Hey All,
I'm starting to feel my computer slowing down a little and I am looking for other opinions on what my next upgrade step should be. Have I reached the wall where I need to start saving for the upgrade to a new chipset MOBO/CPU/RAM --or are there still incremental upgrades that would be worth it ?
E8400 @ Stock 3.0ghz
Biostar G31-M7 TE (this is total crap--its from when this machine began its life as a prebuilt)
4GB (2x2gb) DDR2 800
HIS 5770 1gb.
Corsair 400CX
Antec 300 case, 5 fans.
Windows Vista SP2, on a WD 7200rpm.
Note: This was originally a cheap Cyberpower prebuilt that I bought when I was in college--now that I have money I've been slowly upgrading parts. I'm financially flexible, but want to get the most out of what I have.. and just don't want to go all in for a new build quite yet.
Usage: Primary usage at the moment is Civ 5, Starcraft 2, (both CPU heavy games I know ...) and streaming HD media.
My ideas:
1. Replace MOBO and Overclock. I had planned to overclock this CPU before realizing how worthless the G31 board I have is. Would it be worth swapping in a new board for ~$80 to overclock? The E8400 should still be pretty decent for gaming--Id rather not dump it just yet... (would a mobo swap cause me software hell on a prebuilt?) (I would of course swap out the PSU if I go for 4ghz)
2. SSD/Raptor and dual-boot a full copy of Win 7. This seems like my only option at the moment for a fresh install--because I don't have backups for a lot of the EDU licensed software (full Adobe and Microsoft suites) currently installed on my Vista. This isn't much of a hardware upgrade, but I would want these things for my next build anyhow--so it seems like a decent investment.
3. Start saving for entirely new guts. (I'm thinking a significant performance jump for me would be ~$500 for an i5/X6)
4. Your ideas?/Hybrid options? Feel free to suggest specific parts.
Thanks in advance!
I'm starting to feel my computer slowing down a little and I am looking for other opinions on what my next upgrade step should be. Have I reached the wall where I need to start saving for the upgrade to a new chipset MOBO/CPU/RAM --or are there still incremental upgrades that would be worth it ?
E8400 @ Stock 3.0ghz
Biostar G31-M7 TE (this is total crap--its from when this machine began its life as a prebuilt)
4GB (2x2gb) DDR2 800
HIS 5770 1gb.
Corsair 400CX
Antec 300 case, 5 fans.
Windows Vista SP2, on a WD 7200rpm.
Note: This was originally a cheap Cyberpower prebuilt that I bought when I was in college--now that I have money I've been slowly upgrading parts. I'm financially flexible, but want to get the most out of what I have.. and just don't want to go all in for a new build quite yet.
Usage: Primary usage at the moment is Civ 5, Starcraft 2, (both CPU heavy games I know ...) and streaming HD media.
My ideas:
1. Replace MOBO and Overclock. I had planned to overclock this CPU before realizing how worthless the G31 board I have is. Would it be worth swapping in a new board for ~$80 to overclock? The E8400 should still be pretty decent for gaming--Id rather not dump it just yet... (would a mobo swap cause me software hell on a prebuilt?) (I would of course swap out the PSU if I go for 4ghz)
2. SSD/Raptor and dual-boot a full copy of Win 7. This seems like my only option at the moment for a fresh install--because I don't have backups for a lot of the EDU licensed software (full Adobe and Microsoft suites) currently installed on my Vista. This isn't much of a hardware upgrade, but I would want these things for my next build anyhow--so it seems like a decent investment.
3. Start saving for entirely new guts. (I'm thinking a significant performance jump for me would be ~$500 for an i5/X6)
4. Your ideas?/Hybrid options? Feel free to suggest specific parts.
Thanks in advance!