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Thread: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

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    Chillie in here j.o.s.h.1408's Avatar
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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    so in 2 years time, the new games will require a nehalem has recomended requirement to run a game and not have the cpu the bottleneck?

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    Quote Originally Posted by j.o.s.h.1408 View Post
    so in 2 years time, the new games will require a nehalem has recomended requirement to run a game and not have the cpu the bottleneck?
    I think it was just a general statement about how upgrading will go out the window in a couple of years as RAM will be DDR3, CPU sockets will change etc..

    Different people have different idea's about how to tackle this sort of thing. Buy an enthusiast board now and hope it's worth something later to sell, or buy a cheap board now as more or less a throw away and then upgrade when you feel the need.

    Personally as I said the IP-35 dark raider makes the most sense to me. For £60 you get all you will need a for a good couple of years and then you can buy the best motherboard for £60 then to

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    there is nothing wrong with it, its still a good psu. Like i said above i just wouldnt trust it with a £350-400 graphics card and i personally think if u held one in your hand you would agree with me.

    If i where to build a 1000ish machine tomorrow i would probably go for something liek this:


    This is just me personally but it should give some insight into what to do. Buy fairly budget on CPU and Motherboard as DDR2 ram is so cheap (4GB PC8500 can probs be found elsewhere much cheaper) and spend the money on getting the GX2 (awesome graphics card, think you must have missed this one when you where looking at them ) and a decent case and power supply. As the CPU and Mobo will be redundant in 2-3 years due to the new socket type so there is no point in spending there. A good case and modular power supply is a godsend when it comes to building. Having room to route all the cables around etc is deffo worth the money. The case i listed is probs a bit pricey for what it is but there are many other that are much cheaper... the P182 for example. Although bare in mind the GX2 is a large card and will mean you lose one of the hard drive racks in the P182.

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    On the opinion of cases i forgot to add about 'fututre proofing'. A full tower case would be nice if you're thinking of upgrading, but its also nice having the extra space. With more space you can do sli/crossfire without worrying about whether it will fit in your case or not, but also if there is going to a new '8800 ultra' then you won't have to worry about fitting that in either.

    Like i said before i was trying my best to build a system that would last as long as possible. One place i knew i wouldn't skimp on was the case and psu as alot of people have already rightly said. I've got the antec p190 which comes with 2 psus (1200W total)and can take e-atx motherboards as well. like you i was trying to cover my back as much as i could, and within my budget i could afford this case. it is overkill for most people but in terms of a solution for future upgrades i can't fault even though it is one of the most expensive cases you can find.

    although the psu setup isn't exactly the most ideally (the 1st psu is hardwired but 2nd is partly modular), you can run triple sli, or even dual 9800gx2 i'm pretty sure. this means you won't have to try and bother figuring out what psu you need!

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    finding nemo staffsMike's Avatar
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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    I think thats taking future proofing to the extreme

    With the way things are going with power requirements, a decent 500w will pretty much have you covered, 600w if you are worried lol

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?



    this is a far betetr pc here. q9450, more hdd, pci 2.0 and cheaper too. sorted

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    Quote Originally Posted by j.o.s.h.1408 View Post


    this is a far betetr pc here. q9450, more hdd, pci 2.0. sorted
    thats ok but with that build when he upgrades, if he want to keep his performance levels up he will have to upgrade the graphics aswell but i cant see the 9800GX2 being old hat for a long time... at least untill the next GX2!

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    Yeah I know its kind of extreme. But i had the spare money from my budget, since i didn't want to the premium for a gtx or a quad core at the time as i knew they would drop down in price/better parts would come out.

    just means i don't have to worry next time i upgrade! my friend was screaming at me, saying i always go overboard lol

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    Quote Originally Posted by Biscuit View Post
    thats ok but with that build when he upgrades, if he want to keep his performance levels up he will have to upgrade the graphics aswell but i cant see the 9800GX2 being old hat for a long time... at least untill the next GX2!
    The 9800XXX series is going to be EoL very soon... it's just a stopgap solution for nVidia...

