What to upgrade?

TheDean

TheDean

TheDean

Soldato
Joined
3 Oct 2004
Posts
5,020
Location
North East
Hi all,

Thinking of upgrading my rig below, and wondering what would be the best bang for buck upgrade? None of the below is OC'ed, which may be the best?

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 with Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler
Gainward BLISS GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB
Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
OcUK Value L2442WD-VA 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black
Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply
 
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what are you looking to do with the pc ?

what psu does your current system have ?

what size monitor /resolution do you run ?

depending on what you want the rig to do for that money, imho, it would be silly to upgrade rather than get a new rig.

if its gaming, and depending on the rest of the rig (psu/monitor) i'd look at something like the 2500K, p67 mobo, then maybe new psu and new gfx card (something like the ati 5850).
 
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mp260767 said:
what are you looking to do with the pc ?

what psu does your current system have ?

what size monitor /resolution do you run ?

depending on what you want the rig to do for that money, imho, it would be silly to upgrade rather than get a new rig.

if its gaming i'd go with a 2500K, p67 mobo, maybe new psu and something like the ati 5850 gfx card.
Click to expand...

Added full spec above. Gaming would be nice, but I mainly use my Xbox360 for that...
 
if your looking at gaming, then i'd go with the 2500K, along with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 cpu cooler, 5850 gfx card, something like the Asus P8P67 mobo and 4gb of ddr3 memory, rather than update your current system.

is there a particular reason your looking to upgrade your current rig rather then go new update ?
 
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If you are happy to keep the peripherals and have an operating system then I think you can do as the above poster mentioned.
Grab a snappy i5-2500, 2500k if you can afford it as it overclocks nicely.

Your PSU should be fine with a 5850 too.
 
checked the prices and 2500K, coolermaster cooler, 4gb corsair memory, sapphire 5850 (this week only offer) and the Asus P8P67 P67 comes in at £500.

going back to your orginal request what is there that your current rig doesnt do that you want it to ?
 
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mp260767 said:
is there a particular reason your looking to upgrade your current rig rather then go new update ?
Click to expand...

Only because I didn't want to spend a lot of money. If I can gret a better cpu & GPY which will fit with my existing bits, all the better, but if you guys thik I'd be better selling it all off and going the i5 route, I'll do that. I note the OCable i5's are out of stock :(
 
TheDean said:
Only because I didn't want to spend a lot of money. If I can gret a better cpu & GPY which will fit with my existing bits, all the better, but if you guys thik I'd be better selling it all off and going the i5 route, I'll do that. I note the OCable i5's are out of stock :(
Click to expand...

so there isn't a game or something your looking to run, but its too slow on your current kit ?
 
Well if you find its a bit sluggish on games then im sure your PSU is powerful enough to take a new GFX card like the 5850 or a GTX 460, that would 'revive' it somewhat.
Im pretty sure your board is compatible.
Also starting with one of those cards would allow you to build a new system around it in time
 
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xNytramx said:
Well if you find its a bit sluggish on games then im sure your PSU is powerful enough to take a new GFX card like the 5850 or a GTX 460, that would 'revive' it somewhat.
Im pretty sure you're board is compatible.
Also starting with one of those cards would allow you to build a new system around it in time
Click to expand...

That was more my thinking...Would a 5850 be compatible? Presumably I can get a fairly hefty OC from the CPU and RAM?
 
don't see a reason why the 5850 wouldn't work.

cpu wise , what's the default speed of it ?, there are 2 different ones, older one runs at 1.8ghz, might be able to get it to 2.4 ish without too much aggro, newer one clocks a bit better , close to 3ghz iirc.
 
Seconded.
I've looked around for compatibility and nothing to say that the 5850 wouldnt work.
But have a look around at what you could get if you sold your system off to friends/family or whatever, maybe convince you parents or grandparents they NEED a half decent setup for chess :p
And then take a look at the i5 setup see if its within reach financially.

A 5850 or if you prefur Nvidia then the 460 is good, its slightly slower with some things on paper and higher with others, are a good starting point. My dad always takes Nvidia and his is going strong. I do love puting a beastly card in an old PC hehe
 
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mp260767 said:
don't see a reason why the 5850 wouldn't work.

cpu wise , what's the default speed of it ?, there are 2 different ones, older one runs at 1.8ghz, might be able to get it to 2.4 ish without too much aggro, newer one clocks a bit better , close to 3ghz iirc.
Click to expand...

Yeah, clock is 1.86, but think mine is defo a newer one, so 3ghz should be possible. But you're right, 2.4 would be easily done and very stable.

Is the 5850 any bigger / smaller than the card I have already? I don't want it to arrive, then not fit in the case :D
 
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