Substancial system upgrade, need suggestions

[MSIC]

I take your point, and it's a valid one, so no argument from me.
But one man's 'significant' is another's 'minor'. My mum is still on an Athlon XP 2000+, and it works well enough for her.
I'd agree though that if you could get a 5-fold increase across the board, that'd be significant in my book.

[Enverex]

So what are the new cards coming out next month or so anyway? I've been looking around and heard mentions of an ATi HD4000 and an nVidia G200, but not much else...

[staffsMike]

That'll be the ones. The leaked specs we have seen so far suggest they are the next decent step up in performance since the 8800GTX

[silvercue]

So what are the new cards coming out next month or so anyway? I've been looking around and heard mentions of an ATi HD4000 and an nVidia G200, but not much else...

Hi Enverex,

There is a lot to read about gfx cards at the Futuremark forums. (I hope it's ok to point people to another forum, please remove that if not!)

Personally, I would avoid the 9x series, they are not a lot more than the 8x series in disguise, with better efficiency and temps I believe...and the new technology is just around the corner.

In fact the whole naming policy by Nvidia is becoming more confusing.

The 9800gtx, for example is slower and has less memory than the 8800gtx and generally performs worse in benchtests.

The 9800gx2 is something of a monster, but it is very expensive and you need to make sure your system is not bottlenecked elsewhere.

If you want a good gaming rig, I think the 9600 series may not deliver what you want. x600 cards are often first choice for SLI.

I think the very best value (bang for your buck) is the 8800gt, but the newer 512 version as it is faster.

The new cards are due out very soon, which is why I have not got a 9 series this time, just got a EVGA 8800gts at a good price, its the 640 version, but super clocked......in hindsight I think the 8800gt would have been a better choice, but theres not a lot in it.

If I was buying new, I would get an 8800gt 512, or if you play at very high resolutions and can spend a bit more - you can get Nvidia 8800gtx at good prices. Or, wait for the new cards, but new series means higher price of course.

It has been mentioned that if you are looking at gaming then gfx card may be all you need to upgrade. I am not so familiar with the performance of the rest of your kit, others here are better able to advise.....however, I do find that the increase in FPS especially in games has a huge amount to do with the CPU.

For example, I overclocked my Q6600 from 2.4 to 3 and my 3dmark score rose from 14,700 to 17,100 and I noticed an increase in game frame rates, so it can be a big factor, but depends on the amount you want to spend and what level you are looking at. GPU is definately the best place to start for gaming, but there are other important influences too.

[Enverex]

Ok, Northbridge fan died a while ago which doesn't make life fun, also my PSU is making very, very loud high pitched whine noises so I think it's time to upgrade (i.e. today).

I've decided on the Q9450 for the processor, but not sure whether to get 4GB of 800MHZ DDR or get 2GB of 1033 DDR2 and then grab another 2 when the price drops a bit more...

I'm not going to upgrade the graphics card yet, my current one is PCI-E so that'll be ok, I'm still waiting for the 9900 nVidia cards or the new ATi cards to see which to get on that front.

What motherboard do people recommend, what are the new P45's like? Ah damn, they aren't out yet. Typical. So what motherboard is recommended these days? (for general performance without being stupidly expensive, the X48's were insane).

[staffsMike]

Q9540 is a lot of money for little extra performance. I would stick with a Q6600 and P35 if you are still sure you don't want to overclock. Something like the Abit IP-35 dark raider or ASUS P5Ke - wifi is a nice board to.

4GB of PC6400 makes the most sense either way you go as the higher speed RAM will only be useful for overclocking the Q9450.

[Enverex]

I'm willing to pay the little extra for the Q9450 especially as it's on the smaller core now and has SSE4.1. I may overclock in the end if I get bored but it's not something I'd count on doing or assume then base my processor choice on.

Current loadout is:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450, Yorkfield Core, S775, 2.66GHz, 1333MHz, 12MB Cache, Retail Assassin's Creed

Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6, S775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1066/800/1200/667, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz), Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX

1000 GB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F1, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty


See any major issues with that?

[staffsMike]

Nope if your are happy with the quad, I tend not to buy gigabyte where possible but there is nothing really wrong with them these days.

[Enverex]

The only thing eating at me at the moment is "What is the best chipset for non-SLI 775?". Is there something newer than the X48? Is it any better? Etc...

[staffsMike]

The only newer chipset is P45 which is yet to be released as you have seen. That is the last chipset that intel are doing for S775, then its a new socket.

I personally wouldn't buy X48, seems like a lot of money for what it is. They probably will have better value when it comes to sell but if you spend £65 on a board now you don't exactly lose a lot anyway

[ikix]

With the RAM definately stick to 4GB of slower stuff than 2GB of faster stuff, the extra space is more important, especially in gaming and, if using it, vista

[WoLFe]

Few ppl are saying the new 9600 nvidia cards are damn nice. Cheap and powerfull.

Not only that but they will probably recieve better driver support in the coming months and times than a 8800gt. Just my opinion though.

Edit - Sorry to point out the obvious but you do NOT need to spend alot to get a very powerful rig at the moment. A Q6600 and a 9600gt or 8800gt is surely good enough for almost any gaming situation you can throw at it. If you really do want to spend alot then you are advised to wait for the new ranges to come out.

[Enverex]

The only newer chipset is P45 which is yet to be released as you have seen. That is the last chipset that intel are doing for S775, then its a new socket.

I personally wouldn't buy X48, seems like a lot of money for what it is. They probably will have better value when it comes to sell but if you spend £65 on a board now you don't exactly lose a lot anyway

Well I want a decent board with lots of features because I'm likely to have it for some time (at least a few years). If I wait for the new series then the new series will be a little bit after that and then the new series will be a little bit after that... etc etc, so that argument is kinda pointless, I've already been waiting for what feels like forever and now my PC has kicked the bucket anyway so now I -have- to upgrade.

Not only that but they will probably recieve better driver support in the coming months and times than a 8800gt. Just my opinion though.

Edit - Sorry to point out the obvious but you do NOT need to spend alot to get a very powerful rig at the moment. A Q6600 and a 9600gt or 8800gt is surely good enough for almost any gaming situation you can throw at it. If you really do want to spend alot then you are advised to wait for the new ranges to come out.

I'm not gonna get a 9600GT because I'm waiting for the new cards.


Anyway, I'm thoroughly pissed off with Scan at the moment. I ordered my new parts on Sunday, everything was marked as in-stock. They took payment Sunday night. It was marked to be delivered Tuesday some time (tomorrow). I checked this afternoon that all the items I ordered are still marked as in stock and they were. Yet while I'm out tonight I get a text message at 9PM telling me that the order is on hold because an item is out of stock!! 9PM when it's supposed to be delivered the next day! Even worse is they haven't even said WHAT item is out of stock.

So yeah, looks like I'm NOT getting my system tomorrow so I'm stuck off for even longer, REALLY not impressed. Just checked EVERY item in my order, it's ALL still marked as In-Stock. WHAT are they playing at! >(

[WoLFe]

That's suprising, most people here absolutely swear by Scan for good service.

Well, just goes to show - any Company can screw things up. Sorry to hear about the woes Enverex.

[staffsMike]

That's suprising, most people here absolutely swear by Scan for good service.

Well, just goes to show - any Company can screw things up. Sorry to hear about the woes Enverex.

You'll find this is there achilles heel, they still have very good CS and when delivery is free it's hardly something you can moan too much about

[Enverex]

You'll find this is there achilles heel, they still have very good CS and when delivery is free it's hardly something you can moan too much about

I'd rather have paid for delivery and actually got what I ordered.