Upgrade vs new PC

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So here's my current PC:

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Motherboard: Asus M2N-E SLI
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512mb
Hard Drive 1: 250gb
hard Drive 2: 500gb

Horray for copying out of DxDiag reports!

Anyway, at this point i'm wondering if I should upgrade this PC further, or just buy a new rig. Budget could cover either.

Assuming upgrade is the right move, what should I replace? I'm looking at the graphics card, though i'd like to go up to quad core.

Edit: For the new processor i'm looking at http://www.dabs.com/products/amd-ph...-black-edition-am3-socket-l2-l3-8mb-6B0X.html, though reports say it might have trouble with my motherboard (Asus M2N-E SLI), which could mean another costly upgrade. Hmm.

 

That machine is pretty much the same as my rig, except the card, I have a 9600gt, but your 8800 probably performs better anyway. I don't have any problem playing new games or whatever. What do you need to upgrade it for?

Upgrades will probably depend on your power supply, new graphics cards are pretty thirsty these days. What wattage is it?

 

yeah... umm, unless your simply after bragging rights, that system is sound

 

There's always room for improvement I've got a little cash stowed away and i'm looking to blow it on the PC.

Also, the PSU is a 700. Only put it in a few weeks ago after the old one gave out.

 

Well, if you're set on it, I'd first upgrade the card to a GTX470 or 480 if you've the cash, and get a quad (with new mobo, obviously). I'd also buy yourself a SSD, say 80gb, and wang Windows on it, then use the SATA's just for storage. Massive improvement in speed there.

 

how much you got to spend?

 

From a gaming perspective a new graphics card would make the most difference.

 

Id go for a ATI HD5870/5970 personally

 

I have a similar getup. I went with the GTX 460 for an upgrade.

Other than the graphics card and possibly hard drives and power, there's no bloody sense in upgrading other things without buying an entirely new system, seeing you'd have to replace most of the components anyway.

 

I agree. The GTX 460 is getting great reviews, especially the 1GB version. The machine itself seems pretty good, but the VC is the weak link, that I can see. Another thing you may consider is adding an SSD for your OS and games, as Barmy suggests, since prices are way down on them.

 

Keep this rig for an other year but upgrade with a videocard.

It does not matter much which brand of card you take. Both AMD/ATi and Nvidia make good cards.
The question is how big is the monitor? If you want to upgrade the card, a larger monitor can be an option. You choose the card to go with the monitor.

I play on a 20 inch monitor. That means that a mid-range card like nvidia 460 or AMD 6870 has more than enough power to max games out. A stronger card has no point. If you have 24 inch or larger it becomes an issue.

As for the ssd. So sweet, no need to think that over. Beware however some are better than others.

 

I agree with Merlanni. The CPU and the rest of the system is ok; all the upgrade you need probably is your GPU (as he said, ATI or Nvidia will do just fine). As for the CPU upgrade, it wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't do it unless I'd feel it is insufficient - just check your CPU workload on your current setup; if it is constantly at 60% or more an upgrade does make sense there as well; if not, wait. RAM is sufficient IMO.

If you still want more speed, you can always upgrade your HDDs. That can bring a nice performance boost right there. In addition to my SSD OS drive, I have two WD Caviar Black 640GB 32MB cache, 7.200 rpm for storage and game installations. Fast and quiet drives which were top last year; there may be something better by now from the other manufacturers, so look up benchmarks at sites like tomshardware. And then, there are always the Raptors, which are the next best thing to an SSD. Good drives, reportedly, and still relatively more affordable than SSDs.

As for SSD, they are sweet. I own one (Intel X25-M G.2 80GB) since February, and use it for my OS drive, and it is neat; I am very happy with my choice.

Want instant starting of Open Office? Go SSD. If you choose one, check for TRIM compatibility (if it doesn't have that, you need to run maintenance routinely. Never ever de-fragment!). Look up benchmarks before you buy, for instance at tomshardware or anandtech. There are some really decent SATA SSD drives out there.

Hot and new this autumn PCI-E SSD cards (which are amazingly fast, like this one - offering a whopping performance - read: up to 540MB/s and write: up to 490MB/s at an about bearable price; it's simply an SSD Raid-0 on a card). They just might be utter overkill for anything you do, but it is apparently boot capable, and would be an awesome OS drive; it is certainly something I'd like to (as opposed to need to) have.

