Upgrade or rebuild

[MrHood22]

I'm a little unsure of what to do. Current rig:

DFI Bloodiron (LGA776, DDR2 800, max 8GB)
Q6600 (Quad Core, 3.2ghz OC)
DDR2 800 4x1gb @ 820mhz 5-5-5-15
GTX 260 (Forgot the clock speeds but benchmarks say it's comparable to a stock GTX 295)
2 x 22", might be going bigger (2x24", 27"+22", etc)
Corsair 700w Modular PSU
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 7.1
WD 250gb Sata 7200RPM for OS. Other data (movies, docs, etc) stored on NAS.




My dilemma is that the only things that probably need attention are the RAM (8gb?) and maybe the GPU. However, if I upgrade the RAM I'm looking at $100-$150 for 8gigs of DDR2 800. Plus the GPU will be another $200-$350. If I want cheaper RAM I will need to get a new mobo which means a new CPU so my costs shoot up.


If I build a new computer I'm looking at ~$700. I didn't look at parts yet so that could be high or low. My concern is if I upgrade it I don't know if it will be worth it. If i do upgrade it will be to play Battlefield 3 other then that I just use the computer for easy tasks (internet, movies, etc).


If I do upgrade, what would you guys recommend? I don't care if it's "AMD or Intel" or "AMD or Nvidia". Whatever has the best bang for the buck.


Cliffs:
Upgrade or sell current parts to fund new build?
What should I upgrade? What should it upgrade to? Price estimate?

 

[WildMonkey]

If you really need a computer now I suggest you get an i5 2600k, 8-12 GB of DDR3 RAM, Gigabyte mobo (excellent quality and cheap), and maybe a 2-3TB HDD. The rest of your components look fine to me.
All of that should be well within your budget. Probably looking at around $400-$500.

But if you can wait, I would try to see what the next die shrink (IB, in April) brings to the table.

 

[E4g1e]

How much could I sell some of these parts for?

Please do not ask that question ijn this forum or in any of the other [H]ardForums except in the paid-subscription General May[H]em forum. Price checks are a violation of [H]ardForum rules. Moreover, the FS forum requires a firm price to be posted.

 

[MrHood22]

If you really need a computer now I suggest you get an i5 2600k, 8-12 GB of DDR3 RAM, Gigabyte mobo (excellent quality and cheap), and maybe a 2-3TB HDD. The rest of your components look fine to me.
All of that should be well within your budget. Probably looking at around $400-$500.

But if you can wait, I would try to see what the next die shrink (IB, in April) brings to the table.

I won't need the HD's. I already have 4 x 2TB HD's in my NAS. However, it might do me some good to get a nice OS/Game drive (80gb SSD or 120gb 10k rpm HD).

To get the CPU and RAM i'll need a new mobo.That will shoot my costs up. So I guess another question I have is if most games are GPU dependent would I see a benefit with getting a better GPU (maybe a GTX 560) and leaving everything else alone? My only concern is I may be bottlenecked by my 4gb of old DDR2 800 ram.

Please do not ask that question ijn this forum or in any of the other [H]ardForums except in the paid-subscription General May[H]em forum. Price checks are a violation of [H]ardForum rules. Moreover, the FS forum requires a firm price to be posted.

Edited.

 

[Dangman]

I'm a little unsure of what to do.

Ok, where is your current PC no longer performing as fast as you want it? I.e gaming, video editing, etc, etc

GTX 260 (Forgot the clock speeds but benchmarks say it's comparable to a stock GTX 295)

I highly doubt that considering that the GTX 295 is basically two GTX 260 GPUs in one card.

Corsair 700w Modular PSU

Corsair doesn't have a modular 700W PSU. Did you mean the Corsair 750HX 750W PSU?

WD 250gb Sata 7200RPM for OS.

Upgrade this. Even one of the newest hard drives would be faster than that old 250GB drive. And a SSD will be faster still.

If I do upgrade, what would you guys recommend? I don't care if it's "AMD or Intel" or "AMD or Nvidia". Whatever has the best bang for the buck.

What should I upgrade? What should it upgrade to? Price estimate?

It would help if you answered the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!" if you're really thinking/serious about doing a full-on upgrade.

I won't need the HD's. I already have 4 x 2TB HD's in my NAS. However, it might do me some good to get a nice OS/Game drive (80gb SSD or 120gb 10k rpm HD).

Definitely: I recommend the following options:

Option 1) OS drive + game install drive:
$111 - Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SSD
$65 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Option 2) Regular hard drive:
$65 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Option 3) Really large SSD:
$198 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SSD

So I guess another question I have is if most games are GPU dependent would I see a benefit with getting a better GPU (maybe a GTX 560) and leaving everything else alone?

Yes. However as noted earlier you should definitely get a new OS/game drive.

My only concern is I may be bottlenecked by my 4gb of old DDR2 800 ram..

It's not that huge of a bottleneck unless you're doing a ton of multi-tasking or leaving a ton of apps open in the background while you game.

I should note however that this is probably one of the best times to buy DDR3 RAM considering how stupid cheap they are. DDR2 RAM never got this insanely cheap. 8GB of DDR3 RAM can be had for $50. Two years ago, you could only get 4GB of DDR2 RAM for $35 or so. So yes while getting a new mobo and a new CPU would shoot up your costs, it would be a good purchase from a price to performance value standpoint.

 

[MrHood22]

Danny, i'll do my best to answer all of your questions.

1 - So far my PC isn't having issues doing anything. The hardest thing I do is play games but they're all pretty old (Counter-Strike: Source). Sometimes in newer games it's a little lacking but it can still play them. I think it will struggle with BF3 but I have not given it a chance to.

2 - That was based off of what a benchmark program said. I think it was Everest Ultimate edition.

3 - I must have been mistaken. Looking back it was a thermaltake 700w.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153039

4 - I can agree that upgrading to a newer hard drive will help. I don't need any extra space though so would it be more cost effective to get something around 160gb. Would I still see performance differences if I only put the games on the new hard drive as opposed to the games and OS?

5 - I didn't fill that out because my question was not asking what I should build as much as asking what would be more cost effective," buying or upgrading?"

6 - Applies to #4

7 - Fair enough. What do you think my best upgrade path is? I was thinking 2500k + P67 chipset + 8gb of RAM. Is there a better bang for the buck?

 

[Dangman]

2 - That was based off of what a benchmark program said. I think it was Everest Ultimate edition.

Yeah the Benchmark program is wrong.

3 - I must have been mistaken. Looking back it was a thermaltake 700w.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153039

Luckily for you, that's still a good PSU

4 - I can agree that upgrading to a newer hard drive will help. I don't need any extra space though so would it be more cost effective to get something around 160gb. Would I still see performance differences if I only put the games on the new hard drive as opposed to the games and OS?

Yes.

7 - Fair enough. What do you think my best upgrade path is? I was thinking 2500k + P67 chipset + 8gb of RAM. Is there a better bang for the buck?

Kind of: You're better off with a Z68 mobo since they're about the same price as P67 mobos.