What would you do?

Arge

Arge

Arge

Associate
Joined
22 Oct 2006
Posts
403
Location
Hampshire
Hello everyone,

So my current setup is a bit antiquated..

It has had a few upgrades from when I built it like 8 years ago but I think the time may have come for something drastic... maybe..

First off my current setup is:

MoBo : Asus 775 P5Q-EM
Cpu : Core2Quad Q9450 @ 3.2Ghz (2.6 stock)
Cooler: Freezer 7 Pro
Mem : 4Gb Geil 6400 (4x1Gb)
Gpu : Ati HD 7850 o/c
Hdd : Samsung 840 SSD 250gb
Psu : Corsair HX520w modular
Case : Corsair Obsidian 350D
Mon : Asus VE278Q

Has had a cpu upgrade in its life, core2duo to the current core2quad and multiple Gpu upgrades. It also had a motherboard change from a p5Q-deluxe to the current asus when I down sized from my atx case to the corsair matx due to space limitations. Also a monitor upgrade from 24" 1680x1050 to the current asus 27" 1080p.

To be fair, up to now it has done all I have asked of it which isn't really a lot..

It is used as a general pc, web browsing, text docs etc. but I also use it to game. I would say I'm a casual gamer.

Since the release of fallout 4 (which I'm loving) I have been disappointed with the performance as even on medium preset I get a general playable experience but with occasional dips in fps and stutters.

My aim is to be able to play fallout 4 and any new games in the next year or so on at least high settings, hopefully ultra? @ 1080p at 60fps. I am getting more time to do some gaming recently.

I wont be upgrading my monitor any time soon so 1080p is the max I will be using.

So I guess the main question is what would you do..

1) Upgrade the gpu to something like a GTX 970 and hope its ok with the current setup

or

2) Keep the HD7850 for now and upgrade the mobo, cpu and memory bundle to something like a skylake 6600K and 8/16Gb or memory

Ideally I would do both but I can only really stretch to one or the other as I have sort of set myself a limit of around £500ish and then I may be able to upgrade something else in 6 months or so.

Sorry for the long post but was trying to get all the info in there that ppl may ask for.

thanks guys, look forward to your responses !

Ryan (Arge)
 
Option 2.

A newer high end GPU would be bottlenecked by Option 1, and moving to a newer platform you might find the 7850 still has a bit left to give (in the scheme of things it's still as good as a new low-mid end AMD card e.g. R9 370).

Changing to a new platform will last you a good 4-5 years if the current rate of improvement continues, a new GPU would be much less than that.



EDIT: £500 is a decent enough budget and would nearly get you everything (slightly over budget and would still need a cooler) e.g. a very quick effort below:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £530.06
(includes shipping: £11.10)
​


​
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply Armageus,

Maybe I can get all I want for my budget then?

For some reason I have this thing I cant shake where I want the best of everything so was looking at the asus rog motherboards (bit of an asus fanboy) at like £170 when in reality I will only ever do a small stable overclock at most, not into pushing the limits, I want my components to last as long as my current setup has.

How do you post your basket like that from ocuk?

I will have another go at trying some example purchaces and see what people think.

Thanks
 
So probably a separate topic but what's the difference between the chipsets (H110/H170/Z170) ?

would one of the lower price ones be ok for even a mild overclock?
 
Arge said:
Maybe I can get all I want for my budget then?
Click to expand...

Also don't underestimate what your 7850 / Core2Quad and motherboard are worth 2nd hand - this can help offset some of your new build (if you are willing to sell it on ebay/gumtree etc).

Arge said:
For some reason I have this thing I cant shake where I want the best of everything so was looking at the asus rog motherboards (bit of an asus fanboy) at like £170 when in reality I will only ever do a small stable overclock at most, not into pushing the limits,
Click to expand...

I'll be honest in that I don't know how well the board I linked would overclock (it should be good enough as wasn't at the very cheapest end), but normally at the ROG end of the market, you are paying a large markup for mostly looks, and at most that last 10% of extra possible performance.

Arge said:
I want my components to last as long as my current setup has.
Click to expand...

Any I5/I7 build today (whether Devil's Canyon/Skylake or Haswell-E) will all last you a good few years in terms of performance.


Arge said:
How do you post your basket like that from ocuk?
Click to expand...

Add everything to your shopping basket, then on the shopping basket/checkout page there is a bbcode button at the bottom left - copy and paste it to your post on the forum.




Arge said:
So probably a separate topic but what's the difference between the chipsets (H110/H170/Z170) ?
Click to expand...