My advice is: MLC SSD are ok already and have become more affordable recently (my drive is about 15% cheaper now than when I bought it), and they are getting ever better and cheaper. Imo the Intel SSD are better at reading small files (and are thus better suited for OS drives), whereas the other SSD (Indilinx et cie) are better at writing and reading large files (and are thus better suited for storage). IMO the gold standard is still the rather unaffordable SLC SSD Intel X25-E (on the other hand, if the dollar continues to fall I might just become affordable for us Euros at some point ... oh wait ).

SSD cards are cool, but for tech happy 'early adopters' (like me) with excess money (unlike me). Beyond available cash there is no real limit to the amount of money one can spend on gold plating a computer. I can testify to that. So relax, read some benchmarks, ponder, make an informed choice, sleep over it and then decide.

 

CCJ - You can get a nice 120GB SSD drive for a little over $200.00 US. Here's a good example of one that users seem to be having pretty good luck with (I'm considering this one myself).


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227590

 

I rather completely changed my mind on upgrading your comp with an SSD.

I just read around a bit and you may want to wait for an SSD. SATA 3 is slowly establishing itself as the new standard, and SSD and SATA 3 will be a spectacular combo. Save your money now and wait. It'll be worth it. That OCZ SSD card has some issues that make it problematic for home computing (seems to dislike hard reboots; driver support is an issue, as is compatibility with some MoBos and their BIOS) - apparently the technology isn't mature yet.

To get an idea of things to come: Crucial CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) - Sequential Read 355MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s) and Sequential Write 140MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s) - that's probably still for larger files only, but it is faster than SATA 2 allows SSD to be, and they will be getting even better and cheaper till then. From an economical point of view it is probably worth waiting; from an geek's point of view it isn't - I still think my X25-M was worth buying.

So my revised advice reads: Graphics card now, core upgrade next year and then with an SATA 3 SSD for OS and a SATA 3 MoBo. So relax, read some benchmarks, ponder, make an informed choice, sleep over it and then decide.

 

Yes, but that is not just the issue of the SSD as you point out; that will be a new mainboard as well, which means a new CPU and probably memory. What you are really saying is forget the upgrade and buy a new PC, if I'm understanding you correctly. I think I might agree.

That may be a wise move, since by that time Win 8 should be on the horizon as well. I wouldn't bother with the graphics card, if that's the case, since there will be newer cards by that time. If there is a particular game you want to play, then yes, by all means, replace the grahpics card now. But be advised that once you buy the new computer, you might be looking a bit differently at the graphics card you purchase today.

 

Yup, but I'd call it a 'core upgrade' all that'd be left is the case, PSU, optical drives, some of the hard drives and graphics card. It'd be physically the same box, but with a new core.

When going for a new more modern CPU that usually means (unless you'll use the same socket) will require a new MoBo (for a new CPU socket; if you upgrade your old MoBo will still not support the newer hardware and so forth), perhaps new cooler and better RAM and with SATA3 you also may want to have new HDDs etc. pp. If you don't take a new MoBo and want SATA3 anyway, you'll need a PCI-E card (cheap, admittedly, but anyway). It adds up.

One qualification: If you plan to use your current core for a long time, it would make sense to buy a new CPU, given it has the same socket (I just doubt that, however, since it isn't that performant). The upgrade from Intel dual core to quad core was one that a couple friends made, and it was a reasonable step IMO, in particular in light of probable CPU availability. However, it would make only sense if you want to keep using your current computer with minimal changes for the next two years or so. In that case stacking up on RAM would make some sense as well (which is precisely what I did, to 8GB, as I plan to use my rig for another two or so years before upgrading - I have thus far only rarely ever used that, and only with very specialised applications unrelated to gaming). As I see it DDR2 isn't going to get any cheaper. My RAM modules are now worth more than what I bought them for. But then, seriously, for most apps, 4GB is sufficient.

 

He did not list the PSU, at least that I can see, so that may need to be replaced, especially if a new VC is on the table at some point. Also, the VC itself will be replaced either now or later, and also, we know that the SSD is a consideration. And a new computer next year will probably have BD as standard. So, that does not leave much of his old PC.

 

And for sata 600 only a few conventional HDD's are available. And only amd am3 sockets I believe.