Upgrading My PC, Need Some Final Verdicts

[j03b0b]

Hey everyone,
I was wondering if someone could help me with my upgrading...
Currently I have:
-Pentium D 925 @3.6
-ASUS P5WD2 MoBo
-3x1GB G.Skill DDR2-800
-BFG 7600GT (256MB DDR3)

I was looking to get into AMD, but I really know nothing about them; I've always built Intel's. :/
So from the Intel side, I was going to get the Core2Duo, then I read more and seem to think a Quad might be better. (Although I read that the current C2Q's only have 2 pipelines, not true 4 pipeline quadcores?) (And I was looking to overclock whichever I got.)
I do game often and I need to be able to use CAD, also.

Here's what I was thinking about:
-Core2Duo E8400 $200 /OR/ Core2Quad QX6700 $280
-ASUS P5K Deluxe/Wi-Fi
-4GB G.Skill DDR2 1066 now, another 4GB of the same later. (Using XP x64...)
-Sapphire Radeon 3870 512MB

If I get the E8400 (45nm), I could upgrade to a much better Quad later; or do you think just getting the QX6700 (65nm) right away would be better and then upgrading to a better Quad later (45nm)? Essentially, is it really worth the $80 more?

Also, the specs on the Phenoms don't impress me as much as the Intels... maybe because they work differently and I'm not familiar?
If I were to get an AMD, I'd probably get the Phenom 9850. But I have no clue as to which motherboard. I'd like to use the same GFX card and RAM that I already picked though.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Mondoman]

You've made some good choices. I'd probably get the e8400 over the quad core, but no biggy either way.
You should be able to sell your Pentium D 925 for decent money on Ebay.

 

[j03b0b]

Thanks for your quick reply. I also completely agree with you since I've been trying to decide for a while and have been leaning towards the E8400 lately. Thanks again.

 

[ausch30]

I just received the Rampage Formula and the E8400 yesterday and it's a great setup. It's a little more expensive than your combo but something you might want to consider. Other than that the only thing I might suggest is to go with quality DDR2 800 and overclock it and save a few bucks. You only need a FSB of 450 (FSB1800) to get the E8400 to 4Ghz and any quality DDR2 800 will easily overclock to 900 to give you a 1:1 ratio.

 

[j03b0b]

Wow, I just looked at the Rampage Formula and it's expensive, but man does it look nice! And, well, I've always used Kingston RAM until I found out about G.Skill 2 or 3 years ago, and I love G.Skill now. But what DDR2 800 do you have (or suggest) ausch?

 

[speedbird]

The new Phenom B3's are not all that bad and even the 9850 has a budget price tag. AMD have a good platform the 'Spider', which on certain motherboards can support 4 Graphics cards in quad crossfire! I'm not certain whether Intel has an Alternative to this?
However it cannot be denied that Intel has the better performing CPU's currently despite not being 'True Quad Core'.

 

[ausch30]

I have Mushkin XP2-6400
http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/memory_detail.asp?id=350

I like G.Skill but just as with all memory manufacturers the quality depends on the particular model rather than the brand. Some companies use the bait and switch and come out with modules with quality chips on them then change them to something cheaper. One example is Crucial DDR2 800 which was Micron D9 chips and was changed to something else which doesn't overclock as well so after all the reviews and word of mouth about the quality of the DIMM's they were changed so those buying the later versions didn't get what they were expecting.

I would choose one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146726

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145176

I would lean more toward the Mushkin even at the higher price but any of those would be good. Read the reviews, 94% gave it 5 eggs.

 

[emp]

Do yourself a favor, most of your components are not half bad except for one, the graphics card. Just buy yourself an 8800GT(S) and OC your CPU, because if you rebuild again your computer now you will definitely see a very tangible difference, but it won't be as good as holding for now until early next year for a Nehalem build.

This is to anyone with a half decent machine, if you didn't jump on the Core 2 bandwagon on the beginning, right now is the worst time to do it unless you have bucket loads of cash to spare.