In order to overclock you pretty much need a Z170 board, the lower chipsets also have less features e.g. less PCI-E lanes, less SATA and USB etc.
 
Yes, the 'Z' chipset is for OCing with LGA115x, as is the 'X' chipset for LGA2011.

There are exceptions - e.g. the G3258 will clock on most 1150 boards with the right BIOS.
 
thanks for all the info!

just browsing the store now to see what I can come up with
 
My budget is a bit tighter than I thought so am going to have to do it in stages.

Have decided to go option 2 and upgrade the motherboard bundle first, should make a big difference to general computing and hopefully get a little more out of the 7850 with a small increase in fps in games.

Then in the new year, a new gpu, all in one water cooler and an overclock to the cpu should be another nice step up!

Have gone with the cheapest cpu cooler for now as will upgrade and overclock in the new year. is this a bad idea or should it be ok ?

Here is my current selection of components..

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £448.97
(includes shipping: £11.10)
​


​

Any comments on component selection are welcome/encouraged

Thanks
 
Ok posted the wrong basket

Well all the same less the power supply, was going to leave that until the new year with the gpu etc.

currently have a corsair hx520w, will this be ok for the mean time ?
 
I would say it depends how old it is, i wouldnt buy lots of new parts and combine it with a 10 year old PSU for example, if its fairly recent then i wouldnt worry.
 
Hmm, yeh I think the psu is getting on a bit. Think it's about 5-6 years old. Will see if I can pinpoint how old exactly.

Is 5 years too old? I think it's a fairly good quality one, does that matter though when it comes to age?
 
The HX520 is at least 8 years old as I had one in my old system (now in the boys) but I guess its down to the manufacturing date.
At that age I would change it even if you have no problems. Keep it as a back up as they are good PSUs.

You won't need the extra cooler as you get one with the CPU if buy the retail version although I wouldn't overclock with it. (I've selected the OEM version and then added the stock cooler afterwards as its cheaper than the buying them together)
Also, link your forum name in account details as you qualify for free shipping

Increased the PSU a little as you might go down the AMD route rather than Nvidia

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £408.87
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​


​
 
Last edited:
 
Thanks for the replys!

So I will go with an oem version of the cpu with the cheap cooler as wont be overclocking for a while and can't afford an all in one water cooler at the moment which is what I eventually want.

I notice you both went for the gigabyte motherboard, any reason for this over the msi I posted? Or just that its one of the cheap z179 matx boards?

Also both went for the team skill ram at 2400 speed. Is that just because it's the cheapest?

I have read that 2666 is the sweet spot for skylake, this stil the case?

Lastly, the power supply, I guess I shouldn't risk it then as it may be older than I thought. So around 600w should be enough if it's good quality?
 
Pretty much no difference between the MSI and Gigabyte boards feature wise. Gigabyte have great customer service should you need it, not sure on MSI.
As for the RAM, yes it's the cheapest as I was trying go keep your total cost low.
600-650W for the PSU will be fine for a single card. AMD require a bit more than Nvidia so you have both options open to you.
 
Well as a bit of a comparison, some of my old LGA 775 systems were upgraded in stages.

It is easy to buy items like a case, PSU, SSD and HDD's, GPU, cooler etc while on an old platform leaving just a CPU/motherboard/gpu bundle for the future upgrade when a budget allows.

I was playing games like Crysis 3, BF3 etc with LGA-775 hardware and an HD-7950 GPU and having no issues. Mainly an overclocked E8500 and Q9550.
The Q9550 with 8gb of DDR2 still does OK for a lot of games and such, plenty of decent coolers such as Noctua etc, and some AIO's too have LGA-775 compatability, and SSD still gives a major performance boost to old platforms. Of course it's most likely not worth buying LGA 775 upgrades unless dirt cheap, I am not saying go out and buy the best quad core for 775 with 8gb of memory, just that it may last a little longer with a decent GPU and allow you to save a little longer for a new motherboard etc.

I would say a new graphics card would be fine with an older system, though an AMD 380 4gb gpu is about the best I would add to an old maxed out top if the line in it's day 775 system, maybe the likes of a 390 or 970 if I knew the core components would be getting upgraded within a few months or so.

I would probably buy a Superflower Leadex Gold 550w or 650w PSU and as your a casual gamer opt for a new GPU along the lines of the AMD R9 380 as it got good write ups for 1080p to 1440p in that price bracket. Both would be fine in your still decent 350D and still be good enough for your future Skylake CPU/motherboard/2666MHz DDR4
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom