$500 to upgrade

J

jkmetal

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 28, 2007
Messages
290
After another experience with crappy crysis performance, I've decided that an upgrade is in order.

currently I have an amd x2 4600 as my cpu
2gigs of ram (which i believe is fine, 95% sure this will not change)
Nvidia geforce 8800GTS 640 as my GPU.

My budget is $500 and I will be doing this sometime before next year, probably in december

I'm looking toward a switch to intel (my current motherboard tops out at the 6400 x2, even with new bios) and a much needed gpu upgrade.

My goals are to play crysis with a mix of high/med (dx9) on 1680x1050
The same goes for stalker clear sky, far cry 2 and anything for at least a year in the future.

I know that the 4850 can be found for less than $199 and a q660 can be found oem at $199 as well. I don't need a fancy motherboard, just a stable and functional one.

My questions are, what do ati/nvidia and intel plan to release by december/ any price cuts planned? Are there better components for the money available right now?
 
Some time around Q4 of this year, Intel will release its Nehalem platform. Nehalem will replace all of the Socket 775 motherboards and processors, but most of the mainstream parts won't arrive before Q1 of next year. I don't know anything about upcoming video card releases or pending price cuts (though NVIDIA and AMD/ATI have just recently released new video cards).

Do you have 2GB of DDR2 800 RAM? If so, a sample $500 upgrade for right now could be:

$95 - either Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L or MSI P43 Neo3-F
$210 - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
$175 - Diamond HD4850
=====
$480 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

If not, you could always add a 2x1GB G.Skill DDR2 800 kit for $45. But to fit that within your $500 budget, I recommend swapping the processor out for the Intel E7200 and to also purchase an aftermarket HSF (like the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 and its retention bracket).

Though for Crysis, you may want to go with the HD4870 instead. (It's about $100 more than the HD4850, depending on the brand that you choose.)
 
tiraides said:
Some time around Q4 of this year, Intel will release its Nehalem platform. Nehalem will replace all of the Socket 775 motherboards and processors, but most of the mainstream parts won't arrive before Q1 of next year. I don't know anything about upcoming video card releases or pending price cuts (though NVIDIA and AMD/ATI have just recently released new video cards).

Do you have 2GB of DDR2 800 RAM? If so, a sample $500 upgrade for right now could be:

$95 - either Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L or MSI P43 Neo3-F
$210 - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
$175 - Diamond HD4850
=====
$480 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

If not, you could always add a 2x1GB G.Skill DDR2 800 kit for $45. But to fit that within your $500 budget, I recommend swapping the processor out for the Intel E7200 and to also purchase an aftermarket HSF (like the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 and its retention bracket).

Though for Crysis, you may want to go with the HD4870 instead. (It's about $100 more than the HD4850, depending on the brand that you choose.)
Click to expand...
Thanks.

So intel is releasing a new processors late this year. Not that I am going to buy the shiniest new piece of hardware on the market for $$ that I don't have. I think the q660 is going to be enough processor for me right now.

I'm hoping for an atleast $50 cut on the hd4870.

I actually already have an aftermarket heatsink. Looking back, one of my better purchases. I'm not looking to overclock right now, as I am trying to keep computer noise down, but I could be convinced.
 
Don't waste your money on a quad core, get a faster core 2 duo for the same amount. If you don't do graphic editing or an epic amount of compression, you'll get better overall gaming performance from a 3ghz core 2 (e8400 or e8500).

Get a $100 mobo and spend $200 on a graphics card, or try to stretch it to grab a 4870 or gtx 260.
 
I agree, for gaming, get an E8400 or E7200, but if you want your system to last you much longer without another CPU upgrade, or new system overhaul, then stick with the Q6600. Its a great value at $180 - $200, and can OC to around 3.6Ghz or less on good air cooling.

Actually, I'm seeing more and more E7200s reach 3.8-4Ghz, so I'd definitely go for that over an E8400, unless an E8400 is only $30 more. But as it stands now, an E8400 is $180, and an E7200 is $130 ($120 at Fry's). So, with a savings of $50, you get within a few % of the same performance.
 
Sucks that there isn't much in between but if you feel you can stretch it, save some cash and get a ~120$ dual core and grab a 4870 or a GTX 260, for gaming you'll see a huge performance improvement.
 
thanks.

i'm now looking to get a dual core at atleast 3 ghz. I'm still on the fence about overclocking. I have some nice after market cooling available but I don't want to have to raise the fan speed.

If it helps this is my current heatsinkhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185062 Its really quiet (what i brought it for) but I doubt its exactly prime overclocking material.
 
If that's the case, the E8400 is your new best friend.

Do you have DDR2 RAM already?
 
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