Upgrading Rig over the next few months

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crowat

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 15, 2009
Messages
231
Well my solid rig has been giving me some issues lately. So I have been contemplating a tiered upgrade/rebuild in the next few months.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming primarily, I mostly play EVE Online (2-3 client at a time) and MW2 (less often).

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Now ~400 (could go to 450 but not more than that)
I can spend some additional cash in 2-3 months say another $300
And another $200 in about 5-6 months.

I can't just save $900 and get something at the 6 month mark unfortunately (kind of spend it or loose it deal).

3) Where do you live?
Columbus, Ohio

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Well i was either thinking about updating either my CPU/Mobo/RAM and then splurging on a new Gfx card/PSU and later on a HD. I am not sure if I can do it in that order or not. Also, would I even notice any significant improvement?

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 65W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003

ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP LGA 775 Intel P965 Express http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131028

CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590

EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071

XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P4 600W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817189007

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140

Antec 900 Case

LG Black 18X DVD+R http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136103 (IMHO not really important as I rarely ever use it). I have a couple of more other models laying around somewhere.


6) Will you be overclocking?
Nope, I wasn't planning on it.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I play on a 28inch Hanns G (1920x1200)

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
As I said I would like to upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM within the next month, GFX card and PSU in about 3-4. The rest HD etc later on.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Was looking for a SLI/Crossfire solution. Something that I can eventually drop in another card and run in SLI or Crossfire. Seems that ATI (well AMD) is leading the market but would like to wait out for their cards to come down in price a bit.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
I have a brand spanking new (well used to be new) copy of Vista Ultimate that I never used up. It's from one of those MS programs that ran out in under 12hours cause too many people registered. I have the option to use the 32 or 64 bit version.

Eventually, I will move to Windows 7. Though I am in now particular hurry.

So help me out. What should I get first? I had something like this in mind.

Within next 30 days:
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz ~ $180
MSI P55-GD65 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX ~ $160
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ~ $93

3-4 Months
PSU - CORSAIR 750TX
Gfx - Radeon HD 5850

4 -6 Months
HD...

What do you guys think? I hope these prices of cards come down by the 3-4 month mark or I can push it back later too.

Also, please help me with the new PSU something that would have enough room if I decided to run SLI / Crossfire.

Thanks for the help!
 
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Actually that looks pretty good to me, a sound plan. Your vista copy (if its OEM) is tied to your MOBO so that won't be a problem with later upgrades. You should go 64 bit to use all 4 gigs of your RAM.
 
Any suggestions on the PSU/GFX? I had a Radeon HD 5770 in mind (with the intent to get another later on). Also, when would I need to upgrade my CPU? Would it support one 5770?


Also, what kind of upgrade does it offer over my current card?
 
im going to be honest the 5750 and 5770 series are worthless (Just my opinion). If you not worried about DX11 you could get into a 4890 (you can find a 4890 on the forums for about 130.00 used) or if you want DX11 you can get into a 5850.

For PSU I would snag anything corsair, CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX, corsair 650tx, corsair 750tx.

P.S ati is going to be releasing a new card soon. 5830 that is supossed to be equivalent to the 4890 or better with DX11 around the 200 dollar mark. i heard the 25th of jan but i heard it got pushed back to Feb 5th. Also crossfire doesnt always scale well its always better to get a Single Powerful GPU
 
So get something more like a 5850? Once the prices come down a bit of course.
 
5850 or 4890. its just my opinion for the 5770. i just dont see a future for the card in gaming. also if you look at the rig your building and the rig in my sig its the same pc. Mine is almost complete all im missing is my i5 750 wich ill have wednesday

also the problem i see is Prices chance and hardware gets outdated fast. so 5-6 months from now for video cards n hardware there will be something better out. maybe just save your money till you have a large lump sum?
 
I can't really save and pile all my cash (rather not go into why).

I am not worried over what is going to come out in 5-6 months. The main game I play (Eve O) does not change drastically.

I think if I can score a decent price for a 5850 I will be happy. Hopefully this rig will last me another 2-3 years.

Current rig was built in Nov 2006.

Will my 8800 GTS work fine with the new mobo in the meantime? I read somewhere that the PCI Express 1.0 & 2.0 are compatible. Is that true?
 
yes PCI Express 1.0 & 2.0 are backwards compatible. also if the 8800 is doing what you need it to for eve then use it until you get your new card.
 
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In two to three months the video picture is going to change quite a bit. Your 200-300 dollars should go a lot further. Right now is not a great time for that price range. And I agree with 4LC4PON3, skip the 5750 and 5770.
 
crowat said:
Well i was either thinking about updating either my CPU/Mobo/RAM and then splurging on a new Gfx card/PSU and later on a HD. I am not sure if I can do it in that order or not. Also, would I even notice any significant improvement?

.....

What do you guys think? I hope these prices of cards come down by the 3-4 month mark or I can push it back later too.
Click to expand...
For MW2, you wouldn't notice a CPU/mobo/RAM upgrade in terms of actual performance improvement. As for Eve Online, running that many clients, yeah a quad-core CPU would definitely be a good idea.

Well if you really have to spend that money or lose it, the plan sounds solid to me.
 
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