 

[ausch30]

Do yourself a favor, most of your components are not half bad except for one, the graphics card. Just buy yourself an 8800GT(S) and OC your CPU, because if you rebuild again your computer now you will definitely see a very tangible difference, but it won't be as good as holding for now until early next year for a Nehalem build.

Honestly to anyone with a half decent machine, if you didn't jump on the Core 2 bandwagon on the beginning, right now is the worst time to do it unless you have bucket loads of cash to spare.

I do somewhat agree with what your saying but with the fact that all the 45nm chips aren't available yet I'm thinking that it will be quite a while (a year or so) until there is full availability of the Nehalem CPU's. I went from a E6300 and P5N32-E SLI to my current E8400 and Rampage Formula and with the overclocking ability of that combo as well as support for PCI-E 2.0 I think I should be good for a couple of years with only GPU upgrades. The OP does have an ok system now and you are correct that with a GPU upgrade that it would likely be good for another year but it just depends if he needs the performance increase now or a year from now.

 

[j03b0b]

Thanks for all the responses! Honestly, I forgot to mention that I was also looking at getting an 8800GT instead of the 3870, because the XFX GT is around the same price. I haven't had an ATI GPU since 3 GPUs ago, so I'm very hesitant to go that direction; it's just hard for me to realize that the GDDR4 doesn't blow away the GDDR3 on the 8800GT. ATI/AMD need to catch up!

I don't have all the money in the world, so I'm, more than likely, not going to be able to afford the Nehalem CPUs until they have a price drop (even though I would love one. ) Depending on what I get now, it may hold me until Intel releases their 32nm Westmere microarchitecture in 2009. I upgrade when I have to. I could wait, but there would just be more CPUs to choose from and the E8400 would be outdated and I'd be in the same situation I'm in now.

And as far as the RAM, I never buy anything without reading the reviews first from Newegg and the G.Skill I have now is the result of that. (I got it back when they were $110 a pop!) But the Mushkin seems to be very good. I'll get the G.Skill if I can't bring myself to pay the Mushkin price (never cared for Corsair, even though many people do.)

You guys have really helped me out. Thanks, again!

 

[j03b0b]

Well, now that I looked over the RAMPAGE board more against my choice of the P5K/WiFi, it seems I get more from the P5K... Is the X48 northbridge really that much better than the P35? And for the price the Rampage is, I feel it should have the WiFi and eSATA of the P5K.

You know I love to overclock anything to get more for the money, so do you think there's really that much more I could get, in terms of performance, from the Rampage, over the P5K? I know ASUS has really never let me down, and I'd be less skeptical of the Rampage if I didn't have this HSF. It's keeps my 925 awesomely cool but it is HUGE; I don't know if it'll fit around the Rampage's raised north/southbridge heatsink.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I have either a 530w or 630w Thermaltake PSU (can't remember which.) Should I get something larger or am I good? (Yeah, and sorry for the double post.)

 

[ausch30]

This is my setup with the Rampage Formula and the Ultra 120 Extreme which one of the biggest coolers you can buy.

The X48 is slightly better than the P35 but I bought it more for PCI-E 2.0 and FSB1600 support. I figure this board should last me a few years with only a couple GPU upgrades and I won't have to worry about the board bottlenecking the video card. Overclocking ability with the X48 is better as well due to the fact that it's a speed binned X38 (the best X38 chips are released as X48). All that said it is an expensive board and I too wish it had at least e-sata for the price, you just have to decide if it's worth it to you.

Read this:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208

 

[j03b0b]

Again, I cannot thank you enough, ausch! I now have no doubt about getting the Rampage! I guess I'll have to get an eSATA card or something later though. There seem to be so many other features (listed on ASUS's site) to justify the Rampage over the P5K. (Oops, had it backwards; maybe I should proof-read! I meant I liked the specs of the Rampage over the P5K. ) Thanks for the picture, too; it really helped me picture it against my HSF.