$600+ System Upgrade What should I buy? HELP!!!

[bryan240g]

I have around $600+ dollars to spend and I want to upgrade my current system. I was thinking SSD and or a high end video card for FPS gaming. I use a 24" monitor and would love to upgrade my VGA's(8800gt in sli). Just wondering what some thoughts were on here on what to upgrade to? All suggestions welcome.

Below is my current setup:

SilverStone TJ-09 Case

EVGA 780i mobo

Q9450 @ 3.4 Stable

Corsair H50 liquid cpu cooler

Mushkin ddr2 1066 (4GB)

8800GT in Sli w/ Duo Orb coolers

Silverstone 1000W Power supply

Seagate 500GB HDD

Seagate 750GB HDD

WD 500 GB HDD

WD 1TB Black Caviar

X-fi Sound Blaster Card

Lite-On Blu-Ray ROM

Samsung DVD Burner

I was considering the new OCZ Revo 50gb SSD PCI Express card for a super fast boot drive but after reading some reviews having BSOD it makes me think twice. I a seriously considering a fast SSD though. I also wouldn't mind a better video card. Not sure what to get though. I welcome all suggestions. thanks guys.

 

[Wolygon]

For the GPUs your best shot would be GTX 460 SLI, one 460 would have similar performance to your setup. Running two would give you twice the performance. They cost $230 each and so for two it would be $460. This doesn't leave much for your SSD though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121391

I don't know much about SSDs so thats all I have to say.

 

[redgarl]

A SSD is important IMO, it's like a sound card...

The impacts are important even if they are not graphical.

You cannot go wrong with a Vertex 2.

 

[batuchka]

I wouldn't recommend CF/SLI - even less so now that the HD 6000 series is soon upon us. There could be repercussions pricing scheme wise so if u not in a hurry Also: u want faster load times/SSD or more frames i games btw?

 

[bryan240g]

I guess the best way to reply to your question batuchka is I want to be able to play FPS games at the best resolution that I can and would like a faster machine. I use my pc mainly for internet surfing, and playing fps games. The new MOH and the soon to be released COD Black Ops. I hope that helps with the advice.

redgarl I am looking into the vertex 2.

 

[bryan240g]

What are the advantages/disadvantages between lga 1366 and lga 1156?

 

[batuchka]

Well SSDs would give ya faster loading times but to really improve upon gaming performance a GPU upgrade would be your best move - actually just a GTX 260 could already go toe to toe with 8800GT/9800GT SLI @@

I use my pc mainly for internet surfing, and playing fps games

Considering games in general aren't even X4 optimised as yet your current platform as per your needs is more than fine hehe


The Game Rundown: Finding CPU/GPU Bottlenecks, Part 2
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/game-performance-bottleneck,2738-16.html

Conclusion: A Trend Toward 3+ Cores

The average optimal number of CPU cores suggested by the test results is 2.75, showing a clear trend towards at least three CPU cores.The question of whether the CPU or GPU is most important is easily answered. If you don't have a multi-core CPU, then upgrade it. If you have a dual-core CPU at around 3 GHz, then invest your money into a graphics card, as most games are GPU-limited. This is not something that will change with new DirectX 11 games.

 

[bryan240g]

batuchka thanks for that chart. Very helpful. Still deciding hat move to make.

 

[batuchka]

Yep - use GTX 260 frames as minimum baseline and hit a beefier GPU as per budget ^^ U are welcomed

 

[calad]

Honestly, if you save up an extra 200 bucks or whatever i can ship you a whole new system that has a nice 5850. If you have 600 dollars to spend on a pc and your pc is more than like 2-3 years old you are better off getting a whole new rig imo

 

[Wolygon]

^ His rig is fine. Getting a new one at this point would be bad, SB and BD are coming out and thus AM3, 1156 and 1366 (perhaps) are now like 775.

What PC are you gonna get for $600? An Athlon II X4 with a HD5770? Thats less performance then the the OPs current PC.

 

[bryan240g]

I am considering building a new 1366 rig with the following parts as of now. If this rebuild gets pushed back more than a couple of months then I will rethink my choices. But as of now heres what I am considering to start off with.

MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188068

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226121

VGA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130567

SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227550

Total: $1154.73

So yeah I went a little over my budget but this is what i would like to get. Actually I would like a second VGA card to run in sli but I don't want to be greedy. Looks like I need to sell some stuff on ebay. Thanks all.

 

[Wolygon]

Eh? You better hope you do a bloody lot more then just game. That PC will have the same gaming performance as your current PC.

This is a waste of money, I hope I can talk you out of it. 1366 will get raped in 3 months when sandy bridge comes out. Your not even looking at a large performance increase in CPU dependent applications from your Core 2. Your core 2 exceeds the performance of Phenom II X4s, if you had a Phenom II X4 I bet you wouldn't upgrade to the i7.

Upgrading to 1366 is basically like upgrading to 775, its dead. The i5 SB CPUs have a lot of performance, in some applications they are approaching the 980X with only 4 cores/4 threads. These will be priced cheap as they are mainstream CPUs.

Howed I do? Please reconsider.

 

[bryan240g]

Actually I have completely reconsidered. I don't have that kind of money anyway so a complete system refresh is out of the question.

About Sandy coming out, it seems like no matter what you buy there's always something bigger and badder coming out. I don't have to have the latest and greatest just enough to keep me going. Plus I don't pay a premium for it either.

I play FPS games and surf the net that's it. I have decided to upgrade my GPU to either GTX 460/470 not sure yet which to get. I also see a GTX 465, all these cards come in super clock versions. Just gotta decide which to get. Thanks for your input.

 

[bryan240g]

Best answer selected by bryan240g.

 

[Wolygon]

People always say this stupid "if I always waited for the next thing I wouldn't buy anything". This is not the case with SB and BD. SB is a 3 year refresh and BD is an 8 year refresh so don't give me that crap.

The 465 is a waste of money. If you get a single GTX 460 you won't gain any performance and thus you might aswell not have bought anything. Don't go for the Superclocked ones, just find one which has voltage control and a good looking cooler.

Good luck.

 

[bryan240g]

OK guys in the end I picked up an EVGA GTX470 SC at Fry's. I have already seen my fps more than doubled at max settings in the new MOH game. Thanks for everyone's input.