Upgrade Options

[headhunter234]

Hi all, looking for some suggestions on possible upgrades to the below system purchased from Cyberpower almost 4 years ago, I havent updated it in anyway since then other than go to windows 7, and its still doing reasonably well, its main duties are Battlefield 3, Formula 1 2012 and odd bit of video watching/ browseing ect.

The main question is are there any worthwhile upgrades to significantly improve performance or wold you recommend holding out for another year and starting from scratch?

System as follows running on Hannspree M19W4 @ 1440x900 with 100mb fibre optic internet.

CAS: Apevia X-Telstar Junior 420W Case w/ Temp Display and Fan Control (Side-Panel 250mm UV LED Fan)
CASUPGRADE: NONE
CS_FAN: Default Case Fan
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® CoreT 2 Duo E8500 CPU @ 3.16GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 ***Overclockable XXX*** Cache 64-bit
CD: SONY DUAL FORMAT 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
CABLE: None
FLASHMEDIA: None
FA_HDD: None
FAN: INTEL LGA775 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
FLOPPY: NONE
HDD: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
IEEE_CARD: NONE
KEYBOARD: NONE [-4]
MOUSE: NONE [-4]
MODEM: NONE
MOTHERBOARD: MSI P43 Neo-F P43 Chipset LGA775 Supports Core 2 Duo CPU FSB1333 DDR2/800 SATA2 Mainboard w/GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio ***Overclockable S&S***
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)4GB (2x2GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (G.SKILL Value Select or Major Brand)
MONITOR: NONE [-104]
MONITOR2: NONE
NETWORK: ADDITIONAL 10/100/1000 NETWORK CARD PCI [+10]
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
OS: Microsoft® Windows VistaT Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition [+10])
PS_VGA: NONE
POWERSUPPLY: 800 Watts Power Supplies [+94] (Tagan 800W TG800-BZ PipeRock Series Modular Power Supply)]
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: Logitech S220 2.1 Stereo Speaker System
TEMP: NONE (AS SHOWN)
TVRC: NONE
UPS: None
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
USBHD: NONE
VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 4870 PCI-E x16 1GB DDR5 Video Card [+75]
VIDEO2: NONE
VIDEO3: NONE
WEBCAM: NONE
WNC: NONE
WAP: NONE

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Leon

 

[dingo07]

without even reading the specs, and only going off of your description of it being purchased 4 years ago - don't waste your money putting anything into it

start fresh and buy a whole new system that's based on the newer, faster technology available today

 

[headhunter234]

Thanks for the reply. I thought that would probably be the case for things like ram/processor/mb. But i wasnt sure wether it may be worth buying a 7870 or something similiar.

I think (probably wrong) that the pci x are backwards compatable but will my old system render the new card pointless? I was hopeing that i could make some sort of upgrade that i would then be able to take forward onto the new system.

On a side note what sort of price range is required for new builds these days to have a comfortable lifespan of 3-4years? when i brought the above it was £800 with no monitor. Im assumeing the inflation rate has probably taken this up to around £1200?

Thanks

Leon

 

[jackspeed]

without even reading the specs, and only going off of your description of it being purchased 4 years ago - don't waste your money putting anything into it

start fresh and buy a whole new system that's based on the newer, faster technology available today

A new gpu in this may give it some extra life. If the OP is wanting to extend the life of this pc or reduce the cost of an upgrade in the future you could get a nice GPU now and wait for later for the rest of the machine.

At the moment your cpu is not the bottleneck. this article is dated but it does have a similar cpu. The 4870 has similar performance to a 260. and your cpu is not a bottleneck to a 4890 on some games.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-balanced-platform,2469-8.html

There is room to albeit a small amount to grow. If you do not feel like upgrading then get a new pc. If you are thinking about a new pc but dont want to make the commitment then upgrade to something you will use in the new pc.

Also $800, and I usually assume the exchange rate with markups is 1 to 1, can make a Decent to good computer. Was your windows 7 an upgrade copy? $200 gpu, $200 cpu, $100 mobo, $100 windows, $65 psu, $35 ram, $50 case, $70 hdd, $20 dvd drive. This puts the total at $840. you could reuse the dvd drive and the hdd which gives room to work with.

 

[headhunter234]

Hi Jackspeed,

So you think currently its most likely to be my processor being the bottleneck?, was playing battlefield 3 just now and did notice that my cpu is spending all its time at 90-100.

Its not essential to upgrade either current pc or get a new pc just yet my current is still very playable but I would prefer slightly better details ect in the latest games, which is what promted the question weaher i could gain noticeable improvement upgradeing parts that i could then take on. Main reason my mortgate deposit dont grow too quick when i keep spending it

No it wasnt a upgrade copy of windows 7 it was a new licence, I have access to around 500 unused windows 7 pro licences from work. (All new desktops at work are registered on a corporate code, the licences attached to the side of the machines remains unsed for the life of the machine so I just peeled off a sticker from a old machine)

Oh thats not to bad then, still can't justify a new pc yet as I can still play everygame out there although some have to be medium settings.

Regards
Leon

 

[jackspeed]

So you think currently its most likely to be my processor being the bottleneck

No that's not what I was saying.

BF3 needs a lot of processor power many other games do not require as much. Many games would probably run better with just a gpu upgrade. If you do not have the funds I was saying you could put 200-250 to upgrade your gpu now. And in 6 months? 1 year? get the rest of a new computer. If you are fine with the current state then save for a new computer all at onece. I missed you mentioning BF3 somehow. BF3 is a processor heavy game. But your gpu would be the bottle neck in most games. Although not by much.

 

[headhunter234]

Thanks for the suggestion, will keep an eye out for any good deals on gpu, and get the rest at later date, just wondering what your opinion on something like the below woulb be.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMD-Bulldozer-FX-8120-8-Core-CPU-MOTHERBOARD-BUNDLE-32GB-MEMORY-/170809230638

regards

 

[headhunter234]

Best answer selected by Headhunter234.

 

[jackspeed]

It looks ok but the mobo kinda sucks.
This would be much better £275
i5 3570k £175
http://www.ebuyer.com/349029-intel-core-i5-3570k-3-4ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80637i53570k
gigabit mobo £70
http://www.ebuyer.com/407542-gigabyte-ga-z77p-d3-socket-1155-hdmi-7-1-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z77p-d3

Ram £30+shipping
http://www.ebuyer.com/342352-crucial-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ballistix-sport-memory-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00ceu

You do not need more then 8GB of ram.

That would be better and equivalently priced to what you listed.

A Gpu 150
http://www.ebuyer.com/390921-sapphire-hd-7850-oc-2gb-dual-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-card-11200-14-20g

a psu 44+ship
http://www.ebuyer.com/278634-corsair-500w-cx-v2-psu-cmpsu-500cxv2uk

All together 469 If you want a case or hdd it would be more.
If you were to just upgrade the graphics card I would suggest a 7870 because it would last longer.