matt40k Posted January 26, 2012 Posted January 26, 2012 I'm thinking of upgrade my E2200 to something a bit more beefy. I like the mboard as it has DDR3 and can support something like a Q9850, so I'm thinking, do I get a nice i5 bundle or try and find a good 2nd hand quad core 775? Would also like to get a nicer graphic card so I could play BF3, don't really want to spend more then £400 on the whole thing. Defo don't want to replace the power supply - currently got one of those bundles - Coolermaster Elite 330 Case With Coolermaster Elite 460W PSU. Thoughts guys?
3s-gtech Posted January 26, 2012 Posted January 26, 2012 Don't see any harm in getting more out of your current rig, though top end 775 stuff can make silly money second hand. That budget should get you a fast quad core and a beastie graphics card. How much RAM have you got? 1
matt40k Posted January 26, 2012 Author Posted January 26, 2012 (edited) 1x stick of 4GB Got my eye on one poss quad core at the mom on ebay, collegue at work has a q8200 which isn't too bad, just a question of will he sell it Edited January 26, 2012 by matt40k
matt40k Posted January 26, 2012 Author Posted January 26, 2012 Ooo... cpu actually a Intel E5400 - nice suprise
Achandler Posted January 27, 2012 Posted January 27, 2012 I've got a Q9550 and on some test it out performs Quad Core i5s (not usually i7s though) but games still arent great for 4 cores. As for GPU they are getting cheaper all the time for the "old" ones, circa 6 months. Get some more RAM though to, 1 x4gb is worse then 2x2GB as it wont be runnign dual channel, so get another matching stick if you can. 1
matt40k Posted January 27, 2012 Author Posted January 27, 2012 Assuming the CPU supports it!! Currently limited to 800MHz, if\when I get something better, I'll get another 4gb. Currently looking at a SSD as that's where I'm bottlenecking at the moment. Is RAID-0'ing a pair overkill? I think it is when I would need a sata3 controller. Still would be nice to have 1,000MBs read Really can't decide on the graphic card. I keep thinking about BF3, but it's like my XBOX doesn't get used enough now, so I'm not sure it would be a wise choice, but then I can't really get BF3 on the XBOX as it's really designed for the PC. Suppose I shouldn't as it'll up my electric bill and most likely take out of PSU
sonofsanta Posted January 27, 2012 Posted January 27, 2012 I just built a rig for a friend for £400 all told, not including Windows, so it's probably not that insane to build a new one: * Core i3 2100 (although the 2120 is only a £5 more, it turns out); i5's are about £50 more * Asus P8H67-V (although you'll want p67 or z68 for OC) * 8GB RAM (is £30. stupid) * AMD 6850 * re-used HDD * case & psu that you don't need It is astonishingly good value to build a PC at the moment. If you re-use your case, psu and hdd, and there's no reason why not, you could easily get an i5 2500k, mobo and 6870, or even a 6950 if you play your cards right.
matt40k Posted January 27, 2012 Author Posted January 27, 2012 I just built a rig for a friend for £400 all told, not including Windows, so it's probably not that insane to build a new one: * Core i3 2100 (although the 2120 is only a £5 more, it turns out); i5's are about £50 more * Asus P8H67-V (although you'll want p67 or z68 for OC) * 8GB RAM (is £30. stupid) * AMD 6850 * re-used HDD * case & psu that you don't need It is astonishingly good value to build a PC at the moment. If you re-use your case, psu and hdd, and there's no reason why not, you could easily get an i5 2500k, mobo and 6870, or even a 6950 if you play your cards right. Mate just got i5 2500k, mboard and 8gb corsair whatever it is - £270 from Scan as bundle, AMD 6850 was a £100 notes last time I checked... defo good time to upgrade. Really need a new PSU however as I don't want to smell a burnt-out psu anytime if I want anything that meaty.
sonofsanta Posted January 27, 2012 Posted January 27, 2012 (edited) Mate just got i5 2500k, mboard and 8gb corsair whatever it is - £270 from Scan as bundle, AMD 6850 was a £100 notes last time I checked... defo good time to upgrade. Really need a new PSU however as I don't want to smell a burnt-out psu anytime if I want anything that meaty. I don't know how good the Coolermaster bundled PSUs are - I'd hazard a guess around "sufficient" - or how old your PSU is, but it'd probably manage ok to be honest. i5 2500k OCed to 4GHz, 6950, 2 sticks RAM, HDD, SSD, ODD, 3 fans comes out at 371W there, so you have ample buffer. If you're still not comfortable and not too concerned about fanciness (modular, 80+ etc.) though you can get a 600W corsair for £50ish. 6850 is about £110 and 6870 £140 so if you're not absolutely strapped for cash, you may as well get the latter; 6950 is about £200 but a fair step up iirc. A 560Ti is a good option at about £170 as well. May as well look up benchmarks if you're building for a specific game, though. Edited January 27, 2012 by sonofsanta spleling 1
tommej Posted January 27, 2012 Posted January 27, 2012 If you raid-0 your SSDs just make sure the onboard raid doesn't stink else you'll have trouble copying files to external drives/devices I found. 1
chazzy2501 Posted January 27, 2012 Posted January 27, 2012 (edited) BF3 is GPU heavy, I'd get a 1GB 560 for about £150. 4gb of ram for around £20! and give that a shot. if you're not happy with that boost then upgrade the CPU. edit: of course you could always OC your E2200 i got mine upto a 1066 bus with no extra voltage ran at just over 3ghz! Edited January 27, 2012 by chazzy2501 1
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