usual upgrade questions. what to do!

[chavo]

hi,

bought a new 1080p 50 inch telly that supports 1920x1080. so naturally i decided to hook up a media center that i can sometimes play games on, this wont be my primary system for gaming though. my current gamin rig is a Q6600, 8800gtx 4 gig ram.

I am thinking about squeezing that gear in to the media case and getting a new main machine.

I have currently got a spare 8800 320 gts as i have 2 of them. i could re use this and buy a i7 or i5 OR i could just get a e8400/q8400 quad core 4 / 6 gig of ram, nice board and a 5850 graphics card.

as this pc is mainly a gaming pc would you guys say a better graphics card is the sensible option, or the better i7?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

IMHO,your Q6600 should OK for a while longer. I would wait for the 32NM version of the Core i5 and Core i7 TBH which should be released in the next year or so. Also whatever successor to the Phenom will also be probably released too. This is one of the reasons why I am keeping my Q6600 for a while longer.

I would probably look at an HD5850 or an HD5870(if you can get one for under £300) for your gaming rig to replace the 8800GTX and sell this and both your 8800GTS 320MB cards while they still have some value.

Regarding the processor for your media PC do not discount the cheaper AMD processors under £100 too.An HD5770 would be more powerful than the 8800GTX but would run cooler and consume less power too which is important for a media PC.

The HD4870 512MB is also good for around £90 but like an 8800GTX consumes a lot of power.

[chavo]

Thanks. thing is i need another system, weather the q6600 remains in the main system or not is not really important as i need another chip. i am looking at the e8400 but the core i5 is only 20quid more, i would obviously need a more expensive motherboard and ddr3 ram so that will remove money from the graphics card budget.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks. thing is i need another system, weather the q6600 remains in the main system or not is not really important as i need another chip. i am looking at the e8400 but the core i5 is only 20quid more, i would obviously need a more expensive motherboard and ddr3 ram so that will remove money from the graphics card budget.

An 3.0GHZ X2 545 will have most of the the performance of an E8400 but is under £65.

The slightly higher clocked X2 550BE is under £75 and is nearly as fast as an E8400:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=97&p2=56

The Phenom II processors have both DDR2 and DDR3 memory controllers and hence there are plenty of cheap motherboards under £60 available for them.

One of them is the DDR3 MSI 770-C45 which is under £50:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/mot...board-review/1

If you want to use DDR2 use the following motherboard:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D3-Motherboard

If you are lucky you maybe able to unlock the X2 545 or X2 550 to a quad core.

[chavo]

something for me to ponder over there. Hmm. that would also leave more money for my graphics card for the main system.

Just spotted that board is full size and i would like to re-use my case. need matx.
this any good?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173978

[cigbunt]

An 3.0GHZ X2 545 will have most of the the performance of an E8400 but is under £65.

The slightly higher clocked X2 550BE is under £75 and is nearly as fast as an E8400:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=97&p2=56

The Phenom II processors have both DDR2 and DDR3 memory controllers and hence there are plenty of cheap motherboards under £60 available for them.

One of them is the DDR3 MSI 770-C45 which is under £50:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/mot...board-review/1

If you want to use DDR2 use the following motherboard:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D3-Motherboard

If you are lucky you maybe able to unlock the X2 545 or X2 550 to a quad core.

lol that was my spec i was just looking at....


great minds...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

something for me to ponder over there. Hmm. that would also leave more money for my graphics card for the main system.

Just spotted that board is full size and i would like to re-use my case. need matx.
this any good?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173978

If you are looking for a cheap DDR3 motherboard it should do the job well. It has a decent IGP for media usage too.

Here is review:

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...?cid=6&id=3048

[chavo]

Dont really want a budget one. i want to be able to play COD on my 50 inch tv. decent res. 8800gts will be the graphics card used as i have this, 4-6gig of ram will be installed with windows 7. possibly a blu ray burner / player.

the only thing left to decide is the board (must be matx) and the chip. (must be better than my current e2300 (or something, it is 2 gig and pretty crap!) budget for board chip and ram, about 300. plus i will be getting the new graphics card for my other pc, 5850 or similar for an additional £200 budget.

[chavo]

4GB Corsair 12800 RAM http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173122 £100
Chip i5 750 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755 £146
Board ASUS P7P55-M http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179794 £92
GPU XFX HD 5770 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175978 £120 (will this be better than a 8800 GTS 320??)
total £458

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Get one of these instead:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170230

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170277

Should be under £225 in total with a Phenom II X2 and 4GB of DDR3. I would the money saved towards an HD5870 as if you are patient you could get one for around £300:

http://www.dabs.com/products/xfx-ati...her--65TY.html

Edit!!

COD is NOT CPU limited!!

Check this review out for graphics card scaling with MW2:

http://www.techspot.com/article/219-...u-performance/

You can get an HD4770 for under £60 from Ebuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179285

[chavo]

Right, as you know i bought the Asus 260. after playing for a while i had a few BSOD problems so i sent the card back and opted for a refund, although the graphics where amazing and I was very happy, i read that the 4890 was competing with the 285 stock. after a bit of soul searching i bought this, http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164567 i am know officially an ATI boy again, it has been about 6 years since my last ATI purchase.

Any comments on that particular card are welcomed, i opted for this one over the ATI as it is clocked at 900, 50mhz higher than the XFX.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Right, as you know i bought the Asus 260. after playing for a while i had a few BSOD problems so i sent the card back and opted for a refund, although the graphics where amazing and I was very happy, i read that the 4890 was competing with the 285 stock. after a bit of soul searching i bought this, http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164567 i am know officially an ATI boy again, it has been about 6 years since my last ATI purchase.

Any comments on that particular card are welcomed, i opted for this one over the ATI as it is clocked at 900, 50mhz higher than the XFX.

The HD4890 1GB is supposed to overclock quite well. I would check out the reviews for this version of the card:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172361

You can always consider the HD5770 1GB for around £120 from Ebuyer. It is around the same speed as an HD4870 though and has DX11:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/...eo_card_review

The HD5770 cards also have low power consumption.