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Rebuild or replace?

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Current Asus P5N-D, Intel E6600 2.4 mhz dual core, 4 gig ddr2 ram, (4) WD SATA drives in a raid 5, (2) 8800 GTS 320mb ddr3 SLI cards


It's a few years old, and starting to feel a bit sluggish. General PC use, WoW gaming.

Right now, I feel like the processor is a bottleneck, but I don't think stepping up to a quad core is going to make a big difference.

So, considering a i5-2500, which means a new mb, new ram........then I need to worry about the video.


Are the 8800 GTS cards just outdated? What would I need to step up to where I would really notice a big improvement?

I haven't been thrilled with SLI, I've had some crashing problems, so I actually wouldn't mind going to a single card.

I can probably budget about $500 to $800 for this.


upgrading, once you do one piece, it's on to the next weak link!

More about : rebuild replace

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Homebuilt system Master

TBH, I would start over from scratch.

With $800 you can get a system that will crush the other one.

You would probably be able to run the same game like 4 times on the computer at the same time and still have better performance.

Especially so if you can salvage some things like the hard drives and use them on the new system.

I don't think you will have good results even if you maximize what you can do with the parts you have.

If you tried to get, say, a GTX 580 and stick it in then the processor would bottleneck it.
Homebuilt system Authority

I would start from scratch and reuse the old HDD.

This is the set-up I would use:

CPU: i5 2500k $220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Graphics: GIGABYTE GV-N560UD-1G GeForce GTX 560 Ti $210
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

HDD: Have $0

RAM: Patriot Signature 8GB Model PSD38G1600KH $36
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Heatsink+Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

DVD-ROM: SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner $16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Total: $772

Explanation: I chose this build because the i5 2500k is one of the best CPUs in that price range. It is overclockable, so the Hyper 212 EVO is for the overclocking. The 560Ti is a great gfx card. The motherboard allows for SLI configuration, so if you obtain more money in the future, you can SLI the 560Ti and get a system that'll perform better than a system with a single 580. The power supply is reputable, although the company has some problems with rebates...The case includes 3 fans, and should provide ample air flow. The Patriot memory is from a good company and is a low profile RAM with heat spreaders, so they shouldn't get into the way of the CPU cooler. The DVD-ROM is obviously for Win7 installation and running games
 
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