Convince me I don't need a new computer

[mrSHEiK124]

I've had my current computer for nearly 3 years. My only complaints are how much faster other computers load Windows and just feel snappier. After I got sick of BF2142, I kinda stopped gaming, but I'm dying to play Crysis and Bioshock, but want to be able to play them and enjoy them on high settings. I've got:
Athlon 64 X2 4200+ in ASUS A8N-E, right now it's at 235x10.5 (2470 MHz) @ 1.45 vcore, RAM is on 5:6 so it's at 391 MHz instead of 400, big deal. My OC needs a little bit more finetuning.
2 GB G.Skill PC3200, 2-3-2-5-1T
GeForce 7800 GT
Just bought a Velociraptor 300 GB, Antec P182, and Corsair 620W power supply to freshen it up a bit.

I look at what I can buy, and I'm kind of pissed off. AMD is still selling the same exact processor I bought 3 years ago, with DDR2 support. Phenom sucks clock for clock compared to C2Q, the only thing it has going for it is the fact that it's cheap. Deneb might not suck, Nehalem is out soon, and I really don't want to drop the cash I did on DDR again on DDR3. RAM is like $60 AR for 4 GB right now, that's ridiculous. Graphics cards are cheap as hell too, and if I wasn't worried about CPU bottlenecks, I'd just buy a 9600GSO right now for $50 AR and wait another year.

My laptop on the other hand, is starting to show it's age, and a vertical line of white pixels just developed on it for some reason, I think the LCD's logic board might be going bad.
Dell Inspiron 9300
Pentium M 740 / Dothan / 1.73 GHz, 2 MB L2
2 GB PC4300 4-4-4-12
GeForce 6800 Go 256 MB

And then I realized that the HTPC at my parents house is slow as shit. It's my old "rig"
AMD Athlon XP 2600-M, running at I honestly don't know what
ASUS A7N8X-E
1 GB PC3200
GeForce 6800GT

I have a desktop here at my college apartment, for really no reason other than I had most of the parts lying around. It's hooked up to my TV for watching H.264 because my laptop is too slow for that.
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, some Foxconn board, 8600GT I got for like $30 after MIR, and an Antec Solo + PSU I got for $20 after MIR from Fry's

Other than realizing I just listed all my computer parts, my plan as of now is to first and foremost get a new laptop. Then, I really don't know what I need to do if anything. Upgrade my desktop, but I don't know when, or with that. Put old desktops parts into HTPC to make it faster. Then put AXP 2600-M in sister's Shuttle XPC to make it a little faster and add some RAM to it. Etc. Or just forget about it all.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124
Convince me I don't need a new computer.

Just defrag and you'll save yourself hundreds of dollars. :thumbsup:

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124
Convince me I don't need a new computer.

Just defrag and you'll save yourself hundreds of dollars. :thumbsup:

ALMOST 9000 (doesn't hit quite as hard as over 9000, does it ?) posts and you think I don't know that, heh? O&O Defrag runs every night, I think the only fragmented file on there is my damn page file.

It just irks me how things really haven't gotten THAT much faster. Going from my Athlon XP to this dual core was fucking ridiculous, and I only bought them a year apart. If I were to start with a fresh install of Windows, a $200 CPU would barely wow me...

 

[mpilchfamily]

A fresh install and a new HDD may help. But in the end not even the best of systems now can play Crysis with all the bells and whistles turned on. Your lucky if those systems get a consistant 30FPS in that game. But your best upgrade would be a new video card and PSU. that is what will really show big gains in your gaming. Sure the CPU may bottleneck the high end GPUs but a nice midrange will go a long way to improving your gaming.

 

[MarcVenice]

Just buy a new videocard, going from a 7800gt to a HD4850 or 9800gtx+ will be night and day. The CPU might be a bit of a bottleneck, but nothing to really worry about.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
A fresh install and a new HDD may help. But in the end not even the best of systems now can play Crysis with all the bells and whistles turned on. Your lucky if those systems get a consistant 30FPS in that game. But your best upgrade would be a new video card and PSU. that is what will really show big gains in your gaming. Sure the CPU may bottleneck the high end GPUs but a nice midrange will go a long way to improving your gaming.

Good God, that is a SICK case mod in your sig.

I just put in a new Corsair 620W PSU and am waiting to get home to put in the VelociRaptor that's waiting for me. I might just move to Windows Vista x64 and do a reformat, but I think that 9600GSO will tide me over until next summer.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Thanks!

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124
Convince me I don't need a new computer.

Just defrag and you'll save yourself hundreds of dollars. :thumbsup:

ALMOST 9000 (doesn't hit quite as hard as over 9000, does it ?) posts and you think I don't know that, heh? O&O Defrag runs every night, I think the only fragmented file on there is my damn page file.

It just irks me how things really haven't gotten THAT much faster. Going from my Athlon XP to this dual core was fucking ridiculous, and I only bought them a year apart. If I were to start with a fresh install of Windows, a $200 CPU would barely wow me...

I think a C2Q would wow you, but maybe thats just me.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: sswingle

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124
Convince me I don't need a new computer.

Just defrag and you'll save yourself hundreds of dollars. :thumbsup:

ALMOST 9000 (doesn't hit quite as hard as over 9000, does it ?) posts and you think I don't know that, heh? O&O Defrag runs every night, I think the only fragmented file on there is my damn page file.

