Need advice on upgrading my PC

T

tjchung

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Dec 23, 2005
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If there are any tech wizards on this forum, I'd like to request some help with my current dilemma. I'm thinking about taking the plunge into Win7 from XP SP3, and I'm wondering if I should go whole hog with a new CPU, Mobo and memory or take the cheaper road and just upgrade my CPU.

I've currently got an Asus Striker Extreme Mobo with Core 2 Quad Q6700 Cpu and 4 Gb of DDR2 Memory. I also have a BFG Nvidia 295 GTX graphic card that's my pride and joy. Boot drive is a Seagate Barracuda 500 Gb 700.12 HDD.

I really want to move on to Win7 for the 64 bit computing experience as well as the DX11 gaming. I really don't do any intensive work like 3D rendering or video encoding, just the usual home office work, watching movies, web surfing and a lot of intensive FPS, strategy and flight sim games. You might say 75% of my PC computing cycles are dedicated to gaming.

My question is which option makes more sense;

1) Invest about 750-800$ now on an i7 930CPU with X58 1366 Mobo and 6 Gb of DDR3 memory and get several years use out of it,

2) Invest about 330$ in the fastest LGA 775 CPU thats compatible with my current mobo (Core 2 Quad Q9650 Yorkfield I believe) and save up enough money to get into hex core computing late this year or early next year.

3) Invest about 500-600$ in either a super fast 256 Gb SSD or a couple of the new 600Gb WD Velociraptors in a RAID setup to speed up read/write performance and save up enough money to get into hex core computing next year.

Any advice, opinions or comments would be much appreciated.
 
You really don't need a better computer than that to run W7 properly. Your computer is better than mine and I run W7 64 bit flawlessly.
Do you have any other reasons to upgrade?
If it ain't in need of an upgrade, don't fix it.
 
Your current configuration exceeds the recommended minimums for most of the newer games out there as well as running W7 64bit. I would install W7 first and see if you need to upgrade from there if any performance issues arise.
 
I don't really see a need to upgrade yet, but your CPU is probably bottle necking your GPU, is the CPU running at stock speed or OC'd? most people can get the q6700 to around 3.2ghz with stock voltage. IMO if you're gaming, you don't need more than 4gb of ram. Option 4, send the money to me so I can get a new CPU :D:D:D.
 
A friend of mine bought a SSD about a year ago when he was putting together his work computer (C# dev.), after about a week the drive got fatally corrupted. The SSD technology may have gotten better, but I do not feel as though the price tag for only 256GB (Isn't a TB like $99 now?) is worth the possibility of catostraphic failure, especially one a technology that's still new. But that's what RAID is for.

I say just get a new 2GB stick of corsair, fresh install of Win7, and enjoy. In three months everything new is going to come out, I'd rather upgrade to last seasons top of the line at a lower price than pay premium for the cutting edge, too. What is it about your current set up that doesn't make you happy?
 
My reasons for wanting to upgrade actually have nothing to do with the performance of my current computer. The reason is that my tight fisted wife has approved the outlay of funds for our home computer upgrade this spring, and like any budgetary decisions its "use it or lose it" in our house.

Thats why I need to know if I should blow the whole budget now on a new CPU, mobo and ram, or leave some left over to add to next year's (hopefully) upgrade budget.
 
Umm I'd probably buy a good knife. Sorry I know this really did not help.
 
KenC's advice is good.

You won't seen any worthwhile gains on upgrading only the cpu in your situation in my opinion.

Upgrade the mobo, CPU and RAM. Then video card next year.
 
Take whatever you can get out of the budget, put it in the case in hundreds, don't upgrading anything right now and tell the wife quite honestly that you put the money into the computer just like you talk about.
 
Tight fistes lose it or lose it and you can't spend it on anything else? I would try #1. Look at the specs for the I7 vs quad. They are supose to be alot faster. I dunno I have a I7-20 with 8mg ddr 3. And I uploaded 12,000 media files,downloaded music and surfed the web right when I got it with no hour glass. Dunno if it would be much of and upgrade for you. But the SSDHD are suppose to be 20% faster?? Dunno. Maybe go with #3 and a knife:)
 
I'm just chiming in to agree with the wait a while crowd. Given that at best your XP machine is using 3.5G of the ram its got (4 - whaterver the videocard has - cashes) you'll prob see a bit of a boost with 7, all things being even. then start stashing coin for a rainy day so you can replace it when it dies (which it will, someday)
 
tjchung said:
If there are any tech wizards on this forum, I'd like to request some help with my current dilemma. I'm thinking about taking the plunge into Win7 from XP SP3, and I'm wondering if I should go whole hog with a new CPU, Mobo and memory or take the cheaper road and just upgrade my CPU.

