Upgrade to 3 year old system

[rumpltumpskin]

i wan't to spend less than 1k US on an upgrade for gaming.

current specs:

power: Enermax 450w 12v
mobo: Striker II formula
cpu: E8400
video: 8800 gts 512
ram: 8g ddr2 800

 

[impaledmango]

Your system is fine really. If you want more out of your system, I'd buy a new power supply and then a 5870 and if you want you can buy a Q9550 to replace your cpu, otherwise I'd just save my money if I were you.

 

[ares1214]

throwing any money into a 775 system is a massive waste, a Q9550 costs over 250$, and a i5 750 that would kill it costs 200 and is way more future proof. if you reuse your case, monitor, hdd with os, keyboard, speakers, mouse ect... then i would go with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231321

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.315530

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.315622

that gives you an amazing system, and more than enough power for 969.95, so you can even buy an after market cooler. also, the psu is overkill, but why not when it is 85$ off

 

[impaledmango]

he doesnt need 1000w for 5850, I'd rather a lesser psu and a 5870. A Q9550 may be $250 but honestly it performs close enough to an i5 750 and he wont need to junk the rest of his capable system. TBH he doesnt even need to change his cpu. You also forgot to add in the cost of ram which'll be another $80. Also there also isnt any clear upgrade path for the 1156 socket. Obviously there's something, but they havent revealed *** yet. He can live off the cpu for atleast till 2011 and then he can worry with what ever he needs then.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102856&cm_re=5870-_-14-102-856-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041&cm_re=q9550-_-19-115-041-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&cm_re=corsair_750w-_-17-139-006-_-Product

 

[megamanx00]

1) Get a good heatsink to overclock your CPU

2) Get a better PSU that you can also use in your next build down the line.

3) Get a better video card.

While you could go for a Q9550 it is running for around $260 right now. Considering that an i5 can be had for just under $200 it's a bit hard to justify the Q9550 even though you would need a new board and RAM (which ares seems to have forgotten about) for the i5. It's up to you though.

 

[ares1214]

ooooo my bad, the ram was included in the price, but not in the post, there:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231321

secondly, your saying the 1156 doesnt have a clear path, well the 775 does, EXTINCTION. the 1156 not only outperforms:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i5,2410-12.html

it also cost less (199.99<259.99 last time i checked) the psu is 85$ off and extremely quality, so why not get it in the combo. now, i agree that you could sacrafice the psu, and get a 5870 with a decent ocz, or seasonic 700-750 watt psu with a 5870, but i would go with a 5850, since it is more than plenty. it is such a waste to pour any money into a 775 system, so dont do it.

 

[crazy359]

OK the e8400 is one of the best dual core CPU's, it is AMAZING. Sure get a new video card like a 5870 sometin in the 5xxx series. Ram is still fine. SO ALL u need is new PSU and new video card.

 

[ares1214]

wow putting the best single gpu vid card with a 3 generation old dual core...thats smart. if you plan on upgrading to a q9550 thats extremely stupid, and since you are probably gonna upgrade to a i5, you might as well do it all at once.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

It may be dead but this is a last upgrade for a motherboard. I totally agree with impaledmango. Finish off this which can be done for much less than a complete rebuild would be, and you avoid throwing away money for a mobo and RAM when you will likely have to toss the mobo in the future when intel only releases better stuff for the x58 platform. Not only that, you may be able to wait and leapfrog the "current" stuff that way.

Getting an i5 is only cheaper on the CPU, but not when you have to spend $150-300 on a mobo. The six cores aren't even going to that 1156 platform. That makes it just as useless as a 775 mobo that already has a quad.

I priced out a system for a i5 and a Phenom II 965 for a guy, and it turned out that it was $20 cheaper for the i5. He then found that the i5 wasn't that much faster than the 965 and that AM3 has a MUCH brighter future than 1156, he more or less said screw intel, and bought the 965 with a really high quality $150 AM3 mobo.

 

[swifty_morgan]

I'd get a 850 - 1000 watt QUALITY power supply ( I like Corsairs ) and a high end graphics card ( DX11 ). Then I'd move them both over into a high end build in 2 years.

I do most of my stuff on dual cores and the quad has come in handy a few times, but not really enough for me to tell you to "upgrade" that. Multi thread - multi core processors will probably come into their own as the next 2 years progress.

 

[rumpltumpskin]

thanks for the advice guys. i still have not decided whether to upgrade or get a new system. i saw that no one recommended SLI. is ATI just ahead right now or did SLI fail to catch on or both?

 

[thelivingflesh]

Your system is fine really. If you want more out of your system, I'd buy a new power supply and then a 5870 and if you want you can buy a Q9550 to replace your cpu, otherwise I'd just save my money if I were you.

exactly what i was saying......

 

[thelivingflesh]

thanks for the advice guys. i still have not decided whether to upgrade or get a new system. i saw that no one recommended SLI. is ATI just ahead right now or did SLI fail to catch on or both?

a 5830 crossfire, or a 4830 crossfire (cheap) will beat gtx 275 easily .....but better off with a single card i.e 5830, or 5850....the 70's and 90's are more expensive but are at the top of the line... also crossfire and sli if you wanna play at high resolutions....like 1080p....

 

[swifty_morgan]

thanks for the advice guys. i still have not decided whether to upgrade or get a new system. i saw that no one recommended SLI. is ATI just ahead right now or did SLI fail to catch on or both?

Seems to me that SLI isn't the greatest .... if you game at higher res with med to low cards....useless..... I didn't say NOT to seek sli but my experience is to get the best single card you can get... ( that will handle what you want to play really well on it's own ) and if you think sli-ing will give you benefit go for it. .... I would wait for nvidia to release their DX11 cards before making a decision. Without a doubt I think they will put something out a little better and a little faster than the red team.... seems to be the way it goes..they had enough time to do that..... if it's going to be any good.. ( heat, worth the $ or whatever ) waits to be seen.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

Buying multiple cards (SLI OR crossfire) seems to be just a waste of money. Buying one card, then waiting a year to try to add anothre one just results in being able to buy a new card that outperforms your new card. Or you spend enough for 2 good cards at once. Then 2 years later they can still be outdone by one card. So unless you do it on purpose to be a one shot build it all now, it isn't worth it.

As such buying another 8800 won't really help. Not compared to just selling it and getting something better if you just want to get a graphics card.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Hey Rumpleskin....... you seem bright enough to appreciate this......... food for thought

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/ten-predictions-2010.html