$600+ budget upgrade advice

[Evilbenny]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: End of Feb. $600-$700

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming(World of Warcraft, Warhammer, Aion, Star Craft 2 when released) Internet, watch movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor 22" 1680x1050 Will be upgrading next to 24"+, speakers, OS)
Power Supply Logisys PS575XBK 575w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170017

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: by brand or type None really I have always used Nvida cards but have been considering ati for this build for Performance/cost ratio

OVERCLOCKING:maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200) Will be upgrading monitor next prob a month or two after computer upgrade

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I mainly am building this to play wow and a few other games noted above i had a 8800 gts 320mb video card that just died and had to reinstall a 7900 GS 256mb card. also I am still running a Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor on a ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX With 4gig DDR 800 G Skill Ram. Was looking to get into a quad core. Looking for this build to last a year or two before upgrading again with a bigger budget. Here are a couple builds I have come up with but looking for suggestions and advice on changes or cheaper idea's. Thanks in advance for your Time.

Intel Build

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128405

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

GPU Undecided Have been considering a GTX 260 or Ati card but don't know much about them. Open to both

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

AMD BUILD

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

GPU Undecided.


Just looking for a new build to get me by for another year or so for my gaming and internet use and watch a movie now and then. I don't need maxed out setting my 8800 GTS 320mb card was great and i didn't have it turned to maxxed settings so i don't think sli or a crossfire setup is necessary atm. Thanks again for suggestions or advise and your time.

 

[ewood]

I would go a different route all together if I was going to upgrade again in a year. I would buy a quad core for the mobo you have and also buy a new graphics card.
A C2Q 9505 would offer a nice bump in performance. You should be able to up it to 3ghz very easily. With the remaining budget I would buy a decent GPU such as a HD5850. you will have spent less than $550 and your system will me ALOT faster. In a year you can reuse the GPU and crossfire it with another. The 5850 will be much cheaper by then so you will have a very good gpu setup for cheap on your next build.

 

[Evilbenny]

Which of these three LGA 775 processors would be better price/performance? or are they roughly the same?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80569Q9550 - Retail
Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q9400 - Retail
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9505 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80580Q9505 - Retail

Also is the GTX 260 or 275 comparable to the HD5850? or why is the ATI card a Better choose? I have always used nvidia but am open to ATI just curious what make it a better choose.

Thanks

 

[rammar16]

i am with Ewood on this one. your build up their is nice. but if your going to do something more substantial in a year then i would try and reuse some of your current hardware.

for the CPU i think the Q9505 (almost as fast as the i5 750 with a small OC it would be)is a good choice. a good thing to check tho is if you need to flash a new motherboard Bios(not a big deal just good to know before to take your rig apart)

as the GPU, an ATI 5850 is significantly faster than the GTX 260 and 275. it is about as fast as a GTX 285(faster in several games).

also the 5850 has many features that the GTX 200 series lack. most notable of the bunch are DX11, DTS/Bitstreaming over HDMI for movies, and eyefinity which allows for multi monitor gaming. (there are plenty more)

i think with that GPU and CPU you will have no problem gaming anything at 1680X1050 or 1920X1080 for a long time. (well over a year or 2)

the big thing in our recommendations is your LGA 775 rig is very upgradeable so there is no point to throw it out for an i5 system that isn't much faster and will cost tons more(which takes away from your GPU budget where you will see real gains!).

Ultimately the choice is yours but i hope this does help you out. Good luck and happy gaming!

 

[Evilbenny]

Thanks for the advice I will upgrade the cpu and gpu and keep my old MB!

Thanks again for the advice and time!

 

[primeintellect]

I have a similar board (P5N32-E SLI). The 9XXX will not run on it. It think the limiting factor is that the chipset cannot handle a processor with more than 6MB or 2x4MB of ram. So no Yorkfields. I don't know if there is much of an upgrade from your E6400 or my E6850.
The fastest available on newegg that would work is the E8600. At $269 it's not a bargain. The E8400 is more reasonable at $167, but it's not much faster than what you have. It might be more cost effective to consider changing the board and going with a different chip. Preferably a board where you can still use your ram (DDR2). An AMD Phenom II X4 965 ($180) and GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2 ($55) would be cheaper and very close to the 9550 in speed. More than double your current chip. http://www.pcpartsprice.com/cpuchart/
An alternative I'm thinking of is to throw the current system in an htpc case and rebuild the gaming rig in my cosmos case. Current vid card is an 8800gtx. The Ati 5850 is in the right price range as a replacement and I want the eyefinity for 3 monitor support.

 

[Evilbenny]

Best answer selected by evilbenny.