It just irks me how things really haven't gotten THAT much faster. Going from my Athlon XP to this dual core was fucking ridiculous, and I only bought them a year apart. If I were to start with a fresh install of Windows, a $200 CPU would barely wow me...

I think a C2Q would wow you, but maybe thats just me.

Even though I berate friends for waiting on computer parts, I always find myself waiting for something better.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Core i7 800 for under $300 in October is looking tempting. I think I'm going to bite right when i7 comes out, I just hope the motherboards aren't obscenely priced. DDR3 prices are starting to look more reasonable too...

Ugh, people are saying that Nehalem won't offer much for gaming (I do a little bit of video editing), now a P5QL-E and a Q9400 look good. Or a P5Q, they've got a $20 off rebate if you buy it with the Q9400 at NewEgg...

Damn! The Phenom 9950 BE is under $200? Is it just me or has competition driven the prices of this shit WAY down?

WTF? A C2Q only gets 30 FPS in Crysis at 1280x1024? Goddamn, that game eats CPUs for lunch. I remember Far Cry being playable with an Athlon XP, as long as you had a decent graphics card...

 

[Roguestar]

If you bite when it comes out, you'll get price gouged up the jacksie. Wait until maybe January when DDR3 prices and i7 boards come down in price from the inevitable post-release and pre-christmas hike.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Phuck it, I don't want to play the waiting game, here's my current plan:

Bring the P182 to my apartment since I'll probably be able to game more here than at home, and put a P5Q-E, Q9400, 4 GB RAM, and an HD4850 in it. This'll fill the gap left by my Inspiron 9300's untimely passing.

Hold onto the laptop until my next trip overseas, when I leave it behind for relatives there (laptops are expensive in the West Bank). Buy a Netbook to use for school.

Drop an Athlon 64 3800+ in my HTPC here before 939 CPUs literally become impossible to find. It's only $30, and this Foxconn mATX board surprisingly took the 3200+ to 2.5 GHz at only +0.1V. I forgot how easy Venice CPUs were to overclock...

Leave the HTPC at my parent's house alone. They ONLY use it to record SD with dual PCI TV tuners. And watch DVDs. An underclocked Athlon XP 2600-M and 1 GB of RAM fit the bill perfectly.

Keep my Athlon 64 X2 gear at home and ditch the 7800GT for an HD4670 or 9600GSO. Breathe new life into that computer and still have something fast for when I'm home with my parents.

Having a bunch of computers was NOT a good idea, lol. Funny thing is, each consecutive computer starting after my Athlon XP only came into existence because I didn't want to take a huge loss on the now old parts and just made a second computer out of them.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

What would a P5E Deluxe (X48) offer me over a P5Q-E (P45)? I'm going to want to overclock the snot out of the Q9400 or Q9550, but although the P5Q-E has an older northbridge it comes with the newer ICH10R southbridge. Plus, the P5Q-E has combo deals at NewEgg right now with all of the Q9*** processors.

 

[NiKeFiDO]

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
A fresh install and a new HDD may help. But in the end not even the best of systems now can play Crysis with all the bells and whistles turned on. Your lucky if those systems get a consistant 30FPS in that game. But your best upgrade would be a new video card and PSU. that is what will really show big gains in your gaming. Sure the CPU may bottleneck the high end GPUs but a nice midrange will go a long way to improving your gaming.

Good God, that is a SICK case mod in your sig.

I just put in a new Corsair 620W PSU and am waiting to get home to put in the VelociRaptor that's waiting for me. I might just move to Windows Vista x64 and do a reformat, but I think that 9600GSO will tide me over until next summer.

2nd for nice case.

I just built a 'puter with that case.

Nikefido strokes his beard thusly

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Kept everything else the same, bought an Antec 300 to put my computer at home into, and building a new computer for college in the P182; there goes my fun money for the semester

Xeon X3360
ASUS P5Q Deluxe
4 GB Crucial DDR2 800
Using VelociRaptor 300GB
640 GB WD64000AAKS
$36 9600 GSO
Xigmatek HDT-S1283

 

[Roguestar]

Looks pretty good. Where are you getting the Xeon and at what price?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Looks pretty good. Where are you getting the Xeon and at what price?

Buy.com, used the 5% off coupon to make it $324.99. I ordered everything on Monday; last night someone posted Frys.com was selling Q9550s for $285 online , doh.

EDIT: SLAWZ s-spec (C1 stepping )

It's not opened yet, should I send it back?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Worth sending a C1 stepping chip back? Is E0 a better overclocker?

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Looks pretty good. Where are you getting the Xeon and at what price?

Buy.com, used the 5% off coupon to make it $324.99. I ordered everything on Monday; last night someone posted Frys.com was selling Q9550s for $285 online , doh.

EDIT: SLAWZ s-spec (C1 stepping )

It's not opened yet, should I send it back?

If you can get the Q9550 for cheaper, yes.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: Roguestar

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Looks pretty good. Where are you getting the Xeon and at what price?

Buy.com, used the 5% off coupon to make it $324.99. I ordered everything on Monday; last night someone posted Frys.com was selling Q9550s for $285 online , doh.

EDIT: SLAWZ s-spec (C1 stepping )

It's not opened yet, should I send it back?

If you can get the Q9550 for cheaper, yes.

The $20 I'd save vs. not having a computer for a few days doesn't seem worth it

 

[Roguestar]

Well the $20 isn't much of a cross to bear, really.