[sirius]

Can't decide if I should sell my current rig or upgrade a few parts. I was planning on going all out and building a very expensive setup with a custom water cooling loop etc etc when haswell comes out next year but my current system is really starting to piss me off. It's a dell xps 630i that I got for very cheap, only reason I bought a dell. It's running with a q6600 g0, ddr2 ram, 750watt psu, a 9800 gt, and a shitty dell board with a nforce 650i chipset.

I figure I can spend about 200 and upgrade the videocard and get some new fans to help cooling, current ones aren't the best, along with 2gb of ram (fuck ddr2 prices though) and oc a bit (board won't allow much at all). That would make the system run decent I think. Or, I could spend about 400 and get a new motherboard (eyeing a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P atm) and case along with the other things (bit better videocard to match the oc ->), overclock everything, and really make use of the timeless monster that is the q6600. Are there any lga775 boards that match the Gigabytes legendary oc status that use ddr3? That would really be helpful. Seriously fuck ddr2 prices!

3rd option: I could just sell it all and put it into something like an i5 3570k based build spend about 1000 on it, but then haswell and shit you know?
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I hope this post is intelligible - I typed it out really fast sorry
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edit - forgot, doing gaming, wow, sc2, bf3 etc typical things.

[Polymath20]

What do you want to achieve with this rig?

[bobabrowncoat]

Hokay. My usual line of thinking is: If you're going to upgrade more than a couple parts (or a major part, like the motherboard) you might as well just start from scratch and save yourself the headache.

I've built my computers for years and just got so sick of having to fix niggling little things. So, my last one I bought from iBUYPOWER. There are several other places you could buy from if you didn't want to build your own. Doghouse Systems is another. But, if you just want to build it yourself, go for it.

[Photolysis]

I don't see the point of spending that much to upgrade fairly old tech, which is going to give you pretty limited value for money. To actually get anything out of it, you'd have to replace so many parts that you might as well just get a new PC.

At the very least you'd have to get a new motherboard, a much more recent card, and DDR3 RAM. And the RAM is going to be greatly limited by a 5 year old CPU, even if you overclock the FSB.

So yes, your money is better spent elsewhere.

[SoundofSilence]

	Originally Posted by Polymath20 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	What do you want to achieve with this rig?

This.

And you could wait for Haswell, but there's always going to be newer technology, so you would have to wait forever. It's pointless in most cases. Just buy what has the best price / performance ratio for your purposes at this moment.

[sirius]

Alright m8s, thanks for the help. Pretty much what I expected, gonna start looking at parts - anyone know a good ivy ocing board? Looking at the GIGABYTE Z77X-UD3H atm

[SoundofSilence]

	Originally Posted by sirius To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Alright m8s, thanks for the help. Pretty much what I expected, gonna start looking at parts - anyone know a good ivy ocing board? Looking at the GIGABYTE Z77X-UD3H atm

The Z77X-D3H is pretty much the same, but cheaper. Would go for the Z77X-D3H if you don't use eSata and/or the DP for the onboard graphics.

Ignore this^. I just saw the Z77X-UD3H has some nice features useful for overclocking which the Z77X-D3H doesn't have. Seems to be one of the best mobos you can get.

[Causa Mortis]

	Originally Posted by Photolysis To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I don't see the point of spending that much to upgrade fairly old tech, which is going to give you pretty limited value for money.

Yes.

Additionally, recall that Windows 8 is just around the corner. I'm very excited about it, considering that my #1 frustration with technology at the moment is the fact that I have to keep track of data integration on a personal desktop, a work laptop, a work phone, a personal phone, an iPod, and an e-reader. Data integrating all of this is a pain in the ass, and I'd like it to happen seamlessly.

[DroppedG7]

If you want to see builds being made right now check out -


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This is a good place to get ideas. If you want the most GPU power for lowest price I suggest the same setup as I have - 2x 460 gtx 1gb video cards. The can be had for $70 each from ebay and in SLI they out score a 580. Literally the best price to performance you can get. I lock my fps @ 60 and get that easily in every game. They are overclock beasts and I scored 9th so far against other similar setups on Air Cooling.

