Hi folks, long time no see I have been out of the hardware game for a long time and I no longer have a clue whats hot and whats not. My rig as it stands is as follows: Asus P5N-E SLI 650i Socket 775 Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.86ghz Socket 775 FSB800 2MB Cache Sparkle 8600GT 256MB GDDR3 DVI-I PCI-E Graphics Card 8Gb of RAM (its decent stuff but I can't remember what and I'm too lazy to check). Acer X222W Monitor (22" widescreen 1680x1050 but no HD features) I have absolutely no idea what the PSU in it is. When I bought it (2007) it was fairly decent, I remember that much... I'm running Windows Vista (yes, yes, heard it all before but it works fine for me). I also have a second 19" monitor but I only ever game using the Acer. This rig has been absolutely fine for me for five years or so. I don't game a lot, and lots of the games I play are getting on a bit now --- company of heroes, TF2, Dawn of War II but even these I need to turn the settings down a bit to play at 1680x1050. However, there is the odd game coming out which my graphics card can't handle and since thats always been the weakest part of my system I quite fancy upgrading it. Any recommendations? I want something that will last me another few years (another five would be nice). I am unlikely to go buying bigger/shinier monitors anytime soon. I know that I could probably do with upgrading the mobo/cpu but one step at a time! I am tempted to get a GTX 560Ti, but this is mainly because my mate has one and I know its a great card. I'm aware that this is probably overkill for this system though...I'm also wary of needing to buy a new PSU if I get a beefy GPU. Budget is £150 absolute tops, I'd much prefer to spend less Comments? Alternative suggestions? Note: I want to stick with Nvidia. I dual boot with Linux and I prefer their Linux drivers.
Do you oc at all? Might be worth delving into the market place to pick up a second hand quad core and 560ti. If you're good at haggling, you should just be able to get both for your budget. Then see what you can get out of the quad with a little oc'ing.
what psu is it? i would consider an upgrade to your cpu - a Q6600 would be a nice boost from your older C2D and ofx the GTX 560 would stomp all over the 8600 , heck even a GTX 460 (256bit 1 gb card) would be a nice boost!
Think I have a 920cpu & P6TD Delux in the loft.. you can have it for £20 & postage .. hows that? Or you can have it if you come pick it up. (the twenty quid is for me to get off my arse and go up in the loft and pack it .. post it etc) Message me if you want it ..
Fair enough. I recall the nvidia motherboards were pigs to oc with anyway, so that's probably just as well. The two biggest gains you will see are going to be a cpu and a gpu. Getting a 560ti would be great, but but I think it will be hampered by your E4300. In the case of no oc'ing, i'm not sure which would be better to go for; a slow quad (q6600@ 2.4ghz,), and or a quick dual core (e8400@ 3.0ghz). Ultimately, and it comes down to what kind of games you like to play?
Inst.. I don't like clutter mate .. Oh btw the board is part water cooled... might throw a spanner in the works :S
bugger me silly you are staring a good deal in the face... snap up my friend. Then get a 560... doesn't even need to be ti. It'll be respectable at your res. Hell... my 460 was and they are pretty similar.
Take that board and CPU (seriously, bite his arm off and don't stop until you hit shoulder!), put your board, CPU, GPU and RAM up in the marketplace here (I'm thinking maybe £50-60ish for the lot, possibly higher due to DDR2 prices, others will know better than me) and put that into the budget to cover the DDR3 you'll need and the GPU (it might also be a bit to cover PSU on the off chance that yours wont manage or doesn't have connectors enough, I personally don't trust a GPU on molex with an adapter but that's just me)
