Upgrading System - Ideas Please!?

Exogenesis · 5 Jan 2011 at 19:23

Hey!

I'm planning on upgrading some of my computer in the next couple of weeks. I use it mainly for gaming so want to get the best parts I can for what im willing to spend.

I want to get a new processor and a new graphics card, spending between 400-500 pounds. But if there's any bargains out there that will save me money please let me know!

I would appreciate any advice from anyone on what CPU and graphics card I should get.

(also, I don't really understand the difference between DDR2 and DDR3 - is it silly of me to be spending money on a PCU and graphics card for a DDR2 computer, or should i be upgrading to DDR3?)

Thanks a lot!

My specs are:

CPU- Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 3.20GHz (overclocked from 2.66GHz by overclockers when I bought it)
Memory- Corsair XMS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2
GPU- Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4890 Plus 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express
Motherboard- GA-EP45-UD3LR
Case- Antec 902
OS- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Greavesy · 5 Jan 2011 at 19:43

One of the new CPU's would also require a new motherboard, i also have seen that the i5200k which is the overclockable quad core and motherboard comes in at around 300 pounds.

If you want best peformance for price i would suggest geting a Phenom ii 955 and a nice mobo should be around 220 pounds. Then buy yourself a new Graphics card.

While reading this i saw your budget xD The sandy bridge option falls into that nicely with some new RAM assuming about 350ish pounds for Cpu mobo and ram.
I would also sugggest selling your current Graphics card because that could fetch you like 70/80 pounds at a guess. That would leave you somewhere in the region of 120-230 ( lower end and top end of budget) For a graphics card so look at the ATI 6850,6870 or 6950 =)

Sorry for the length of the post my brain just isnt working :confused:

cmndr_andi · 5 Jan 2011 at 19:50

Looks like you already have a pretty decent system - is there a specific reason why you are upgrading?

If you are mainly using it for gaming, then buying a new graphics card alone will give you a nice performance boost.

As for a CPU upgrade - there are very few games that are slowed down by a 3.2GHz Core 2 Quad, it is much more likely that the 4890 is the performance bottleneck.

Also, it might be worth investing in an SSD if you use apps that can benefit from a lightning-fast storage drive.

Exogenesis · 5 Jan 2011 at 19:52

Hi Greavesy,

thanks for your response! Is there any chance you could link me to these cpu's and motherboards you have mentioned? i was looking at the i7 cpu but found it would be around 400 pound for one of those an a motherboard to put it in, and then i would need new ram of course!

this might be a silly question.. but would my current graphics card, hard drive and disk drive work fine if i was to buy a ddr3 motherboard?

Sorry for asking so much but i would love to get my head around this!

AlexTrickle · 5 Jan 2011 at 19:53

My personal opinion would be go SandyBridge (official release on the 9th Jan) so the parts aren't currently on OCUK:

CPU: i5 2500K
Mobo: Asus P67P8
RAM: 4GB GeIL Value Plus DDR3

As prices aren't on OCUK I'd have to say a ballpark figure for that lot will be ~£350

A 4890 is still fairly capable so you could keep that as anything short of a GTX460/HD5850 (both =<£150) wouldn't be a worthy upgrade. However given a remaining budget I'd go with:

MSI Radeon HD5850 Twin FrozR

Although this would be your max budget.

danewesley · 5 Jan 2011 at 19:56

shame you cant get on the mm, someone is selling a sabertooth x58, 12gb corsair vengance and i7 930 all together for £410!

let the crazy i7 bundles commence with the new sandybridge coming out.

Greavesy · 5 Jan 2011 at 20:00

Theres a big thread somewhere beause the sandybridge items were available today for a short period of time. I am also going to buy a pc soon but im going to go down the AMD route.

Make sure if your gettink a K model sandy bridge that you also get the p67 boards because there the ones you can overclock on.

Exogenesis · 5 Jan 2011 at 20:05

thanks for all your replies!
you all seem to be quite keen on this Sandybridge thing? Please could you give me more info on it? You'll have to forgive me as I know very little about computer components these days!