Proof here -
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A good budget system would have an i5 quad core overclocked to 3.8ghz+ using x58 components and minimum 8gb ram. If wanting to use Virtual machines the more ram the better.

[SoundofSilence]

	Originally Posted by DroppedG7 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	A good budget system would have an i5 quad core overclocked to 3.8ghz+ using x58 components and minimum 8gb ram. If wanting to use Virtual machines the more ram the better.

Wait, I haven't followed the newest updates in hardware world, but isn't X58 (socket 1366) only compatible with i7's? It's also supposed to be triple channel, so 8GB wouldn't make sense.

[DroppedG7]

	Originally Posted by SoundofSilence To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Wait, I haven't followed the newest updates in hardware world, but isn't X58 (socket 1366) only compatible with i7's? It's also supposed to be triple channel, so 8GB wouldn't make sense.

Lol you're right everything I said is wrong. It should of been an i7 on 1366 and 6gb but anyways here is some budget priced parts that when overclocked perform into the 2500k range but are using x58 architecture -

Cpu / mobo

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cpu/mobo/ram

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Max out board with
Ram 24GB @ 6x4GB-


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That usually sells for 150 so good deal.

I caught a 24GB deal from slickdeals.net for team elite ram (value) and it runs great. Paid $89


You can get two video cards 460 gtx's @ 70-80 make sure matching ram amount / ddr5 / 336 shader cores / 256bit by researching model numbers if that info isn't on the page -


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I highly recommend the MSI Cyclone 460 gtx models with their open fan design as I never go above 65c at full throttle and overclocked to 900mhz. can't vouch for the others but I have tested this manufacture and it is a winner. Whenever going SLI you need lots of airflow in the computer*

You maybe can get by with one if you want to use maximum graphics on 1920x1080 resolution. They should come with two 6 pin to 4pin molex cable adapters which you probably want unless you get or have an SLI capable power supply :



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many say don't skimp in this area but I'm all for the game of gambling. I think the number of rails are a good determination of if it will produce steady power at full load.

Economy $ Game x58 PC
- cpu/mobo = $200+- 24gbram $100+- GPU(s) $70-140 700watt PSU $50+- case $50+- 2x Artic Silver for cpu/gpu heatsinks A MUST - $10 Windows $89 (optional) HDD ($50 1tb) Check slickdeals.net for best value SSD drives you can find 120gb @ $80 or get a couple normal HDDs and raid 0 them unless you have your own already.

200 cpu/mobo *ebay specials
100 ram @ 24GB
140 2 460gtx 1gb's
50 PSU
50 Case
10 paste
=
$550

EDIT: see you have 750watt PSU so -$50

Optional
Windows (if you have retail copy it can be transferred from current)
HDD (if performance is poor on current drive- use DiskMark to check)
+ $175

[sirius]

Looks like a nice build for the price but if I'm putting together a new system I'd rather buy shiny new components
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Here's what I put together last night. Pretty set on this now but I'd like to hear some opinions.


cpu: i5 3570k - 238.99

cpu cooler: Corsair h100 - 109.99

motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H - 177.99

memory: Corsair Vengeance 4x4gb - 98.99

hdd: Using my current 7200.12 barracuda

ssd: Intel 320series GEN3 40gb - 94.29

video card: Gigabyte HD 7950 Windforce - 339.99

psu: Silverstone Evolution 850W gold - 169.99

case: Corsair Carbide 500R - 119.99

fans: Scythe SlipStream 1600RPM 88.1CFM - 9.80 x5=49
Scythe SlipStream 1600RPM 38CFM - 10.99 x2=21.98


So that ends up being $1421.20 before taxes, we have to pay full taxes for online orders here in Ontario. Would make back around $400 from selling my xps, might be able to scumbag hassle it up a little higher too, never know. Prices are all from NCIX/Newegg Canada.

