Upgrading a 2009 build - will it last another year?

[Ebee]

Hi all,

I’ve had my current system for a while now and thinking about upgrading.

Trying to stick to the ‘how to ask for new build or upgrade advice’ format.

Grateful for any thoughts and advice you may have.



Approximate Purchase Date: Original System 2009ish. Hope to upgrade this week.

Budget Range: £300-400 final cost for the upgrade

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, surfing internet, movies

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade:

Current System. Upgrade comments

Case: Coolermaster Storm Scout
PSU: Coolermaster 700W Silent Pro
MOBO: ASUS P7P55D Premium
CPU: Intel Core-i5 750 at 2.67GHz
RAM: 4GB Swap for 8GB or 16GB
GFX: RADEON 5770 HD Swap either to Geforce 660 Ti or Radeon 7870
HDD: 750GB WD SATA 7200rpm, Add an SSD.

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Ebuyer, amazon, microdirect

Location: England, UK

Parts Preferences:

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050

Additional Comments: I haven’t sourced exactly what I would buy in terms of which brand of GFX card, RAM, etc and from where yet, just trying to get an idea if I’m on the right track in terms of the specification.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I’ve had this setup for about 3 years now, although the past year I’ve not had much chance to use it. The last time it got a serious test was running Skyrim at the start of the year and it was starting to chug a bit.

What I really want to know is can I squeeze a year or two more out of this machine running games released this year, and into next on above medium settings, with only a GFX, SSD and RAM upgrade or is it time to spend more and go for a new build?

 

[kitsunestarwind]

You could easily push another year or two out of your rig
Just add more 8gb is enough , 16gb is overkill (but if its not much dearer then 8gb go for it)

GPU moving up to a AMD HD7870 or a GTX 660Ti are both good choices and both a HUGE upgrade over your 5770

 

[Xlerator]

MSI TwinFrozr 7870 £190.23
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-7870-Frozr-Graphics-PCI-E/dp/B007IG2SFO/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1355881338&sr=1-1

G. Skill Ripjaws X £32.25
http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-Skill-Ripjaws-DDR3-1333-Dual/dp/B002X578GE/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1355881287&sr=1-1

Crucial M4 128GB £84.12
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004W2JKZI/?tag=pcp0f-21

Total: £306.60

 

[Ebee]

Thanks for the help and recommendations, lets see if I can get them delivered in time for XMAS

 

[Ebee]

Ended up getting the following:

GFX:
PowerColor PCS+ 7870. £195.29 from Ebuyer.

The MSI TwinFrozr was 27cm long, and would be sticking into the drive bays, so went with this which is about 3cm shorter, to be on the safe side.

RAM:
G-Skill 8GBXL Ripjaws X. £37.50 from Amazon

HDD:
The Crucial M4 that Xlerator linked. £82.52

Total: £315.31

Unfortunately I ordered 2x8GB memory first then afterwards realised the motherboard is 4GB per slot maximum

Might hang on to them for my next build though