Hi, just signed up cos I need some advice to upgrade. My current set up is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2200MHz, ASRock 939SLi eSATA2 motherboard, 2GB Memory (4x512) Crucial Ballistix DDR, ATI Radeon X1650 Graphics, Not sure about the PSU but it's a few years old. * Budget: I have around £500-£600 max * What that budget needs to include: Just looking for Motherboard, Processor, Graphics card, Memory, Hard Drive and PSU, a CPU cooler, I have everything else. * What the main uses of the PC will be: Not a massive gamer so not bothered about everything in high spec. I do tend to have a few programs on the go at once ie. itunes, firefox, downloads, a game (football manager usually) and office programs etc and I flick between them all. * The spec of your current PC and whether you are re-using any parts from it: My current set up is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2200MHz, ASRock 939SLi eSATA2 motherboard, 2GB Memory (4x512) Crucial Ballistix DDR, ATI Radeon X1650 Graphics, Not sure about the PSU but it's a few years old. * The native resolution of your monitor. 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz * Whether you will be overclocking or not. Not planning to but maybe in the future so not really an issue for me now * How much storage space you require. I'm planning on at least a 1TB SATA internal HDD * Do you have any special requirements? Not really. I have a big Coolermaster ATX case so size should not be an issue * Any motherboard requirements: not really. I plan to plug in the graphics card, a wireless card, sound card and tv card so would like space for it all, and space to upgrade to 8GB memory in the future (4x2GB I was thinking) although 2x2GB will do me for now. I've been looking around the online stores and I've priced up the following 2 options but would love advice on things to swap, improve or tone down: 1 - AMD route: AMD Phenom X6 6 Core 1055T 2.80GHz - £149.21 Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H AMD880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard - £89.99 Sapphire ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express- £92.99 Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CAS 9-9-9-24 - £77.69 Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - £44.99 Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply - £29.99 Total £484.86 2 - Intel route: Intel i5 760 2.80 GHz Quad Core - £154.99 Asus P7P55-M P55 Express Chipset (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard - £89.99 Sapphire ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express - £92.99 Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CAS 9-9-9-24 - £77.69 Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - £44.99 Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply - £29.99 Total £490.64 Thanks for any advice
The Intel i5 would be a much better option performance wise (relating to your computer usage). The hex-core is very powerful when used to it's full potential (folding, rendering, etc) but most application programs don't benefit from more than 2-4 cores. I would get RipJaw memory over Corsair as it has lower latency's and has heat sinks for pretty much the same price The graphics card is a fairly important factor aswell! you don't want something bottlenecking your system, the HD5670 isn't the best card for a extra £30-40 you can get the GTX460 which is the new Nvidia card a performs very well (it's also extremely scalable) the power supply is fine although if you want to overclock or another graphics card etc you may want to invest slightly more into your Power supply The motherboard should be good aswell, the p55 chipset is pretty solid, although i would reccomend taking alook at gigabytes products. I would also reccomend you to invest into a good CPU cooler like the titan fenrir or the frio (get some artic silver aswell) you want to make sure you get USB 3.0 Sata III Direct X 11 good cooling!
If you're not much bothered about games but do play them sometimes, maybe the ATI 5770 is worth looking at? It should be a few quid more than the fairly weak card you've selected but still cheaper by some margin than a 460 (which is probably THE card right now for gamers on an "ordinary" budget). I'd also go the Intel route. (Actually, I just have!) If there's space in your budget, you might consider adding an SSD for a boot drive? That makes an enormous difference to general usage and smoothness. You'd have to prise mine from my cold, dead hand now! EDIT: Agree that USB3 and SATA 3 makes sense for future-proofing - clearly you've kept your PC a while, so guessing you'll want to do the same with this one? Caroline
Good advice there cpicking! I just read your thread about your new build - hope its working out cool. i myself have just ordered the Gigabyte P55A-UD4 :O
I have also recently gone with intel I got the gigabyte P55A-UD3. Thats 4 add on cards and as most modern graphics cards are dual slot width (giving you 5 slot room needed) you will need a full atx board rather than the P7P55-M P55 you mentioned earlier, m-atx boards only have space for four expansion cards. The connectors, pci/pci-e, on the cards you already have could also influence the choice of motherboards as the arrangement of the slots and slot chocie varies. I just looked up the 5670 and it is a single slot so it may be possible on that board but I would agree with others and look at something alot better for not much more money.
