Thinking of upgrading my PC

Big Lar

Here is what I have at the minute

Mobo: Asus PQ5
Processor: Q6700
GPU: Asus 5850
SSD: Kingston 128GB
HDD: 250GB
I do a bit of gaming and play a bit of MW3 and COD4 and currently run three monitors from the GPU

The 5850 aint a bad card and its only 18 months old so I was thinking of holding onto that and last year I installed a new PSU CoolerMaster 600w, I will carry on with the 32 bit windows 7 that I already have as I don't think I will see much of a performance lift by going to 64 bit

To be honest the rig is fine as it is but I have almost 5 years now from the CPU and Mobo so its about time it got an uplift.

I have no budget as such and if I thought spending €200.00 - €400.00 would see me through for the next 5 or so years that would suit me down to the ground, so any bit of advice would be appreciated.

I will buy parts in Ireland if there is not too much of a difference cost wise.

Monotype

I'd say to overclock the Q6700 if you have done so already.

You could get a 3570K + 8GB DDR3 + Z77 motherboard for around €350 which would give you a boost in processing performance. Depends on how held back you feel by that system and if it would last you another generation.

Do you game with 3 monitors? That's fairly tough on that GPU. The 5850 is quite powerful, but all the same, that's going to be a good bit of strain, so you might need to spend some money here.

ShadowHearth

I would just overclock that CPU too. Then get a 7870, which should not be bottlenecked.

What's left over put away and save up for z77 + 3570k.

Big Lar

Thanks Guys,
I just use the one monitor for gaming, I work from home a lot and find the three monitors the business for boosting productivity.

If I got the 3570K + 8GB DDR3 + Z77 could I not get another 5850 or something like it for handy bobs and pair it up with the one I have or are those Crossfire days gone ?

ShadowHearth

You could. Check adverts.ie. there's always something laying around. You might find second 5850 too.

Dunno how much power it will drain though, check on to that.

Andy!!

Big Lar wrote: »

8GB DDR3

Aren't you on a 32bit version of Windows? Won't you need 64bit for 8GB?

Big Lar

Andy!! wrote: »

Big Lar wrote: »

8GB DDR3

Aren't you on a 32bit version of Windows? Won't you need 64bit for 8GB?

Yes i am, twas late last night when i posted so i just copied and pasted the above thread.
What z77 board should i go for ?

Monotype

5850s in crossfire aren't that fantastic. Two 6850s actually match up to them and they're slower cards, just the quality of crossfire has improved. You might be nearly as well off with the 7870. Two 5850s would probably have the advantage in a few places, but for heat/noise/power new features, a 7870 would be better. For eyefinity, you could possibly do with more, depending on those games.

Big Lar

Thanks for that Monotype I might just go with the 7850 and flog the 5850 on adverts.

Would anyone care to recommend a fairly good value z77 board ?,

Two Ethernet ports may suit me as I do a bit with networking here and its a pain having to change the address of the PC over and back to suit networks, but its all down to cost.

Monotype

You could just buy a network card?

Just don't go for the ultra cheap ones like the low end Gigabytes and MSI G43 one. The boards don't overclock. The MSI Z77A-G45 is actually a fairly good value board. But look at whatever features you need first.

Big Lar

Now here is what I am looking at, the CPU says that a cooler is included with ti so do I need the cooler & paste ?

As I have no intention of overclocking do i even need the 3570k. The intention of the upgrade is to provide reliability and longevity to my current setup.

I dunno about the 7870, I could get a few bucks on adverts for the 5850 and Mobo and CPU I guess that would cover the cost of the 7870.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

marco_polo

Big Lar wrote: »

Now here is what I am looking at, the CPU says that a cooler is included with ti so do I need the cooler & paste ?

As I have no intention of overclocking do i even need the 3570k. The intention of the upgrade is to provide reliability and longevity to my current setup.

I dunno about the 7870, I could get a few bucks on adverts for the 5850 and Mobo and CPU I guess that would cover the cost of the 7870.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

I'd still consider overclocking as done properly a stable overclock will substantially increase the useful lifespan of the CPU.

Sillicon chips are very durable and you could reasonably expect a CPU to survive without failure for well over a decade and perhaps substantially longer in many cases. So even if overclocking does decreases the expected lifespan (and there is not much evidence that any decreases are signifigant), You would still only expect it to fail only long after it has ceased to be useful anyway.

In terms of the HD5850, the HD7870 is a fairly decent improvement but I'd nearly be tempted to hold on for one more generation unless you are very unhappy with its performance in the games you are playing.

Big Lar

Well I'll leave it a it is then, I may well hold off on the graphics card.

What about the cooler, will the stock one included do the business or should I buy the upgraded one ?
Thanks

marco_polo

Big Lar wrote: »

Well I'll leave it a it is then, I may well hold off on the graphics card.

What about the cooler, will the stock one included do the business or should I buy the upgraded one ?
Thanks

The stock one would be fine but a third party one would be a decent bit quieter. (And of course not to mention the war again but it would give you the option to give it a nice overclock should you ever choose to take it. :pac:). If you decide to stick with the stock cooler you can lose the thermal past as well because it come pre applied on those, just lift off the plastic covering and stick it on the CPU.

Never actually answered the previous question if you are really really sure it is something you are never going to do then the non 'K' i5-3570 is the exact same chip at stock speed except cheaper.

dwighet

|SNR| LAR...I`d go for an aftermarket cooler and Overclock it mate...Its the only way to go.:cool: Im @ 4.8ghz comfortably with a sandybridge 2500k which is around a 25% increase.. Easy to do and free..

Andy!!

If you're looking into a cheap card, research the new nVidia GTX 650. Pretty cheap and short, and comes in 1GB and 2GB flavours. Will also be bundled with Assasins Creed 3 in some places

Monotype

RAM at higher speeds like that will give you next to no benefit on an Intel system unless you have an overclocked CPU.

Komplett is kind of expensive for RAM too, so I'd usually look at memoryc.ie for that.