Out of it for 4 years, worthy upgrade?

Associate
Joined
21 Apr 2010
Posts
103
Its been 4/5 years since i have had a proper system upgrade. My current specs are...

Core2Duo Wolfdale E7200 OC to 3.2ghz
ABit Pro 35 Motherboard
3GB Savers Ram :S
GeForce 8800GTX
22" 1680x1050 LCD Monitor

This is what im considering buying in the next week or two...




Do you think this is a worthwhile upgrade? I've been out of touch with the hardware side of things but im liking the idea of having the overclocking done for me with the right combination of memory and board... i spent a good couple of weeks with my Core2Duo trying to get the settings right... and this time round i'd like to skip that part!

I guess i should notice a nice difference playing on the 24" Benq at full HD Resolution for a change too.

Hopefully this kind of setup will last another good 4 years until the next upgrade...
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Feb 2010
Posts
14,591
This is what im considering buying in the next week or two...
That i7 920 bundle is a real bargin right now with £44 discount price at £506. That special offer however is this week only, so if you don't buy this week, it will be back to the £550 price point next week.

You better decide quick on to buy or not.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
21 Apr 2010
Posts
103
Thanks everyone for the help.

My PSU is a Coolermaster eXtreme Power 650W PSU. As for the old chip, its going into a dedicated media server to replace a first generation athlon :)

Do you think a quad core and 5770 will last 4 years though? as that is the next time i will be looking to upgrade.

Im also going to be using my existing case which is an Antec 900. Hope its big enough for the new sizes of gfx cards!

Also note i opted for the overclocked 5870 so i wont need to mess with it... hopefully would mean its a more worthy investment to last longer..
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Feb 2010
Posts
14,591
Do you think a quad core and 5770 will last 4 years though? as that is the next time i will be looking to upgrade..
That's a typo mistake right? Think you meant to say 5870.

To tell you the truth...it would depending of however heavy is the tessellations of dx11 being applied to future games. While HD 5850/5870 coup really well with current and old games, it is well-know that they lack power in the tessellations department. CPU and motherboard I'd say it should last you the coming 4 years, but I can't really say the same for the graphic card...you might need to upgrade to newer architecture cards in around 2 years' time.

By the way, what Windows/OS you using?
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Feb 2010
Posts
14,591
Sorry when i said a 5770 i was referring to this suggestion..
Ah I see what you were asking now.

The answer is no. 5770 is bordline capable of provide smooth gameplay for 1080p/1200p monitor. Also, the ABit Pro 35 Motherboard is not the best board for overclocking Core2Quad...P45 chipset boards are the one that can push the overclock to higher. Most people that are upgrading their socket 775 based platform from Core2Duo to Core2Quad tends to have only expectation of prolonging the PC's life by around 1-2 years I think.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,805
8800GTX->5770 wouldn't be a massive upgrade. Stick a 5850 in there, OC it a bit so its comparable performance to a 5870 and your laughing - things really haven't moved on all that much since you bought that last rig - a 3+gig dual core is still adequate for 90% of tasks out there. While that upgrade is pretty decent value for money I think you might be a little dissapointed compared to your old rig (which is still pretty decent) and the money you spent.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
21 Apr 2010
Posts
103
Thanks guys. I was pretty sure its the graphics card letting me down. I've had to turn settings down quite a bit in AVP and BC2 to at least enjoy a smooth experience.

If i placed the Core2Duo Wolfdale E7200 back to stock for my media Server which cooler would you recommend for least power consumption and noise? The media server will be on 24/7 so i dont want it getting too hot but at the same time i dont want it drawing much power if possible.
 
Back
Top Bottom