I am trying to decide between upgrading my current rig, the one in my sig, or building a new i7 system. I'm leaning towards just upgrading my current rig, since, for gaming at least, the i7's don't give that big of a performance increase. I was thinking of upping my RAM to 8GB and slapping a GTX 480 or a 5870 in there. Perhaps an SSD boot drive and a new monitor. Just wanted to get some input.
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Upgrade or Replace?
- Thread starter Casenard
- Start date
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
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Considering the high prices of DDR2 RAM and the fact that you don't need 8GB of RAM for gaming, don't bother with a 8GB RAM upgrade.
As for the video card, what size monitor do you have or plan to have? Oh and the EA650 will not be enough for the GTX 480.
What's your total budget for all these upgrades?
If you haven't already, start overclocking that Q6600. Grab this $30 HSF and start:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
Great guide on overclocking with Gigabyte mobos:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169366
As for the video card, what size monitor do you have or plan to have? Oh and the EA650 will not be enough for the GTX 480.
What's your total budget for all these upgrades?
If you haven't already, start overclocking that Q6600. Grab this $30 HSF and start:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
Great guide on overclocking with Gigabyte mobos:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169366
Yeah, I've heard about how power hungry the 480s are, I figured I'd have to pick up a PS too.
I currently have a 20" Samsung monitor running at 1680x1050. I'd like to pick up a 24" with a 16:10 AR, but those are hard to find for a good price.
My budget is around $1000 roughly. This number is flexible though up to about $1500, but I don't have to get all the parts at once.
Also, I live within range of a Fry's if that matters.
I currently have a 20" Samsung monitor running at 1680x1050. I'd like to pick up a 24" with a 16:10 AR, but those are hard to find for a good price.
My budget is around $1000 roughly. This number is flexible though up to about $1500, but I don't have to get all the parts at once.
Also, I live within range of a Fry's if that matters.
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
3.2Ghz, maybe higher if you have a good chip.
Ok, so far, you're looing at the following upgrades:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
$410 - XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$225 - Intel SSDSA2MH080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SSD
$210 - Asus VH236H Black 23" LCD Monitor
---
$875 plus tax and shipping
The good thing is that all of the above can easily be moved over to a new Core i7 PC should you find that your Q6600 is still lacking even after the OC.
Ok, so far, you're looing at the following upgrades:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
$410 - XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$225 - Intel SSDSA2MH080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SSD
$210 - Asus VH236H Black 23" LCD Monitor
---
$875 plus tax and shipping
The good thing is that all of the above can easily be moved over to a new Core i7 PC should you find that your Q6600 is still lacking even after the OC.
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Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
A fan can't hurt.