A "Which piece to upgrade" Thread

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Phranq

Gawd
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Jul 19, 2004
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Ok, so let me get this out of the way to begin with, I play at 1440x900 so ... ya, rocking out on my 19" Dell. I'm not getting a new monitor any time soon though, so no "upgrade your monitor" replies. I'm actually very content with it.

I have the following:
e2200 @ 2.9ghz
2gb Corsair something RAM DDR2-800
160gb Western Digital budget HDD
ATi 4830 OC'd to something I can't think of off of the top of my head.

I figure the video card is providing more than enough power for 1440x900. I'm looking for overall performance, with an emphasis on games. I play WoW, and I'm especially interested in faster load times. Would putting 2 of those WD Black 640gb HDDs in Raid 0 be a significant upgrade? I've really just gone with the cheapest hard drive I can find for the longest time now. If not, I was thinking RAM? I know WoW is too stupid to use even a second core efficiently, but I do play other games. A processor might be a big upgrade in WoW considering its lack of dual core optimization come to think of it. And this is why I'm looking for advice. I'll set the budget at $250 tops, and you're welcome to go under the budget, heh.

Oh, and I'm on a Gigabyte P35 DS3R mobo.

Any help is appreciated.
 
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro (~30), should allow you to OC some more
2 WD Black 640GB Drives in RAID 0 (around $150)
4GB G.SKILL or Corsair DDR2-800 or 1066 (watch out for the timings, try to stay at 4-4-4-12 or lower)

I think that this would be the best upgrade for your money
 
New cpu wouldn't be a bad idea, but for load times specifically a pair of 640gb Blacks in RAID 0 would make a pretty huge difference. Going from 2gb to 4gb may or may not enhance your experience with WoW, it matters more with what you have going in the background in my experience, but I quit after killing KJ last July so I can't speak for WotLK.
 
No need to keep timings at 4-4-4-12 or lower, since you won't notice the difference from 5-5-5-15. Pickup a 2x4GB kit from G.Skill, A-Data, or Corsair (they're typically $40), and sell your 2x1GB kit on the FS/T forums (PM me with a price if you decide to sell). RAM is cheap, so you might as well upgrade. If you don't want to sell your sticks, just pickup another 2x1GB kit.

I'm not sure you can push that E2200 much higher than 3.2Ghz, so if you want, upgrade to an E7200/7300/7400 and OC to 3.8Ghz w/ the AC F7Pro mentioned above, or better yet, the Xigmatek Dark Knight. If those chips are priced too high, get an E5200/5300/5400 instead, which should reach 3.6Ghz with one of the aformentioned coolers. Again, sell off your old chip to help offset the cost.

Typically, games at 1440x900 are still affected by the CPU moreso than higher resolutions, so I think your HD4830 is fine, but you need more CPU power and RAM.

How old is that 160GB WD? The newer ones pull around 90MB/s (single sided 320GB single platter drive). While two blacks in RAID0 should give you a nice push, you should still notice a difference even with a single black as well, if your current HDD is old (~55MB/s for the older WD1600JS drives).

//edit: I'm not sure you need a quadcore just yet, but it would be a nice upgrade if you can find a Q8200 for around $130 (Microcenter). If you don't have a MC near you, you should still be fine with a higher clocked dual core:

$120 - Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz LGA 775 65W
$33 - Corsair XMS2 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 TWIN2X2048-6400C4
$65 - WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA300 (Promo Code: EMCLTLN34)
$40 - XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm CPU HSF w/ backplate included
===========
$258 + tax and shipping
 
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I personally would just settle for a cheaper dual core cpu for now like a 45nm E5200. Pair this with a Xigmatek Darknight HSF and get the WD 640 gig HDD. The P35 chipset mobo can O/C very well and he should have no problems O/C the E5200 cpu with his existing 2GB DDR2 800 Corsair modules. Or, he can just get 4GB ram modules now with the E5200 cpu, Xigmatek heatsink and the 640gig WD harddrive all for $230.
 
 
I'd grab some ram and a new CPU. There are 4-5 good choices already listed.. just pick one and you'll be good...

but, what i'd do, is don't go from like a 2.8ghz dual core to like a 3ghz dual core. Go like.. quad core. Something nice and you won't have to upgrade again in 2 years
 
I think the Q8200 I liked to above is your best option if you're near a MC.
 
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