Upgrade path - Good? Bad? I'm open to suggestions

Bromhead

Bromhead

Bromhead

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Ok so I've recently got back into PC gaming and I've been upgrading various parts of my existing rig and here's what I'm currently playing with.

27" 1080p monitor
6x Phenom II 1055T
GA-880GM-UD2H Motherboard
16GB Ram Corsair Vengeance
2TB 7200 RPM Seagate HDD
7950 Radeon 3GB
Coolermaster GX 650W

Next on my list is processor and motherboard. Can I upgrade these two parts and remain compatible with everything else in my system?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-404-IN

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-201-MS

Total upgrade cost £285, but I feel it would unlock the true potential of the new 7950 I just put in as a the Phenom is running slow these days.

Good choice and will these be compatible? I'm open to alternative ideas or open to the option of maybe waiting for Haswell, but not sure it's worth the wait. There's always something better coming out
 
thats what im thinking tbh

it's a lot of money to spend for not a lot of gain, yes it will be faster, but not as much as you may like, for me i'd either wait or add more money
 
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YOUR BASKET
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
Total : £271.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Cheaper leaving you some extra cash for beer or games, plus 3 years warrenty and UK Based RMA (just in case something did go wrong).

Edit:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=701

This should give you some idea of the performance increase, on a side note what cooler are you using as not much will fit with that tall RAM installed.
 
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zakblood said:
thats what im thinking tbh

it's a lot of money to spend for not a lot of gain, yes it will be faster, but not as much as you may like, for me i'd either wait or add more money
Click to expand...

I think you'd get a good performance increase, better than the Phenom. The i5 has great o/c potential too!

Ethermaster said:
YOUR BASKET
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
Total : £271.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Cheaper leaving you some extra cash for beer or games, plus 3 years warrenty and UK Based RMA (just in case something did go wrong).
Click to expand...

Great Choice. I didn't go for a cheaper one as I've not had great experience in the past. However, things have moved on.
 
overclocked then yes a good chip to have as long as good cooling the i5, but i'd overclock the chip he's already got tbh and make it last another 6 months or so then upgrade when most stuff will be faster and cheaper anyway, but all info above it good info and true, so it's a choice tbh, but for me without either being overclocked, the newer chip just wont be that much different unless your a benchmark geek like myself to notice in most apps or games, if its only a few fps in a game you gain, then it aint worth it, i'd want double or wait, but its only my opinion and it's free advice and early on sunday so may be wrong, it wouldn't be the first or last time :)

the only reason i asked for ram speed and how many was to see if it would be better to get an overclocked bundle but the ram you have is good stuff, so unless you want to overclock your self then a bundle would cost a bit more, but at least its all done for you etc, saves some hassle.
 
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Do you think that the current 7950 I just fitted into the machine will be bottlenecked by the Phenom at all though? My thinking for upgrading the CPU, is the bump in processor speed but also the bump in graphics power that i would obtain
 
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