Extending the life of my LGA775

[gameon]

I am looking for the best CPU/GPU/MEM upgrade combo possible for my current system:

ASUS P5B-E
EVGA 7950GT KO 512MB
Intel C2D E6400
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2800

Everything is running stock with no OC.

I am also looking to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro 64bit soon if that makes a difference.

Thanks everyone for your wisdom!

 

[ulysses35]

Firstly there is little or no point going for windows 7 Pro - just paying extra money for features that are not really needed.

Unfortunately the Asus site is not working at the moment, but I beleive your motherboard supports LGA775 quads - so that would be the best option, but make sure you check which ones will work (BIOS will need flashing)

Video - skys the limit, your only real limitation is the amount of money you want to throw at it.

 

[crazy359]

lol just download windows 7 64 ULTIAMTE and save ur self money> HAHA
just upgrade to a better video card and maybe ad more ram

 

[gameon]

I was looking at Windows 7 Pro for the XP mode, if needed, and the 64 bit to use all of my 4GB and maybe go to 8GB which is my max.

The new video card is a given but I don't want to spend $$$ on a high end card and have my CPU hold it back. What would be the best video card to get that wouldn't overwhelm my CPU? Will OCing my CPU allow a better GPU?

According to the ASUS site, my board will support the C2D Quads but only at a 1066 FSB. I am not sure how much the slower bus will hamper things or if it would be better to learn to OC my existing C2D instead of getting a Quad.

Thanks again.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

Aren't you running XP now? just dual boot. Why make a less performing virtual box?

 

[capt_taco]

Well, you're lucky and you got a board that can support 45nm quad cores. So you can use anything up to the 9650, which is a pretty damn good CPU even though they've come out with i7s in the meantime.

If you don't want to go too crazy spending money, I'd say:

Q9550
HD 5850
any 64-bit operating system
8GB RAM

If you can stomach the price, I'd definitely get a 5850, or wait a few months for the price of a 5870 to come down. Both of those will be pretty well balanced with a powerful quad core CPU. Since you only have one PCIe x16 slot (and therefore no crossfire), I don't think there's any single video card that's yet hit the market that will be bottlenecked by the best quad core processors of the 9xxx generation.

If $300 is too much for a video card, you could always go with a 4890 instead. But you'll be taking about a 50-50 chance that you'll want to replace the card again before your CPU, depending on how quickly DirectX11 becomes the must-have standard.

 

[gameon]

Thanks for the input everyone! I want to go to an i5/i7 but I am not able to spend the $$$ right now nor do I want to sink a ton of cash into this 3 year old rig. So a compromise is needed. Here is where I think I am at:

Current Rig
ASUS P5B-E
EVGA 7950GT KO 512MB
Intel C2D E6400
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2800
Windows XP Home SP3

1st: Upgrade OS to Win 7 64bit so I can use all 4GB of RAM I have. I will see how much of a boost that gives me.

2nd: Upgrade GPU to a 9800 GTX+
Not a top of the line card but it holds its own in the benchmarks and the price to performance ratio I think is good.

3rd: Upgrade CPU to a better C2D or maybe a C2Q Both have a 1066FSB my MOBO will support but the C2Q is a little harder to find. I can flash the BIOS and go with a 1333FSB CPU but the MOBO is still only 1066. I am not sure if the CPU upgrade is worth the cost. A C2Q would help with multitasking but not so much with games as they are mostly not optimized for Quad.

4th: Upgrade RAM to 8GB This will depend on how much boost Win 7 gives me when I can use all 4GB I already have.

Does this sound like a good plan of attack?

Thanks!

 

[edlud]

Just did the upgrade of my 2008 build Maximus Formula w/E8400, 2 Gig Ram Win XP Geforce 8800 GTX to a

Q9650 quad
8 Gigs of Ram
Radeon 5850
Win 7 64 bit

I'm a big gamer and am very very happy with the upgrade. I can play all my games at max now and they play smooth as silk

I did a dual boot as some games just will not play yet in win 7. I feel this setup will last 2 years no problem. Since I have cross fire I can upgrade w/ a 2nd 5850 and SSD and I expect to get 3-4 years. That up 6 years of gaming goodness!!!

Hope this helps

 

[gameon]

How well is Crysis running if you have it? That is the one giving me fits. I had to dial it down to medium settings and lower the resolution to 1024x768 to make it playable. I did get Win 7 64 bit for Christmas so things are running a lot smoother now.

So as of now I have:

ASUS P5B-E
EVGA 7950GT KO 512MB
Intel C2D E6400
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2800
Windows 7 64 bit

I am looking to add:

Radeon 5770 1GB - $180
Q9650 - $260
OCZ Gold 8GB - $200

How much of a hit will I take by going with a 5770 instead of a 58## card? There is a big $$ difference.

Thanks for taking the time to help!

 

[swifty_morgan]

If you're going to upgrade to the i5.......... buy a high end video and let the system you have hold it back. When you go to get your upgrade components you'll already have a card to swap over............ any newer card from the 4890/GTX260/5000 series...... up..... will bring new life to your system over the card you have now.... if I remember them correctly....... the 7950 was like a 7800gtx and then a little ? Junk by today's standards.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I just put a 250 and an extra 2 GB of RAM in my youngest son's 775 box....will easily keep him going another year.

 

[mavanhel]

In my opinion, don't upgrade the CPU or memory, just the GPU. The E6400 is a fairly good chip, and will be even better with just a minor overclock. With this upgrade next year when you have more money you could upgrade you mobo/cpu/ram to an i5 system to reap all of those benefits.