Best PC upgrade order

[jimmyh77]

I'm looking to upgrade parts of my PC, but I'm not sure in what order I should upgrade them.

This is what I have at the moment.

Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 2.5GHz Socket 775 800FSB 2MB Cache
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L iG31 Socket 775
Gfx Card: Sapphire HD 5670 512MB GDDR5
HD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM
Memory: OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Titanium Memory Kit CL4(4-4-4-15)
PSU: Hiper 480W Type-R Black
OS: Win 7 ( Would like to dual boot with xp and win 7 )

I use my PC mostly for development using visual studio, so most of the time I will have visual studio open ( some times more than 1 copy ), a paint package(psp or ps), chrome with at least 10 tabs open all the time, streaming audio and I think that's probably about it. I may have a in the back ground running.

My gaming is limited to, World of tanks, WoW, Civ, Anno 1404, Lotro, Settlers. So I don't think I'm in need of a graphics upgrade.

With my current Mobo I can't add any more RAM, but I would like to move upto 8gb with the option of going to 16gb in the future. I'm also not really interested in overclocking, I think the most I would do is get an aftermarket heatsink/fan. Here's what I was thinking of doing.

Processor: i3 2120
Mobo:GA-Z68P-DS3
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 1.5V Non-ECC Unbuffered

My current cpu is ranked 475 @ http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php and the i3 is ranked 147.

I'm also wondering if I would be better off going with some thing like a G850(ranked 299, oddly ranked higher than the G860) and getting some thing like a 60g SSD as my os/apps drive.

I would also like the option of maybe have a raid configuration at some point as well.

Looking to spend around £200 in the UK, I'll be able to upgrade some thing else later in the year.

Thoughts?

 

[jimmyh77]

Following on from that, I started to have a look at AMD

Would some thing like an AMD Athlon II X4 631 and a GA-A75-D3H along with the 8gb ram be worth a look?

The AMD is listed slightly better on the benchmark site and the AMD option is cheaper than the Intel setup.

 

[NTMBK]

Z68 mobos tend to be fairly expensive due to their overclocking potential- you may want to go for a cheaper H67 board and upgrade the CPU. If you can stretch the budget to an i5-2400, you'll really feel the benefit.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Agreed. The i3 can't overclock so the Z68 is a waste. H67 + i5-2400 or -2500 gets you 2 extra CPU cores and Intel's "turbo boost" automatic overclocking of i5 chips. The stock heatsink is all you need.

> Would some thing like an AMD Athlon II X4 631 and a GA-A75-D3H along with the 8gb ram be worth a look?

A quad-core i5-2400 will stomp the X4:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/122?vs=363

 

[lehtv]

I wouldn't say Athlon II X4 or Pentium G840 would be big enough upgrades to be worth it in the long term. You seem to keep your PC for long enough that it'd be good to get as much longevity from the CPU as possible, and price goes hand in hand with performance up till the $200 mark (Intel i5). An i5 may be beyond your budget, but consider at least this:

Intel i3-2100 £92 (twice as fast as Core 2 Duo E4700 which is equal to Pentium E5200)
Gigabyte H61M-D2H-USB3 £46 or MSI Z68A-G43 (G3) £78
8GB DDR3 £36

= £174 or £206

Now, about the motherboards. MSI Z68 has an upgrade possibility to a next generation unlocked Ivy Bridge quad core, which would be a viable upgrade over i3-2100 in 2 years, say. I'd estimate it to be about twice as fast as i3-2100 once overclocked, just as i3-2100 is twice as fast as your Pentium. The H61 board is considerably cheaper but lacks that upgrade path, as well as lacking SATA 6gb/s which is useful for new SSD's. However you could still use an SSD at 3gb/s speeds and benefit from it significantly. Buy the SSD later in the year, too difficult to squeeze it into £200 with the rest.

EDIT: If you go for the H61 board, you might be able to squeeze in an i5 right away: i5-2400 £143, total £225

 

[NTMBK]

In all honesty I wouldn't worry about the upgrade path from SB to IB- you're best off buying an SB i5 now instead of SB i3 then IB i5, as between buying a more expensive mobo and two CPUs you'll be spending a lot more money for very little more performance.

 

[lehtv]

Well, the Z68 mobo I listed isn't very expensive, practically the same price as most H67 boards. So if you were going to get H67 for SATA 6gb/s support, you might go all the way for Z68. And buying the H61+ i5 now is going to end up costing more than Z68 + i3, so that's also something to consider.

 

[jimmyh77]

I guess I should of mentioned that I'm not really looking to overclock, if that helps

I only looked at the Z68 for the memory slots and possible raid setup, oh and Sata III.

 

[lehtv]

I do understand that you wouldn't be overclocking with the immediate upgrade, as the i3 is a locked CPU. But you might change your mind later on, as overclocking is easy and with Ivy Bridge, it will be increasingly beneficial.

 

[jimmyh77]

Well I've had a god with my E5200 and I didn't have much luck, it was all a bit to random as to if the setting I changed would work or not. I decided it was not for me. And the E5200 is suppose to be quite good at over clocking.

Also on the scan website it says the GA-H61M-D2H-USB3 doesn't do 1600 memory, is that correct? ALso doesn't have SATA III

 

[lehtv]

Well I've had a god with my E5200 and I didn't have much luck, it was all a bit to random as to if the setting I changed would work or not. I decided it was not for me. And the E5200 is suppose to be quite good at over clocking.

Nah, sandy bridge / ivy bridge overclocking is a ton easier and with bigger profit margins. There are even motherboards that do the OC for you at the press of a button, you get near instant 4.5 Ghz on most chips provided you have at least a mediocre tower cooler.

