Gearoi's yearly upgrade post :-)

[gearoi]

Hi there,

I have a E2180 which is usually clocked to 2300 without issues.

I have recently started work and get paid on Thursday after 4 yrs off (hurray!) and am thinking about upgrading my low-end processor.

My question to you fine people at this point is - what should I get?

I don't particularly want a full rebuild to i7 (which seems to be the new gold standard processor) as I'd have to get a new motherboard which is £s...

So can I go for a more up to date processor for my gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L - perhaps a quad or dual core one?

I was thinking of spending about a hundred quid for my birthday treat, but if it's worth pumping in more, I would. (So am I right that i7 might be not worth it for a cheap-ish upgrade???)

I play FPSs a lot - Crysis (could have been less choppy I'd happily play it through again and also Warhead), but to be honest I also play a lot of UT2004 which needs absolutely no upgrade to go well. I'm also gonna get CD4 probably.

I have a 8800 GT and 2gb ram, big hdd of 1TB and G15 keyboard, antec lansing THX certified 5.1 / medusa speedlink headphones and a good old multi-res CRT that is basically the nuts vs crappy new LCD nonsense that you can't change res on (ok another thread for that ;-) )

Thoughts much appreciated!!! cheers - gearoi

:beer:

 

[ChaosDivine]

Core i7 920, Gigabyte EX58-UD3R, whatever low-voltage 6GB DDR3 kit is on sale, HSF of your choice (Megahalem, Dark Knight, True 120, etc.)

 

[sgrinavi]

I had that board for a while, I ran a q6600 on it OCd to 3.6 - But with your use a a fast C2D would be nice, an e8400 (e0) @ 4.0 (give or take) might workout well for you. Be sure to update your BIOS.

Video card is going to be a bottle neck after you speed up your CPU - you might think about modernizing that too.

 

[cubeless]

e5300 or e6300 and oc it to 3.5 or so pretty easy... and get a nice 4890... $200ish total remake for your pc... great seat-of-the-pants noticeable upgrade... or go wild and get a 9550 for an extra $100ish and be done with it for the next couple years...

 

[RussianSensation]

IMO, you best bet for gaming is:

- Overclock that CPU to 3.2-3.3ghz
- Sell 8800GT and get 4870 or similar
- Upgrade from 2GBs of ram to 4GB+.

Obviously the 2180 will be limited by smaller Cache but if you can overclock it, it'll still give you a major performance increase -> Benches

Then just wait for a deal on a Q9550 and if you can take it to 3.8ghz+, that's another year for your system.

You should be able to get a GTX260/4870 after selling your 8800GT, and maybe even squeeze some ram upgrade in there.

 

[gearoi]

You people are fantastic. I will look into your suggestions forthwith.

Thanks for all suggestions!

 

[KIAman]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
IMO, you best bet for gaming is:

- Overclock that CPU to 3.2-3.3ghz
- Sell 8800GT and get 4870 or similar
- Upgrade from 2GBs of ram to 4GB+.

Obviously the 2180 will be limited by smaller Cache but if you can overclock it, it'll still give you a major performance increase -> Benches

Then just wait for a deal on a Q9550 and if you can take it to 3.8ghz+, that's another year for your system.

You should be able to get a GTX260/4870 after selling your 8800GT, and maybe even squeeze some ram upgrade in there.

^ the best suggestion for $100.

 

[vj8usa]

Another vote from me for OCing that E2180 some more. My E2160 can hit 3.4GHz, and at that speed I don't feel like it's holding me back significantly in any game I've played (except for GTA4).

 

[gearoi]

I've oc'ed that thing - now got a 50% uplift. I had totally forgotten I could oc it so thanks for reminding me!!!

And it's way faster for just turning on, even, let alone gaming...

Thanks again for your help!