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New computer around christmas?

E

EchoMatrix

Gawd
Joined
Feb 1, 2005
Messages
806
Ok i was told to post this around this forum instead of the other one..


New computer this xmas?
What yall think? I currently have a

Dell XPS 720
QX6700 OC to 2.9 (could go 3.2 but i rather not day-to-day)
gtx 285
4gb gskill
WD black HD

How much performance increase will 1.5/2k offer this winter? I've noticed that New vegas is a little choppy and SC2 is slow a little during big battles..

Will i get a big increase for this money or should i wait until Q1 or Q2

Also It iwll be mostly for gaming. I like buying just under the best stuff and plan to keep it for

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
1-2k
3) Where do you live?
ND
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
New system - home build
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
none.
6) Will you be overclocking?
probably a little. why not?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
22-24
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
around christmas
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Like to have newest class of GPU/CPU and probally going SSD
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
going 64bit getting student discount mostly
 
Last edited:
EchoMatrix said:
Ok i was told to post this around this forum instead of the other one..


New computer this xmas?
What yall think? I currently have a

Dell XPS 720
QX6700 OC to 2.9 (could go 3.2 but i rather not day-to-day)
gtx 285
4gb gskill
WD black HD

How much performance increase will 1.5/2k offer this winter? I've noticed that New vegas is a little choppy and SC2 is slow a little during big battles..

Will i get a big increase for this money or should i wait until Q1 or Q2

Also It iwll be mostly for gaming. I like buying just under the best stuff and plan to keep it for

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
1-2k
3) Where do you live?
ND
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
New system - home build
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
none.
6) Will you be overclocking?
probably a little. why not?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
22-24
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
around christmas
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Like to have newest class of GPU/CPU and probally going SSD
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
going 64bit getting student discount mostly
Click to expand...

I'd suggest that you repost a new list in this thread around the first week of December. This is because the prices on PC components fluctuate considerably from month to month - sometimes wildly. Also, what we recommend now might not be the same parts we recommend next month due to those price fluctuations. And that's not to mention that if you order from Newegg, any combo deals for November will no longer be valid in December.

Making recommendations nearly two months in advance made sense only when shipping took 4 to 6 weeks (a large part of which is used just for processing the order) from the day of ordering. But these days, shipping takes no more than a week even with ground shipping.
 
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Also, $1,000 and $2,000 are very different build budgets...
 
well i wasnt really asking for recommendation as in wondering is it worth it for an upgrade. I hate playing games on medium settings and thats how i know its time for an upgrade.
 
EchoMatrix said:
well i wasnt really asking for recommendation as in wondering is it worth it for an upgrade. I hate playing games on medium settings and thats how i know its time for an upgrade.
Click to expand...

You answered your own question right there. However, all you really need to do is upgrade your PSU and GPU and you'll be set. That QX6700 CPU should be ok for at least half a year or so. A full-on new PC won't be worth the full costs in your case.
 
Yeah that's still a solid processor. There's not much point in part searching for builds down the road. Technology changes way too fast to think about.
 
only problem is the PSU though. gotta find the dell one that fits the case. i think they are all proprietary. thanks all
 
You sure it's not a standard ATX mount for the PSU?

An SSD would improve things as well as a faster HDD. Which WD Black do you currently have?
 
i forget but i remembered it was the black performance version. I was thinking of the next computer being that SSD thats also PCIe.


its a proprietary BTX board the dell is. have to buy their 1kw PSU to upgrade. luckily this can support SLi so maybe I'll just get another 285 from ebay. So basically im good for the next 6 months?
 
EchoMatrix said:
its a proprietary BTX board the dell is. have to buy their 1kw PSU to upgrade. luckily this can support SLi so maybe I'll just get another 285 from ebay. So basically im good for the next 6 months?
Click to expand...

If you can get the GTX 285 for $140, then yes that's a good plan.
 
Suppose i wanted to buy another year with my system? Would a $200-$300 possible $400 upgrade be worth it? or just get the other gtx and wait 6 months?
 
I'd say get the other GTX to tide you over for 6 months and see what Sandy Bridge, Radeon 6900, and GTX 580 brings to the table.
 
EchoMatrix said:
Suppose i wanted to buy another year with my system? Would a $200-$300 possible $400 upgrade be worth it? or just get the other gtx and wait 6 months?
Click to expand...

