Upgrade from E8400 to i5 2500, worth it ?

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SilverFX

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Apr 1, 2011
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Hi guys, I'd like to know if I should stick to my current system, upgrade it a little, or completely change it

I'm currently running:

Intel Core2Duo E8400 @ 3,0 GHz with stock clocks (I don't plan to overclock anything)
XFX 750i for the motherboard (PCIe 2.0)
Corsair C4 DHX 4X1GB @ 4-4-4-12 1.5V
XFX Radeon HD 4890 @ 1GB

well anything else around it is totally useless to know as far as performances are concerned

But theses days, I was planning on getting this beauty:

Intel Core i5 2500 Quad Core @ 3,3 GHz (planning on sticking to stock clocks again)
ASUS P8P67 LGA1155
G.Skill Ripjaws X F3 DDR3 2X2GB @ 7-7-7-21
EVGA Geforce GTX 560 Ti Superclocked

and maybe a little SSD (like 50GB) for Windows and a WD Caviar Black 1 TB for storage and games folders

With that build, I'm mainly planning on gaming so... would the complete upgrade worth something or I should only upgrade some components to my current build to make it rock solid more than he actually is ?

Thanks for your answers
 
Solution
its a worthy upgrade for 1 good reason, in that your moving from a dual to a quad.
even if you wernt going for a sandy core, moving to a quad opens up so much more potential performance. not just gaming wise either...

good luck and have fun.
not really..
still it all depends on intended usage.

I mainly use my computer for gaming... anyway I just compared my E8400 against the i5 2500 for gaming tasks and I don't think I'd need to make the move for SB for now... My processor is still effective, it may be my video card that would need to be changed right away for more performances in Black Ops... even if this morning I was able to play will all settings at full but it was painful for some games since I wasn't 100% fluid lol
 
^
the E8400 is an all time top ten gaming chip.
it can still perform well, that's not an issue.
some games now and more games to come will benefit from having a quad core so in the future you will have eventually upgrade.

currently keep the E8400 and throw a sick clock on it.
then upgrade your surrounding hardware and prepare to take it with you to your next build.
wait until Intel and AMD release the new technology then decide to jump on a new unit.
just my opinion.

I agree about the surrounding hardware to be changed (probably just the video card for now... maybe a little SSD over that to make my actual 250GB on full storage instead of 2 partitions, maybe switching my case now because my Antec 900 sucks lol

Got no guess for the videocard, I'd think about getting a Radeon 6850 and later upgrade to a CF setup... (I can't do it for now since I got a SLI motherboard...) or getting 2 X GTX 460 ? I just don't wanna spend really too much on my current setup... anyway video cards need to be changed every year around... (every setup I made in the past, that was always the video card that could be switched 3 times in the same PC)
 
and you have a HD 4980 on this SLI motherboard now.?
I'd think about a GTX 560Ti like stated and then SLI then later in the new build.
E8400 can't push the 560 Ti but it will only be temporary so just clock the E8400 in the meantime.

in a nutshell the move to me is worth it, you just gotta have the money to do so..

Yes I got a HD 4890 since my GTX 275 that was supposed to be on the build got faulty and XFX was unable to get GTX 275 as replacement so I had to keep frustrating about my 8800GT doing half the job I wanted or making the deal... I then accepted the deal about getting a 4890... And I think about getting a Radeon again since, like I said before, 2 out of my last 3 nvidia cards were faulty... I don't want that *** to happen anymore...

Also, a Radeon 6850 has a nice performance/price ratio... 1GB model compete the GTX 560 Ti for nearly 50 bucks less... Could be a great card for later CF setup I think... GTX 560 Ti looks 7% better than Radeon 6850... but the Radeon is around 30% cheaper...
 


Yeah that will probably be my choice... But I'll upgrade some components (SSD, Tower, Video card)

SSD for getting a little more speed and making my 250GB a storage device
Tower because I'm tired of my Antec 900, and my next build will need one anyways because I'll sell my old setup
Video card because I think my actual card is having some flaws now...
 
Are you sure it's The MB that is fried? Is PSU and GPU still OK, if so the cost of goingto SB is not that bad.

2500K (approx $200)+MB ($200 ± $50)+ 8gigs ram - DDR3 1600 CL 9 or 8 (approx $110 ± 20) = $500 -> $600

Add if needed
PSU If still good 750 should be fine
GPU If still good, reuse and upgrade later
SSD upgrade later.

Reuse
.. Case
.. Keyboard, mouse
.. HDDs/DVD drives.
 


I'm pretty sure the motherboard is fried because I've tried EVERYTHING to make it boot properly to get an image:
- Reseating every connections (8-pin and 24-pin to the motherboard)
- Reseating ram (countless times)
- Since it was a video upgrade, I tried with both GPU, none of the two displayed me an image
- PSU is fine I don't have any doubt about it
- Some says the CPU is fried ? Nah it's nearly impossible... it doesn't fried for nothing
- Tried the reset cmos (clear cmos) button on the board in the back
- Removed the battery, booting the cpu, power it off, reseating the battery, power it on, still no image
- Tried a different PCIe slot for the GPU, same issue

The only thing that doesn't change between all the steps: the motherboard's writing FF as code... (stands for (Power on and first initialize cpu)

So I just think that my mistake was a static mistake... I wasn't careful enough when changing my rig and I just can see that's what happen...

Anyway... I'll call my new rig anyways (i5 2500 (not the K, I just don't wanna overclock!!!), 8GB of Corsair Vengeance CL8, on a MSI P67A-GD55 motherboard (would have taken the GD53 but we never know when Firewire plug can be handy)

Don't tell me about getting Asus, I'm pissed off by their USB problems (I'm not the only one having them...), and I just don't feel safe about getting Gigabyte because of the poor customer service I had with them 3 years ago for my fried 8800GT...

And don't tell me about Lifetime warranty at XFX... I don't think they cover "noob moves", if the board was fried due to something out of my control (a fried capacitor for instance) I'd probably go into RMA with them. But anyway when I had to RMA my GTX 275 with them it was pure pain... I don't wanna mess with such problems

I had the money to change the rig completely... so now I'll partially do it... if my board isn't fried my brother will buy it back from me. If it's fried, I probably got friends interested in getting my E8400 cpu... I'm just wondering about the ram but I don't care, at least I can keep everything else (GPU, PSU, HDD)

Ah and yes the case will be changed, I'm tired of working in a small area like the Antec 900... Probably going onto a Coolermaster HAF 932, space won't be a problem anymore
 


Dude get the Asrock P67 Extreme4, much butter value; recommended by Tom's Hardware, and it features long life capacitors like MSI aswell as the UEFI GUI Bios, only MSI, Asus and ASRock feature this BIOS.

And three physical PCI-E x16 slots, it has FOUR Sata 6.0GB/s SATA ports and USB 3, FIREWIRE IS USELESS, USB 3 is MUCH FASTER, and MUCH will be more common, IN FACT I have never touched a Firewire.
 
Should have known it before... my components are already ordered since I'm 99% sure my mobo is dead... I don't wanted to get into the weekend without gaming on a rig... :/
 

not a problem , the mobo you got is still fine
 
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