Planning to use intel srt hence the tiny ssd, not sure if I should downgrade the ssd though, could get a 30gb one for about $50.00 from any other company. But having that intel reliability seems nice since it'll be caching. Went with the UD5H instead of the UD3H because it was only $10 more and has some extra features that I liked, heatsink on the vrms, and an extra heatpipe is huge imo. Second set of fans have higher static pressure than the other set so they're for the rad. I think 850 watts will be fine for this build right? Planning to oc as much as I can without pushing too hard (think ~4.6 on the cpu) would be using this pc daily so don't want to go too crazy in that regard. Chose the 7850 because it's just so much cheaper than the 670 now, still kinda looking at which 7850 would be best though. They all perform very close to each other in the benchmarks I've seen. The Gigabyte one would look good with their mobo I think. Went with 16gb of ram because I do a lot of multi tasking, and I never want to be low on ram again lol. H100 because fuck giant air coolers and the 500r is just a sick case for the price. Edit: Unsure of the fans too, didn't get a chance to really look into them just think Scythes look cool and noticed they were a fair bit cheaper than some of the counterparts I had in mind (Corsair, Noctua, Silverstone, Bitfenix).

Kinda want to spend the extra hundred on a 3770k but feeling a little apprehensive about it. I know that there is no difference in games and that is what this machine would be primarily used for, but idk if I'll get into things like video edting in the future so it would be nice to have. How much better does the 3770k actually perform in hyperthreaded applications? All I can find are gaming benchmarks.

Alright, that's it for now. Thanks for any thoughts guys.

[DroppedG7]

The price to performance of everything you posted is atrocious but more power too you.

[SarcasticVlad]

Sell. With that setup you were probably looking into buying a GPU, right? Don't bother. Any newer GPU would be severely bottlenecked by the CPU and DDR2 RAM. Even if you overclock your Q6600 to 3.6. And buying a new CPU as well as new GPU would be a waste of money.

Time for a new rig.

EDIT: Fuck, you already decided. Now my awesome advice is meaningless. Alright then, let me give you another piece of advice. Next generation of consoles is just around the corner. Your new rig will be top of the line for just about 2 more years until PS4 and Xbox Whatever is out. Because consoles are more optimized for gaming than PC you will need a lot of processing power to play new PC games when the next gen hits the market. Don't spend that much on a rig that will be outdated so soon.

[sirius]

	Originally Posted by DroppedG7 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	The price to performance of everything you posted is atrocious but more power too you.

Well yes, generally the higher up the performance ladder you go, the more price to performance you sacrifice. Mind posting some cheaper counterparts to what I chose? The only part I know I splurged on was the ssd and I mentioned my reasoning for this.

	Sell. With that setup you were probably looking into buying a GPU, right? Don't bother. Any newer GPU would be severely bottlenecked by the CPU and DDR2 RAM. Even if you overclock your Q6600 to 3.6. And buying a new CPU as well as new GPU would be a waste of money. Time for a new rig.

Guess I should have made a new thread lol, scroll down from OP m8, or up from here.

Editing for your edit.

EDIT: Fuck, you already decided. Now my awesome advice is meaningless. Alright then, let me give you another piece of advice. Next generation of consoles is just around the corner. Your new rig will be top of the line for just about 2 more years until PS4 and Xbox Whatever is out. Because consoles are more optimized for gaming than PC you will need a lot of processing power to play new PC games when the next gen hits the market. Don't spend that much on a rig that will be outdated so soon.

Gonna have to look into this. We have no word on the type of hardware being used for these consoles though afaik. Either way, it's not like the system would suddenly stop running after 2 years, given your scenario, it just wouldn't run the latest games very well. Valid point though, I'm so used to pcs shitting on consoles if the next gen consoles came out and ran games much better than my pc I would be sad
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but things like this are inevitable, like someone mentioned above, there will always be something new coming out the next year.

[SarcasticVlad]

PC will probably outmatch new consoles in less than a year. If you can't wait that long you could make a smaller upgrade. A CPU overclock (needs a good cooler) and an AMD 5850. It's a cheap solution and it will provide you with a good necessary performance boost. You don't need more than that until the next gen arrives. But I guess all of this depends on how much money you make and how much is too much for you.

[codip426]

What is your spending range? I recently dropped around $1k for a hefty home built PC. 2500k, P8Z68-V Pro Mobo, and a GTX 470 are the basis of it. I had Photoshop, gaming, and relative longevity in mind.

