPU-Z (for monitoring CPU/RAM clockspeed and voltage, gives you an idea of what voltage to start the overclock with)
Prime95 (good torture test for stability testing, for both CPU and RAM)
Linx or Intel Burn Test (another good torture test, puts heavy load on CPU, fsb, and RAM. Usually any sign of instability will have revealed itself within 5-10 runs)

Another thing is that when you increase the FSB, you are overclocking the RAM as well, so make sure you set the RAM speed to the lowest settings to rule out any instability that might be caused by your RAM.

Good luck, post here if you have any question and I'm sure people will be happy to help :)
Click to expand...

Awesome. Thank you all ever so much. Seems way more managable now. And if all fails, I can always "just" upgrade the whole thing.

Still have one question, though, before I push my order through on the GPU and CPU heatsink:
The choice of HD7950 cards to choose between confuse me;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/produc...=56&subid=1673
How do I determine which is better? The core MHz seem to vary with price, so far so good. But is a 950 MHz core card needed for my setup? And worth the extra £20 for future proofing one's card? Or is there no difference between that and, say a 800 MHz core card..?
 
Finished product..

Hey guys. Didn't wanna start a new thread, so here goes.

So I got the cooler and the GPU from Overclockers. One day delivery ftw.
And I assembled it and mounted it like this:

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/6323/pc1y.jpg
http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/224/pc2ef.jpg
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/7992/pc3i.jpg

My question is; Does the K2 Mount Doom seem to be placed properly? I placed like the manual showed, and with the fans "below" the cooler, towards my GPU, so that the air would blow towards the top fan in my Antec1200 case and out of the case and not down onto my GPU and heat that up.
Should I have turned it sideways, so it would have blown the air out the back?
(I know my cable management is **** :P)

Thanks in advance.
 
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Ideally if it fits, you want it so that it is exhausting out the back. As it is at present, its drawing hot air thats rising from the graphics card.
 
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