Future upgrade options?

M

Mnx4

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 29, 2005
Messages
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By the end of the year or the beginning of the next, I'm going to be upgrading my video system in my rig. I'm probably going to upgrade my 7800GTX to a 4870X2 or maybe a GTX 280 with the hopes that both chips have been refreshed. On top of that, I'm going to be upgrading my monitor from a Mitsubishi Diamondtron 19" to a BenQ G2400WD. The rig is primarily going to be used for gaming. I'll also be upgrading to Vista 64bit when I get those parts.

So I'm wondering, where should I go from there? Or rather, I know I'll probably be upgrading my ram, motherboard and CPU, but don't know what I should be aiming for in terms of a good price/performance upgrade. I don't want an uber rig, just something that'd be decent for gaming.

For the CPU, I've got an e2180 that can overclock to about 3.2GHz. Would an upgrade to a quad core be too much? And is upgrading a system to a 1333MHz fsb too costly for the performance?

For the ram, it's dependant on what FSB I upgrade to for the most part, but where's the sweet spot now? 4GB? I currently have 2GB pc 6400 DDR2, and was considering an upgrade to 4GB total, but I'm concerned about stability using all 4 ram slots.

Motherboard is going to be dependant on both of those parts, and I'm not entirely concerned about that right now.

Max price point for all that would be around 500-600 I guess, but would like to spend a little less than that.
 
For gaming, you don't really need to upgrade anything other than your video card. But if your budget for everything is only $500-$600, you won't be able to get much besides the video card.

If anything, you could get a better overclocking processor, like the E7200 or the E8400. While you could get a quad-core processor, it's not a necessity for a gaming machine. Nor is having 4GB of RAM, as most games aren't memory intensive. If you're only planning a modest overclock (like, under 3.6GHz), you could keep everything you have now -- your motherboard, RAM, and HSF.
 
I say just spend your dough on a new GPU =) and keep your stuff. An E8400 and a 4870x2 would rock, but the CPU isn't entirely "necessary" ;)

Also, when did you plan on getting your 24" LCD?
 
Thanks for the replies.

I forgot to mention that AFTER I get the GPU and monitor upgraded, I would consider upgrading my cpu, mobo, and ram. So that 500$ I quoted does not factor in monitor and gpu. That's solely for the other parts.

I was probably going to shoot for a monitor at the end of the year, either after some price drops, new models or insane holiday deals, but if some amazing deal comes up (like the one on newegg i missed:mad:) I might bite before that.
 
Shit if you have $500 for CPU mobo and RAM...Q9550 and a nice motherboard. if you want you can score another 2 gigs of RAM for about 40 bucks... but hell yea man :D
 
If you want something "decent" for gaming, all you really need to upgrade is the video card. You don't need to really touch the motherboard at all. If you're afraid of bottlenecks (after you buy a new video card), then consider upgrading the processor -- and, maybe, get a new CPU cooler (like the OCZ Vendetta 2). But you don't really need to touch anything else.
 
Then bank that $500 for a later Ci7 build a few years from now and go all out =)
 
Heh, thanks for the replies. I was figuring, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but just wanted some input. I know the video card was the biggest thing holding back my system, so hopefully I can scrounge up enough by year's end for something that'll be solid for a while. I think at this point, at most, I'll consider more ram, but until I actually need it, I'll stick with what I've got.
 
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