• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Upgrade or scrap?

A

Aesir

n00b
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
9
The desktop in my sig is currently my desktop for right now. I'm debating if I should just upgrade my CPU, RAM and video card. There is also a possibility of me thinking about installing a Corsair H50 on it.

I use this rig for gaming, photo editing with Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.2, ocassional VM with Virtual Box, and watching HD movies.

I'm considering upgrading the CPU to a Intel Q9550, and the RAM to a full 8GB using these kits:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145217
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231195

Also I'm not sure if I should buy a Radeon 5850 or SLI 2 cheaper boards to get the same performance.

So should I scrap or upgrade? My budget is around $1000.
 
Last edited:
Key question: Can you get the Q9550 for $180 from Microcenter or other source? If not, scrap and rebuild.

Also note that the SLI route is not the best idea right now as Nvidia has only one best bang for the buck GPU worth buying now and that's the $350 GTX 470. The rest of Nvidia's cards are too overpriced for the performance they offer. So in other words, your best bet is the HD 5850.
 
Aesir said:
The desktop in my sig is currently my desktop for right now. I'm debating if I should just upgrade my CPU, RAM and video card. There is also a possibility of me thinking about installing a Corsair H50 on it.

I use this rig for gaming, photo editing with Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.2, ocassional VM with Virtual Box, and watching HD movies.

I'm considering upgrading the CPU to a Intel Q9550, and the RAM to a full 8GB using these kits:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145217
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231195

Also I'm not sure if I should buy a Radeon 5850 or SLI 2 cheaper boards to get the same performance.

So should I scrap or upgrade? My budget is around $1000-1500.
Click to expand...

Looking at the motherboard in the desktop rig in your sig, you cannot upgrade to any of the 45nm quad-core CPUs due to the compatibility issues with the nForce 680i chipset. The Q9550, unfortunately, is one of the 45nm quad-core CPUs. The only 45nm CPUs that the 680i support are dual-core CPUs. Therefore, if you want a quad-core that's significantly faster than your current dual-core CPU, you'll have to replace the motherboard as well. And this makes the upgrade with another Socket LGA775 CPU more expensive than the cost justifies.
 
E4g1e said:
Looking at the motherboard in the desktop rig in your sig, you cannot upgrade to any of the 45nm quad-core CPUs due to the compatibility issues with the nForce 680i chipset. The Q9550, unfortunately, is one of the 45nm quad-core CPUs. The only 45nm CPUs that the 680i support are dual-core CPUs. Therefore, if you want a quad-core that's significantly faster than your current dual-core CPU, you'll have to replace the motherboard as well. And this makes the upgrade with another Socket LGA775 CPU more expensive than the cost justifies.
Click to expand...

Excellent point. I forgot that the 680i did not support the Yorkfield or 45nm quad-cores.

So yeah, it definitely looks like an entire new build is in order. At the very least, a new CPU/Mobo/RAM/GPU.
 
Hmm should I then just upgrade the RAM and GPU then. I want to be able to run my games at 1920x1200 resolution at least on medium settings.
 
Aesir said:
Hmm should I then just upgrade the RAM and GPU then. I want to be able to run my games at 1920x1200 resolution at least on medium settings.
Click to expand...

I have pretty much the same setup as you save for a quad-core instead of dual-core and my GPU is much newer. I used to run a 8800GTX on this rig before I upgraded to a GTX285 last summer (was luckily able to catch it for a deal). I couldn't run any current game at high settings so I ventured into an upgrade since I knew I would be making several purchases last fall and winter. I can run just about any new game on 1920x1200 with most settings at the highest.

The GPU will definitely help, but I am honestly saving up myself to rebuild. My 680i chipset hasn't been the most stable of motherboards. I have the wackiest problems from time to time. Some days my PC will boot and others it won't turn on or it will say the OS is corrupt. Next day I turn it on and it works like a charm. After 3 years I have never been able to single out the problem because there's no pattern. At this point I figure I'll just rebuild.

If you can, I'd recommend considering a rebuild.
 
Aesir said:
Hmm should I then just upgrade the RAM and GPU then. I want to be able to run my games at 1920x1200 resolution at least on medium settings.
Click to expand...

Upgrade the GPU yes. The HD 5850 will definitely be a good choice for 1920x1200.

But the RAM, no. DDR2 RAM costs quite a lot these days. I would only upgrade the RAM only if you're willing to get it used from the forums or online somewhere. $60 for 4GB DDR2 RAM is reasonable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top