Advice please on CPU and motherboard

adamuk

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Jul 10, 2011
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Hello guys,

I'm Adam and im pretty new to computer upgrading etc so go easy on me :) just looking for a little advice please.

Right, I have a packard Bell intel core 2 quad Q8300 on a EG43M Motherboard.

Now I know I am VERY restricted to what I can upgrade on this as its prebuilt (dont shoot me had it about 2 years I know I am silly), However I brought a GTX 560ti from Scan and a 650w PSU a few weeks back.

I use Microsoft’s flight simulator, and have been told I am bottlenecking quite badly with this as i am still getting poor FPS in flight simulators.

I've been advised that flight Sims run mostly off CPU not GPU, so how can i go about upgrading this?

Would I be right in saying I could buy a case and then a CPU & Motherboard and id be able to do this??

btw, ive looked on Scan and found a prebuilt over clocked bundle,

Smart - Intel Core i5 2500K - Over clocked to 4.5Ghz - Updated August.

Does this sound viable or am I way off?? Also wasn’t looking to spend any more than around £350 if that’s possible??

Thanks a lot, Adam.
 

djabhi003

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Jun 25, 2011
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The Overclocked i5-2500K And Motherboard Are Great! Just Check What Cooler They Have,Wether Its Branded Or Not!(Like Coolermaster,Antec)!
Also The The 650W PSU Is Great For The Setup, And The GPU Is Definitely Good!
So I Would Say Just Go With It!

And Yeah,Do Get A New Case, For Better Airflow As Your i5 is already Overclocked!
Preferably An Antec Case!
 

Uther39

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Well Adam, i have been using Scan for 10 years now, and they have been truly excellent, so im sure there bundle will be top notch, but if you give us a link to that bundle i will take a look for you and give you my opinion.
 

Uther39

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Ok I found the bundle you were talking about and it looks good value for money but you must buy a decent case I rec a coolermaster haf 912 from scan also @ £62

 

billj214

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Honestly I would just upgrade the CPU. You can install any Q9xxx CPU and get a big boost in power with no reason to go any faster since the GTX 560i will not be bottle necked by a Q9550 or Q9650 which should also be supported by your G43 motherboard. I have a PC with QX9650 and GTX580, runs like a champ.

Also invest in a decent SSD hard drive and you won't even know your not running a Sandy Bridge.
In case you didn't know, Ivy Bridge is just around the corner with Tri-gate transistors which will be another huge jump in performance, doubling the current CPU speeds.

Good Luck.
 

djabhi003

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Well, If You Have The Money To Get An i5-2500K, Then Just Buy It! And As It Is Already Overclocked And Stable(No Shop Would Sell Unstable Stuff I Guess), You Wudn't Have To Go Through Any Hassle Of Overclocking It!

Now Core 2 Quads And LGA775 Sockets Are Ended For Life. No Use Sticking To Them!
And An i5-2500K Overclocked To That Much Will Beat The Crap Out Of Any Core2Quad!
You Are Looking At A PC Which Will Last You A Minimum Of 3 More Years!

Besides The Core2Quads,And Core2Extremes Are All Overpriced! Even Though They Are No Longer Produced,Their Prices Haven't Dropped A Bit!
I Think The Q9650 Is Priced At $340 = £210!(Coudn't Find QX9650, As They Are Already Out Of Stock!)
Way Too Much!!! As You Can Get A I5 For The Same.
 

adamuk

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Jul 10, 2011
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Right Guys, thanks very much for the replys.

I've had a little look around, and come up with the system with what ive already got.

So the finished product would look like this ;

PSU: 650W Hale Modular NZXT.
GPU: GeForce GTX 560Ti, 1gb.
CPU:Intel Core i5 2500k 3.3ghz overclocked to 4.5ghz ,
Cooler: Corsair H60
Mobo: MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 Chipset
RAM: 4gb DDR3 1600Mhz.

Whats your thoughts on this system??

Cheers, Adam.
 

djabhi003

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That Is A Really Great System According To Me! I Mean, If You Ask Any Senior Members Of Tom's They Would Totally Agree With Your Choice Of The i5-2500K!
And The 560ti Is A Superb Card Too! One Recommended By Many!
And 4GB Of RAM Is Enough For Any Games Right Now!

You Will Be Maxing Out COD:Black Ops,GTA4 Etc.!
Crysis Would Definitely Play Very Good At Medium To High Settings(Maybe Even Ultra, But I am Not Sure)!
And About DVD Burning, Video Playback And Conversion,Compression Of Files Etc.. Well, Its Going To Be A Hell Lot Faster Than Your Current Setup!
 

need4speeds

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Add some fans to the packard bell case, i think that case is fine.

- People are not telling you that the packard bell oem windows is tied to the motherboard. So your windows os is toast if you do a board swap.

-windows7 64 bit would be better with the 2500k too.

The packard bell is vista right? and no packard bell drivers for win7 64 bit right?
Instead take the hdd out with the board after you do a recovery or uninstall all of your personal stuff. Take the board/hdd out as a working package.
Ok sell the packard bell os sticker, old hdd, and board/cpu/memory used, if you have the old p/s you can sell it with that too as a package. It would be good for someone upgrading a office system single core computer. You could also if you still have them, include the crummy wired packard bell mouse/keyboard/speakers too.
-Hint: use a empty cereal box and set the board on top, set the hdd below inside the box, and packard bell p/s beside the box, plug everything in, get it working so you can show it working and booting up windows, people will want to see it working if you are selling the parts used.

Buy a new faster hdd. The oem hdd's tend to be pretty slow.

-Use the money to help buy windows7 and the new cpu/board/memory.
 

need4speeds

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The os sticker should come off with a hairdryer and razer blade scraper or boxcutter/utility knife blade. Record the product key first, maybe take a picture too, in case you ruin the sticker a bit.

The os is on a special partition on the hdd, you might also have recovery disks, sell those too with the package.
 

adamuk

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Jul 10, 2011
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Hello guys

The packard bell i have is Win7 64 bit.

I am definatly going to get the new case because this one i have is small and i want to be able to do upgrades in the future.

So i need atleast a 3.3 ghz cpu for flight simulator, With this in mind, could you possibly goto www.scan.co.uk and get me a list of things you would personally go with?? This would really help me out.

Thanks guys. Adam.
 

need4speeds

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You need to find out if the packard bell oem win7 64 bit will work if you change the motherboard or not. Most package systems tie the motherboard bios ident string to the os so you cant upgrade the board.

You might have to sell the board/cpu/memory/hdd/case together with the packard bell os. It sounds like with windows7 64 bit, the packard bell mouse/keyboard, it might be better just to sell it like that since you are basically building a new system anyway.
A core2quad with the onboard vid is still a decent computer for internet or office use so it should still sell ok.
 

djabhi003

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You Can Buy A New Windows 7! They Come With Both 32 Bit And 64 Bit In One Package!
Which Means In Future If You Have To Format, Reinstall After Another Upgrade, You Can! :)