Don't give up so easily. Do you have aftermarket cooling? Shouldn't OC with the crappy stock cooler. Also overclocking isn't random, you just have to know which knobs to turn

Also on the scan website it says the GA-H61M-D2H-USB3 doesn't do 1600 memory, is that correct? ALso doesn't have SATA III

Correct. That is why I linked to 1333mhz memory. Memory speed is largely irrelevant on Sandy Bridge, you don't really gain anything going from 1333 to 1600.

The H61 chipset indeed doesn't have SATA 6gb/s, I mentioned this earlier. It's part of the reason it costs a lot less than the Z68 board. I would've also suggested H67 but the MSI Z68 board is the same price as decent H67 boards on scan.co.uk.

 

[mfenn]

In all honesty I wouldn't worry about the upgrade path from SB to IB- you're best off buying an SB i5 now instead of SB i3 then IB i5, as between buying a more expensive mobo and two CPUs you'll be spending a lot more money for very little more performance.

I agree. Check out the IB benches. In compute-bound scenarios, the i7 3770K is about 10% faster than the i6 2600K. 3% of that is easily attributable to the difference in base clock speeds (3.4GHz vs 3.5GHz).

 

[mfenn]

Given that you want to run multiple instances of heavy apps like Visual Studio and Photoshop, I'd say that RAM should be your first priority. Now, it doesn't make sense to buy new DDR2 at this point, so your best bet is to go for a Sandy Bridge processor with DDR3 like lehtv has suggested.

 

[jimmyh77]

I wouldn't say Athlon II X4 or Pentium G840 would be big enough upgrades to be worth it in the long term. You seem to keep your PC for long enough that it'd be good to get as much longevity from the CPU as possible, and price goes hand in hand with performance up till the $200 mark (Intel i5). An i5 may be beyond your budget, but consider at least this:

Intel i3-2100 £92 (twice as fast as Core 2 Duo E4700 which is equal to Pentium E5200)
Gigabyte H61M-D2H-USB3 £46 or MSI Z68A-G43 (G3) £78
8GB DDR3 £36

= £174 or £206

Now, about the motherboards. MSI Z68 has an upgrade possibility to a next generation unlocked Ivy Bridge quad core, which would be a viable upgrade over i3-2100 in 2 years, say. I'd estimate it to be about twice as fast as i3-2100 once overclocked, just as i3-2100 is twice as fast as your Pentium. The H61 board is considerably cheaper but lacks that upgrade path, as well as lacking SATA 6gb/s which is useful for new SSD's. However you could still use an SSD at 3gb/s speeds and benefit from it significantly. Buy the SSD later in the year, too difficult to squeeze it into £200 with the rest.

EDIT: If you go for the H61 board, you might be able to squeeze in an i5 right away: i5-2400 £143, total £225

Would I be right in saying that the difference between the i5-2400 and the i5-2400k is that the k series is overclockable.

If going with an SSD drive you would really a need board with sata III, so is there a 1155 board that gives sata III without the overclocking options? If going with say the i3 2100/2120 or even the i5 minus the k ofc.

Regards.

 

[NTMBK]

Of course, you could always go with an AMD A8-3850. Decent processor and graphics performance, meaning you won't need a separate graphics card. (Certainly not for your intended games use.)

 

[lehtv]

Would I be right in saying that the difference between the i5-2400 and the i5-2400k is that the k series is overclockable.

Well there is no i5-2400K only 2500K. 2500K is 200MHz faster than i5-2400, has HD3000 graphics rather than HD2000 (irrelevant to you), but apart from that the only difference is overclockability. i5-2500 is the same stock speed as 2500K.

 

[jimmyh77]

Not sure where I got 2400k from :s

I'm wondering if I really need a new cpu. And instead get a new mobo that supports upto 8gb ddr3, one of these maybe http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/motherboards/intel775allchipsetmotherboards/
or http://www.ebuyer.com/search?limit=50&store=2&cat=14&filtersubcat=658&sort=pricelow&page=1

And then invest in a ssd, say a Crucial M4 64gb for my boot drive.

 

[piasabird]

At this point I would say it is time to gut it and start over. Need at least A sandybridge motherboard and that would require new DDR3 Ram and a new i-5 quad processor. I think you can get a Z68 motherboard for about $115 or so. Some slightly older socket 1155 motherboards might be a bit cheaper. You can shave a little off the price by getting an i-5 2300 or 2400. Maybe at a Micro center they would be a bit cheaper if you can get it with a motherboard combo.

I dont think it is cost effective to buy any DDR2 Ram or a 775 socket processor, and most of those CPU's are out of stock. I am kind of wondering when the Ivy Bridge MB and Processors will be cheap enough to buy. Maybe another 6 months or so. I dont know if that would require a new socket or what? You could upgrade the processor and RAM, but a lot of the 775 processors are hard to find. I would suggest an old Q6600 quad but the newer SANDYBRIDGE quads are revolutionary compared to the older ones.

I have a 775 computer at home and it still works fine. It is just a Core 2 Duo like a E7200 with 2 gigs of RAM. I also have an i-5 2500K AND 8 GIGS of RAM, and I like that also. You could opt to just wait for the Ivy Bridge.

 

[mfenn]

If going with an SSD drive you would really a need board with sata III, so is there a 1155 board that gives sata III without the overclocking options? If going with say the i3 2100/2120 or even the i5 minus the k ofc.

You don't need SATA 6Gb/s to get benefit from an SSD. The big benefit is in its responsiveness in small random I/O, which doesn't touch the throughput available on SATA 3Gb/s.