Upgrade spec please

ALienBC

ALienBC

ALienBC

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Joined
16 Jan 2003
Posts
170
Apologies for the lengthy post. Basically I need to upgrade a 5 year old build, much loved for its silence and longevity: some gaming, some Office stuff, occasional 3d modelling and sound design. Budget negotiable, but let's say 300 quid for starters.

Here's my current rig. I love it. It makes me feel smug. Why? Because the heart of it was bought in 2006, from OCUK, and it has only just become... sluggish :) Originally I intended to clock it to extend its lifespan, but that just hasn't been necessary. Now, I don't think it'll make any difference.

Current spec:

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS4 (Socket 775)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz
Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX
Enermax Liberty 620W ELT620AWT
Antec Solo Quiet Mini Tower Case

The original gfx card has been through a couple of upgrades. Is now a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5. Other than that, no changes in the last 5 years.

Ironically it was moving from Office 2003 to 2007 that revealed how slow it is - compared to the i5 system I use at work, it chugs. Games and that, I guess I've got used to dialling down the detail to cope. Though, even with my midrange gfx card - under XP too - I expect I would see more candy that I currently do if I upgraded the CPU and moved to Win 7.

So. Let's assume 300 quid - ish. What should I get? After 5 years, am somewhat out of touch ;)

Intel only pls. I'm keeping the gfx card - mobo, CPU and RAM is the focus - I think.

Many thanks...
~abc
 


Didn't notice you already had a CPU cooler so take out the A50 unless it doesn't have a 1155/6 fitment. If you don't mind not being able to overclock as much go for the cheaper 2300/2400 i5 and H61 motherboard. £310 w/free shipping.
 
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Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £155.99
(£129.99) £155.99
(£129.99)
MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £89.98
(£74.98) £89.98
(£74.98)
Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366) £19.99
(£16.66) £19.99
(£16.66)
Sub Total : £251.62
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 : £52.22
Total : £313.34

£301.94 with free delivery.

Does your current cooler have a 1556/55 fitment?
 
Thanks for the specs so far, not much to choose between them.

Why the MSI mobo?

My current board still has most of its slots empty (1x gfx, 1x sound) after 5 years: the only conceivable use for spare slots would be SLI, or whatever it's called these days (last time I did that, was with Voodoo 2s :)

Ie, spare x1 slots = waste of time; a spare x16 might well prove useful, somewhere down the line.


I'm guessing the MSI is just good for the price - which is fair enough, since I set the budget :)

While O/C ability is nice, to start with at least, silence is preferable. I don't mind stock coolers as long as they are quiet (never found one that is, though).

My ninja barely wakes the fan up, even covered in dust!

~abc
 
Um... ok. With apologies for not following your advice in the summer, could I ask the same question again? I didn't get around the upgrade... so I'm in the same situation now, only with a birthday coming up and the urge to treat myself to some shiny new hardware :]

Thx!
~abc
 
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