Need help with upgrading my PC; tips on things I should buy

[ktmbro]

Hey guys, I have a sufficient gaming pc but since hearing of battlefield bad company 2 I've been thinking about upgrading my computer to see it at its finest. This is my rig:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz
MoBo: Gigabyte P35-DS3L, chipset P35/G33/G31
Memory: 4GB DDR2
Graphics: 512MB BFG 8800 GT

It's nothing fancy but it gets the job done for most games. I also have a 1080p monitor so that kinda ups the anti lol. What I'm trying to get at I guess is I don't feel like buying a whole new rig and just want to upgrade mine for as cheap as possible. I figured if I bought a quad core it'd be a good step forward and possibly upgrade the graphics card in the near future. Anyone have any tips on what would be my best option for a good increase in performance with minimal cost? I was thinking of a max of spending $500. Also, is the motherboard I have now even capable of supporting a quad core or is it only dual?

 

[ktmbro]

I'm also running Windows 7 64-bit if it makes any difference lol

 

[ulysses35]

Your mobo would support Quad Core CPU's Q9550 / Q9650 being probably the best price / performance you could achieve. Also oyur motherboard supports upto 8gb of RAM so there a couple of options there.

However Maybe a swap to an i5 CPU and mobo & RAM would be better option, and then upgrade your graphics card at a later date.

UK prices as follows

i5 750 = £150.00
Gigabyte GA P5 US3L P55 = £76.19
Crucial 2x2gb DDR3 1333mhz RAM = £88.00


roughly $450.00

and if you're lucky you could sell your old mobo / CPU / RAM and put it towards a new video card.

The i5 is in a different league compared to the C2D / C2Q - good as they are

 

[Raidur]

You could try ocing you cpu (to around 3ghz) and upgrading your gpu. 5770 should do ya good (pretty sure bc2 is getting dx11).

The c2qs are getting higher and higher in price, however a q9550 from microcenter would give you the best bang for ya buck

 

[megamanx00]

^+1

 

[ktmbro]

Ok cool thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for and yea, I've been thinking about getting more RAM for a while, i have four 1gb DDR2's so I have no more slots! lol, that's what happens when they have a sale at best buy for two 1 gb sticks haha. But anyways, you think i'll get a much more noticeable performance increase if I get an i5, new MoBo, and DDR3 as opposed to just buying a quad core and more DDR2 RAM?

 

[ktmbro]

and yea thanks raidur, I'll take that into consideration too, i'll have to look at what my best option is. I just gotta make sure i have sufficient air flow in my case if i oc my my cpu so that i dont overheat anythin lol

 

[victomofreality]

you'll get a performance boost from the core i5 but you can upgrade your computer for less then setting up the new system.

Your mb does support up to Core 2 Quads and 8g of ram and despite it's age the 8800's are still fairly solid cards so you can hold off on upgrading that till Nvidia's new cards start to drive down the video card costs out there. (probably going to take a few months)

 

[darkjuggalo2000]

best buy? dude you ever heard of newegg? check it out

www.newegg.com

 

[ktmbro]

yea, the 200 series is insanely expensive, at least if i were to get the 295 like i want lol. but yea, i might just upgrade to a quad for the time being until i get a whole new rig in the future.

and to dark, yea actually i have, that's where i bought all the parts to build my computer. just that when i built it i only bought 2 gigs of ram not knowing vista would completely consume it. best buy just so happened to have a sale on ram so i bought 2 gigs for like $30

 

[duk3]

Don't get the 295, get a 5870.
Cheaper, cooler and about the same performance.

 

[ktmbro]

ehhh, i dont wanna switch everythin to radeon and ati tho =/ but i dont have the money for either anyways lol. if i did i would ina heart beat. right now im just lookin for a temporary fix

 

[requiemsallure]

I completely agree with ulyses35 i would go with his reccomendation. it will last you a long time the i5 is so much better than the C2 series.

 

[ktmbro]

i5 it is lol. thanks a lot tho, i really appreciate you guys helpin out a noob in need ;D oh and btw, i looked up the mobo ulyses recommended on newegg and couldnt find it, maybe there's a similar model thats just as good that im not noticing

 

[requiemsallure]

you didnt find it becasue he spelled it wrong, he ment this one i would assume

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128425

 

[ktmbro]

ok thanks, battlefield 2 here i come

 

[shravankale]

FIRST of all get a nice GPU, if ur one a budget ATI HD 5770 is good. Then some RAM and a good processor...if u get a C2Q that socket is a dead end n more processor's for that one, else get a i5 +MB