Does Upgrading right now Even Make Sense?

[TidusZ]

I've got an E4300 @3.15, 8800gt @ 668/1803/978, 4 gigs ddr2-800, and a TRUE 120 / Accelero S1 for cooling.

I'm at a point where I'd like to upgrade. I don't really need the extra performance that badly, but it'd be nice, and of course I want to be able to beat my two computer savvy friends in benchmarks and earn the e-peen crown (they have an e8400 @ 4.0 / 4870 & e6750 @ 3.8ish / geforce 260 core 216 ). The problem is, the i7's are ridiculously overpriced, I mean the motherboard and ram are easily $700, and the performance increase is really a lot less than I had hoped for. If I go for an e8400, I maybe get 800 mhz more and the conroe -> penryn 0-10% performance increase, for about $200 CDN. If I spend 300 I could get the 4870, but this is a piece of hardware that has been out for a long time and hasn't dropped much in price. I haven't heard anything about new video cards on the horizon either.

It seems my options are to break the bank for lackluster value with i7, or spend a decent amount for small upgrades that I don't really need, aside from the obvious epeen factor (it would be great to beat my friends). I'm considering waiting to see what AMD brings in January, and to hear about new reiterations for current video cards. I just am getting money from this new job, and I wanna upgrade but it doesn't seem to be in the cards..

 

[o1die]

I would sell the e4300 in the for sale forum, or wait until something else breaks. My e4300 with the copper tape mod works nicely, but I'm not a gamer. I'll be looking for deals on black friday morning at fry's. I got my sharp 25 inch crt tv there years ago for $70, and numerous cases and power supplies almost free after rebate.

 

[Dadofamunky]

No. You can get another gigahertz of speed from an E8xxx CPU, since you obviously already know how to OC. Also, the cache factor cannot be denied. You'd see a 40% or so boost in computing throughput. The Penryn CPUs were MADE for you! Get thee hence to Micro Center.

 

[nerp]

Replace that 8800 with a 4870 or 4870x2 and save your money for another year. By then, there will be more options than first gen overpriced i7 silliness.

 

[DSF]

You're really willing to spend a few hundred dollars just so your friends don't technically have the fastest PCs anymore?

Looks like we're back to keeping up with the Joneses.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Video card upgrade would be a good investment I think. After that maybe a quad core CPU. I don't think the i7 path is worth it right now, but a good quad and new video card can last you a long time. Long enough to do a full upgrade.

 

[nyker96]

if you want some real upgrade why not get a Q9xxx. Anyways, I also see you can dump money on vid card instead. If you play a lot of games, you'll get more value by concentrating on vid card first. I did a cpu upgrade from E2xxx/3 to E7xxx/3.5. don't see too much difference except x264 encoding benchmarks. So can't say it's worth it.

 

[Denithor]

I'll second nyker here, I "upgraded" from e6400 @ 3GHz to e8400 @ 3.6GHz and don't notice any real difference in anything but a few benchies. More like a sidegrade at best. And I refuse to jump on the i7 bandwagon just yet, I'm going to wait for Westmere and lower power consumption/heat generation.

If you're a gamer wanting to spend several hundred dollars, go for a GTX 280 or 4870X2.

 

[OCNewbie]

I'm running an Opteron 165 @ 2.0GHz. For me, it's time to upgrade, for you, I think you'd be wise (specially since you are > 3GHz) to stick with what you have for now.