Want to Upgrade and get most bang for the buck

[Darvin5901]

Hello All,
Will give a brief history into my dilemma and then see what advice I get. About 5 months ago my 8800gt died. Since then I have replaced it twice and was fed up waiting for about 3 weeks to get another one. EVGA - Lifetime warranty. So I made a rash buy and bought a Gigabyte GTX 460 1gb. Well I am not seeing any increase in performance, only in a few benchmarks but all the games I've tried have actually been less. So I am looking to upgrade to take better advantage of this video card.

My Specs

CPU - C2D E4500 2.2ghz ( Overclocked up to 2.6) At best 5 fps so I've dropped it back down to stock specs
MB - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
RAM - Corsair 1066
GPU - GTX 460 1gb
PSU - Antec Neopower 650 blue

I've been looking at the new Pentium Dual-core E6700 as a possible upgrade. Somewhere in all this I broke the clip on the PCI-X slot so I was also thinking about buying a new mbd with PCI-X 2.0 compatibility. This way I could still use the ram. I've also been looking at maybe going to an 1156 socket but normally end up hitting around $500 and I've really trying to buy a bigger tv this Christmas so doing my best to spend as little as possible and prolong the life of my current PC. So Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

Games I typically play - Call of Duty, MMO's - Runes of Magic, Lord of the Rings, and World of Warcraft - doing my best not to go back

P.S. - Forgot to add this, Using Vista 64bit - should I upgrade to Win 7?

 

[Frizzo]

my suggestion is scrap your cpu and motherboard, keep your psu/gfx card/ram/hdd and order these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128447&cm_re=gigabyte_lga_775_motherboard-_-13-128-447-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037&cm_re=e8400-_-19-115-037-_-Product

and you will be set with a decent setup, a huge improvement. if you can spend more get this cpu instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041&cm_re=q9550-_-19-115-041-_-Product

 

[rolli59]

Well with a 1156 you would have to go with DDR3 ram. Just get the CPU since it is compatible with your board, the GPU will not know the difference between the slots. http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=2778

 

[Darvin5901]

So you're thinking just buy this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037&cm_re=e8400-_-19-115-037-_-Product

 

[Frizzo]

ya it's a big upgrade from the processor you're using.

 

[rolli59]

Yes that would work!

 

[suteck]

If you like the 1156 you can go with the i3 540 3.06 GHz for $120 from Newegg along with the GIGABYTE GA-H57M-USB3 from Newegg for $120 and this OCZ3P1333LV4GK memory form Tigerdirect for only $95. I know it's $340 but with this combo you can upgrade to i5's or i7's compatible with the 1156 socket. You will also be starting with 4 GB's of ddr3 memory and able to add another 4 GB's up the road. You'll have the usb 3.0 for your portable(s) in the future as well as an external sata 6Gb/s. Money leads the choices but a little extra now will make for a better, less expensive upgrade later.

 

[Darvin5901]

So if I was just to buy a CPU and keep RAM and MBD.
According to this:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/87?vs=56
Is the E8400 worth 45ish more dollars then the E7500?

And if I was to go your route Suteck, I hear on the horizon Intel's new Sandy Bridge is going to be released Q1 2011, should I just live with what I have and hope/expect the prices to drop on the 1156 socket stuff? I'm cheap and can wait if that would be a lot better deal.

 

[rolli59]

The $45 dollar question you will have to answer yourself. (biggest benefit is in gaming) I personally would wait but be on a look out for a deal on a better CPU for current setup in the meantime.

 

[vilenjan]

I can you going with Intel for 1156 boards, but a new build with 775? Why no go the AMD route?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128394 Great board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872&cm_re=athlon_x3-_-19-103-872-_-Product
Great triple core CPU

All together = around $150 shipped.

And that baord will accept up to Phenom II X6s down the road.

 

[suteck]

And if I was to go your route Suteck, I hear on the horizon Intel's new Sandy Bridge is going to be released Q1 2011, should I just live with what I have and hope/expect the prices to drop on the 1156 socket stuff? I'm cheap and can wait if that would be a lot better deal.[/quotemsg]

Yes there is a new processor on the horizon but it's really not going to be that big a deal from what I read. Still has the 32nm architecture, no extra cores or faster speed. It just has a few extra's that some companies might benefit from. Like the built in 3G. Whereever you go it can be accessed by the 3G network. Your computer can also be controlled by an outside source, like erasing your hard drive, locking up your computer. Things like that incase it's stolen and can now be traced without connecting to the internet. Another included feature will be graphic based built into the cpu. Saves on the vid card i guess but... I'm not impressed but I'm sure I don't know 1/2 the stuff it might can do. And going by that I don't expect there to be much impact on our "lesser" CPU's for quite some time. Don't get me wrong - I'm also sure that within a year's time the prices will drop to some degree. Shoot last year you had to pay $1,000 for the i7 965, You can buy them used for around $400 now (I know I bought one and it works great). It mostly boils down to how much you wanta/can spend at the time you're ready to buy. I wouldn't wait for it though. Upgrade now to a better system and upgrade it till you can't - THEN start looking at the new SandyBridge processor and see how much it's price has come down LOL

AMD Cycle of life - just my preference - WHY is it so inexpensive?? (notice I didn't say CHEAP)

 

[Darvin5901]

not really a new build, just trying to figure out with the components I have what would be the best path to take.

 

[vilenjan]

If you are replacing mobo and want best bang for buck, go AMD, otherwise stick with your mobo, and pay for the overpriced 775 chips

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

AMD have on average cheaper mobo and wider compatibility range..Go fo AMD..

 

[Embra]

^ +1 much agreed if you are going to buy both a Mobo and cpu.

 

[Darvin5901]

Best answer selected by darvin5901.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar