Hi, this is my first post on the Bit-Tech forums even though I have been using the main site for quite a while now as well as checking out the project logs in the forums. I have also been a Custom PC reader for over 3 years. I basically just need some advice. I have the opportunity to upgrade my pc, which doesn't happen that often. I'm just not sure if it's going to be worth it or not. My current system is: Intel Q9550 OC'd to 3.66GHz Asus P5Q Deluxe Mobo 2x2GB OCZ Blade PC2-6400 @1032MHz Asus GTX275 896MB running Cheesecake! Clock speeds PNY 9800GT 1GB for Physx and second monitor Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB, F3 500GB, F1 320GB Titan Fenrir CPU Cooler Corsair 650TX PSU Antec P182SE Case I plan on buying: Intel i7 930 Gigabyte ga-x58a-ud3r 3x2GB Corsair XMS3 PC3-12800 The new parts will cost me around £500 but I will be borrowing around £200 of that which I will have to pay back by selling the old parts. So in total it will cost me around £300 after I sell the old parts. I'm pretty pleased with the performance of my system as it is, and I know I can squeeze more from my CPU, but I currently have problems with high ambient temps due to the room my pc is in. I know at some point I will have to upgrade to LGA1366 before my system is too outdated, I'm just not sure if this will be the best way to spend my money right now (like I said I don't get the chance to upgrade often) Any advice is welcome, thanks in advance
I am in a similar position to yourself and thinking to upgrade my graphics card, which is an old x1950xtx, or upgrade my Q6600 in the other rig to an i7. Being realistic though I do not need to and it is something that can be done later on. The key thing here is that you are happy with your current performance, so I think you should wait. When its time for you to upgrade, for the same money you can only get something better than what you would have got now.
I'd agree with raxonb here, it looks like you've still got a pretty meaty system and if you're happy with what it can do then wait Odds are that Intel will produce a new socket again somewhere along the line... again!
Thanks for the replies I should of mentioned that I was planning on getting another 4GB of ram as I often max out what I have at the moment (playing mmo's, running virtual machines, surfing the net, listening to music all at once). I would be spending around £100 on the extra ram anyway so I saw this as a time to do a full upgrade, also as I have the cash to do it right now and I may not get the opportunity again for a while. The other option would be to get the extra ram and another GTX 275 although I don't think I have enough cooling or space to do this, I already dream of WC'ing my current GTX 275 to deal with the temps and noise.
There will be new Intel sockets for the Sandy Bridge release next year. But there should be CPUs for the 1366 socket around for a while, and you know that there is already 6 core CPUs available. If you need to upgrade now, then the parts you have chosen are an excellent choice. But as there is always something new around the corner, how long do you wait?
From what else I've read on the forums (rather than on my own experience) I agree with sticking with most of what you have now (especially as you will increase your RAM anyway). I don't know enough about whether or not it's worth upgrading your GPU - probably not - but, if you are already worried about temps, adding another 275 won't help lol. Probably better to stick for now with what you have though, enjoy the extra RAM and see what happens later in the year.
Excellent advice, thanks a lot I think I'll upgrade my ram for now then and look at sandybridge next year I can also save some cash for when the Corsair 600T is released as I am really interested in buying it, and at some point stick a twin rad watercooling system in there.
