UPGRADE OR NEW SYSTEM?

wild thing · 8 Apr 2011 at 15:04

UPGRADE OR NEW SYSTEM?

Hey Oc'ers

Just wondered everyones opinions or suggestions for which way i should go? I've been out of the loop for a while now and not sure what components and technologies are out there.

I recently upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit and can see i need more ram as a minimum. My sytem comprises of:

Cooler Master Cosmos + Scythe Gentle Typhoons
Seasonic M12 PSU (600w)
Asus P5K Premium Wifi-AP
Intel E2180 (lol)
Corsair XMS2 2x1gb 800 ddr2
Ati Radeon HD2400
1x Hitatachi 320 gb OS drive
2x WD Caviar Black 1tb's (300mb/sec)
2x WD Caviar Black 1tb's (600mb/sec)
Plextor CD Writer
Plextor DVD Writer
-----------------------------------------
Lynx Studio sound card
Terratec Cinergy 2400i (tuner)

I thought about upgrading the ram to a pair of corsair DHX 2 x 2gb ddr2 800 (£60) or even 8gb (2 sets £120)? And upgrading the CPU to either a Core 2 Duo E8400 (£130) or the Quad Q8400 (£120)

I know those components are a bit old now and the standard has changed but im not sure i can afford a new motherboard to get the ddr3 and new proccessors.

I use my computer as a HTPC/DAW more than anything (itunes multiplugin,foobar, asio - Virtual DJ - Tractor LE Virtual instruments etc), but occasionaly encode videos, watch movies, watch + record tv, surfing net, word documents etc. Ive just bought a 42 LG 24LD450 and plan on getting more into HD Video/movies, Surround sound..........

I will be upgrading the terratec for 1 ~ 2x Black Gold BGT3620HD shortly, and maybe adding a bluray drive which is not part of my budjet here.

So what should i do? If i go the new mobo/ddr3 route i would want it to have wireless built in if poss, I pessume the socket to get would be LGA1155? I want the mobo to be the best component of this and would be willing to get a lesser processor and ram until i could afford to upgrade and sell those. Energy consumption is a factor too as my system is on almost 24/7.

My budget is £300, but i could sell the P5K (£50?) CPU (£20?) ram (20?) terratec (£35?)

Any thoughts, advise or component suggestions would be very much welcome.

Thank you

Wild thing

stulid · 8 Apr 2011 at 15:05

If you can find a second hand Q6600 for around £75 posted, then that along with more ram is a great idea.

Or selling the CPU/RAM and Motherboard and putting this in it.

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.98
(£87.48) £104.98
(£87.48)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £74.39
(£61.99) £74.39
(£61.99)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Sub Total : £299.45
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 : £61.79
Total : £370.74

The money you get from the selling of the older parts will certainly help.

You would need to add a wireless card too.

Number_25 · 8 Apr 2011 at 15:06

That system doesn't look much, I would suggest saving up more (£600?) and building a decent gaming system.

stulid · 8 Apr 2011 at 15:09

Number_25 said:
That system doesn't look much, I would suggest saving up more (£600?) and building a decent gaming system.

Where does it say in the OP that this is to be a gaming pc?

wild thing · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:08

Hey guys

Thanks for your responses.

stulid thanks for your suggestions. I will definately look into those components, and that ram you specced seems to be great value for money compared to ddr2. Forgot to mention I have a Noctua NHU-12P cooler so i can use that again as its decent enough.

This isn't going to be a gaming system as im content with my PS3 for those duties. So i don't need a mobo that focuses on gaming but it is important that is has plenty of pci / pcie slots for future expansion as I may be adding a higher end Avermedia or geovision dvr as well as 1 or 2 hd dual tuners. My case will fit the larger motherboards too (the one bigger than ATX) so they could be an option if they're any good.

I could keep saving and spend a little more which seems like the logical thing to do. Can anyone point me in the direction of some recent motherboard grouptests or comparisons please? i had a google but didn't find anything recent.

Also if i put my parts for sale on ebay, what should i be asking for them?

Cheers

stulid · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:11

This has the motherboard I linked to above - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/gigabyte-ga-p67a-ud3.html

wild thing · 8 Apr 2011 at 22:48

Ok, had a look at that Gigabyte board and it seems a popular choice with good features and value for money. I take it the LGA 1155 (sandy bridge) P67 chipset is the way to go?

I also spotted the Asus P8P67 Pro Rev3 for about £150 and the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 (£150) or even the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD5 which looks like a nice bit of kit (£210)

Any opinions about any of those?

panyan · 9 Apr 2011 at 00:02

Number_25 said:
That system doesn't look much, I would suggest saving up more (£600?)

i agree, the base is a little old, i;d say a new system as well

stulid · 9 Apr 2011 at 00:13

wild thing said:
Ok, had a look at that Gigabyte board and it seems a popular choice with good features and value for money. I take it the LGA 1155 (sandy bridge) P67 chipset is the way to go?

I also spotted the Asus P8P67 Pro Rev3 for about £150 and the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 (£150) or even the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD5 which looks like a nice bit of kit (£210)

Any opinions about any of those?

The ASUS and GIGABYTE boards you suggested both do Multi-gpu (SLI?Crossfire) at the correct 8X/8X, while most other boards that are cheaper only do it 16X/4X speed for the PCI-E slots, there are a few exceptions such as some of the MSI boards.

So if you want to ever run two GPUS together then those are the way to go.

wild thing · 9 Apr 2011 at 00:17

I thought Number 25 was reffering to the components stulid recommended? lol

I would rather spend more on the motherboard than stulid recommended, and get one that has better cooling as much as other factors. I would be quite content going with an i3 core 2 CPU for now as well simply because they have a TDP of 65W and I don't need a supercharged system. Just an i3 would be a significant upgrade from what Im using now.

How much should i be asking for the p5k and other parts?

melmac · 9 Apr 2011 at 01:18

Why don't you go for a H67 motherboard and Sandy bridge CPU? If you plan on doing much video work the intergrated graphics on the sandy bridge cpu is very, very fast!!

And that way you can sell your graphics card as well.

This for your motherboard, lots of expansion slots.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-328-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1907

The same CPU and cooler as Stulid mentioned.

As for RAM, get whatever 2x4GB kit is on sale at the time you order.

Just get a cheap wireless USB adapter to connect to your network.

wild thing · 13 Apr 2011 at 15:35

Ok, so ive thought about this a little more and ive decided to wait for a little longer yet before a new build. The motherboards i have my eye on are the Asus p8p67 deluxe and the Gigabyte P67A-UD5. The asus offers a lot of features, but i like the gigabyte's extra thick copper board design and yes im shallow, its better looking..... both have superior phase power designs.

Both expensive boards but im hoping the price will come down a bit by summer/autumn hopefully. One thing ive noticed is that these new motherboards don't seem to offer many fan headers these days, my current board has 4 system, 1 power, 1 cpu and they're all in use.

Anyway, thanks to all for your suggestions.

Regards

Wild thing