Upgrading a 4.5 Year Old System

skaylesh

skaylesh

skaylesh

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7 Dec 2005
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47
Hi People

I am looking to upgrade my 4.5 year old socket 939 system, with the purchase of a motherboard, CPU, GFX card and memory. I'm out of touch with current technology, but after a few days research, have come up with the following items.............

NewPicture1.jpg


Can anyone see anything wrong with this spec, or could I spend my money more wisely? I have a budget of 400GBP. I will not be overclocking either.

I will mostly use the system to play games at or near to max quality on a 1440 x 900 monitor, the odd hour of photoshop, internet browsing and general Office use.

I will use my existing Coolermaster 450W PSU, 200GB Seagate Sata hard drive and probably install Windows 7 RC until it's released properly. Is my PSU likely to meet demands from this proposed system?

Thanks in advance.
 
Assuming the PSU is currently stable, then yes it should be ok. Might pay to look up the specs for the PSUs rails to be certain. It should say on the side of the PSU or online if you google the model number.

The spec looks good, the 4890 is a good buy, although they can be had nearer £130 elsewhere. Pays to shop around really.
 
Guest2 said:
Games still work fine on my 939 machine (x2 3800, 8800GT, 2gb) Just get a nice new 24" monitor instead
Click to expand...

upgrading to AM3 is not a bad decision since its good price wise and it will be a nice jump in performance. Just going for a DDR3 board with DDR3 ram might be a better upgrade.
 
heres a good upgrade decision

Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AMD 785G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard 73.99
AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.8GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail 97.99
Corsair XMS3 DHX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600C9DHX Twin3X 65.99
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 146.99

Total inc Delivery - 395.89
 
I dont really see the point upgrading. The most graphical intense game a few years ago was crysis and it seems nothing has been made since (apart from crysis warhead) I think about upgrading my system when crysis 2 or half life 3 are released.

Starcraft 2 should run fine on my 939 system when it is eventually released
 
Guest2 said:
I dont really see the point upgrading. The most graphical intense game a few years ago was crysis and it seems nothing has been made since (apart from crysis warhead) I think about upgrading my system when crysis 2 or half life 3 are released.

Starcraft 2 should run fine on my 939 system when it is eventually released
Click to expand...

Ok you've made your point twice! Let the man make his own mind up. He may play games you don't and it appears he likes to max out graphics settings.
 
Guest2 said:
I dont really see the point upgrading. The most graphical intense game a few years ago was crysis and it seems nothing has been made since (apart from crysis warhead) I think about upgrading my system when crysis 2 or half life 3 are released.

Starcraft 2 should run fine on my 939 system when it is eventually released
Click to expand...

I'm with you on that one.

Deus Ex 3 will be out next year hopefully though and so far each of the previous two games have made me upgrade my PC, so wasn't worth it for the second one either!
 
Well I did say the upgrade was a good idea, if he didn't need the upgrade don't you think he would have just carried on using it?
 
Hi People

Thanks for your replies. I'm upgrading due to my current system not working. Having come back from holiday a few moths ago, I switched on my PC and smelt a burning smell from the PSU. The computer did not start - no fans spinning, no beeps, nothing.

I thought the PSU was broken, so I ordered a replacement (the Coolermaster 450W), but had the same outcome. So I thought I'd upgrade, rather than continue to buy replacement parts, given that I don't know exactly what the problem/s is/are.

My current, broken system consists of................

AMD 4000+
Asus A8N-SLI
OCZ Platinum DDR2 PC3200 1Gb
ATI Radeon X850XT
Seagate 200Gb SATA Hard Drive
Antec NeoPower 480W (broken)

I'm looking forward to playing the likes of Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising and COD Modern Warfare 2 at a decent frame rate and decent level of detail.

Thanks again.
 
thats practically my exact system, except i have a x850xtpe and 2gig lol, i'll be watching to see what you get for ideas.
 
If buying a new system I would either go cheap gaming with Radeon 4850, Budget Dual Core Cpu, 4GB DDR2 and £50 Mobo, or finish the better setup of Radeon 4890, Phenom 955 Quad, 4GB DDR3 and £80-£90 AM3 mobo. Personally, based on your requirements I would go for a cheap Core2Duo for the budget system and overclock. An E5200/E5300 will get over 3Ghz VERY easily for about £50 on a matching motherboard. To go noticeably faster you really need a Quad at the same sort of speeds, far more expensive (though only about £50 more than your X3).

Either system should happily play the games you are talking about at those sort of resolutions. If not willing to clock yourself OCUK have a great bundle based on the E5200 at 3.2Ghz on offer at £170 this week:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-029-OE&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=

As well as being cheaper, quieter (much better cooler) and a pro matched set, this will beat the suggested Phenom in most games. With the graphics card originally suggested you would be saving almost £100 with no discernible downside, if you can get the GPU delivered cheaper then even better :)
 
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I have the e5200 bundle, I overclocked it more (to 3.5ghz).

Its a great bundle, paired with a 4870/4890 it will run any games I would say.

I'm also hoping to play COD MW2 on max setting on my 1440x900 monitor, but im going for a 4870 or a GTX260. Both cheaper than the 4890.

The 4890 is overkill for 1440x900 IMO.
 
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