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Upgrading help

Danfalc

Danfalc

Danfalc

Associate
Joined
3 May 2011
Posts
25
Hey guys

My Birthday is coming up, so I was thinking of upgrading my Graphics card. But my cpu is only a E2180 2ghz and people have told me it would just bottleneck a newer graphics card.

Right now I am looking at the E6700 which is 3.20ghz and only like £66 which is affordable for me. I have heard some really good stuff about the E8XXX series, but the cheapest starts off at like double the price, £120, and they go up to like £160 :(

I'm thinking the E6700 is a lot more reasonable price wise, and would probably give me a good boost as it is?

So you guys know what I'm looking to do,I pretty much only use my pc for gaming, I game a lot. Right now I don't play In high resolutions but I would like to eventually play my pc through my HDTV.

Also I should maybe ask this is another thread, but would anyone recommend a graphics card In the range of £150? I will be upgrading from a 8600 GTS
 
Hi there, if you can afford a £66 core 2 duo - then I would look for a Q6600 quad core instead- these usually sell second-hand for just a bit more than this (~£70) and would be a much better option for playing modern games.

May I ask what make and model motherboard you currently have? With this info we can check what is the best CPU it will support.

As for the graphics card, this is the best card you can get for around that budget (if you need it closer to £150, then this is a good card). For £108 this is also an excellent value card.

May I ask what make and model PSU you are using so we can check that it's powerful enough to support one of these graphic cards?
 
cmndr_andi said:
May I ask what make and model PSU you are using so we can check that it's powerful enough to support one of these graphic cards?
Click to expand...

Yeah sure I never even thought to check those things!, it's EZcool 500w. Also the motherboard is Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H. I hope that helps.

I never really thought about getting more than a dual core, but seems like a wise idea even if it ends up costing a tiny bit more.

I get so confused over all these different graphics cards, there is so much conflicting information, but thank you for the links, I will do a little research on them but also work out how much I feel comfortable forking out. Weird question, I noticed newer graphics cards come with 6 pin slots for power, where as my current graphics card uses 4 pins. Is this just a simple case of using some sort of adapter?

Thank you for the quick response btw.
 
Looking at this page - the motherboard does indeed support quad core CPUs, you will just need to update the BIOS before installing a new CPU. I would also suggest installing a new CPU cooler since a quad core chip kicks out more heat than a dual core (a relatively cheap one like this would be a good option and should be much quieter than the stock cooler).

As for your PSU, I strongly suggest you get a new one. EZcool is not a good brand and these graphics cards use much more power than your 8600GT, so your existing PSU just wouldn't cope. This one would be a good choice for a replacement and has plenty of 6 pin power connectors for the graphics card (here is a review).
 
So you have £66 plus £150 so lets call it £220?

For that I'd scrap your current motherboard and go for this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-150-MS

Cheap, but I have it. Running perfectly with a great overclock.

Then I'd for for this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-280-AM

Low power edition so you wont need to change your PSU, and is much better than a Q6600 in almost any application, but especially gaming.

About on par with a QX6800 Extreme Edition in gaming.

EDIT: What RAM are you running?

EDIT: And I'd get the same GPU as mentioned
 
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The Phenom II X4 is a nice idea - but getting that board + CPU will cost £111 and a second-hand Q6600 will cost ~£70. You could factor in selling the old s775 board - but this wouldn't sell for much tbh.

As for the performance of the X4 840 compared to the Q6600 - the 840 is really more of an Athlon II than a Phenom II (no L3 cache). If you compare the Q6600 to a 3.1GHz Athlon II X4 (so take account of the slightly lower clockspeed) then the Q6600 holds up pretty well- have a look at this comparison.

Also, if he plans to run a high-end GPU like a 5850, 5870 or 6950 then the OP will really need to replace the EZcool 500W PSU or it will just explode.
 
I've always been sceptical about PSU's.

I used to run 2 HDDs, 7900GT, AMD 4200+ X2, 2 x optical drivers, 2 PCI cards, 5 USB interfaces with a cheapo 500W with no problems.

Check here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5850,2433-3.html

Top spec overclocked PC, with a HD 5850 not pulling more than 305W under load.

I don't think they'll be an issue, it's something that nvidia and ati always do, over recommend minimum wattage to protect themselves.

Agreed on the costs though, probably easier sticking in the Q6600 and spending the change on a good game.
 
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Hey thanks both of you. Given me a lot to think about.

Though I am a little confused now as there seems to be conflicting data. But if the AMD chip is faster for gaming then that's what I would want. To get a 3ghz quad core for my current mobo your talking £200-300. And the Q6600 is like £130 brand new and is only like 2.4? Surely that would slow it down on games which don't use multiple cores yet, and it's surprising how many don't.

So yeah the AMD seems like a good choice to me. I also have a spare PSU, which will likely be higher quality than the one I'm using so I'm sure I will be ok power wise.

