Upgrading gaming rig. 2 choices

[Martyr82]

Hi, a short history:

I've always built my own computer. Back in the day (10 years ago), I would go through one every 2-3 years.

It has been four years since I last built a computer and with the impending release of Diablo 3, I am feeling the need to upgrade.

Old PC:

CPU: E7200
RAM: 4GB 800mhz Corsair
GPU: 9800GTX
MOBO: ASUS P5K-SE
HDD: 500GB SATA
PSU: 700w thermaltake

Now, the P5K-SE can handle upgrades;

RAM: 8GB 1066mhz
GPU: ???
CPU: up to: Core 2 QUAD Q9650, Core 2 EXTREME QX9770, Core 2 E8600
HDD: SATA 3gps only?

My question is this;

Is it worth buying those old cpus and ram (if I can even find them), along with adding a new gpu?
Or should I just scrap the ram/cpu/mobo/gpu and buy new ones?

Clearly option 2 is more expensive. But it should provide a 150-200% boost to my FPS in new games.
What does option 1 provide? Would a new GPU alone be completely bottle necked and only give a 50% increase?

 

[refillable]

It's up to you.

Better you get the second option. Clearly it will be more future proof and have better upgradebility, even though you paid more money. If you would get an E8600, it will bottleneck good cards. If you get Q9650, It will probably cost you more than $200, you can get i5-2500k in that price. If you get a Q9650, you will not get the power of i5-2500k and it will probably not going to hold high-end card such as 7970, even though you are not upgrading to it, you will probably next time when prices of 7970 is $300. In the other hand if you get a QX9770, you will waste your money because it may cost you more than $500 and at that price you can get i5-2500k, p67 and some DDR3 1600 dual channel rams together. Here is what I'd get rather for less than $1000 and should be some great upgrade with your 700w Thermaltake.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102963
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131702
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104173

 

[sunnk]

its not an good idea to get one of those cpus for gaming and overclocking you should go with i52500k.

for video of comaparison.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiqS341ibbc

for benchmark.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/49?vs=109

 

[sunnk]

for gpu what is your budget?

 

[purple stain]

I agree with everyone else going with the 2nd option seems to be the best.The LGA 775 is a dead end platform and the 1156 is starting to show it's age in more CPU demanding games.

The 9800GTX however is still has use and is comparable to a AMD 6770.If you do upgrade your CPU and other componets the 9800GTX should fare well in Diablo 3.You can hold out with the 9800GTX until Nvidia release's it's new series of cards and the price wars will begin and you can get a new GPU then.Diablo 3 isn't that demanding so you shouldn't have any trouble with that.But other games may require more GPU power.

What other games do you play?

 

[Martyr82]

Thanks all. I was pretty much leaning that way after researching how expensive Q and QX CPU's still are. I only really want to play SC2 and Diablo3. But I'm sure that at LAN's, modern FPS etc will be in play. But yeah, I want to have a great D3 experience mainly, that's about it.

It's interesting to see how this has all changed. 10 years ago you wouldn't dream of spending 50% your budget on a GPU and having change from $50 for your RAM. But I guess things have changed for us gamers.

One more thing, If I was considering picking up a 60GB SSD for the OS+Favourite 3 games. If I did, would it be a 'no-brainer' to change the motherboard from a P67 to a Z68?

 

[purple stain]

Not really.Although I reccomend going with a Z68 chipset in anyway because it has everything the P67 has and more for around the same price.

From what I gather the main difference between the P67 and Z68 is that the Z68 chipset will still allow you to use the onboard GPU within the processor(say your video card breaks or something you can still use it as a temporary fix,still being able to use your PC).The Z68 chipset also has Intel's Smart Response Technology which use's a smaller sized SSD(say 20GB or so) as a cache drive for the HDD.So using a 60GB SSD as a cache would a waste.

As long as your only putting those 2 games and the OS on the SSD you shouldn't run into any space problems but I own a 60GB SSD and it is really cramped.I can only put my most vital things on it where loading times would matter most.Wish I had more space.Hopefully getting another 60GB sometime soon so I can run them in RAID 0.

As for your GPU situation as I mentioned before with a new processor you should be fine in those games and your 9800GTX shouldn't have any problem playing them on high settings.So I suggest holding out for the new GPU's and wait for the price wars to pick one up.

 

[wolfram23]

Z68 is pretty similar in price to P67, not much point in P67 anymore. An i5 2500k would also be best bang for the buck AND future proof, but an i3 2120 is a really good CPU and a fair bit cheaper. RAM is also very cheap these days so that's almost a non issue.

I don't think any 775 CPU upgrade would be worthwhile these days.

 

[Martyr82]

Best answer selected by Martyr82.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey