Now with my new job I have a few pennies to spend on new parts, today I found out that the parts I am using wont last another month :(
Intel Core2Quad 2.5ghz
4GB DDR2 RAM
250GB HD
ATI 4670 HD
Now not to say its a terrible build its able to run nearly everything on high which is amazing so what is my next ideas for my new parts. I will be keeping my old hard drive to save money but nearly everything is being changed.
Intel i7 3.2ghz
8GB DDR3 Kingston RAM (Its going cheap for £32 for 4GB)
XFX ATI 6870 HD
Now with this I can at least rest for awhile without worry for new parts for a couple of years but if you have any better parts give us a bell. At the moment this build is coming to about £367 roughly but this is also using some older but not to say crap parts!
What motherboard are you going for? Those aren't cheap.
Dont forget to look at the psu mate might need to beef it up due to new kit.
You've already got a pretty good CPU there, so you might want to consider just upgrading the graphics card (Nvidia GTX 560's can be found for about £150, which is really good value in my book).
I really don't think you'd see much of a performance boost with a new CPU, the graphics card does most of the work these days.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
Quote from: Khrispykhicken;326193I found out that the parts I am using wont last another month :(
Intel Core2Quad 2.5ghz
4GB DDR2 RAM
250GB HD
ATI 4670 HD
QUOTE]
Why wont your parts last beyond a month? IMO Your set for RAM For the majority of games out at the moment I would upgrade the graphics card & Maybe the PSU Depending on what graphics card you get (and the ammount of power it needs to run it) your CPU Isnt to bad either so i wouldnt bother upgrading that
I currently have a 700w psu :D artic power too its damn powerfull, my graphics card needs upgrading there selling a HD6870 for £138 like the one I mentioned which has similar results to nvidia 560, the reason why is that I want a upgrade for my RAM my motherboard can only have DDR2 and it would be nice to upgrade up to 8GB but dont see much improvement unless I get DDR3. Any ideas?
Oh a another item I will be getting is a new case my current one tends to get hot as airflow is slightly tight and there is not enough fans inside to keep it cool, I am using a artic cooling fan which are in my opinion the best fans out there, everything I have ever installed has had one keeping everything frozen which is nice but I am currently at 45c idle 60 to 70 at load and it get warm in my room.
You'll see no noticeable performance increase going from DDR2 to DDR3.
If you can wait until the end of the year, the new Nvidia 'Kepler' GPU's should be released (I wouldn't be surprised if they get them out in time for Battlefield 3) so it might be worth holding on for 6 months.
As well as seeing no noticeable improvement going from DDR2 to DDR3 you won't be able to use it without a new motherboard (there are some motherboards which accept both but they're rare and were expensive). The advantage of DDR 3 is overclocking, since they use a lower voltage they scale better when you demand more from them.
I recently upgraded from a fairly similar system to you a Q6600 @3.2GHz with a 4870 to an i7 @4.6GHz and a 570. There's a huge difference in most games.
However, your current graphics card is pretty poor and is by far the weakest part of your current system, it might be worth doing as others have suggested and trying an upgrade in steps, spend >£200 on a GPU and maybe overclock your CPU. Core2s and i7s both overclock hugely and often get an extra GHz with ease. That'll will take the pressure to upgrade the rest off for a while, and when you do if your graphics is looking a little modest buy a matching card in SLi/Crossfire since the price will have dropped.
The way forward in terms of single cards is the 570, if you're pretty sure you'll dual card it the 6970 is the way to go (Both ~£260ish)
Thanks for the help guys, I think the best bet right now is upgrade my GPU and should be getting it very soon as well with new case. Do you also think instead of upgrading my RAM just to add more my current mobo can hold up to about 12GB I think so I might add up to 8GB like I said!
Depends on what you use your system for, having any more than 4GB doesn't really gain you much unless you have a program that relies on it. For gaming really won't gain you much. The recommended spec for Battlefield 3 is 4GB for instance and that's cutting edge, not even out yet. Same holds for just about every other game, I haven't seen a recommended spec sheet say more than 4GB.
For gaming it is more important to have good ram than it is to have lots of it. If you have 12GB of unmatched Ram it will drop down to the slowest of the chip timings. If you have two good matched chips that you put in the dual channel slots it will run twice as fast and have the optimum timings.
Unless you do video editing, large photoshop projects or professional sound recording using VST instruments and effects etc, the ram is a waste of money in my opinion. Put the extra money towards the graphics card, or save it till you upgrade the CPU, Mobo and Ram to the next generation (when you move motherboard you'll have to switch to DDR3 anyway)
My last machine had 8GB and my current only has 6GB. The sweet spot is around the 6GB for Windows 7 x64. Any game can run on max settings and there's no disc paging going on and there a 1GB free to run Teamspeak and any other ancillary applications, like temp. monitor software or Firefox (for your stats page ;) )
Video RAM is slightly different, as speed is the key. 512MB of GDDR5 is better than 1GB of GDDR3.
BF3 will be optimised for x64, so bear in mind Windows x64 is faster and more stable and can handle the big RAM.
I just upgraded Al99's PC from 2GB to 3GB which has improved his machine performance (visibly) running BFBC2 especially, however he's got 2GB of 667hz and 1GB of 800Hz RAM, so we've had one BSOD already! I have now ordered 2x 2GB 800hz chips (£35) which will be more stable and he can use 3.2GB of it using Win7 32.