Hey all, My motherboard is starting to get few faults, and I'm considering switching a few other parts along with it (CPU & RAM). I don't want to spend a great deal as my PC is only used for light gaming along with lots of programming and I'll be saving up for a meaty one somewhere later down the line. While I'm considering which motherboard to order for my replacement... Anyone able to give input on whether it would be worthwhile to switch out my Q6600 for an i3 540 (or the AMD alternative)? Basically I have around a £220 budget for the Motherboard (£75), CPU (£90) and RAM (£55), so that should allow for a switch to an i3 540 or a Phenom II X4 955 at a push.
Personally if it was a stop gap solution, I'd buy a second hand i5-750 for about £100, 4GBs of DDR3 at about £30 and a second hand p55 motherboard for about £50.
It'll start off as a gap system and then it'll probably become a secondary machine that'll be used to keep my programming separate from from my gaming. A second hand i5 setup sounds like a good alternative.
I've got one of those dodgy hybrid/transitional motherboards with 4x DDR2 slots and 2x DDR3 slots. Which is probably why it eventually decided to start screwing up so badly. There's a few standard Skt 775 boards that use DDR3 as well though (e.g. this one by Gigabyte).
Why don't you just re-use the Ram you already have? It could free some of that budget up for you. A second hand i5 setup would be the best solution IMO as you will be getting a genuine upgrade.
I could reuse the RAM I've got, it's still working fine for what I currently do; it was just something I was considering as I'm using two unbranded single-channel sticks at the moment and might benefit a little from a dual-channel kit. I think I'll definitely look around at some second hand i5 kit parts.
personally i'd just get another skt 775 w/ ddr3 slots for less 50 off ebay or the like and save the rest of the money for the future build. it will still have enough performance for non gaming tasks for some time to come.
I'm in the same situation, I'm waiting to see what 2011 is like when it arrives. My Striker II NSE uses DDR3 RAM, it's all fine, but I want an upgrade this year. I've waited 4 years after all....
Thanks everyone for all the input so far. I'm not really a big fan of buying major computer parts off ebay, but for around the 50 mark I could go for this one: Gigabyte GA-EG41MFT-US2H - I'd get the benefit of it being brand new and from a decent retailer as well then.
couldn't believe no one suggested that yet...definitely the way to go if it will be relegated to a second machine soon anyway ...i hate buying off ebay as well, but sounds like you found a winner.
