A few years back I out together a system. It’s a little dated already, and I’d like to upgrade as much as would make sense, w/out swapping out the motherboard (after the headache the last MB gave me, swapping out is last resort. The one I have now has been rock solid so I’d hate to part with it, unless upgrading is just not feasible, which I doubt). Unlike most - I don’t have a budget. I’ll spend the money if the performance improvement is worth the cost. I don’t game as much as I used to, but I like the PC to be able to play the newer games, if necessary. So treat this like a fairly high end gaming rig.
CPU:
I currently have an EVGA 780i MB. Here’s link to the specs and the CPUs it can support: http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=132-CK-NF78-A1.
Does it make sense to upgrade the CPU? I currently have an E6600. If I did upgrade, I think I would probably be looking at about a Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550. I found one used on Amazon for $200. Worth it?
GPU:
I currently have an e-GeForce 8800 GTS (640 MB). I originally bought this thinking I would SLI later, but with the problems I had with the original MB, I never wanted to attempt it. So SLI another of these or upgrade to a newer series card? If upgrade - recommendations? One kinda high end, or SLI two (or more) middle of the road? I’m thinking $200 ballpark, but I can go higher if the performance upgrade warrants it.
Memory:
I have 4 GB (2x2GB) of Corsair Dominator DDR2 (I believe they are 8500s/1066 MgHz). I’m currently running 32 bit XP, but I will probably upgrade to Win 7 64 bit. Should I bother upgrading the memory?
PS:
700 Watt OCZ
Let me know what y’all think. This is your chance to build a new rig vicariously through me!
GPU. You generally get better performance by going one higher grade card than 2 lower for the price.
Memory. You probably won’t need more but 64 bit will let you use all 4 GB for system use. 32 bit only can handle 4GB total including video card memory. So if your card has 1 GB, Windows can only use 3GB of the installed 4.
In terms of pure gaming performance you won’t see a big jump in most games (read msot games as game not optimized for multiple CPU cores). However, if you plan to overclock the Q9550 then the performance difference might be noticeable. Moreover, games are starting to truly take advantage of multi-core CPU’s. Having a quad core can extend the life of your rig through the next gen of games.
Don’t bother with SLi with that card. I’d go for a new gen DX 11 instead. The Hd5830 and GTX 460 are within your budget. If I were you I’d invest in a 5850 or even 5870 and forgo the CPU upgrade. Come back to it instead in 8 months or so when more games take advantage of the multiple cores.
Don’t bother.
You’ll probably carry this baby over to your next build.
At this stage I’d bite the bullet and change your MB. I say this because the new chips aren’t compatible with your MB and they will give you better performance as well as being more future proof… though obviously this will mean a higher cost. Definately go for Win 64 as it comes in the same box as the 32 version!!! Ram is always good if you got it you may as well be using it!!
The 460GTX is probably the best graphics card for around $200, but I’d wait for the new series of ATI cards (which should be released starting from October IIRC) and see how they perform.
Thanks for all the input guys. I think I’ll put all the money into the Video Card now, then maybe upgrade the CPU/MB/Mem in about 2 years (of course by then I’ll probably want to upgrade the Video card again!).
I agree with your plan. Out of those two graphics cards, go for the 5870. If you go for Windows 7 x64, add an extra 4 GB. 2 GB memory sticks are cheap right now and it will give you extra headroom for those intensive browsing sessions when you run up several dozen tabs in Chrome, and will be useful later for when you retire the box to secondary status.
I’d recommend one further, precautionary, purchase: a new battery for your CMOS. They tend to go after about 5 years.
That chart is all sorts of screwy at the top. How is the 5970 below the 5870? And the 5870 below the GTX 470?
Oh, passmark benchmarks, nevermind. Just remember that in actual games the 5970- will be the card on top, followd by the GTX 480 followed by the 5870 and then the GTX 470.
A further thought: do any of the games you currently play have copy protection mechanisms? Because you’ll need to check that they work under Windows 7. I’ve still got an old XP system I haven’t upgraded because TOCA 3 uses Starforce copy protection, which doesn’t work under Windows 7 x64.
A 4-year old game is keeping you on your old system? :rolleyes:
Seems near time for a whole new box anyway. There are lots of pretty great racing games out now you might enjoy that look spectacular.
I can appreciate a favorite game holding your attention but at some point ya just gotta move on. Keep the old box in a closet and if you get an urge to play TOCA 3 dust it off and have fun.
Extra RAM is about the worst use of your money right now. The returns will be negligible, and you won’t even be able to carry DDR2 over if you ever want to go LGA1366. Putting that money into a better graphics card will give you the best bang for the buck.
Also, if you have a Microcenter nearby, the Q9550 is available new for $149.99. But act fast! There are only 3 left at my local store.
I’ve tried the demo of the new version. It kept crashing on me. And you’re limited to 4 worms, which can be very fatal very early on, especially if there are Banana Bombs in action.
In case anyone is still reading this - what’s the best upgrade/install order? The parts are starting to arrive and I’m getting ready to start installing. I’ve been doing this long enough to know to do one thing at a time to make sure all is OK before installing something else. Also at the last minute I decided to upgrade the CPU as well, so I’m thinking:
Step 1: Swap out the CPU, boot, make sure all is ok
Step 2: Load Win 7. Make sure all is OK
Step 3: Shutdown, swap out the GPU.
Step 4: Reboot, start reinstalling every program.
Is this a good order? Any other suggestions? Any tips or advice for reinstalling everything? I have multiple HDs, and most of my programs reside on the non C:/Boot drive so reinstalling won’t be as big a pain. I’ve already copied everything I wanted to keep on C: to other drives for safe keeping.
Add in step 2.5: download all drivers for Windows 7 and put them on a USB stick. I’m thinking particularly of motherboard, LAN / NIC, and sound system, but the graphics card counts too. The NIC driver is absolutely critical.
If you want to be able to back it all out, here goes:
Boot from the XP CD to a command prompt.
Copy boot.ini to boot.sav
rename \windows\win.ini to win.ini.sav (or \winnt\win.ini…). Check also for win.com
rename \Documents and Settings
rename \Program Files on all drives
Reboot and install Windows 7. It won’t see XP at all, and you’ll ave everything there.