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Help me choose upgrade path.

B

Banyan

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Messages
1,341
Hey. So, I'm on my old q6600 still. A year ago I replaced my 8800gt with a 2gb 6950, but of course the improvements I saw weren't the full potential of that card. Due to the fact both my laptop and desktop are about 4 years old I have a bad impulse to get a desktop replacement laptop - something that I'd maybe regret later.

Anyways, I definitely need to find a new mobo, chip, and ram... being in school once again and working part-time I'd like to keep costs down to about $350 or so; does this leave Intel options off the board? At this price point is what you get competitive enough vs AMD's offerings? Would it be better to go AMD and throw in an ssd?

Main uses are gaming, writing, photos... in that order of importance. Overclocking isn't something I get all hot and bothered thinking about, but the option to extend shelf-life might be nice.

I can keep my 6950 for a while - at least til I see where I am at after the above.

Thanks in advance if you reply. I don't really keep up much these days with what's what. I suppose if I upgraded my monitor I could last through to April or May if it is worth it.

**Or, should I hold out, as someone at work was telling me... for whatever replaces ivy bridge.
 
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If gaming is your priority, Intel is still a better option over AMD. For example:

$148 - Intel Core i3-2120 and Geil Black Dragon 2x4GB DDR3 1333 combo deal
$65 - Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H
$110 - Crucial M4 128GB SSD
=====
$323 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

Various gaming benchmarks have shown the Core i3-2120 (and its predecessor, the i3-2100) to be better than most of AMD's processors within the same price range.

While the pending arrival of Haswell is a legitimate concern, newer, better products are constantly arriving. If you're ready to build something now, the above build is a good starting point for now.
 
Thanks for the response :). Why is it the thought of owning and i3 in my gaming rig repulses me?

I'll take my budget up to $550 for the 3-4 components: ram, cpu, mobo (and if needed ssd)
 
Banyan said:
Thanks for the response :). Why is it the thought of owning and i3 in my gaming rig repulses me?
Click to expand...

You've been spoiled with your quad-core.

Banyan said:
I'll take my budget up to $550 for the 3-4 components: ram, cpu, mobo (and if needed ssd)
Click to expand...

There are many ways you could fit in an Intel Core i5 quad-core, Socket 1155 motherboard, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 120GB-to-256GB SSD with your $550 budget. But I still need to ask: Would you prefer to build now or wait for Haswell? Haswell will likely outperform Ivy/Sandy Bridge, but it may or may not be to such an extent that it's worth the wait.
 
But I still need to ask: Would you prefer to build now or wait for Haswell? Haswell will likely outperform Ivy/Sandy Bridge, but it may or may not be to such an extent that it's worth the wait.
Click to expand...

I could definitely last until spring for sure. And you're right, my 6600 did spoil me... the only machine i think I've ever built that has lasted this long - still able to keep its head above the water with games (with GW2 though, it definitely started to show its age).

But again, I can wait... just had itch to upgrade now... but I can aim for now to get a bigger monitor (my 27 imac spoiled me there) and a laptop that doesn't choke when the browser is up.
 
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