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    all intel motherboards die as soon as nehalem comes out. That said, if you can live with that, you ought to get a good 2 years out of your system - 3 with a GPU and processor upgrade... any more, and it'll start to fall apart IMO

    (by the way, mods, this was an accidental double post)

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    Chillie in here j.o.s.h.1408's Avatar
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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    2 years is definetly reasonable and by that time nehalem will be much more affordable and with many bugs ironed out too nehalem in 2 years time from now will be at its peak as well

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    Quote Originally Posted by -iceblade^ View Post
    The 9800XXX series is going to be EoL very soon... it's just a stopgap solution for nVidia...
    Seconded!

    Buy a pre overclocked 8800 GTS, much better value!

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    Thanks for all the excellent replies!

    Quote Originally Posted by staffsMike View Post
    I wouldn't compromise your new motherboard by getting one with an integrated solution. Just get the motherboard you want and spend £20 - £30 on a cheapy card which you can then sell or perhaps just keep as a spare (just in case).
    With the Hybrid Graphics I keep hearing about I thought gamer boards would be quick to adopt integrated graphics, being able to turn off an 9800GX2 when not gaming seems like no small advantage is terms of power consumption and noise (although I hear this generation is reasonable quiet). I appreciate they can't game but for that advantage and logevity I'd be happy to go without some games for a few more months.

    Quote Originally Posted by kmac View Post
    Four years is a long time to future proof for especially in this area (desktop computing).

    I really don't think you can. Just looking at the evolution of memmory modules as an example, the speed of them means some motherboards on sale even now cannot support the latest memmory modules.
    Well my current system lasted for three and a half years before something came out that wasn't sensibly playable (Gothic 3). I spend about £1000-1200 on that as well and was hoping to get similar this time.

    Quote Originally Posted by Uriel View Post
    Just a thought - Presumably you'll want the possibility of SLI or Crossfire on that rig? The two are currently mutually exclusive so if you get the wrong board now, you're locked in.
    If I'm likely to need it, whatever produces the best frame rates for the price is what I'm looking for. If that's Dual SLI, Quad crossfire or Octo puses then so be it

    Quote Originally Posted by rufeo View Post
    I agree with the future proofing for the next 4 yrs is going to be very tough. But thats if you want a high end system at the end of that time. A system that can still run some games with a gpu upgrade is very much possible though.
    Oh yes, I don't expect it to be a high end system then. But something that'll play bioshock 2 when it comes out in march 2012 at low settings and 1440x900 would be great.



    It sounds like now may not be the best time to buy a single expensive system. If I was to buy a lower end system now and then upgrade it in a couple of years time then would that be a better deal? If so, what would be the best way to split the £1000 total budget. £500 now, £500 upgrade? £700 now, £300 upgrade? £850 now, £150 upgrade? I'd upgrade when the system I buy now strarts to come across games it couldn't play at all.

  14. #30
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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    I think thats a wise decision.
    I recently upgraded (as ram is so cheap it was criminal not oo )but rather than looking to blitz my old pc as there wasnt really anything wrong with it, i just went for the cheapest option and got a
    C2D E4500
    Abit IP35-E
    2GBOCZ platinum ram

    Doing something similar or even getting an E2180 would bring the costs right down for a temporary build

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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    I'd say, get a SLI board with PCI-E 2.0. Say 780i chipset. Stick a cheap C2D CPU in it and maybe a 9600GT or 8800GT (not 256MB version). See how it performs. If it's not good enough for you add another identical graphics card in SLI (or do the same a few months down the line).

    When the next gen appears you can replace the cards you've got with the latest and greatest. Likewise swap out the CPU when the prices drop or something new appears.

    On upgradeability - it's worth mentioning that the current AM2+ boards will take AM3 CPUs (so long as they get a BIOS update presumably) so may get a little more mileage than the current S775 boards. At least with intel, though you can guarentee the potential performance. AMD might release something great in the future but I emphasise the word might. If you did decide to go AMD, the 780a motherboards are starting to appear and it might be worth getting one.

    Based on currently available products, I'd say go Intel CPU on an nVIDIA SLI board.
    Last edited by Uriel; 07-04-2008 at 05:11 PM.

  16. #32
    Chillie in here j.o.s.h.1408's Avatar
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    Re: How upgradable are motherboards right now?

    you could always wait for nehalem but thats going to be another year till that comes out. where in abit of a picky spot tbh. if you wait one more year, you can have the latest and greatest pc that will guaranteed to last you 3 SOLID years because you would of bought a nehalem in its baby year.

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