Hi, thanks for all the advice so far. After that advice I've been looking around online shops and tailored the build to this: Intel Core i5-760 2.80GHz S1156 8MB £146.82 scan Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 Intel P55 Express 1156 Motherboard £102.87 G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw CL7(7-8-7-24) £95.40 Gigabyte 768MB GDDR5 GeForce GTX460 Dual DVI / Mini HDMI PCI-E £159.99 Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3 7200rpm SATA 3Gb/s 32MB £47.55 Thermaltake TR2 470W ATX 12v 2.0 PSU £38.34 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler £14.98 Total £605.95 Look ok? My only concern is I'm not 100% sure I can stretch to the £600 mark, so is there anything I can replace with a slightly cheaper option without massively losing performance? (For info, I'm selling 2 guitars to fund this, 6 days left on ebay and I'm expecting between £500-600 so that's how I've come to my budget!) Thanks again
There are single-slot 5770's coming soon. I have not spotted in in the UK But both XFX and PowerColor are releasing them.
Do you play games, or not? Because I run a similarly specced machine as my main PC with the one addition of a £30 4350. It can do absolutely everything in Win 7x64, except game, perfectly adequately. It's plugged into a 1080p TV. I'd pocket the £500 if I were you. The ONLY reason to upgrade is heavy graphics work, gaming and anything else "specialist". If you're just browsing, watching HD content, listening to music and using Office; your current machine is fine.
There's a couple of options for little downgrades. You could go for an i3-530 processor. It is a 4-thread, dual-core part rather than the i5-760's four physical cores. I think that it will be more than enough for your needs and it overclocks like crazy. If you do that, and you think that you wouldn't upgrade for a long time, you should have a look at H55 motherboards as well (instead of the P55). On the graphics front, you could drop down to an ATI 1GB 5770. If it were my personal machine and I had to save some cash, I would use the i3-530 processor and upgrade my video card choice to the 1GB GTX 460 - it is a better part. I would keep the P55 motherboard with a view to upgrade to a quad core at a later date (The i5-760 will overclock better in a P55 board, and the i3 will overclock better in a H55 board - I am ignoring your comment about not overclocking ). EDIT: I would also try to stretch to an OCZ ModXstream 500w PSU. I just don't know anything about that Thermaltake ... does anyone else have an opinion on it?
+1 on the above suggestions by Roosauce, good advice there. It will give you excellent performance, as well as a clear upgrade path, whilst fitting your budget.
*Is sulking cos Scan seem to have dropped all their prices in the 2 days since she bought* I think Okenobi's question is key about games. The 460 is strongly recommended in the 1gb version, rather than the 768mb one, which adds yet another £30. The 5770 (which I'm using on mostly high settings on a 1920x1200 screen) would save you that and possibly a little more. A more basic graphics card yet could save you £100 or so. If you're really determined not to overclock, I think I'd stick with the i5-760. However, as roosauce and Fingers66 have said, you'd be able to upgrade your processor later. (You could, of course, also upgrade your graphics card later too!) Caroline
that sounds solid to me, you'll get awesome performance! - but if budget is a huge problem, like some other members have said consider buying a lower budget card and or even a i3... this also leaves you the ability to upgrade in the future to a i7 or better graphics. personally I would also push my budget to the maximum and make sure i get a flawless system. the i3 and lower budget graphics cards will probably be more than enough.. but for how long? if you want to run multiple monitors, have the ability to play in 3D take advantage of physx and CUDA and have more parrellism to boost mutli-threaded software than you build is perfect! Just remember, Don't cheap out on the PSU! - you want it to match the quality of the rest of your build.
