Hello all, looking for some advice.
Approximate Purchase Date: By Christmas
Budget Range: $600-800
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Surfing the Web
Parts Not Required: Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Processor (most likely need new HSF), I have one WDC Raptor
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Amazon
Country of Origin: US of A
Parts Preferences: Intel i7 920 Supported
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe
Monitor Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Additional Comments: Aimed for playing Cataclysm as well as upgradeable.
Existing Configuration:
Gateway FX6800-o1e
Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz
6GB RAM @ 1066MHz
Acer X58 I/O Hub
GeForce 9800 GT
WDC 150GB Raptor
500 Watt PSU
Windows 7 64 Bit Home
Logitech G15 Keyboard
Razer Naga Mouse
Acer 22inch Monitor
Current Upgrade Wishlist:
HAF 932 or Lancool Dragonlord PC-K62 Case
6GB G.Skill 1333
ASRock X58 Extreme
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked 1GB
OCZ 60GB SSD
750W Corsair PSU
Cooler Master Hyper 212
So I bought a Gateway 2 years ago I think, the Gateway FX6800-o1e, which at the time was boasting the i7-920 and a Radeon 4850 HD, and I used it mostly for gaming. Needless to say both the HDD and Video Card have moved on to better pastures and since then I've installed a 150 GB WDC Raptor with Windows 7, added 3 GB of 1066 memory (which apparently the stock memory is PC3-10700H (667 MHz) 1333? according to CPU-Z, when buying it, specs said it had 1066 to begin with), and have been using a friends 9800 GT. With the upcoming release of Cataclysm I've been thinking about making some changes, that and my northbridge, which I thought was the 4850 on Sisoft Sandra, as well as SpeedFan(and I believe the reason the 4850 might have croaked early might have been partly the NB's fault), is clocking in over 100C, and its been doing that for who knows how long, but as far as I can tell it hasn't really affected performance and the rest of the board/surrounding devices aren't hot to the touch like my NB heatsink is. After finally updated the bios for the first time, I tried disabling smart fan and noticed significantly better temperatures, and its been running idle at 68C. I have read that early X58 NBs can run pretty hot, that and I don't believe the case is providing adequate air flow. I have never really messed with overclocking before, except for video cards, which even then I normally use the Card Software to do so. Currently with the stock mobo I cannot overclock anything, other than to turn on turbo features after bios update. That said, from what I understand the i7 920 should still be a decent CPU so my goal is to use the one I have and build around that and probably still use the Raptor.
My current budget is 700-1000, the cheaper the better. My goal is to have a decent solution to build off of but not go too overboard. I have a 22 inch LCD that I run games on at 1680 x 1050 usually and before losing the 4850 was able to run Crysis at the 2nd highest setting with decent frame rates. I'm not even sure if I should stick with the 920 but it seems like the best choice due to availability. I don't really keep up with hardware changes and stuff like that so any advice/help would be much appreciated.
Long story short: Should I upgrade using my 920 to build around or grab something new? Which is basically what I would be doing anyway but yea.
This is what I have on my "wishlist" atm on newegg and its running me up to 900 but I did splurge on a few things.
edit: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/FX6800-Gateway-Gaming,6609.html old review I found.
Approximate Purchase Date: By Christmas
Budget Range: $600-800
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Surfing the Web
Parts Not Required: Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Processor (most likely need new HSF), I have one WDC Raptor
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Amazon
Country of Origin: US of A
Parts Preferences: Intel i7 920 Supported
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe
Monitor Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Additional Comments: Aimed for playing Cataclysm as well as upgradeable.
Existing Configuration:
Gateway FX6800-o1e
Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz
6GB RAM @ 1066MHz
Acer X58 I/O Hub
GeForce 9800 GT
WDC 150GB Raptor
500 Watt PSU
Windows 7 64 Bit Home
Logitech G15 Keyboard
Razer Naga Mouse
Acer 22inch Monitor
Current Upgrade Wishlist:
HAF 932 or Lancool Dragonlord PC-K62 Case
6GB G.Skill 1333
ASRock X58 Extreme
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked 1GB
OCZ 60GB SSD
750W Corsair PSU
Cooler Master Hyper 212
So I bought a Gateway 2 years ago I think, the Gateway FX6800-o1e, which at the time was boasting the i7-920 and a Radeon 4850 HD, and I used it mostly for gaming. Needless to say both the HDD and Video Card have moved on to better pastures and since then I've installed a 150 GB WDC Raptor with Windows 7, added 3 GB of 1066 memory (which apparently the stock memory is PC3-10700H (667 MHz) 1333? according to CPU-Z, when buying it, specs said it had 1066 to begin with), and have been using a friends 9800 GT. With the upcoming release of Cataclysm I've been thinking about making some changes, that and my northbridge, which I thought was the 4850 on Sisoft Sandra, as well as SpeedFan(and I believe the reason the 4850 might have croaked early might have been partly the NB's fault), is clocking in over 100C, and its been doing that for who knows how long, but as far as I can tell it hasn't really affected performance and the rest of the board/surrounding devices aren't hot to the touch like my NB heatsink is. After finally updated the bios for the first time, I tried disabling smart fan and noticed significantly better temperatures, and its been running idle at 68C. I have read that early X58 NBs can run pretty hot, that and I don't believe the case is providing adequate air flow. I have never really messed with overclocking before, except for video cards, which even then I normally use the Card Software to do so. Currently with the stock mobo I cannot overclock anything, other than to turn on turbo features after bios update. That said, from what I understand the i7 920 should still be a decent CPU so my goal is to use the one I have and build around that and probably still use the Raptor.
My current budget is 700-1000, the cheaper the better. My goal is to have a decent solution to build off of but not go too overboard. I have a 22 inch LCD that I run games on at 1680 x 1050 usually and before losing the 4850 was able to run Crysis at the 2nd highest setting with decent frame rates. I'm not even sure if I should stick with the 920 but it seems like the best choice due to availability. I don't really keep up with hardware changes and stuff like that so any advice/help would be much appreciated.
Long story short: Should I upgrade using my 920 to build around or grab something new? Which is basically what I would be doing anyway but yea.
This is what I have on my "wishlist" atm on newegg and its running me up to 900 but I did splurge on a few things.
edit: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/FX6800-Gateway-Gaming,6609.html old review I found.