Which to upgrade?

[badfish300]

Hello all,

Im looking to find the best way to upgrade my comp here. The main use for this rig is for gaming. Specs are as follows:

GA EP45 UD3P
INTEL E7300 @ 3.0ghz
HD 4850 512 MB SAPPHIRE
(2) 2GB GSKILL DDR2 800
PC POWER AND COOLING 500W PSU
200GB SEAGATE HD
ACER 19 INCH MONITOR
VISTA 32
xmatek (spelling?) heatink (the big rifle one....)

I am thinking along the lines of replacing the E7300 with a Q9550. Right now im plaing bfbc2 and my performance is ok on med settings but id like it to be better. I was also thinking about upgrading the video card but I think it would still have life in it with a cpu upgrade.

Tell me what you all think.
thanks.

 

[rajiv babu]

Hello all,

Im looking to find the best way to upgrade my comp here. The main use for this rig is for gaming. Specs are as follows:

GA EP45 UD3P
INTEL E7300 @ 3.0ghz
HD 4850 512 MB SAPPHIRE
(2) 2GB GSKILL DDR2 800
PC POWER AND COOLING 500W PSU
200GB SEAGATE HD
ACER 19 INCH MONITOR
VISTA 32
xmatek (spelling?) heatink (the big rifle one....)

I am thinking along the lines of replacing the E7300 with a Q9550. Right now im plaing bfbc2 and my performance is ok on med settings but id like it to be better. I was also thinking about upgrading the video card but I think it would still have life in it with a cpu upgrade.

Tell me what you all think.
thanks.

Why go for q9550........? These are outdated processors..... but still if u have the money for a mobo, change it. if no mobo, go for q9550...


In gaming, the i5-750 performs better than most of the c2d and even the high end c2q........
If u have a lil more budget, go for i7-860 which is a good cpu......... u can also consider amd cpus(Phenom II x4 965 BE @ 3.4 ghz costs 185$) which is good in price/performance ratios.....
surely the 965 beats i5 and its also a Black Edition cpu meaning u can overclock simply by bumping the multiplier....... the price of AMD mobos are less when compared to intels and u can add up that amount for the gpu cuz in games, gpu is the main factor.....
of course ur 4850 has life in it considering ur monitor......
for better performance, go fot the Ati 5770(approx. 150$)..... or the 5850 which is a good gpu....
Go for the AMD processor(the 965 BE or the 955 BE) and a good gpu n mobo

 

[badfish300]

thanks for the reply. I should have stated that I am only looking to spend $300. I have not done research so I could only expect and new chipset mobo and cpu and ram included would exceed my budget.

It is of your opinion that I will see a nice improvement in gaming performance with the q9550 though? Perhaps you were trying to say that the $280 or so bucks it would cost would not be worth it and the new mobo and cpu would be the best choice?

 

[amnotanoobie]

At $280+ I think you could afford to wait a bit more for a mobo.

Don't get me wrong, a C2Q is fast enough for most cases today (and probably up to the next 2 years), but 280 is quite already a big amount.

You might also want to consider alternatives at the AMD side of things (they do have a lot of quads at varying price points).

 

[logainofhades]

I would get a new monitor before spending on anything else, then build around that. Other than maybe your case, chances are the monitor will last longer than any other component for your system and would be better use of your money.

 

[rajiv babu]

thanks for the reply. I should have stated that I am only looking to spend $300. I have not done research so I could only expect and new chipset mobo and cpu and ram included would exceed my budget.

It is of your opinion that I will see a nice improvement in gaming performance with the q9550 though? Perhaps you were trying to say that the $280 or so bucks it would cost would not be worth it and the new mobo and cpu would be the best choice?

Games are mainly GPU centric except gta IV which loves quad core.............
If your budget is 300$, go for q9550 since u dont wish to change the mobo ..... Its good cpu(i agree).........
Later, find budget for a gpu too......

 

[swifty_morgan]

You're really stuck between a rock and a hard place. Whatever you buy will be dependent on the other components in your system. I have that board and I have the 9550 on it. The extra cache on the processor really makes it worth to have. However, You only have 2gig of ram... ( I know it's only 32bit opsys ).... so what..... Only 2gigs will hold you back a lot for smoother game play. The video card, not the weakest link in your system ( unless it's a 512 card..... useless ) but you'll only get so much out of one of those cards regardless of what processor you have.

( 775 Quads are way over priced )

You said you have $300.......... in 3 month's you'll have how much money ?...... $400 ?.... $500 ... ?.......... save your money. IMO it's a useless endeavor to upgrade because you can't upgrade enough. Several month's down the road.... ????...... you may be able to make a substantial upgrade. Be patient. The i5 750 makes the 775 look like kiddy toys.

 

[saaiello]

You're really stuck between a rock and a hard place. Whatever you buy will be dependent on the other components in your system. I have that board and I have the 9550 on it. The extra cache on the processor really makes it worth to have. However, You only have 2gig of ram... ( I know it's only 32bit opsys ).... so what..... Only 2gigs will hold you back a lot for smoother game play. The video card, not the weakest link in your system ( unless it's a 512 card..... useless ) but you'll only get so much out of one of those cards regardless of what processor you have.

( 775 Quads are way over priced )

You said you have $300.......... in 3 month's you'll have how much money ?...... $400 ?.... $500 ... ?.......... save your money. IMO it's a useless endeavor to upgrade because you can't upgrade enough. Several month's down the road.... ????...... you may be able to make a substantial upgrade. Be patient. The i5 750 makes the 775 look like kiddy toys.

I disagree why change if you really dont have to the 4850 512MB card is more than a sufficient card most cards with 1GB of VRAM cant even use half of it so dont worry about that. The Q9550 will perform on par with a Phenom II 965 and can even keep up with an I5 750 pretty well in gaming. Upgrading to an 1156 platform will cost more than a Q9550 and wont be too much better than if the OP just got the Q9550. 1156 is soon to be out since Sandy Bridge is gonna be new socket if you do upgrade it would be most logical and cost effective to go with AMD but I personally if I had the money for a Q9550 I would just pop that in your board give it a little overclock and call it a day. You will see plenty of performance with that and should last for at least another 2 years for gaming that is a perfect setup and maybe a year from now or whenever you get the money and prices drop get an HD 5850 or a GTX 4xx but for now a Q9550 would be a nice setup and will last you at least a few more years no problem. Dont listen to all these people saying dont use 775 bla bla you have a good motherboard so why not use it. Swifty is right I would pick up another 2 gigs of RAM but that isnt so expensive only $60 to $80 to add 2 more gigs and you will be set for a good while even with the 4850.

 

[randomkid]

^1. Your rig is already very decent specially at only 19" monitor ( which I assume is 1440x900 or 1360x768 ). The only weak point I see is the HD at 200GB. But if you don't need extra storage space, then why upgrade at all? Save the money for a new platform.

 

[badfish300]

I should clarify here... I have 4 gig total ram. 2 sticks of 2. Also I'm not sure why I said 19 inch monitor. I use a 22 inch at 1600×1200. I have tried a 32 inch monitor but I think 22 inch is perfect for me.

I suppose I will lean towards the 775 cpu upgrade if it will indeed be sufficient enough for a year or two.

 

[randomkid]

The rig is still decent for 1600x1200 although the single HD4850 might struggle for some games in high setting. A 2nd HD4850 should be good but If you don't have any complaint with your current gameplay, this can wait too.