Guys, hold up a sec. The OP's existing machine is 5yrs old! Needs must be established first. If games aren't being played, there's no NEED to upgrade. But if an upgrade is DESIRED, then I'd look at Pentium G or i3 max. Either will beat the ass of the existing setup....
We do have a habit of just assuming that people want a decent gaming machine and want to overclock The OP is obviously up for a change however and replacing a 5-year-old rig is sensible. I do think that the i3 and 1GB GTX 460 is still a good bet (although the 5770 is also OK if budget is even more tight). The i3 as you say will be more than enough for now. In a couple of years there will be cheap second hand i5-750/760s to be had for very little, and that will jump performance at a time that software might actually use four cores. The 1GB 460 is overkill for the OP right now, but it's a good value mid-range card and shouldn't need to be replaced when football manager 2013 (or whatever) comes out. It is a machine that probably will last the OP another 5 years with only the one cheap upgrade in a couple of years. Officially it could all be done cheaper (or not at all, as you say) given the current limited usage - but given the desire to change, I think it's worth some judicious within-budget spending to get something that is flexible enough to deal with whatever needs might arise in the future.
Of course. I just think an answer from the OP might lead to some more on point suggestions perhaps. There is a tendency here (like with most enthusiast/hobby forums) to just spec whatever is currently "in" without listen to what people actually need. That's to be expected, but in this case the question of whether gaming is happening or not is kinda key! If an IGP is enough, that's important info. S'all I'm saying
Haha thanks guys. I will be gaming but the limit is a bit of COD or Battlefield every now and then. I usually turn to the Xbox 360 for those type of games so not bothered about running everything on max settings, but would like those games to run without a struggle. The FM games I'm on all the time but I can't stop ALT-TAB to do other things at the same time which is why my system now struggles for speed quite often. As said I do want it to last a few years but am happy to buy, for example an i3 now and sell it 6-12 months down the line and replace it with an i7. Same for all components really which I suppose means the motherboard is the thing that should be future proof. I just wanted a bit of a big performance boost to what I've got now and I suppose I would like an option to upgrade in the near future again without a big overhaul. Sorry if I wasn't too clear and thanks again for the help.
Right, thanks! That being the case, I would be tempted to spend more on the core components and less on GPU. A 5770 will be ample. As for an "upgradeable" mobo, 1156 will be replaced either Q4 or Q1. You could go P55 now and stick an i5 in there, then move to i7 later on. But hyperthreading is the only real benefit. I'd be tempted to ***** on 1366 and then you've got the option to go 12gig of RAM down the line and hex core. With a core system cost of £450-500 you can just get a 5770, or maybe less, and you're away.
Although the 1156 socket probably won't see much more in the way of CPUs, the top end of this path would do for quite some time. I don't think that 1366 is an option at this price point - just too expensive and there's just no need for the extra memory channels etc. If you really want a longer-term upgrade path based around an existing motherboard, then I think you should go back to AMD. They have the hex-cores out now, and the upcoming bulldozer architecture will probably fit in modern AM3 boards. I threw together some DRAFT ideas - they should be tweaked/ratified before purchase: 1366 build - too expensive at £788 i3 1156 build - £556. Upgrade path to a full quad core. AM3 build with 3.2GHz Phenom II quad - £563. Upgrade path through the X6 line, plus bulldozer (probably). If you're not overclocking, then this will probably serve you better than the X6 1055T. All of these are using the 1GB ATI 5770, a fenrir, SATA 6Gbps motherboards, and a decent 650W corsair PSU that will support future upgrades. The 5770 won't have the same longevity as the GTX 460 but will be fine for the moderate use. I can't recommend anything cheaper than this card, as (with a 1920x screen) it will limit your options and reduce the flexibility of the rig. Worth some tweaking. Sounds like the AM3 path might be best. I'm still not too sure (haven't checked properly) about all of those expansion cards that were mentioned however.
roosauce thanks for those shortlists, great help. Thanks also okenobi. Hard to decide between the AM3 and i3, both look great for my needs so don't think I could lose either way.