I've currently got an Asus Striker Extreme Mobo with Core 2 Quad Q6700 Cpu and 4 Gb of DDR2 Memory. I also have a BFG Nvidia 295 GTX graphic card that's my pride and joy. Boot drive is a Seagate Barracuda 500 Gb 700.12 HDD.

I really want to move on to Win7 for the 64 bit computing experience as well as the DX11 gaming. I really don't do any intensive work like 3D rendering or video encoding, just the usual home office work, watching movies, web surfing and a lot of intensive FPS, strategy and flight sim games. You might say 75% of my PC computing cycles are dedicated to gaming.

My question is which option makes more sense;

1) Invest about 750-800$ now on an i7 930CPU with X58 1366 Mobo and 6 Gb of DDR3 memory and get several years use out of it,
Click to expand...

This. although you should know that the Nvidia cards don't support Dx11 and there are no Nvidia's yet that do. Although I personally don't think you need to upgrade your pc. I have one at home that's MUCH slower but still sufficient for everything you describe.
 
phatch said:
KenC's advice is good.

You won't seen any worthwhile gains on upgrading only the cpu in your situation in my opinion.

Upgrade the mobo, CPU and RAM. Then video card next year.
Click to expand...
Why upgrade the video card? his video card would be absolutely fine for maxing out almost all the games that are being released for a while, he could probably max out all settings on crysis with 1920X1080 and still get around 50fps.
 
I am running W7 on a AMD940 black at stock clock speeds
My opinion if it means anything is stay with what you have and run W7 on that. you should be fine with a couple of minor up grades over the next 2 years then spring for what ever is on the market at that time. Stay away from SSD for now, they may have fast read times but write times are dreadfully slow. The only hiccup I had with W& was my wireless modem.
If you want to compare my set up to yours this is what I am running W7 on
AMD Phenom II 940 Black 3.0Ghz
Gigabyte MA790-DS4H mother board
4gig OCZ DDr2 Specops ram
ATI 4870 Toxic Graphics card
WD 640 Caviar Black boot drive
2 WD Caviar Black 1Tb in a raid 0
I was going to go with a VelociRaptor boot drive but decided that I would put the money into and other computer instead.
 
If you can carry over some or all of your PC budget, I wouldn't spend money for the sake of spending. Just tell your wife you're putting the money away for a complete upgrade in the future that would make more financial sense.

Your current setup will run Win 7. I;m running 7 64bit on my Core 2 Duo E6600/Asus P5B Deluxe/nvidia 8800 GT/4gb system just fine. I can play games like Modern Warfare 2 and Mass Effect with most if not all graphic options jacked up (1650x1050).

Either that, or buy a console for gaming and you dont have to worry about system specs :)
 
Blade Edge said:
If you can carry over some or all of your PC budget, I wouldn't spend money for the sake of spending. Just tell your wife you're putting the money away for a complete upgrade in the future that would make more financial sense.

Your current setup will run Win 7. I;m running 7 64bit on my Core 2 Duo E6600/Asus P5B Deluxe/nvidia 8800 GT/4gb system just fine. I can play games like Modern Warfare 2 and Mass Effect with most if not all graphic options jacked up (1650x1050).

Either that, or buy a console for gaming and you dont have to worry about system specs :)
Click to expand...
It's counter productive to go from a 295 gtx on a PC to the 7800gt equivalent of the ps3/xbox lol.
 
Ken C. said:
Your current configuration exceeds the recommended minimums for most of the newer games out there as well as running W7 64bit. I would install W7 first and see if you need to upgrade from there if any performance issues arise.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:


The iX chips are great but I'd wait until they come down in price a bit. Although I would consider investing 1-3 hundred in a smaller capacity ssd and using it to run your OS and games with the Seagate for storage.
 
Wow, thanks for all the info. I'm still undecided about what to do, so I think I'll wait a bit, install Win7 on my current pc to see how it runs, and then start saving up for the big upgrade, whenever that may be. I especially like the suggestion about hiding cash inside my computer case!
 
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