As for memory, I think I currently have like 4gb but it is DDR2. Which graphics card did you mean Hazkirby, or just that all three were good choices for their respective price?

Anyway thanks again, you have both made me think of things I might of over looked otherwise.
 
*edit, never mind. I checked my old pc In hopes that I could use the mobo out of that, but it's ancient. 939 socket and uses ddr1.
 
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As I mentioned - the Q6600 is just as fast as the Phenom II X4 840 - the clockspeed is higher with the 840, but they use entirely different micro-acrchitectures so can't be compared on clockspeed alone - the most fool-proof way of comparing them is with real-world performance. That link above shows what is basically a slightly slower clocked version of the 840 and it performs about as fast as the Q6600.

As for buying a Q6600 - these CPUs haven't been made in a long time - so don't buy it retail, the prices are mad. Instead you can get these CPUs for £70 second-hand - these chips are known to be relatively bomb-proof, so long as you buy from a respected seller then you won't have any issues and bag a nice CPU for a low price.

If you want to go down the AMD route - then go for this chip over the 840 - it is a true phenom II (L3 cache) and overclocks easily using an unlocked multiplier. This chart shows how it compares to the Q6600.

As for the motherboard, the board suggested by Hazkirby seems to support this CPU too, but you will need to buy some DDR3 RAM to run with it. 4GB can currently be had for £37. If you want to keep your DDR2 then this board will support a 125W Phenom II like the X4 955.

Finally, for the PSU - may I ask what the make and model of the other unit you have to hand? The recieved wisdom with PCs is that the PSU is by far the most important part of the system - since it provides all the power to all the components and must run flawlessly for everything else to work. Also, if a PSU fails then it is likely that it will kill some (or all) of your key components when it dies. Hence never skimp on the PSU and go with one that you know is good quality, can provide plenty of power for the application and is reliable.
 
The "MHZ/GHZ" should be ignored unless you're comparing similar architectures.

EG you could overclock a Pentium 4 to 10GHZ, but it'd be wiped out in every application against an I7 2.66ghz.

If I were you I'd stretch an extra £30-£40 if possible as both those CPU's will bottleneck that card to a certain degree, not so much now but probably next year.

If you can stretch to that you can get the motherboard * recommended ^^^^ , a AMD 965 X4 and a HD 5850 for around £250.


The problem with the Q6600, and the Phenom 840 is that they will bottleneck sooner, and for the sake of £40 I believe it a good investment to go with the 965 as then at least you know that your system doesn't have a weak part!

The 965 has plently of L3 cache which is neccesary in gaming, and will last you a lot longer.
 
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Hazkirby said:
Note: 955 is also a good choice :D
Click to expand...

Haha gah, my head hurts now :D I guess this is one of the reasons I have put of upgrading for so long, I use to build PC's when I did work experience, but it's still a nightmare for me.

No seriously thank you lol. Both helped a lot.
 
Danfalc said:
Sure my PSU is Octigen 500w.
Click to expand...

OK, in that case please do not put that anywhere near your new kit. It costs around £15 new (indicating very low build quality), doesn't have any PCIE power connections (the cards mentioned need two), is only up to 70% efficient and can only deliver 211 watts on the 12V rail. I am pretty confident that if you try and run your PC with a new quad core CPU and a HD 5850 graphics card it will explode (actually not joking- these things do explode, or at least catch fire).

If you are looking for suggestions for a new PSU, then at the minimum I would go with this one (here is a review), but this one will give you a bit more headroom (here is a review).


Danfalc said:
I also noticed this which supports ddr2 and ddr3.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-028-AK&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1483
Click to expand...

That board seems to only support CPUs up to 95W rating - so it does support the Phenom II X4 840, but it can't take the faster Phenom II X4 955BE.

Danfalc said:
Anyway thanks again. Deffo given me a lot to think about while I raise the money.
Click to expand...

Happy to help :)

Best of luck with your build.

Just to add another player into the mix, if you are buying DDR3 as well as a new board and CPU, then I would also suggest having a look at the new i3 2100 sandy bridge. This board, this RAM and this CPU would be a good combination. Here is a performance comparison of the i3 2300 against a range of CPUs Including the Phenom II X4 970 (a CPU 9% faster than the 955) in a range of modern games.
 
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Hi,

Im currently running a Q6600 and a 8800gts 640mb and its still ticking along ok for what it needs gaming/web/uni/design etc etc although It will need to be replaced soonish IMO. My advice would be (and i know it sounds boring) that trying to do PC upgrades on the cheap end up costing in the long run. I dont know how viable this is for you but it might be an idea to wait around for a while and save some more to get a better base for future upgrades. I know PC tech does not stay current for long but I personally feel that upgrading to a q6600 in 2011 with the main purpose of gaming will probs not last very long until you need the next upgrade.

It may also suit you to hold out just a little longer until bulldozer comes out because if it can compete with intel, prices will hopefully become more competitive and older chips could drop in cost.

Just my two pence!
 
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