As for your setup, you can spend ~40% less and get probably 90% of the performance.

[Photolysis]

	Originally Posted by SarcasticVlad To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	PC will probably outmatch new consoles in less than a year.

PCs already outmatch new consoles because the tech in new consoles is not cutting edge (there's no real gain for MS/Sony in making it extremely powerful, Nintendo's latest offering is equivalent to 7 year old technology) and the resolution of HDTVs limits graphical fidelity.

Compare that to PCs where much higher resolutions are being used, and where 'high definition' was around for a decade before HDTVs existed.

[DroppedG7]

Don't even mention a console when comparing game hardware.

I also wanted to state that the $350 card you suggested - ATI 7950 at best scores 7200 MAYBE on 3dmark11 as proven here -
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My two SLI 460 gtx's for $140 bang out 8000.

Proof -
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I run my OC on CPU/GPU/Air 24/7 without a hitch for the past 2 years straight.

Other 400 series Nvidia card scores with proof -
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I got 9th with my setup.. not bad for having slowest CPU and only Air .

Also no one buys ATI if they are serious.

[SoundofSilence]

Originally Posted by DroppedG7 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Don't even mention a console when comparing game hardware. I also wanted to state that the $350 card you suggested - ATI 7950 at best scores 7200 MAYBE on 3dmark11 as proven here - To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. My two SLI 460 gtx's for $140 bang out 8000. Proof - To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. I run my OC on CPU/GPU/Air 24/7 without a hitch for the past 2 years straight. Other 400 series Nvidia card scores with proof - To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. I got 9th with my setup.. not bad for having slowest CPU and only Air . Also no one buys ATI if they are serious.

Fanboy much?

[sirius]

Originally Posted by DroppedG7 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Don't even mention a console when comparing game hardware. I also wanted to state that the $350 card you suggested - ATI 7950 at best scores 7200 MAYBE on 3dmark11 as proven here - To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. My two SLI 460 gtx's for $140 bang out 8000. Proof - To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. I run my OC on CPU/GPU/Air 24/7 without a hitch for the past 2 years straight. Other 400 series Nvidia card scores with proof - To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. I got 9th with my setup.. not bad for having slowest CPU and only Air . Also no one buys ATI if they are serious.

I'm fairly certain that the 7950 in that link is a reference card,
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is a link to the Gigabyte windforce model. It scores a 9258 oc'd, which is higher than the top dual 460 score in that thread. I'd be willing to bet the 7950 also outperforms dual 460s in games, seeing as how a pair of 460s are about equal to a 580 and the 7950 edges out the 580 in most games. Not the mention the vram differences and what that entails at higher resolutions/aa settings.

Either way I'd really like to avoid any dual-GPU issues, and save the extra space/power/heat.

[codip426]

Originally Posted by sirius To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I'm fairly certain that the 7950 in that link is a reference card, To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. is a link to the Gigabyte windforce model. It scores a 9258 oc'd, which is higher than the top dual 460 score in that thread. I'd be willing to bet the 7950 also outperforms dual 460s in games, seeing as how a pair of 460s are about equal to a 580 and the 7950 edges out the 580 in most games. Not the mention the vram differences and what that entails at higher resolutions/aa settings. Either way I'd really like to avoid any dual-GPU issues, and save the extra space/power/heat.

That card will be fine, but as said you can spend significantly less to get something almost as good. I'd just use this site as a general guide (
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), and start hitting ebay for your best deal.

I scored my GTX470 for $150 and it had an EK waterblock mounted to it already.

[DroppedG7]

	Originally Posted by SoundofSilence To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Fanboy much?

NVidia beats ATI in every class both performance and price. To deny is to admit willful ignorance.

[SoundofSilence]

	Originally Posted by DroppedG7 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	NVidia beats ATI in every class both performance and price. To deny is to admit willful ignorance.

	Originally Posted by DroppedG7 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Also no one buys ATI if they are serious.

You made it sound like you were an Nvidia fanboy. Nvidia is not necessarily the best buy for all pc's.