What should be my next upgrade?

[mw33zy]

mobo - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
cpu - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core
Pwr Sup - CORSAIR Professional Series HX850
Vid Card - SAPPHIRE 100269HDMI Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit
Hdrive - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM
Ram - OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2
Monitor - SAMSUNG S23A300B
Case - Antec Lanboy air


i'm thinking i need some new vid card. I do a bit of gaming - thinking about going with a nvidia 560ti 448 or something like that. i'm also about to upgrade mobo/heatsink so...

 

[hapkido]

You would benefit from a new GPU since you do some gaming. Depending on how much you use your computer and your budget, you might want an SSD. Everything else looks pretty good.

 

[tinmann]

Hi, What motherboard were you thinking of upgrading to? Are you going to stay with the LGA 775? If you thinking about getting a GTX 560ti you might want to look this one:
The Evga GTX 560 Ti FPB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604
It only has 384 cores but it's a good deal $249.99 and $15 off with promo code HARDOCP12X7E, ends 12/13. Hell, now's the time to go SLI for all those thinking about it. SLI FOR XMAS!!!

 

[mw33zy]

i'm honestly not sure. freakin newegg users who coincidentally are probably just kids building comps and destroying their computers give every mobo bad reviews just about. I'd like anything intel that can fit my CPU and be able to upgrade to i5 sandy bride, and i'm thinking about going maybe MSI/ASUS/EVGA gtx 570.

 

[jsrudd]

Core2 and Sandy Bridge have a different number of pins. There is no motherboard that will support both.

I think you will notice more of a gaming increase if you get a new graphics card (though it will be CPU limited in some CPU heavy games, especially Skyrim).

For every other system task you would notice a huge increase from a motherboard/CPU upgrade.

You could also upgrade your hard drive to an SSD. You will notice a huge decrease in load times for everything, but again SSDs are expensive.

 

[tinmann]

Jsrudd is right, if you want to upgrade to sandybridge your going to need new motherboard, cpu and ram. The good thing is you can upgrade the 3 for around $400. Which isn't that bad when you consider your getting an i5 2500K, a Z68 motherboard and 8gbs of memory.

 

[mw33zy]

so z68 motherboard is what i'm looking for if i'm upgrading to sandy bridge?

 

[amirp]

I wouldn't upgrade anything just yet. here's why:

for the video card I would wait for the new 7000 series to come out, now isnt the greatest time to upgrade for that reason.

The Q9550 is a very capable processor, the 2500k is great, but most games are heavily GPU dependent, and your 4870 (and your hard drive) are your two main bottlenecks right now.

For now, my opinion, get a heatsink, learn how to overclock, once 7000 series arrive get one of those, and then maybe once ivy bridge or intels next set of CPUs arrive upgrade.

 

[amirp]

here look at the Q9550 on this list ( http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-overclocking,3077-5.html ), it is on par with AMD's best offerings and only 2 tiers lower than i5-2500k. Also notice the QX9*** processors just above it, this means by overclocking to match those speeds you will move up a tier, matching current cpu's like the i3-2100, FX-8150 and the fastest Phenom II X4's (At least in gaming performance). This is because those QX processors above yours are of the same gen but just faster clock speeds.

For this reason I suggest overclocking and not spending ~$400 on new ram, mobo, and 2500k. Unless you have a top of the line dual card configuration, your CPU is fast enough to not bottleneck you to the point where you can't obtain a smooth (60fps) gameplay.

 

[mw33zy]

yes but that's the budget way to go. maybe it's just me, but if i can technically bump up to the next tier also. The 4890 isn't bad, but it's not fantastic, especially since it's not sli'd or anything. Also, i'm not going with AMD, i'm going nvidia, i've had so many problems with amd - i hate the drivers, and so many problems out of the card period (could've been saphire's fault). regardless it think nvidia has just - better products at this point. And buying the newest thing is kind of dumb to me, the prices are SOOOOO inflated. Especially when i could buy a 570 and easily bump up to 580 stock speeds. Plus, new cards always have bad drivers because the first few always seem to mess up vid cards. i agree my cpu isn't the problem, but it is something that could be upgraded. I think for my christmas spending on myself, im going to get the Cooler Master 212 heatsink, and Msi geforce gtx 570. I might even get a SSD - but we'll just have to see, they're so damn expensive.