What to upgrade?

P

Phuey

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 19, 2007
Messages
319
Hey all.

My current build is:

e4300 Oc'd 3.0 ghz on air. Stock volts.
500w FSP Blue Storm II
24 Inch ASUS 1080P
4 GB G.Skill DDR2800
7600GT
250GB HD.
NZXT Apollo Case.

What I'm thinking about is either going for a 4890 or getting a Q6600 and a 4850.

I'm also thinking about upgrading my case. I'm not sure if it'll be able to fit the bigger cards of today. It'd be great if anyone can tell me if this case is able to fit the newer cards.
Any recommendations/options/whatever would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
 
No sure what budget you got as far as spending and what mobo you have but, do both hehe

EVGA Geforce GTX 260(216) + Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66ghz both for $355.98 ($30 MIR)

Or

HIS Radeon HD 4890 1GB + Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66ghz both for $359.98
 
Oh. My motherboard is a p5n-e SLI.

I'm not sure if it'll support the newer Intel cores.
 
Dang, nevermind hehe it won't You need the nForce 700 chipset to support the 45nm Yorkfield cpus. Actually, you just need a video upgrade anyways. That would be the number one thing to upgrade in your setup.
 
4870 or a 4890 1 GB versions. Pick one. Alternatively: 4850 and wait until next gen cards come out.
 
Well, I've been waiting for next gen cards since the 7XXX series.

And that was many moons ago.

:D
 
Ideally you'll want to upgrade both at the same time to avoid bottle necking. Any c2q (q6600 will be perfect) with either a 260 or 4870 will be a MASSIVE upgrade, and won't run you into the poor house either. (both can be found in FS/FT even cheaper than you would imagine)
 
So your only choice is the Q6600? Man I'm tempted to say just get the phenom II 955 + motherboard from newegg because of the combo deals.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.211658 250$ combo for the two
or if you don't mind rebates:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.211664 260$ - 10$ rebate for a slightly better board.

It'll cost ~400$ total (250 for the CPU+Board and 150$ for the motherboard) but you get a new motherboard where you should be able to upgrade the CPU in the future and you get a better CPU.


Alternatively, get the phenom II 940+motherboard which is a better CPU than the Q6600 for about the same with the combo but the board may or may not support next gen CPUs (more likely that it will not)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.209473 for 195$ (175$ with rebate) which basically means you get a free motherboard (80$ discount+20$ rebate for a 100$ board). and a Radeon 4870 1gb for 150$
for a total of 345$ - 20$ rebate
 
2 of the 3 will work but, not the Q8200 45nm Yorkfield cpus. Actually, his Core 2 E4300 Allendale chip at 3.0ghz is pretty good already. But, should try and push it a little further as I feel there is more headroom to go past 3.0ghz. He just needs a video card upgrade. Since he has a 1080P 1920x1080 res monitor, he should at least get a GTX 260(216) or Radeon HD 4870 1GB video card. If he had an AMD X2 cpu at 3.0ghz dual core than I would say just upgrade his cpu already. He should just do the video card upgrade for now which is the cheapest route to go.

hossdaddy said:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 + SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB $329.99 - $10 mir

or

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core + SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB $289.99 - $10 mir

or

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz + SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB $302.98 - $10 mir
Click to expand...
 
Wait, do you mean that if I get the Q6600, I might not be able to upgrade down the road or are yout alking about if I get a Phenom II..?
 
It's a decent mobo and I am also considering that mobo as an option on rebuilding my brothers machines. The 770 chipset is not crossfire enabled unlike the 780 or 790 chipsets. It also does not have integrated graphics processor like the 780G chipset (Radeon 3200 graphics) or the 790GX chipset (Radeon 3300 graphics).
 
Jospeh 1+ My suggestion get a new video card Radeon HD4890 and Phenom 2.

That Asus 770 has 8+2 powersupply, which should allow for some great overclocking.
 
The AMD combo deals is crazy right now with $79.99 off, $70 off, $65 off. What's up with this?
 
Yah, I'd sell that P5N-SLI and go AMD, simply because of that 650i chipset. :p

Though, I'd get the new vidcard first, and try pumping the E4300 slightly higher to ~3.4Ghz. If that performs well, then you can stave off a full overhaul for quite a bit longer, which is always a good thing.
 
The Phenom II 940 3.0ghz + Biostar TA790GXB A2+ for $195 is a crazy deal. I am not fond of Biostar board and never had one myself but, this price is crazy. This is cheaper than the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 for $200 on NewEgg.
 
Your 650i chipset can support 45nm Wofldale Dual Core cpus but, no sense when you have a Dual Core CPU o/c at 3.0ghz. I would not bother with another Dual core cpu upgrade. You can either upgrade your video card and push you E4300 further. Or, get an AMD Quad CPU upgrade. It's not such a bad idea also because of all the great combo deals going on right now.
 
If I go with the AMD bundle, can I re-use my DVD drives, Hard drive, etc?

Would I need to reformat?
 
You definitely can re-use your DVD drive, HDD etc. It would be best to reformat and start from scratch so Windows will install the proper drivers for the new hardware. But, if you want to maintain your programs/files on your HDD now, you can do a Windows Repair. This should install windows again but, does not delete your programs or files. A fresh installation would be your best option though. Installing a HDD with an O/S on it with it's current settings onto a new motherboard setup tends to not perform that well.
 
Are you using XP? If so, you can do a repair. With Vista, its a bit more tricky. :p
 
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