Well a new PSU + new GPU will be worth it.
 
Well the PSU will be a ton of work. Looks like i can get a lot off my 750w still. So ill look for a gtx285. What about dual 465s i can get it for the price of the upgraded PSU and another 285. Arent 460/65's faster than 285s anyway? Possible go 470
 
EchoMatrix said:
Well the PSU will be a ton of work. Looks like i can get a lot off my 750w still. So ill look for a gtx285. What about dual 465s i can get it for the price of the upgraded PSU and another 285. Arent 460/65's faster than 285s anyway? Possible go 470
Click to expand...

The 470 is a more noticeable performance increase over the 285. Again, if you can find the GTX 285 for around $140 to $150, then it'll be a worthwhile upgrade. If not, it's not a worthwhile upgrade. The GTX 465 uses a lot of power and outputs a lot of heat. Those far outweigh the performance increase the 465 has over the 460.

Wait you have a 750W PSU? If so, no need for a PSU upgrade just yet.
 
I ran a 470 and a 275 PhysX with an i7, 3 hard drives, and a dvd drive all on my corsair tx750. Ran perfectly fine even with the i7 overclocked and playing cryostasis. Cryostasis is heavily unoptimized so it was loading the GPUs like crazy so I'm assuming near maximum power draw from both cards. Although I have nothing to confirm the power consumption of a PhysX card in my particular setup, I would think SLI 285 would be fine.
 
EchoMatrix said:
ive seen about a 50/50 saying SLi 285s will/wont work with 750. whats yalls take
Click to expand...

At full load, you're looking at 607W give or take with GTX 285 SLI + the PC. So find out if that 750W PSU has at least 51A on the +12V rail. Preferably 60A on the +12V rail. If it exceeds 60A to 62A, you're adding the numbers wrong.
 
EchoMatrix said:
how do i do that?? I'll look..
Click to expand...

Look at the PSU label. It should tell you how much wattage there is on the +12V rail alone. Something like "+12V1, +12V2, +12V3 = 720W" or something similar
 
looks like most 285s are going for about $200 on eBay... hmm might have to rethink this..

also asking dell tech support now. i think i know what they are going to say...
 
suggest any future $200 upgrades? maybe sell the 285, add $100/$200 and get a (.....)

i figured i might downgrade the processor, get like $100 back by putting in a dual core running at 1333 though..
 
the party line:

Them 4:37:40 PM -
Yes the video cards are compatible with the system and you can connect them in SLI mode.

Me 4:39:18 PM -
so a dell xps 720 will have no problem running 2 gtx 285's in SLi mode with a 750w power supply

Them 4:40:46 PM - Correct


Looking at the gtx295 my computer should be able to handle that? but if im already going the $200 route, what else should i consider?
 
EchoMatrix said:
suggest any future $200 upgrades? maybe sell the 285, add $100/$200 and get a (.....)
Click to expand...
Unfortunately for $200, you're not gonna get that much of a worthwhile performance increase from a GPU standpoint. The GTX 285 is still a fairly fast card. For a noticeable and worthwhile performance increase, you're looking at the GTX 470 or the HD 6870.

EchoMatrix said:
i figured i might downgrade the processor, get like $100 back by putting in a dual core running at 1333 though..
Click to expand...
Yeah that would be the stupidest thing you could do with your PC. Stick with the QX6700. Dropping down to a dual-core in this day and age is a bad idea.

EchoMatrix said:
Looking at the gtx295 my computer should be able to handle that? but if im already going the $200 route, what else should i consider?
Click to expand...

Yes. Already noted which cards you should be looking at.
 
Danny Bui already explained that the 470 or the new 6870/69xx cards would give you a more noticeable performance boost. If you're really that pressed for better performance, wait for the new 69xx cards to arrive and see whether or not their performance is better than the GTX 470's.
 
Not if the first opinion is the best one.

If I were you I'd sweat it out for another 3 weeks or whatever until the 580 and 6900 cards are released. Then I'd fence the 285 and buy probably a 6950 I'm guessing.

If you for some reason absolutely must move right now, and if you can really get 200 selling that 285 on ebay, and are willing to come off of another 200 bucks, then I would think a pair of 460's would be a relatively worthy performance increase for the money.


But I'm just some jerk off on the internet, why is my opinion relevant to what you do with your computer and money anyway?:D
 
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